About Me

Well, not directly "about me," but here are some questions people have asked me about my artwork, over the years, which is kind of indirectly about me:

(These are old questions (from the blog's previous life), with kind of sort of updated answers, as best I could (quickly) render. Maybe newer questions and answers will appear here, too....)

So how long you been drawing?

Hmmm. I think the earliest work in these galleries is maybe 1993. Would put me about... mid-twenties? Not the first time I picked up a pen or anything, but it's probably around the time I started really taking an interest.

A fairly brief interest, now that I think. I putzed around for a year, maybe, then lost enthusiasm (or time, or both). Picked it up again around the middle of 2005, and kept up more or less through 2011. Then another long dearth.

Now, in picking up the pen again, I'm finding my confidence has waned (not that I had a lot of it in the first place, but what was there has certainly waned), and so I'm starting again, back at the basics.

I've decided I want to focus solely on pen and ink, (because I like it) and am playing around with beginner-y things like stroke consistency and pen control. So you might be seeing some of that posted, vs. the more complete images from earlier on. We'll see.

Ever take any classes?

A couple, but I don't think I ever brought much away from 'em. I've read through lots of books (partly because forever reading about something is less scary than actually doing it), and tried out several drawing "systems" and "techniques," but what I've found is that I just like to... draw. I like the expression of it... the spontaneity.

Don't really like trying to perfect a "technique", or getting a drawing to look a certain way, or following a particular formula. That being said, I'm realizing SOME technique is a good thing, and necessary if a person wants to improve to any great degree. Which I do, now. So again, we'll be seeing some back-to-basics kinds of things posted....

Whoa, what's with all the naked people?

The short answer is that, for a few years, each week I attended a life drawing session (models are nude), but I didn't often find time to do any other drawing during the week. So. Since most of my work was drawn from life, that's what you'd most often see updated here.

The long answer is... well, long. But it centers around a personal search to find some thing(s) to help me counteract the effects of the cultural objectification of women (and now men), which is so rampant in America. And drawing from life is one of those things, for me.

Hmm, all your nudes seem to be attractive young women - what are you, a pervert?

No.

The fact that this question even exists reflects my having lived in the Salt Lake valley at the time. People there were freaked out by my drawing and posting nudes. Sigh.

When I started drawing from life, my aim was (and is) to draw as many people - of all genders, ages, body types and races - as possible. The reality I encountered was... well, more limiting.

I was trying to draw from life about once a week - so, say 50 model sessions in a year. Did it over about a two year stretch, so I'll say 100 sessions total. And from that number, I think... 3... had a male model. So about 3% men. And of the 97% (women), most were apparently hired specifically because they were slender and fit enough to show muscle definition, etc. when posing.

Now when I was 15, I'd have been really pleased with those percentages. But the truth these days is having nearly all available models confined to one gender, age group, body type, etc. - well, it's less than optimal.

Actually, what I'll be looking at to be able to draw a wider variety of humans, is to start using photographs as reference when that type of model isn't available in the flesh (so to speak).

I think in a lot of ways, it defeats much of the purpose (why I've been avoiding it) of life drawing, which intrinsically involves a lot of communication and synergy between artist and model. (There's not a lot of synergy between an artist and a photograph, and the finished drawing usually reflects that.) But I suppose diversity via photograph is better than none at all.

And. I'm willing to question that belief (that you can't get any synergy going using a photograph for reference), at this point, and see what turns up.