Origin of the book

So this all started when one of my best friends gave me "642 Things To Draw" for Christmas this year, which I have to admit, sounds more exciting than it actually is. For anyone who have never heard of this book, you're pretty much paying 17 bucks for a blank sketch book with words that give you suggestions of what to draw on each page. Clearly, you could sense that I was thrilled to receive such a gift at the time, but who could blame me, I haven't drawn in almost 5 years.

Growing up, I was frequently labeled as the "artistic kid" in my class. Inspired by my oldest sister, who later ended up majoring in visual arts, I absolutely loved to draw and it was cool that people recognized that I was actually good at something. I started to become more confident as a person and soon had the guts to try to put myself out there as an artist when I applied to a mini school that specialized in the fine arts. With the encouragement and assurance that people gave me, I felt pretty good about getting in the visual arts program there but obviously that didn't happen since I am writing about this now.

I got into the music program instead which, don't get me wrong, is an equally amazing accomplishment. Too bad my music teacher hated my guts due to several events that happened and my inability to play in "her way". The good thing that came out of this was my discovered passion to compose music rather than to play it, which took only took five painful years to learn. Besides the point, I guess during my high school career, I become convinced that I had tricked myself to believing I was a real artist. I lacked the effortlessness in art ability that my visual arts friends who got in had and took it as a sign that maybe I was never meant to do visual arts.

With everything that had happened and more, I truly believed at the time that what I really needed in my life was practicality, the security that everything would be normal for once in my life. I decided to pursue science as my life endeavor since I'm pretty good at it and that people began to praise me as "smart" rather than "artistic". Lo and behold, I managed to secure a place in the sciences at my current university but after 1.5 terms of this, I'm still not completely satisfied for some reason.

Which probably is why I became drawn to this book. As ridiculous as the idea that they advertise is, maybe it'll do me some good 'cause honestly, I don't know what I want to do, whether it is art, music, or science; I'm still figuring that out. Until then, I'm just going to return to what first helped shape who I am today: art. I'm going to dive into this adventure of discovery for a year that is "sure to entertain and provoke the imagination of anyone ready to pick up a pencil". Well, that's what the book says.