I am still thinking in terms of “this vs. that” today. Why, I don’t know. Maybe it is because I have been feeling conflicted lately. Or maybe it is because of Bionic Commando: ReArmed and all the Deathmatch play I have been uber-enjoying. But anyway, today I have been wondering about drawing, and drawing from a subject vs. drawing from your imagination. I am in no way a great sketch artist, but if you give me something to draw from, I can generally produce a decent likeness of said object on paper. Basically, I do possess the ability to “trace” things that I can see with my mind. That leaves me thinking.
How can I train myself to be able to “trace” images that I can see with my mind’s eye? Is this even possible? Do most “good” artists draw from models, photos and subjects or are some simply so good that they do not need to draw from subjects and the images just flow out? I mean, obviously there are some artists who can draw the human figure from their mind in a snap, but might have trouble drawing a Ferrari Testarossa from memory. And that makes sense. Something technical, like a car, needs to be memorized or studied from the actual subject or a photograph of the actual subject to create an accurate likeness with a pencil. You cannot draw something you have never seen, but then again, someone had to make a drawing of a Ferrari Testarossa from their imagination to begin with, or there would be no such car. Anyway, a Ferrari is not something you see everyday. But what about things we do see every day? Something like a person or my dog. I know exactly what CeCe looks like and that suggests that if you lined up 50 Chihuahuas I would easily be able to pick CeCe out from the group without any trouble. That means that my mind has memorized various details about what CeCe looks like so that I could tell her apart from the other dogs even if their differences are only slight. My mind knows exactly where every spot is, every little white eyebrow hair, and every bit about her size and shape. But if I try to draw CeCe, something stops me from being able to render a perfect image of CeCe down onto paper in an accurate fashion? Does the answer lie in hand-eye coordination? Is there a link between my mind and my hand that is not strong enough to translate the image properly? Is it a right-side, left-side conflict? It’s a known fact that more left-handed people are good at drawing than right-handed people, and I am right-handed, so could that be it? Or is it possible that my mind has memorized the details of CeCe in a different way and not as a mental snapshot? Maybe she is nothing but a combination of small details in my mind that equate to CeCe. I don’t know. But what I do know, is that there must be two types of talent, natural and trained, and I am neither. I’m just a doodler, and I have to make myself content with that, somehow. So why do I do it? I have been compelled to render images on paper since I was a child and I have never been particularly good at it. My desk at work is strewn with papers, notes from work, and amongst them, loads of little sketches of this and that. I would say that I am an expert doodler, yes, but far from a great sketch artist. So, why? Why would I continue to do something that I am not at all good at? I have known plenty of people who are absolutely fantastic artists who can draw and draw and draw wonderful and stunning drawings, who have completely given up the art, for one reason or another. If I could draw nearly as well as some of those people, I would probably lock myself up at home with a pencil and paper for weeks at a time. Or maybe it’s just normal. Maybe there are a lot people out there who love to do something even though they suck at it, like playing the guitar, or writing, or singing. And even though they suck at it, they keep doing it because they are compelled to, and don’t know how to do otherwise. Who knows? But it is something I have thought about for a long time, and it is really quite annoying.
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