There’s a feeling of accomplishment that’s swooped in seemingly out of the blue. One of the main goals I made for myself when I set out was to be able to capture a likeness, specifically of my wife, and what couldn’t be managed just a few days ago, just happened today. Now just to keep that ball rolling and play with the muse.I do have a question though. Capturing a likeness was an achievement, but how far should this go? How much realism is too much? I respect the skill that it takes to make a tight rendering, but it feels like it doesn’t leave loose threads to mentally play with. Too loose of a drawing and it feels like a cartoon. Only experience will play this question out, but I suspect that by aiming high, the game spoils while moving towards that goal.
How readable does a drawing need to be? It’s not as if all the clues aren’t there. My luxury is to be able to work towards serving my own preferences, but first I need to recognize what arouses my own interests. I will willingly trade readable for something less straightforward, yet much more interesting. Let the pattern of values pull in the eye. It’s curious how lines and smudges allow for the communication of an experience. Let the clues push the readability of the content, a preference for the familiar experiences of curiosity, of melancholy, of longing, of sexuality, aloneness, contemplation, playfulness, curiosity… a preference for question marks.
The issue that’s becoming highlighted and underlined is that drawing itself is a craft, an activity that can be shown and taught from person to person. The talent is variable, but generally, students can be put in a funnel and pushed through by a teacher to achieve similar consistencies. The student is focused on learning the principles of their craft and their practiced applications. A independent student can do much the same by inadvertent adherence to adapting personal taste tilting towards the presented norms of their peers and masters. Both sets of students learn the skill of drawing… ie, drawing is a craft.
Creativity applied to the craft of drawing, that can arguably be a starting point for a discussion about art. Creativity can be encouraged. Creativity can be fed, but it can’t be taught. While I believe we all have potential for some form of creativity, we can develope our sense of creativity , yet it’s not something that can’t be given to a student.
I’ve been working on developing my craft by drawing from photos, I’m more confident with using the materials at hand to create an image. What I’m not doing still, is taking creative responsibility for my own voice. I can look at the images that I’ve selected, I can see what my visual tastes are being drawn towards. I have strong opinions about composition, about visual storytelling. The art isn’t in the craft of drawing. Drawing is the medium and the tool for a creative voice. The creative voice coupled with craft is the Art.
Do what you know you are supposed to do and get busy.
My great hope was, by this point, be able to pull out a sheet of paper and satisfactorily draw the face I cherish. A year and a half in and I’m not afraid to try, neither am I daunted when I fall short. I’m disappointed that can’t capture her likeness, not even a simple likeness, but I’ll happily keep learning and trying. We all have many hopes.
Drawing her let’s me explore and experience becoming familiar with the character and beauty that’s arises from her, but I can’t seem to even approach the likeness or quality that she stands in.
