Haha second post in a day; I'm quite sure this hasn't happened in a year! Which reminds me; Frivelocity just had its first birthday a few days ago. Yay! happy birthday, dear blog-thing!!
Anyhow, it is currently the same day, but later; just came back from a good stroll around the department store, visiting the same bookstore as yesterday, plus had some pseudo- but delicious Italian/Thai combination of lemon chicken and spaghetti at Good Man Caff'e (sic).
But I digress about food; right now I'm returning, again, to that state of mild fever for looking at art. Drawings. This was somewhat helped by all the books on Graphic design in Kinokuniya in Sydney, full of wondrous and beautiful and wild illustrations. Often of seemingly nothing in particular.
Drawing is something I abandon again and again, largely because of the lack of results the activity produces. It's not that I don't finsish any drawings or never improve, but over these three years, lined with exams, I rather think I've been shaped to pursue, as best as possible, hobbies that have to be slightly unusual, and/or productive. [They include and are not limited to:
~ Early '09: Juggling ((Not only is it entertaining, I decided this was productive because The Reader's Digest has referred to studies which show that this helps the brain store information different ways.)) I went from being un-co queen of klutzes to being able to juggle three well, and four not-so-well. Hooray!
~ Throughout '09: learning to solve puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku. More brain training. I didn't get very good at either of these.
~ Late '09, Early '10: 'Energy' manipulating - similar to what energy healers/reiki practitioners work with, except this was purely experimental. This was very exciting and rather tingly, because it's unseen but felt forces at work. Or play.
~ Early-mid- '10: Writing poetry.
~ Late '10: Gymming (okay, so I've only been five times, but still.)
The viola doesn't count. I'm going to be blunt and say it stopped being a hobby and more of a chore about two years ago, despite being the one I stuck with for the longest (10 years?). I admire Music students for their perserverence and performances. And stylish dress sense, but that's a different thing. ]
Drawing, as a hobby, comes and goes. By drawing, I don't mean silly little doodles like in the sidebar to the left here, I mean drawings that take a long time to get "right". This thing that I do threads in and out of existence over weeks, maybe even months. It's like a faithful dog or sock or something that just keeps popping up (not that I would ever abandon a dog!). This is because I dislike my lack of personal "style", and because there's nothing I can really do with a drawing after I've drawn it.
The aspects of drawing(s) which define how I draw appear to make it very narrow:
- I love drawing people, much over drawing anything else: animals, still-life, landscape, etc.
- I like drawing women, over drawing men. Women are just more beautiful to look at.
- Intricate patterns and detailings mesmerise me, and I stare at them for ages, and try to commit them to memory.
- I like stylized pictures more than attempts at realism.
- I don't like spending a lot of time on precision - fluid, robust and fast etches for me; portraying the general 'feel' of an image, rather than reproducing what's there. (Otherwise I'd do photography).
- I revere colours, and all aspects of colours. How colours contrast; which colours grab one's attention; how people see the world through colour-deficient eyes. They taught us about hue, saturation and brightness in Part 1 Optometry this year; I've understood these for years and years.
- I am not inclined to draw if I don't think someone will, or should, look at it afterwards. This is why I used to draw so much when I frequented forums. People love digital art. Maybe this is attention-whoring, at its zenith. But it really makes it very fun.
- I flit through drawings styles a lot. This has frustrated me an equal amount, because only once have I only ever come close to capturing a signature way of rendering, and that was when I was 14 and drawing chibis.
***
In my search of a productive hobby I've rediscovered my fondness for drawing; and something exciting has come to light. Everything I've named above suggests that my love for drawing can go hand in hand with a specific genre - fashion illustrations.
And I'm not sure why I've never really noticed it before. I only really realised this after looking at the scores and scores of art in massive graphic design books in Sydney, and seeing that some of the artists work in fashion illustration.
Now I can't say I'm hooked - yet - but my interest is really piqued and I'm thinking about how I've ever drawn, how I've always drawn, and the types of pictures I've collected (online and from cuttings).
It turns out that a lot of fashion illustrators have blogs. Very exciting - this means I can follow a whole horde of them, and learn more about their way of drawing. More specifically, I am interested in knowing how the concepts are transmitted from the runway, to paper, to the interests of other bloggers.
I haven't drawn regularly in a very long time. Thinking about starting it up again.
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