7.30.2015

Copying

From my previous post you may think I’m against copying.  That’s really all a how-to-draw book is, after all.  But not so.  I’m all for copying.  Copying is an extremely effective way to learn how to draw,- to learn how to do anything really,- but you have to go about it in the right way.  The point is the process, not the product.  
If you ever go to art museums, you may see a person sitting in front of an Anguissola or Cezanne, carefully painting a copy.  They’re not doing this for fun or profit, or to hang a oil that’s nearly by a master on their wall.  In all likelihood their finished painting will get thrown away or painted over.  It’s the process they’re after.  By mimicking the masters, they learn their painting techniques.  

Pictured: Learning.

Many have said (and this sentiment has been attributed to tons of people, from Leonardo to Rembrandt) that by drawing you learn. Meaning that you can look at something as hard as you like, but you’ll always see it a little more completely when you draw it.  Kind of like the fact/theory that you retain what you hear better if you write it down.  Studying the old masters isn’t enough, because you don’t really examine something until you try to faithfully reproduce it.


Here’s an example you can try, to show you how well you understand something after you draw it.  
  1. Draw a dandelion from memory.
  2. Draw a dandelion from life.  Be as detailed as you can.
  3. Wait a day, then draw a dandelion from memory.
Your third dandelion will be miles more accurate than the first one.  It will be nowhere near as accurate as the dandelion from life, but look at how much more information you retained.  I bet you thought you knew what a dandelion looked like before; I mean, they’re everywhere.  How could you not know what a dandelion looks like?  But things like that sort of blur into the rest of living.  Few people really look at things, especially closely enough to reproduce them.


I imagine the same technique would apply to writing.  If you sit down and try to faithfully reproduce the spirit of the words in Pride and Prejudice, but not the actual words, you’d have to examine each sentence much more carefully.  Suddenly you’re looking at the details of the sentences, seeing things you didn’t catch before, forming new theories about the characters.  Maybe even developing your own style in the proxy copying of Jane Austen.

Sketchbook Creatures

 Come October, the shores of Canada are swollen with the tiny, soft, fat globules of beached Odobenus rosmarus lipidus.
They "meep" softly.

This appears to be the product of an unholy union between a mouse and a walrus.  Probably inspired by Ursula Vernon's Smallrus, which is so cute it makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

7.28.2015

The Best How-To-Draw Book You've Never Read

Let me guess, you like art and your mom or another well-intentioned relation bought this book for you, thinking it was like all those other crappy How-To-Draw books with insipid drawings of puppies, mythical creatures or busty amazons.



Well it is your lucky day, my friend, because you didn’t get one of those terrible books, you got this one.  This one will teach you how to draw well.

First lets pick apart why How-To-Draw books are just the worst.

Here’s a typical excerpt from a How to Draw book.

First, draw a circle/triangle/square.
Then draw a triangle/circle/tetrahedron for the head and tail.
Now add scales and fire.



Apart from stifling creativity, it also produces a pretty shitty drawing of a dragon.

How to not draw a shitty dragon.

Step 1. Draw 100 dragons.  Make each one different.
Step 2. Draw 100 more dragons.  Make each pose different.  

Congratulations!  You’re now a pretty awesome dragon drawer.  If you don’t think so; good!  This means you’re not content with your level of skill and will not stagnate like your more easily appeased peers.  Draw dragons every day until you are happy with your level of skill and then draw dragons every day because you are awesome at it.

How to become a Master Dragon Drawer.

Step 3. Spend 10 hours drawing one dragon.
Step 4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 endlessly.

Probably not their first dragon. by Dragolisco

For whatever reason the people who make How-To-Draw books are solidly mediocre artists.  Or maybe they’re dumbing down their art for the simple masses.  Either way, if you only learn from them, you can only get as good as they are.

7.12.2015

Grand Marais Art Fair

Yesterday had all the Grand Marais locals wandering around town in a sweaty daze, telling everyone they met "It really isn't like this.  It's never this hot."   Strangely windless and sticky on the shores of Lake Superior, but still beautiful.

My demo piece did not take nearly enough time.  I'm mostly done, and still have a whole day of art fair.
Hard to see, but here's the sketch.