Friday, December 07, 2007

DRAWING LESSONS FROM MY DAUGHTER


"PORTRAITS" by Dad's Daughter


1) When drawing a man (like my Dad, above) always start with the stubble. Take time to get it right because it's the most important part of the face.

After that, draw what you see in a band that goes either across the face or up and down. Whatever's not in that band gets the short shrift. In the example above the band is horizontal and includes the ear and the nose. The mouth and eyes are outside the band and therefore are drawn tiny, as an afterthought.




2) Above the mouth the head bends. Paws make great hands.



3) Eyes are over-rated and are seldom worth drawing large. Now the ear and nose, THOSE are the true mirrors of the soul! Adults have HUGE noses! Glasses are also over-rated. Draw them tiny and floating Chagall-like in the air.



4) Adults are grotesque! Shapes bulge out of the face like ginger roots on steroids. On a face like my Dad's it's best to draw each section of the ginger root independently, without thinking of how it fits into the rest.
Pay attention to the muzzle and how the stubble wraps around it.


5) Sometimes it's fun to experiment with pie-plate head shapes. After all, the on-lookers are way too busy looking at the beautiful stubble you've drawn to know if the head-shape is working. Be sure to put lots of tiny blood vessels in the nose and don't skimp on the ear hair!
Note from Dad: I actually wrote this but the ideas are my kid's.

21 comments:

Nico said...

hahahahahhahahaha!

Patrick McMicheal said...

That's some of the funniest drawings I've ever seen! What a sweetheart drawing her daddy that way!

Lester Hunt said...

paws make great hands ... the ears and nose the true mirrors of the soul ... don't skimp on the ear hair! I'm going to memorize this. It's like a poem! ... Eddie, you should tell us how old your daughter is. In some ways this is hard to interpret if you don't know that.

Krishva said...

Your daughter's art is totally brilliant.

Lee said...

Love the post! Love the drawings! Good times.

Bitter Animator said...

Wow, the second one and the last one are total genius. I mean, they're all good but the character in those two is quite baffling. What age is your daughter?

I'm sure you've seen this, Mr.F, but if not it's well worth checking out - http://www.themonsterengine.com/art.html It's a site that has paintings based on children's drawings and the results are fantastic (although I often prefer the children's drawings as they're so much fun).

Kali Fontecchio said...

The much talked about drawings! SO ADORABLE!!

RedDiabla said...

Your kid's a freakin' genius. Love it!

I.D.R.C. said...

On a face like my Dad's it's best to draw each section of the ginger root independently, without thinking of how it fits into the rest.

Never heard more beautiful prose.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Thanks, guys! The drawings are my daughter's but I wrote the text, pretending to be her. I wasn't trying to fool anyone, I thought everyone would know. Sorry if I misled.

These drawings were done a few years ago when my kid was beginning high school. She doesn't draw so often now.

Bitter: Thanks for the link! An interesting site!

I.D.R.C. said...

I was fooled. I only thought she came out just like her pop.

pappy d said...

These are wonderful!

The artist clearly loves her dad.s

pappy d said...

These are wonderful!

The artist clearly loves her dad.

Anonymous said...

** There always is something refreshing to see when looking at someones drawing that hasnt been jaded by drawing day in and day out at a drawing table with a phony production manager asking if you can finish your by yesterday. Respectfully, I still enjoy seeing "innocent, untrained, unrestrained," art. Childrens art in particular is the best with no regard to rules (or directors with big egos and no vision). Rules suck.

***********************
Incidentally, I think what Pappy was trying to say in his/her/its post was...

"These are wonderful!

The artist clearly loves her dad."

It may have been a bit vague with a measly 2 posts. :-)

Taber said...

What awesome drawings! I particularly enjoy the "Noses and Ears are the true windows to the soul" bit. hilarious!

Lester Hunt said...

I too was fooled. I assumed it was an as-told-to job. I did one with my son when he was about six or seven.

mike fontanelli said...

Genius! Dorothy owns you.

Anonymous said...

Hey Eddie, this is off the topic, but could you please post some of your drawings you did during your Ren and Stimpy days? I'm trying to identify your scenes in the cartoon. I would really love a little study guide on how you drew both Stimpy and Ren. I hope you make a post about it.

jkmack said...

off topic, but no other way to contact you... thought you might find this new yorker article, on the effect of the virus on human evolution, interesting.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/03/071203fa_fact_specter

Marc Deckter said...

Not sure if my last comment made it through - but these drawings are great! I agree with anonymous 6:15, it's refreshing to see "innocent, untrained, unrestrained art".

JohnK said...

Dorothy rules.