Gina has always loved art and was influenced by it from a young age. She began drawing at age six and took classes focused on drawing, Chinese painting, and watercolor painting throughout her childhood, which helped establish her artistic skills and perspective. Gina later discovered a passion for graphic design and is now studying it in graduate school with the goal of making it her career. Her writing reflects on how her love of art has evolved over time from her early artistic experiences through her current studies in graphic design.

1. Gina’s Transitions
Lets analyze Gina’s writing

2. Gina’s Creative Evolution (Final Draft)
I am currently a graphic design student at Academy of Art University. I’ve
always had a love of art. While I was growing up, art influenced me all the
time.
• First paragraph acts like an introduction.
• Final sentence expresses the main idea of whole paper

3. Gina’s Creative Evolution (Final Draft)
I am currently a graphic design student at Academy of Art University. I’ve always had
a love of art. While I was growing up, art influenced me all the time.
My artistic life started when I was six years old. At the beginning, I just liked
scribbling all over papers, so my parents took me to a drawing class. In the drawing
class, I mostly drew cartoons with crayons and colored in the lines of pre-made
pictures. Sometimes I traced my favorite cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and
Donald Duck. These practices aroused my imagination and passion for art. After
awhile, I began to sketch. I learned how to use lines and shapes to draw images more
accurately. I also did some perspective exercises. My drawings started to look close to
the original images, and not just like free drawing. I started to use lines and shapes to
show the perspective of objects. My aesthetic standard was established during this
process. Through the drawing class, I gained more professional knowledge about art.
The course also opened my perspective of art.
These ideas share something in
common. The grammar shows ”from the
past to now”, so we know that the writer
will talk about the beginning of her artistic
life at 6 years old.
We expect the writer to link
the word “perspective” to
move smoothly to the next
paragraph.

4. …..The course also opened my perspective of art.
My artistic perspective expanded once more when I started to learn about
traditional Chinese painting. It was very different from the drawings I did before. I
started to learn how to use the writing brush. Using the writing brush was very
different from pencils, so I needed to practice how to hold the brush first. I did some
lines and outlines exercises so I could develop my writing brush skills. I also learned
more about Chinese painting. When I had good control of the brush and could draw
lines and outlines well, I started to draw real traditional Chinese paintings. I learned
how to mix the water with paint. I thought that this was the most interesting and
difficult part of traditional Chinese painting. The process helped me to get more
useful experience and confidence. The course gave me an opportunity to know about
my traditional culture, gave me good hand skills, and helped me to appreciate all
forms of art.
Our expectation was correct!
Do you think the word
“appreciation” will link us to
the next paragraph?
Here we see the paragraph is about a
new topic: Chinese painting.

5. …The course gave me an opportunity to know about my traditional culture,
gave me good hand skills, and helped me to appreciate all forms of art.
My appreciation for art deepened when I learned about color. My artistic
world became more vivid and vibrant when I began to learn watercolor
painting. I used the knowledge I was gaining about color and color combining
to draw landscapes and seascapes outside of the classroom. I used different
colors to express the foreground, mid-ground, and background. I learned to
match color on the canvas to the world around me. Painting with watercolor
gave me more chances to be in nature and this gave me more freedom and
happiness. This class impacted my life to be more colorful.
See how smooth that is?
Here we see the new topic
of the paragraph: color
I wonder how it impacted her?

6. …This class impacted my life to be more colorful.
My love of art eventually turned into a love of graphic design. At some point I
began to see art everywhere. It was in magazines, newspaper, and books. I
discovered that graphic design was a significant part of our daily lives. I found
that inspiring, so I began to learn it. I learned how to design logos, use type,
create books, and so on. I learned how to use different materials and do
research. I used the computer and hand drawing together. I always drew some
sketches first; then, I scanned my sketches into the computer. I used software
to combine my hand drawing with digital drawing. I was intrigued by graphic
design because it has impact on the world. Thus, I am continuing to study it in
graduate school.
My love of art has turned into a desire to make graphic design my career. I can
only wonder how my skills in art and design will evolve from here.
Oh! She fell in love with art!
We see this same link
in the conclusion
We know studying something leads
to a career in it.
This key word references the topic of the paper
Here we see the
new topic: graphic
design, which is her
current major.

7. Gina’s Creative Evolution (Final Draft)
I am currently a graphic design student at Academy of Art University. I’ve
always had a love of art. While I was growing up, art influenced me all the
time.
My love of art has turned into a desire to make graphic design my career. I can
only wonder how my skills in art and design will evolve from here.
Conclusion of paper summarizes the main idea and
restates the purpose of the paper
Introduction of paper introduces the main idea.

8. Transitions Between Idea and Between Paragraphs
•Can be connecting words
•(subordinators, transition words)
•Can be phrases
•Can be key words or key ideas repeated