I'm Afraid of Drawing, Too?

I'm taking a beginning drawing class this semester. I love to draw, but I've never had any kind of training. Monday was my first class and to my horror, the professor asked us to do a drawing of three vases he had set on a table (no, the picture to the left is not mine). My drawing style has always been crazy shapes or patterns - abstract stuff. For the first time, I was being asked to draw something realistically. I was terrified. I just new that my attempt was going to be horrible and that I would be the only one who didn't know what he was doing. The professor would probably look at my work and shake his head and tell me that I didn't belong in his class. My dreams of being an artist would be dashed and I'd be forever banned from any of the local art galleries and museums. What really happened was that I managed to sketch the vases and they didn't look half bad for a beginner. There were some really good artists in the class (what are they doing in Drawing I?), but there were some other beginners who were struggling as much as me. When my drawing was completed, I felt much better until I read the syllabus. Over the course of the semester, we will have several projects to work on and the one that jumped off of the page at me was that we will be required to draw a portrait of someone we know. A portrait? Of someone I know? I'm going to have to draw a face? A real face? This should be interesting. . .