The latest assignment was to "think of something that exists that you've never seen, and probably never will", then "articulate it", so I thought it would be a good idea to get together with another assignee, have each of us write a description of ourselves (both physical & a bit about our interests), send them to each other, then try & draw each other based on those descriptions. I soon connected with someone, & they sent me this:
I'm a classically-trained musician. My primary instrument is voice (soprano). I'm currently getting my master's degree, and I am teaching music theory as a grad assistant. My favorite thing to do is curl up with a good book, with classicaI music in the background (Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss). I love to read (my favorite book series is The Lord of the Rings), watch nerdy shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, and watch movies (Star Wars is my favorite). I've gotten way into YouTube over the past year, especially the Vlogbrothers (of course) and Crash Course. This past week, I started listening to Night Vale, and I love it now too.
[...]I'm a 28 year old woman, a bit overweight and medium height (5'7"). Pear-shaped (big hips). I have an oval face, and pale skin (I'm white). My hair is cut about halfway between my chin and my shoulders. It curls out a bit at the very tips, but is otherwise straight. I have bangs swept to the left side of my face. My hair is light brown (kind of like Shailene Woodley's). My eyes are green (not brilliantly green, with some brown in them, but not quite hazel). My nose and lips are normal sized? I don't usually wear lipstick, but I do wear mascara and light purple/pink eyeshadow. I usually wear dresses or skirts with tights (for work).
Based on that, I came up with this:
First off, let me state that I wanted to colourize it, but it seems that in the hustle & bustle of moving things to & from the RV, I have misplaced my coloured pencils. Perhaps when I find them I shall draw another, but for now this must suffice.
This project was a very interesting process to work through. After several attempts to do a portrait-style rendering of the subject, I concluded that I lacked the technical skill to adequately capture the beauty of the human form in a manner that I deemed acceptable, so I had to alter my approach. I decided to take a more figurative direction, attempting to capture the general spirit of the subject via the use of background scenery & such. I did my best to be physically accurate as well, but, as I stated above, I found my abilities a bit lacking. This lack also led to the final image being somewhat different from the one I had in my head. As I would flub a line here or there, or make an awkward angle of perspective, I would have to make changes. This is especially evident in the way she is sitting. I would start from the feet & work my way up, altering the angle or placement of the various parts depending on how the lower bits turned out. Although it was occasionally annoying, I found that this approach really freed up my stylus, & the final draft is a product of her description, my intentions, & the whims of fate & fancy; sacrificing accuracy for the sake of art.
For me, that has always been both the greatest challenge & greatest greatness of making pictorial art: I am a realist at heart, & want to create the most perfect representation of the real & imagined worlds in my head, yet my skill is such that even my best work comes out looking somewhat cartoonish. But what of it? Even though I am sometimes frustrated by my inability to capture the images in my mind, the act of drawing is fun & stimulating to the soul, & I am (almost always) quite proud of the finished product, however unlike the ideal it is. This Art Assignment really revealed to me that art is a collaboration between the artist's brain & body: it is the imagination's creation as interpreted by the artist's abilities. That often the very act of creating changes the creation.
Thanks to The Art Assignment for inspiring this idea, & thanks to Nadiact1000 for coming along with me on this artistic journey. To see her side of the project, click here (Ye should definitely check it out. I dare say it looks quite a bit like me, as ye can also see in my follow-up post)
Random Fact: Although it looks like I snuck a self-portrait in there, that is actually supposed to be a picture of Richard Strauss. The reason it looks so good is because -- except for the hair -- I traced it off of a portrait I found online :P Other than that, I either drew everything freehand, or traced it from earlier drafts I drew freehand.
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