Klauck turns his black and white photos into drawings

Taking black and white photographs is one way Brainerd High School senior Josh Klauck can simplify the world.

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Klauck enjoys working with black and white film because the photos are basic and make life to him more understandable. His dedication to his photography and drawing classes earned him this week's honor as Fine Arts Student of the Week.

Klauck combines his two talents frequently. He will take a photo, such as a close-up of a person, and then draw the person with a scene in the background.

JOSHUA KLAUCK

Art focus: Art

Art activities: Drawing and photography

Year: Senior

Age: 18

GPA: 3.75

Favorite subjects: Television productions, photography two, advanced placement language, composition and drawing

Most memorable fine arts achievement: Being named Fine Arts Student of the Week

Artist most admired: Alissa Ritchie, a BHS classmate

Favorite movie: "Big Daddy"

Favorite TV program: "American Idol" and "That '70s Show"

Favorite song: "When a Man Loves a Woman"

Parents: John and Patty Klauck of Brainerd

A portrait he drew from a photo he took that he is most proud of is of his friend, Alex Goochey, who posed for him. Klauck said he had Goochey "put his thinking face on with his head resting on his fist and he was staring in a distance." Klauck then drew a picture of the photo and created a blurred background.

Klauck has enjoyed the arts since he was in elementary school where he did a lot of painting. He does not have any extra time now to continue this art. As he got older his interest moved toward drawing.

"I like to capture how I see things," he said. "The drawing then represents what I see other than what it looks like in reality."

Klauck uses pencils mainly in his drawings. He likes to draw people the most. He pays a lot of attention to the details of the face, especially the eyes.

"I like drawing eyes the best because you can tell a lot about a person by their eyes," he said.

Klauck's artwork soon will be advertised -- on a friend's arm, anyway. One of Klauck's friends asked him to draw something with a cross that has a "girly look to it." His friend wanted the design for a tattoo she was going to have done.

After a week of drawing a few sketches, Klauck found the winning design with a heart drawn around a cross.

Klauck said he works better in the arts when he does things on his own, compared to doing an assignment. He said then he has more freedom.

Currently his drawing class is in between assignments, so Klauck is working on an extra credit assignment. He is drawing a picture from a photo of a person. He is using light gray pencils for most of the drawing. Then he plans to use a green colored pencil for the eyes and will make "fresh tones in the face," he said.

His photography class is beginning to learn how to colorize black and white photos. An example of this technique is adding the color pink to a woman's lips and cheeks from a black and white photo.

Klauck spends a lot of time outside of school on his photography work. He said many times he will skip lunch and he saves time Sundays to work on photos. During his free time he also works on his drawings.

When asked what Klauck's strongest art skill is, he said, "The ability to perceive things as they are to me and I can replicate that." He said one skill he needs to improve on is coming up with more creative ideas on his own.

Klauck said his dad has always influenced him in the arts. His dad used to work as a graphic manager in Brainerd.

Klauck plans to attend a community college in the Twin Cities area, but is not sure what he will major in. He said majoring in a discipline with photography and drawing is a good possibility.

Honorable mentions:

Kai Kottmann, senior, speech: Kottmann competed in the Section 8AA speech tournament recently at Fergus Falls. He also took fourth place at the sub-sections. Kottmann competes in international extemporaneous speaking.