Drawesome Prompt #52

[eye_of_toad]

Lea DeLaria as "Carrie 'Big Boo' Black" from Orange is the New Black, mixed media

I really, really, really need to practice figure drawing more. I'm at that "it's okay, but there's still something wrong that I can't put my finger on" stage. I do think this is a huge improvement over the first sketch last week and I'm fairly pleased with it, knowing my skill level. But ... there's still something stiff and "off" about my figure drawings. And I know the solution is more practice and yet no matter how many times I say I'm going to practice, I let myself get distracted by easier doodles instead.

Comments

Re: gesture drawing

[eye_of_toad]

I think that's one more reason that I don't like spiral-bound sketchbooks. It's so much more tempting to rip the pages out. Prior to a few years ago, I had never filled up a single sketchbook. I used spiral-bound books and tore out the pages I hated and would end up with a "book" with like five pages left in it and I'd get super mad and just throw it away. (I would save a handful of my "best" drawings in a folder, so I wasn't throwing away ALL of my art, but I still wasn't saving much.)

But that way I'd never see my progress and it just encouraged giving up rather than going "Fuck, that's not right. How do I un-ruin this page?"

It helped a lot to just tell myself that my sketchbooks are art therapy. Some days are fluffy kittens because that's all my inner child can handle and some days it's rage scribbles because I thought I could handle something more challenging but could not.

I sometimes mini-journal as well. So yesterday's rage scribbles include the note "I filed my taxes today and only cried like five times." (TurboTax can bite me. Literally spent an hour on that website, filling out everything TWICE and still had to give up and switch to a different company because TurboTax's "free" file would just lock up on the last screen and only give me the option of paying them money that they promised I wouldn't have to pay. So ... yeah ... probably not a good day to be trying artwork that I know frustrates me.)

Days or weeks later, when I'm in a better mood, I usually go back to the rage-scribble pages and color them in with markers or colored pencil or something. The art tantrum is still documented, but it's less ugly that way when I'm flipping through.

Re: gesture drawing

[amberdreams]

using rage scribbles as colouring pages is a great idea!