So Uh Yeah... I Drew Something

Drawing grungey people late at night

More old stuff, this isn't as bad. Excuse the multiple posts, can only do one photo at a time.

From Neill Cameron’s Twitter:

I was working recently with a bunch of kids who kept tearing up their own drawings in frustration, so I did something I’ve not done before.

I talked honestly to a classroom full of children about how much I hate my own drawing.

Okay, not the full extent. These kids ain’t ready to hear that. But that I do.

They were kind of appalled, and horrified and fascinated, but anyway, they stopped tearing up their drawings.

As I attempted to explain it — and many of you reading this will know already — when you make a drawing, there are two versions of it.

There’s the version that exists in your head, and then there’s the version that ends up on paper.

And because you can see both versions, you can’t help but compare them, and feel frustrated by the difference.

But here’s the thing, and I think it’s easy to forget this: no-one else can see that first version.

They can’t judge against it. They can only see, and judge, the version that exists on paper.

And you know what, this sounds crazy, but they might actually like it for what it is. They might think it’s cool that you made it.

I mean, holy god, if you guys could see the version of Mega Robo Bros that exists in my head.

Your eyeballs would melt and your heart be burned away by sheer divine fire of amazingness.

But the differences between that version and what’s on the page are only visible to me, and shouldn’t — can’t — matter to anyone else.

If a draing goes a bit wrong, ah well. Look at it, learn, try and make the next one better.

Or, possibly even better: abandon false objective notions of quality altogether and just enjoy the process, the activity, of making a thing.

Not quite how I phrased it to the Year5s, but hopefully you get the idea.

IN SUMMARY: be kinder to your drawings, and yourselves. I know, it’s hard. But try.

(Though this was written by a visual artist, the advice is applicable across creative disciplines – be kind to yourselves and to your stories!)

More old life drawing, ill post some recent stuff in a bit for comparison

Ah! Blind drawing from first year! What fun! I just found a picture with so many unnecessary lines. I'll spare you.

Life Drawing from November 20th. Gestures and blind drawing.

An illustration I did for the fantastic blog http://coolchicksfromhistory.tumblr.com/ 

Everyone should follow them!

Émilie du Châtelet

Art by Fiona Hill (tumblr)

Émilie is best known for her 1759 translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica.  It is still the leading French translation today.   A close romantic and professional companion of Voltaire, Émilie wrote on a wide variety of subjects including mathematics, physics, philosophy, and female education.

In 1737, Émilie published a paper on the nature of fire which foresaw the discovery of infrared radiation by William Hershel in 1800.  Frustrated by the lack of cohesion between the work of Isaac Newton and the work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Émilie combined elements of both along with the work of other scientists in Institutions de Physique.  Created as a textbook for her thirteen year old son, the book was published anonymously in 1740 and soon became popular in France.  

On September 4, 1749, Émilie gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter named Stanislas-Adélaïde du Châtelet, the biological daughter of the poet Jean François de Saint-Lambert.  A week later, Émilie died from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 42.

Kobayashi Kiyochika, Rainy Night at Kudan Hill, early 20th century.

Drawing for fun again. Haha what!