so i have this old used drawing anatomy book from like the 30's, its one of my favorite drawing books. i got it at a used book store in berkeley a couple of years ago. it has a really bland, boring cover, which i will post someday.
i was thinking about the intimacy of drawing today, how gratifying it is, the sound, feel and smell of it, the paper, which can vary i know, and the pencil. i was simply using a standard writing pencil for this, as the lack of contrast can testify. lately i have been working on the layout and format of my comic and doing some digital art, and these are fine examples of creativity, but for myself drawing is better. it is as close as i get to free expression, minus the anxiety about showing it to someone, or the thought it might be seen again.
so, today pre and post dinner, i decided to draw. i pulled out my old timey drawing book, which sits next to bridgeman on the shelf, a treasured gift from a friend, got my board, paper and pencil. then i open to a random page, and begin the time honored artistic practice of copying an old masters. then i decided to see how drawing from life is different.
i not being rich, have to draw from myself, and use my camera on my phone to take a picture of my eye. now as i write this i realize that a photo is not from life, i guess i should have got the mirror!
in the photo above you can see my progression, i started in the top left, then went to the top right and back down to the bottom left and then right again. with the small neutro-knight logo being the last drawing made. the faces is profile were copies of the given material, and look better in person, as all the contrast is washed out, as well as the linework, but oh well, not important. in the upmost right corner is a copy of the book's eyeball diagram, which led to all this.
(sidenote: its funny how one image or drawing can lead to some much more. see: this agnes' drawing.)
so, i drew this small diagram, and thought to myself, if this still holds up, i dont know what i really meant by "holding up", but i decided to apply it, and so i photographed my eye and drew from it, as close to the diagram as i could.
above, the eye on the left is a more representational drawing, read: taking more time, and the following one on the right is broken down, with less care in modeling and tone. it is more line as volume. i am sorry if the photo is not hi-res, but i figured no one really wanted to be bothered with huge images. the line as volume approach is of greater similarity to the 1930's diagram, a simply line drawing. with intent on communicating the lesson and not being bogged down with rendering. which i have always found to be a trap, rendering that is. to simplify in line is divine.
below, you see more of this approach, a more rendered photo-reference drawing on the left with time taken to tone and model, followed by it again taken with a simplified approach.
the lesson, or point to all this...
is to draw.
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