Highlights of Spring Semester 2025
To all my friends at Ringling, thank you for a great spring semester! ^^
Isabelle Peng
5/16/20259 min read
"Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
~ Henry Ford
Congratulations! We made it. :)
All the spoils and toils have left me feeling so incredibly exhausted and yet so happy. I would be lying if I said this semester didn’t have its unique challenges. If you have subscribed to my blog (where I share secrets and perks), you may have found out that this semester was quite a ride for me. Indeed, to my surprise, it was harder than the Fall.
Because I had so much struggles this semester, I decided to add regrets into my end of semester highlights, too. I guess we all make mistakes but let’s not let failures define our life.
I also want to take this moment to thank all the special friends I made this semester. You all truly saved my life. If it weren’t for your friendship, I wouldn’t have seen the light of the tunnel. You have all been a beacon of hope and I love you all so much. I've benefitted from Ringling's mentor program as well, and my mentor gave me several survival tips.
Of course, I also thank my mom for being my therapist, who was always there when I was confused or in the dumps. She’s the best mother anyone could have.
And to Jesus, thank you for walking by me, reminding me that life is precious, and encouraging me to look ahead. Thank you for guiding me to make better decisions. You were right all along and as I trusted You more, we together made the last six weeks truly the best weeks of the Spring semester. :)
Without further ado, here are my highlights from this spring semester.
Observational Drawing and Color
Takeaway
The primary colors aren’t red, yellow, and blue! It’s actually magenta, yellow, and cyan. :) (This is because red is mixed with magenta + a bit of yellow, and blue is mixed with a bit of magenta + cyan.)
Applying a “ground color” or a single-color wash has lots of benefits.
Ground color unifies a painting, creating a “mother color” to bind everything together!
Ground color aids the lighting situation.
Ground color covers a painting immediately to prevent white specks/unpainted surfaces - a pain to fix
A ground color is usually a color that’s not dominating in the composition.
Shadows are not black!
Shadows have color!
The shadow's color is usually the complimentary color of the object where it originates. For example, a red object has a greyish green shadow.
Shadow color can be an object’s original color, too, due to reflection.
Shadow color can be neutral, either dominating cool or warm.
Shadow color can also reflect the color of the surface where it sits on.
Finding the shadow color can really help me to paint the darks in my pieces! Simply mix a lot of it into the objects original color! For example, when painting outdoors, mixing a brownish purple (my shadow color) into my green really cools the shadow down.
Playground in the Promised Land
Blooming Blessings - COLORED
Make my Own Black - Make a Purple (Magenta and Blue) and add just a little bit of yellow till my desired look! For grey, mix white till the desired value! This is a great trick for painting metal objects.
The Cottage
Make my Own Brown - Make an Orange (Magenta and Yellow) and add a little bit of blue at a time! Be careful not to add too much or it’ll turn green.
Mastercopy from Issac Levitan
When painting outside, it’s actually beneficial to paint the sky last so I can get “sky holes” (inorganic shapes) and this works with trees, too! ^^ I also applied this to paint the plants near the wall!
Blooming Blessings - COLORED
Peer Advice
Guoache can be a hard medium. Be patient with it. It’s not watercolor, it’s not acrylic… it’s in the middle. (Thankfully, I did lots of gouache before coming to Ringling so this was an easier adjustment for me. It also happens to be one of my favorite mediums!)
I Wish I Knew
I didn’t realize painting outside would be so difficult. I wish I practiced drawing/painting outside before starting the semester. Thank goodness for summer bucket lists.
I also felt bad for making my mom buy three gouache sets that I have never used for this class. If you’re wondering what gouache set works, it’s this expensive beauty. I would also buy another big tube of white gouache just in case. (Don't worry, for the other gouache sets, I'm keeping them for my personal art and practices! ^^)
Most importantly, I wish I didn't neglect my professor's advice on finding a shaded spot! To add to that, I would also find a FLAT surface to sit while you paint. Don't be like me trying to paint at a slope. I had back pain for a month afterwards. (The stuff we do for art, am I right? Haha!)
Favorite Memory
I have many fond memories in this class as a lot of my friends happened to be in this class.
Going to Shelby Gardens was an amazing adventure. The four of us had a wonderful time exploring for an hour or two before we sat down to draw. I know this was procrastinating, but we had the best time. My figure drawing professor took a photo for us. (Haha) We were the perfect team. We found similar things funny and cracked each other up every second!
Inside joke for my friends, haha - here's YE OLDE PHOTOGRAPH! ^^
Another wonderful time was when we first arrived at Pioneer park. Even though my painting turned out humiliating, one of my friends and I took turns swinging each other on a special swing. We also went on the swings together. It was a moment I truly felt free. This is a friend who always tells me not to worry and we worked on homework together.
Our second class at Pioneer Park, my Japanese friend and I painted at the same spot. At one session, we went exploring and were fascinated to find a family of turtles. We had the best time. We also went to Church once together and a great sushi place. She was a close friend in my figure drawing class as well!
I enjoy feeding all my professors, but my observational drawing professor has a cute habit. Instead of keeping the tin/container, he would return the container back to me. I've found it extremely amusing and adorable. I can't wait to have him again in the Fall for Illustration Media! ^^
Figure Drawing II
Takeaway
The body tapers or gets smaller as it reaches out! For example, a person’s shoulder is wide! As I draw in the rest of the arm to the wrist, it gets slightly skinnier as I go. This is because it helps us keep our balance while giving us full range of movement.
Form follows function - Whatever the body part is meant for, the form facilitates that.
The three major masses really determine how the figure is posed: head, rib cage (torso), and pelvis.
The synthesis pubis or crotch is usually the middle form of the figure.
It is helpful to include more than one gesture line if there is any.
Measuring vertically using the head unit is great, but it’s necessary to measure the width as well.
Sighting is figuring out location, while measuring is to determine the object’s relative size.
Sighting verticals and horizontals are absolute or can be quite precise but sighting angles is relative and can be tricky.
Most animals have a tombstone shape for their neck/shoulder area.
We have a tendency to make everything look the same, so do find variations in everything I draw including folds!
Knowing anatomy is great but keep in mind some characters don’t have all features due to age and/or other circumstance
Peer Advice
Just keep at it. (So helpful… haha)
I Wish I Knew
My biggest one was to know the economy of line, which is after I lay down my interior shapes and gesture, I should use the least number of lines to clearly express the pose.
I wish I had spent less time comparing myself with my classmates. Had I stayed in the game, I would’ve gotten better faster.
Favorite Memory
On the Accepted Students' Day, after a hard start, my professor and I finally had an in-depth conversation. I had missed these beautiful conversations we had in the Fall semester. I asked him to sign a coloring book Ringling made for incoming students.
My professor said I “fattened him up” as I enjoyed giving him treats for occasions, hehe! >:) (Aside from art, I enjoy cooking and baking whenever I can.)
At the end of the year, we took a photo together. I’ll treasure it always. Hopefully, I’ll see him again soon.
But most special of all, this was the class I met my Japanese friend. After spring break, we went out to eat sushi. It was delicious. I also enjoyed Agedashi Tofu and miso soup. Yet, what most special is to draw together. :) She's an extremely loyal friend. I'm super blessed to have met her! Especially when we talked about life in Japan.
3D Design
Takeaway
Everything is made out of forms; nothing is 2-dimensional or flat!
I realized that 3D is clearly a craft and needs mastery skill! Before this, I didn’t realize how much effort goes into creating characters. Although it was fun, I think my skill set is more into drawing rather than sculpting. :")
Sculpting a character requires seeing all the dimensions all around, which has helped me sketching
Teamwork makes the dream work. It was through this class I learned the value of friendship… :) We cracked each other up all the time. Whether it was silly like Dogman or giving advice, we always had each other’s back.
Peer Advice
Do not underestimate how long these assignments will take. Do not wait till the last minute to finish my projects! Lock in time to work outside classes; all the extra time was needed.
This is was one of my favorite projects due to the food art! Though, simply cutting planks and putting them together took up the whole class. For the goodies for my final, I even had to stay three hours after class to finish them. I had to lock in time besides class time. Before the day of critique our environment project, I stayed up till 4 AM to finish.
I Wish I Knew
I didn’t get much time for my pitches. I wish I did time block from the beginning so I wouldn’t run out of time and had to work into the night. I could brainstorm during break, just don’t lock my ideas in stone because every professor may have different requirements
I didn’t realize after the woodwork training, we could get the monitors to cut woods for us. If I knew, I would have taken more risks for my environment project
Favorite Memory
My favorite memory was the day I brought my homemade chocolate ice cream and shared with my tablemates and my professor. :) That was a very fun day because we were also watching the Muppets at the same time. Haha!
My professor made each of us a coin and explained its significant symbolic meaning in a note. :) It was very heartfelt!
Film & Narrative
Takeaway
There’s a lot more to film than I realized. From set design to bring the “design” of the film to music, every detail has to be maticulously crafted to bring out the final theatrical effect. This class was a joy.
Peer Advice
This class is smooth sailing however be mindful that some films can be harder to watch than others. It’s a good thing to let your professor know your triggers. That way, they could give you a heads up if a film could potentially be hard to watch.
I Wish I Knew
There’s no need to stress out in this class. I feel I stressed about this class more than I needed to. :)
Favorite Memory
The best times I had in this class was when my friend and I worked on the homework assignments together. He truly was the best. Whenever I worried, he was the first to tell me to calm down. We even buddied often for our Observational Class.
My other favorite memory was giving my professor my recipes! I adored talking to her too. :)
It's been an amazing Spring, even after all the distractions... I am truly thankful! To Jesus, my mother and my friends, thank you all so much again for being my light. It is because of you all, this semester was so special. :D
Till Next Time,
Isabelle