Monday, November 1, 2010

Drawing with Restraint

When I draw, it is not always easy for me to exercise restraint. I've ruined so many sketches through excess - I love the process of filling in space so much that I smother my drawings with shadows, textures, and distracting backgrounds. Every once in a while, however, I manage to lift myself from iniquity, and a drawing escapes unharmed:


There is something so fluid about this drawing, that looking at it makes me want to work on a whole series of them. Sometimes, detail is necessary for a drawing to come together (is this true, or am I just making excuses for myself?), but it's nice when everything gets described in just a few lines.

Embarrassingly, I almost filled in this whole thing! I had my pen to the page, ready to start hatching, when my wife saw the debauchery in which I was about to indulge, and literally yanked the pen from my fingers. Which means that she is really the one responsible for this drawing! Ah! I am exposed as a fraud in an inferno of shame! How can I face you now, my dear readers, when you know my most damning secrets, have seen the skeletons stuffed in my closet! If only I could run, could hide from your judge-y eyes!!! Alas, it is not to be. Look upon me, dear readers, the sketch-book damned.

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