Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Being Rusty (a project. That is not school-related, or money-related, or any crap like that.)

Once upon a time, I used to draw people. All the time. I drew classmates whilst they were unawares. I drew imaginary people. I drew characters from books. I drew my friends.



At some point, I quit doing that.

I think it was because my drawing skills progressed to the point where I was really starting to delve into depicting the range of emotions people's faces can convey, and I got a little intimidated.



I really don't draw much as an end in itself anymore either, and I miss it. Drawing is always just a means these days, a means to a template or a clothing pattern or a screenprint.



To remedy this, I am giving myself a project. I made a lot of arbitrary parameters, because otherwise it will have no coherence. Also, I decided to frustrate my inner hipster and do realism, which is something almost all artists do, and everybody gets sick of. Therefore, inner hipster does not like it. So I'm going to do it. Trying to get back to the way I used to do it before I (briefly) cared what other people thought.



Here's what I wrote; we'll see where it goes.



1. The subject must be a musician. That I listen to, in whatever degree. Photos of musicians are easy to find, and they have some great facial expressions. They do not need to be performing, though that's preferable.



2. I cannot use any materials other than a 2B pencil, an HB pencil, a Pink Pearl eraser, my fingers, and an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of white paper.



3.Photo must depict subject who is either deviant in appearance, and/or “making a face”: some emotion must be expressed. There must be some personal idiosyncrasy to capture: weird hair, distinctive makeup, smile, gesture, features, something.



4. I cannot use any unnecessary strokes: no photorealism, just realism. There's a difference. All I am trying to do is make the finished sketch recognizable as that particular person, and the expression in the sketch must match that of the reference as truly as possible. Minimal background, minimal shading, minimal lines. (this is deliberately to torment myself, because I am a perfectionist, and overwork/think things.)



Anyway. not sure why I'm putting this on FB. I'm only going to post it on my creative blog when it's all done. Feel free to suggest photos or musicians if you like.



TIME TO DRAW.

3 comments:

Crazy mom said...

Ah...let me think....how about.....Marcus Mumford ;-)

Crazy mom said...

I could direct you to ALL SORTS of great photos of him making strange/happy faces :-)

Lucie said...

you know, I don't think I got him yet. done.