It’s so difficult for me not to continuously look at the page while drawing. It’s like my eyes don’t believe I have hands I can draw with unless they’re looking right at them while drawing. If you recall from my last post, I’m trying to develop this new habit of actually looking at the subject I’m attempting to draw while drawing, and it’s causing some mental freak out. “NOOOOO,” my brain screams when I finally allow it to look at the paper again, “that looks horrible!”
Bert Dodson (Keys to Drawing) gave me another good pep talk for this struggle: “Most of us have a negative attitude about our own mistakes… Trial and error are essential in drawing. You make lines and compare those to the contours of your subject. Distortions will no doubt occur, and some of these you will want to correct or adjust as you go. You could erase these lines, but it is usually better to leave them for now and simply draw the more accurate lines alongside.”
So this week I’ve been practicing with completely blind drawing (meaning I don’t takes my eyes off the subject throughout the entire drawing process) and a mix of the “look, hold, draw” method from last week. Since my partner Brian is around me all the time, he’s become my mostly willing subject. I keep feeling the need to label my drawings “ugly” so you, the viewer, don’t think I’m just a narcissist who thinks my drawings are great. But I’m going to stop doing that, because it seems like a repetitive and defensive habit, and it goes against the whole point of this blog.
These were my first attempts at a portrait of Brian using the look, hold, draw method:
Second attempt, this time with his body included and drawing blind for large portions:
Third attempt, with even longer stretches of drawing blind:
Fourth attempt:
The following were both done entirely blind, so there was no peeking until I had completely finished his portrait (why is it so hard not to look?!):
Extra special bonus for coming this far (drawing cats blind is harder than herding blind cats)!!!:
Compulsive Creation 