I was always a bit of a prodigy at drawing. As far as I can remember, I was the first person in my class to realise that faces don't consist of two blue dots and a smiley red line. I recall making a rather less-than-spectacular attempt at perspective at the tender age of 7 (prompting my friend to ask me why the bath in the picture was in the ground), and I distinctly remember someone once asked me to draw a well for them.
So with all this evidence of my artistic genius, it might be hard to imagine that there are some areas in which I struggle. I know! Doesn't make sense, does it! Me, Anna, being less than amazing at something!
No, actually, I want to be serious here because it's a great source of frustration for me. I can't draw men.
Women I can draw; I have a lot of fun drawing women, and I can see definite improvement when I practise a lot; but when it comes to the unfairer sex (sorry?), I just can't seem to get it right.
I blame my 'drawing manga' book. I bought it a few years back out of curiosity, and found out that it's actually astonishingly fun to draw girls! They have curves, in places! But when it comes to the strong, sexy, roughly triangular torso of an adult male, I have no helpful book, and I can't trace photos of myself. Rendering me helpless. And hopeless.
See? Look! WHAT is that about! The moment I decide to draw a man, I lose 30 IQ points and develop the drawing ability of an injured chimp. It's most upsetting. It's been this way for years now. Every now and then I'll pick up a pencil or plug in my wacom tablet, and produce something that I want to delete straight away for fear it might infect all my other pictures with The Crap.
Interesting thing of the day: UK types, you might have heard that Robert Webb (aka 'him off Peep Show') won Comic Relief's celebrity dance competition. This is the video of his winning performance, and I'm sure you'll agree that... uh... something.
REMINDER: Please vote me up again! The competition's hotting up!EDIT: I'd also like to recommend ablog to you all: GavD's Wrestles with Life. He's a fantastic writer, and his latest post about the causes of ridicularity poses some interesting points.
Great drawings (2nd and 3rd ones from the top). The one of the guy isn't that bad - he has the attitude.
ReplyDeleteI've never been good at drawing people. I don't know why, just something awkward.
My husband is a creative director, and he started as an artist. He draws men really well, but says that men and babies are the hardest to capture. Keep up the good work?
ReplyDeleteThat video is so funny! No, I don't know who he is but he's got to be a comedian. Please tell me he is, otherwise it's just sad.
ReplyDeleteooohh..i know exactly what u mean! haha. i also had problems with drawing men...but i kept practicing and now i'm doing ..okay i'd say ^^ don't give up, keep trying!
ReplyDeleteI can relate. I can write great male characters but for some reason my female characters are paper thin. Don't give up. You'll get there.
ReplyDeleteBeth, he is indeed. He's a great comedian, but I had no idea he was such a good dancer! Frighteningly so...
ReplyDeleteDavid, if you ever need to know what women think about, I'm always on hand ;) Clue: there's more to it than gossip and chocolate. (Not much, but still.)
The girls are better indeed. Your man looks like he's crouching in front of the couch. But his face is good, tho. I think you just have to work on the body.
ReplyDeleteThey're good drawings, and the guy looks a bit abstract, if you ask me. I have trouble drawing girls a lot more than guys. I guess since I am one, I just draw them more.
ReplyDeleteI love art but my drawing skills suck...which is probably why my hobby is photography ;o)
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the name of the book but there's one out there that has photos of people from all kinds of angles with them in various poses (even has close-ups of ears, eyes, hands, etc). That might give you the help you need. I'll let you know if I remember the name of the book.
your drawing of the man has definite simian traits.......perhaps darwin is correct?.of course he is...heehe. all you can do is practice, practice my dear, jc
ReplyDeletePlease do PPG. Same goes to all of you; if you happen to know of a good anatomy drawing book, let me know!
ReplyDeleteAnna, do you watch Peep Show?
ReplyDeleteHe is just hilarious, naiive yet satirical at the same time, I written about him in my blog ^^
I do! I got my boyfriend the first 5 seasons on DVD. It's about my cringe-limit, too. Anything more cringy - the Office, I'm Alan Partridge - is just too painful for me ;) Watching other people's suffering is hard for me, but Peep Show is my exception.
ReplyDeleteI really like the third image down - the colours (and curves) look lovely. I can't draw men or women, so I'm quite jealous.
ReplyDeleteI do not draw like you good. It is good to do somting good.
ReplyDeleteThe eyes of your first picture are captivating.
ReplyDeleteWoooow. Great art work!!! Hmm, I need a sketch artist for my designs????
ReplyDeleteBy jove, quite excellent art my dear. Keep up the good work, unless you feel like doing bad work, which is entirely up to you.
ReplyDeleteCheerio!