They are drawings, not on paper or on walls but executed with white-out on school desks. “I started making such drawings four months ago when still in 12th grade,” Van Tan explains. “While looking down on a desk defiled with a great many white-out lines and dirty writings, I came up with the idea to give the desk a ‘makeover’. After scraping the old writings off the surface of the desk, I used white-out to start drawing. Afterwards I did some research and discovered that this is called doodle art, an unconscious art form in which the artist lets their creative ideas flow spontaneously through their pen. The drawings are composed of seemingly unrelated scribblings, but come together in a harmonious whole when finished.”
Than Van Tan is a DTU student of Graphic Design
Van Tan’s first work took about three or four hours to complete. As soon as it was finished, his classmates were very impressed and delighted at the drawing on the desk. They encouraged him to continue with more drawings. Wishing to beautify desks and also to develop the creativity of students, Van Tan took every recess as an opportunity to draw. He now finished six very detailed drawings on six desks.
Some typical drawing masterpieces by Than Van Tan
Most surprisingly was that, before creating these drawings, Van Tan never took any drawing courses. At first he just drew random lines based on his own imagination. Bit by bit, Tan started visiting YouTube for references and to watch video clips teaching how to draw different styles.
Not limiting himself to doodle art, Van Tan has tried his hand at two-point perspective and 3D images. Furthermore, many friends from his class and outside ask him to draw fake tattoos on their hands. “As I draw with a black pen, it looks very much like a real tattoo, such that many friends ask me to make tiny drawings on their hands,” Van Tan says. “I draw them very quickly, needing only ten to twenty minutes per image. Although pen ink fades easily, being careful with the drawings can make them last for a day or two.”
After completing a drawing, Van Tan shares them on Facebook with a circle of friends passionate about visual arts, for exchange and learning. As drawing was but a hobby for him, he was very surprised to discover that photographs of his drawings were being shared very rapidly on the internet.
“I have a cousin now in her second year of English for Hospitality at DTU, and she advised me a lot on how to choose a university,” Van Tan explains. “The collaboration with the Hanoi University of Industrial Arts for mutual support in education and student exchange was one of the factors that made me confident when choosing for DTU. I have been told that DTU is very strong in Information Technology training, and during my studies I will learn how to proficiently use several computer software programs useful for my work. I will certainly continue trying out many different art styles, to be able to pursue my hobby and also to improve my work spirit in the future.”
(Media Center)
