Le Xi 奚乐: Teaching Notes on Sketching and Visual Language at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 1

During the "Sketching (Transforming Visual Language)" course for first-year students in the New Media Department at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, I worked with students to explore a creative process that was both challenging and thought-provoking. The focus of this course was not on traditional sketching techniques, but rather on fostering innovation and independent thinking in artistic creation.

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 2

When discussing “What is art?” or “What is the foundation of art?”, the answer is often closely tied to innovation. Modern art has gradually moved away from simply meeting the expectations of its audience, and no longer sticks to traditional creative habits. Instead, it values the freedom of thought and action in the creative process. Our sketching experiment took this approach as its starting point, challenging traditional sketching frameworks to stimulate students’ independent judgment and creative thinking.

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 3

Throughout the course, I guided the students through the history of drawing’s evolution from flat to three-dimensional, emphasizing the process of creation rather than the final result. Each student's sketch was rooted in their own practice and thought. We raised key questions: “How do you observe things?”, “How do you choose methods and media?”, “How do you incorporate your personal experience into the creation process?” These questions became the core of their creative exploration and reflection.

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 5

By focusing on the process instead of the outcome, we invited students to view art from various angles, replacing traditional, illustrative descriptions with deeper engagement. This approach helped them break through formal limitations and encouraged them to integrate their personal experiences, emotions, and life situations into their work.

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 6

Art, like each person’s unique fingerprint, carries our individual perception and expression of the world. Each student’s work is not just an exploration of artistic form, but an externalization of their personal experiences and way of thinking. Through this series of sketches, students not only challenged habitual techniques but also, through their physical engagement and creative involvement, explored their personal circumstances and the persistence required for sustained creative work.

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 7

The works shared here represent a selection of students’ assignments from the course, though I cannot recall all their names at this moment. This course’s conclusion is not only a review of the teaching process but also an affirmation of the first-year students' courage to challenge their habitual approach to sketching. Sichuan Fine Arts Institute’s New Media Department has set up this course to encourage students to grow by questioning and breaking through traditional frameworks. As a teacher, I am proud that, in this process, students didn’t just push past their limits, but through their own exploration and creation, truly “made” art that belongs to them, rather than merely copying tradition.

First-Year New Media Student Sketch 10