"Hi folks! Art Teacher Uncle Eddie here!"
"Today we're going to talk about sketching outdoors."
"Well, not really outdoors...I mean, the real outdoors is dirty and full of bugs and rain. I mean the civilized outdoors that you find inside malls."
"OK, let's see. What examples do we have here?"
"Yikes! This (above) is just what I was talking about! Never, ever, ever do sketches like this! Why? because nobody wants to see realistic depictions of boredom or drowsiness! Half of being a good sketcher is knowing what to sketch. Not every subject is equally worthy of your attention."
"What is worth drawing? Well, cute girls for one thing! Here's some by Katie Rice!"
But that's (above) not the only thing. Character types are worth drawing...anybody that suggests a story...anybody that's fun to think about, even if they're evil or silly.
"But a word of warning! Never draw people who are pulpy! Fat and skinny are OK, even ugly is OK, but not pulpy and shapeless. Most people who will see your drawings worry about their weight and reminding them of it depresses them."
"Resist the temptation to draw what you see. Empty tables (above) are boring. The perspective problem is an interesting one, but as a story-telling cartoonist your time is too valuable to spend on this.If you must draw this scene, move the foreground person to a table in the distance and ask her to look forlorn, as if she's oppressed by all the emptiness around her. Imagine that she's waiting for a date who will never come."
"Was that helpful?"
"There's more but I reckon that'll do for a start. See ya next time!"
23 comments:
oooooooh How i've missed your photo essay blogs, Uncle Eddie!
great post, and i love how in the "Was that helpful?" photo, you're looking at us with your teeth rather than your eyes!! Genius.
A lovely Sunday Lesson.
I hope you cleared it with whoever you took the sketchbook page from(the first one). Did you? Don't just say you found it on Google so it's fair game. All your many carefully produced visuals are on Google too. Better if you'd done your own "don't draw like this" example, don't you think?
So whoever's they are, are they aware that they're being used as a negative example? Whether couched in a "funny" post or not, they still have been placed next to Katie Rice's drawings, which seems a wee bit unfair.
Cool post Eddie. I love to see artists interpretations of people. Each person interprets everyone differently so its good to see what certain quality a person has that a cartoonist focus' on.
By the way, who is that lovely creature sitting all alone by herself in that pic.
ok, i imagine you sound like jerry lewis, confirming my comment that your natural voice doesnt fit your face *mmhmm*
I need to work on drawing girls more often. The curves are hard to get right. ug! Great Post!!
Gotta love those bunny teeth!
Anon: I didn't criticize the quality of the first person's artwork, just the choice of subject matter. Nobody gets mad or hurt about stuff like that.
Jesus: I don't know that girl. I got the picture off the net.
I always had trouble on how I should draw someone in the mall. If you can make a blog about about how you can not piss a person off when drawing them that would be very helpful.:) By the way I really learnt a lot from the broadcast announcers like Witchell and Murrow, I was wondering how you feel about Myron Cope because my friend showed me some of his stuff when I told him that all the sports annoucers are boring.
Hi Eddie! Nice jacket!!
Drawing in malls or in public has never been easy for me! Either you get approached and pestered by the people you are trying to draw, or the interesting subjects around you run off before you can get your drawing finished. I once had a guy come up to me and ask for my sketchbook! He was real forceful and rude about it too!
Thanks for the nice words about my drawing, too! I hope you'll post more of you own drawings when you can...those are my favorite posts of yours!
thanks for the great tips!
nice bloggin as usual unk. I often draw boring-ass people, reading snoozing or spacing on the subway, I sometimes is looser then others but mostly I make drawings of a variety that you'd rail against in theory. The only thing is, I don't want all the people I draw from my imagination to look similar, and unreal. So even though it's not as exciting as dramatizing a fleeting moment in a cavalier short-hand, I slavishly try to polish this relationship between reality and my brain. drawing how people really look is hard for me, capturing gestures is easier, I try and compensate. Is that so wrong Unk? you can check out a smattering of my subway drawins @: http://simonobservation.blogspot.com/
Then drop some guidance upon my waiting ears. thanks for bloggin pardner, rock on
I stopped drawing cartoons in public because I'm sick of fat goth chicks asking me to draw Invader Zim or Stewie Griffin from Family Guy.
The worst and most annoying reside at Starbucks. But then, I'm allergic to four dollar coffees, so no prob.
Great photo essay, Eddie! How'd you make those teeth?
- trevor.
We should not say "God bless Stewie Griffin" but "God DAMN Stewie Griffin!"
Ah, I've been forgetting this lesson. Bored people are just too easy! I'll be going out sketching again soon so I'll have to apply this information and draw some exciting people!
Thanks Uncle Eddie!
Hey Eddie..
I guess one good thing about drawing people who are slumped or asleep is that they *don't move* so you can spend a bit of time drawing instead of rushing.
I've never enjoyed "public drawing." I don't like drawing outside in bright daylight (I have lots of "floaters" in my eyes so I don't like bright light) but more than that, people seem to instantly clue in that you're sketching, and they want to see what you're drawing, and come and bug you, or if THEY are the subject, they instantly seem to know, and then it just gets plain awkward.
I'm tellin' ya. Some things need to be done in the solitude and privacy of your own home in a dimly lit room. Drawing being one of them!!!!
Cynthia
tangoland.com
Nico, Vincent: Thanks!
Bob: Who's Myron Cope? Do you have a link?
Katie, Boo, Tango: Yeah, it's hard to sneak drawings of people. I'm putting together a book (really an illustrated pamphlet) on my theories about stuff like this and I'll try to sell it here. Don't worry, it won't cost much. I just have to figure out how to pay the tax.
Clown: Holy Cow! Your drawings are great! You're entitled to follow your own theories!
over the years i have perfectioned my sketch-ninja skills. its all about watching your subjects's expressions.
often they start to have this awkward look in their eyes 'hey waidaminnit is that guy sketching me or what'
then i just make myself invisible!
eddie i really would love to buy your
pamphlet on outdoor sketching techniques.
I get scared when i draw in public, like people are going to notice i'm drawing them, and then get mad. =/
yeah here's a link,
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08058/860750-13.stm
I never heard anything about him, but I was reading the article about him and watched some videos with him and he's really funny.
here is a video I saw some of his stuff
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5160295095122758109&q=myron+cope&total=61&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6
Also I asked my dad if he heard of him and he told me another announcer who I know nothing about, which is myron cohen.
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with the problem of drawing people in the mall
heres a better video of myron cope than the one I sent you last message
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7648830096583113660&q=myron+cope+live&total=2&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
Bob: Wow! Myron Cope was great!!!! Now he's one of my heroes too! Thanks for the links!
I heard this quote from Flannery O'Connor on the radio last night. It's just as true for drawing:
"The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention."
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