Consistency
20 Sept 06
If you've ever played sports, you know how hard it is to stay in shape and maintain your focus for the sport. Even games like pool require lots of practice to develop and maintain a good eye for the game. It's tough. That's how I felt this past week drawing. You really have to draw several times a week at a minimum to keep it from being a horrid struggle to "see".

I started with 2 to 5 minute poses (which is the usual routine), but I simply didn't feel like I was seeing anything, so I had the model continue doing short poses. Unfortunately, the struggle continued. The sketches below show some of these attempts but it's obvious to me that I had some sort of brainlock going on.

Finally, I decided to change mediums (from charcoal to watercolor) and focus on shape masses rather than lines. This was the result:

By changing my focus from line to mass, I was able to see (a little) better, but it was still a bit of a painful process. My main point for this week is to stress CONSISTENCY. When I draw 5 times a week or more for weeks at a time, I can feel a power of "vision" that allows me to draw more easily and that leads to bigger artistic interpretations and concepts. The secondary point is to vary your approach and/or tools if you are running up against frustrating barriers.

E-mail me at: terry@terryvision.com I'll gladly post your comments if you like.

Till Next Time...