So last night my daughter was sitting there being her beautiful self and she agreed to let me draw her. We were both tired.
I got frustrated. I know I shouldn’t – it’s just learning process and I know I have a long way to go. I should go and reread the first chapter of my own book eh? “Don’t compare yourself… permission to be imperfect … time to learn… ” yada yada yada.
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| Left: last night, from life. Right: this morning, from a photo. |
So I know I’m going to get there eventually but I wanted to make on good drawing NOW. Well – bedtime and then draw in the morning. She let me take a picture. I photoshopped it to up the contrast and turned it black and white. Then I traced the back of the picture a bit, placed it on the paper and traced the outlines again to transfer the pencil to the paper. If I wasn’t doing it in my sketchbook I would have just used a light table. Yes I consider all these things crutches. Cheating – sort of. I want to be able to draw what I’m seeing without them. But for this morning – who cares? I got the outlines in the right place and filled in the shadows from there. I gotta say. It’s satisfying to see the results.
7 Comments
Sherise Marie Wright
March 28, 2012 at 8:51 pmAWESOME! I want you to know that as a quilter I love sketching new ideas for my quilts. Your work is awesome and keep going!
Happy Quilting!
Sherise
Chicago, Illinois
Kathleen
January 30, 2011 at 3:09 pmI think your work is brilliant. Thanks for putting up the images you aren't satisfied with — not just the "good" stuff. You truly are an authentic artist.
Judy Warner
January 30, 2011 at 11:50 amI think you are well on your way. Just remember to give yourself permission to play!
Diana Louie, The Village Fabric Shoppe
January 29, 2011 at 6:01 pmWhen I was teaching Junior High Level Art we often used Photographs as reference for faces, and I allowed tracing in the way you described for "correcting and adjusting proportions" I don't think you cheated at all. Many great realist painters used photographs extensively, there is an exhibit up now on Norman Rockwell and the photos he took for refernce, I think it is at his museum. ( some of the subjects of his paintings actually work there- much older now of course )
lyric
January 29, 2011 at 4:53 pmNot hard on myself toooo much.
Mostly I'm having a lot of fun with this.
But I REALLY want to, at some point, be able to just look at something and draw it – no in-between steps. I WILL get there. It's only one month into this year.
Joy
January 29, 2011 at 3:47 pmBoth pictures are beautiful!!!! The act of tracing the outline of the image is teaching your mind/hand connection a few things. I learn by feel, and this sort of "cheating" helps me a lot. Don't be so hard on yourself!
Janet Ghio
January 29, 2011 at 2:36 pmI think it is so much easier to draw from a photo than from real life–I don't know if it is cheating or not? Who makes those rules?–is it like the quilt police? LOL
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