Most students find themselves starting to draw and doodle on the margins of their notebook paper while bored in class. Starting in grade school, everyone finds themselves zoning out to the random lines their pen is making across the piece of paper on their desk. But for one Plymouth State student, junior Dave Hardman, the years spent drawing in his notebook produced much more than simple, random doodles.
“I’ve always drawn,” Hardman said, “but I didn’t take it seriously until high school.” After recognizing that he had talent, Hardman started to like his drawings while grabbing inspiration from anything around him, “I like drawing anything that pops into my head,” Hardman said. Ranging from full pages of smaller objects and doodles to drawings of people, Hardman has had a lot of time to experiment with pen and ink while practicing on a daily basis, “Drawing has always been a big part of my life, I just find it relaxing,” Hardman said.
Some of his main inspiration as a child came from someone that many knew and loved, Shel Slilverstein, “If you didn’t read or have his books in elementary school, you were totally uncool,” Hardman said. With other inspirations such as Travis Millard, Andrew Schoultz, and PSU’s very own Terry Downs, Hardman looks to professional artists as well as his own professors for new ideas and advice.
Describing what Hardman draws is a difficult task, particularly because of the range of characters that interest him, “I’ve never been asked to describe them before. Most of them are weird people in awkward situations,” Hardman said. As an example, Hardman described one of his drawings where, “An old guy is wearing a Kelly Clarkson T-shirt. He has no business wearing that,” Hardman said. With the use of both comedy and intricate detail work, Hardman’s drawings show that he has talent as well as a sense of humor.
Looking to make his drawings more than a hobby, Hardman has recently been accepted into the senior Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis program at PSU. The accelerated program provides art students with a focus on an area of either visual or graphic art that they are interested in. Getting accepted into the program involves an intense portfolio evaluation and review process as well an in-depth discussion where the artist must talk about their work and why they create what they do. Concentrating on printmaking, Hardman is looking to start a new venture while incorporating the style and subjects of his drawings.
After school, Hardman hopes to sell his work like many graduating art students, “If I can’t be an independent artists, I want to go into grad school,” Hardman said. With his recent acceptance into the BFA program, Hardman looks to have a promising future in any artistic endeavor.