I was inspired by the drawings of a 5 year old. I noticed how straightforward, bold and quickly those drawings were made. I also noticed a preference for thick bold lines, so I tried a number of tools to give me those lines.
That was my inspiration.
On Drawing with Thick Lines
I was thinking of the combination of stright and curved lines that crate the main shapes of a gorilla. This drawing captures what I mean best, but it wasn’t my first attempt.
My first attempt was much cruder but it captured the intention well. In some ways the first attempt is the best one, because it captures the the intention, but it also has the most ‘mistakes’ from a lack of understanding, as it was drawn without reference.
In my third attempt, I begin using reference I was looking for specific details of the face, like where do the ears go, and noticing what i notice that is different from the picture in my imagination/memory. This picture captures more ‘realism’ but sacrifice attitude and personality.
This one, captures the most originality, and is the one I can learn from the most. In it I describe the length of the gorilla’s hair the best, which is a useful piece of information. I think drawings are a kind of diagram that transmit information more directly than words, the diagram can hold a variety of different visual metaphors that our brain interpret. I enjoy mixing metaphors in drawing as it creates novelty and humour while conveying more information than a representation can on it’s own.
This drawing is one of the most successful of the lot, in it I synthesise a lot of the learnings from my previous drawings. I’m moving away from experimentation and into the realm of synthesis and editing.
After years of drawing ‘ugly’ drawings like these daily, I sometimes wonder how they relate to my actual job. A the answer is that the drawing themselves might not be something that has any use in the future, but they increase my awareness about subject, about tools and about myself.
And these combination of daily upgrades are so valuable.
I stoped working on a penguin character yesterday because I got stuck, todays unrelated practice got me unstuck and gave me a lot of ideas to explore when I go back to working on it.
What tools do you have that give you a thick line? If you had to do 1 minute drawings with this tool what subject appeals to you.
TEN MINUTE ARTIST PROMPT
1 Minute Drawings with a thick pen.
Today I invite you to make a number of 1 minute drawings of the same subject with a thick pen.
Think of different aspects of the subject you can explore in each drawing. Feel free to leave the drawing unfinished. (In some of my drawings I excluded the face altogether)
The purpose of a thick pen is it doesn’t allow you to get to finicky with tiny details, so you get to focus on subtraction, proportions, shape and silhouette instead..
Remember to be playful and not fuss about the result either. Draw with the freedom of a child, when you feel like you’re done, do one more, incorporating the best bits of all your studies.
Producer, rapper and fashion designer Taylor the Creator, “creates like a chile, and edits like a scientist”. It’s a good approach that has the different parts of your mind taking turns rather than fighting each other.
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