by elizabeth on January 13, 2009
I’ve suddenly surprised myself with the ability to draw things that look like things. I am totally weirded out by this strange and random development. It’s hardly perfection (I could make an itemized list of its failings, but I will spare us both this indignity), but it looks a hell of a lot like what I intended it to look like and I think the whole shadowy-ness worked out nicely. Of course, it’s the product of a couple of hours of effort, so maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised that it turned out decently, in the you get out of things as much as you put ino them way of thinking. Regardless, am surprisingly happy with how it turned out.
Of course, “happy” or otherwise, after uploading this I wound up staring at it and spending another half hour or so… er, though considering the time perhaps it was closer to an hour… tinkering with the details and the (still rather rough) background (there’s more of it than I scanned). Note to self: must learn to leave well enough alone.
(And, yes, this is a drawing of someone in particular. Yes, I’m a geek. Shut up already.)
[click to continue…]
by elizabeth on January 11, 2009
Drawing is a funny thing. You may see a drawing and admire its the talent and skill it took to create it, but I really think it’s something anyone can do. The trick? You need to practice at it to be any good at it. A fancy art school education could lend you a hand with perspective, with color, anatomy, and the like, but even without it, the simple act of making marks on paper is in itself a pretty good teacher. Draw a picture. Does it look like what you meant it to look like? What could you change to make it look more like what you meant it to look like? Make your changes. Try again. Is it better? Is it worse? Trial and error will teach you a lot.
I have a fancy art school education and could go on at length about the formal properties of color and line. I can draw and paint and possibly other things too — but I’m pretty out of practice. And practice is all that really counts.
I picked up a sketch book a few weeks back on an absolute whim along with some markers with nice brush-like tips. And though I’m usually more of a pencil person (pencil marks can be darkened, lightened, smeared, erased while ink and marker are more or a one time only thing), they’re a lot of fun. You can make lots of different types of line with them and create shade and depth. I broke out some of my pencils tonight. It was good. Hardly anything perfect, but it was okay. With practice it could be more okay.
Hmm! Not sure what started all of this, but so far so good.
I’ve suddenly surprised myself with the ability to draw things that look like things. I am totally weirded out by this strange and random development. It’s hardly perfection (I could make an itemized list of its failings, but I will spare us both this indignity), but it looks a hell of a lot like what I intended it to look like and I think the whole shadowy-ness worked out nicely. Of course, it’s the product of a couple of hours of effort, so maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised that it turned out decently, in the you get out of things as much as you put ino them way of thinking. Regardless, am surprisingly happy with how it turned out.