Friday, November 30, 2007

Drawing a Point of View


"Drawing, as suggested by the examples reproduced in this book, involves more than making an accurate rendering of a subject, just as it requires more than the skillful manipulation of media and technique. Drawing is about content; it presents a point of view, interpretation, and expressions of the individual artist."
from Mendelowitz's Guide to Drawing, p. 10

One of the first projects in this drawing book is to make a "scribble drawing". You scribble all over the page (mine was 12 in x 12in), then stare at it and see what image pops out at you. You then start darkening values and lines to see what emerges. I remember doing this sort of exercise as a child, waiting for a parent to pick me up. I loved it then and still do now, it was good fun.

I found myself struggling against wanting to fix things and make lines more accurate. It was interesting how the image I had originally seen in my mind kept coming and going as I tried to bring it out of the scribbles. By the end, I had lost it completely. I suppose that my mind was now working with what was on the page, and it had changed, so my mind's "goal" image also changed.

1 comment:

Valerie Jones said...

Someone had me try this exercise once and I found it very trying on my brain. I'm too much of a perfectionist and have to have things turn out the way I see them. Good job for trying this! I think it turned out beautifully!