I Thought This Would Be So Easy!

First… I apologize for today’s sorry-looking drawing. What is it? Well, it’s two geometric blocks together. One is that weird, unnamed thing I shared before; the other is a short, squat columnar form, and with a little imagination these two blocks together almost look like a gnome, if you’re into those things. I’m not.

Obviously I’m not much “into” weird wooden blocks, either! Again, I apologize for this drawing.

Note that I made no real attempt at adding any shadow — other than a slight bit at the base, and for what it’s worth, I tried to take my time with this, to use sighting techniques to ensure that my proportions were reasonably accurate, and I even went back with a ruler — you can probably see — to be sure my lines with straight. Despite all of that, I ended up with geometric forms that are still wonky and messy. Oh, yes, I did try to show a bit of texture, although that did nothing to improve the drawing.

It’s a bit discouraging to see that even with using “sighting”, my proportions are still off. Instead of being discouraged, though, perhaps I should just take it as a reminder to keep practicing sighting techniques. I will.

Overall, I had to laugh a bit as I worked on this graphite drawing this morning. It is, as you can easily guess, one of the drawings for my 100-Day project. When I chose “Shapes and Forms” as the theme for my project, I almost felt silly. After all, what could be easier than just drawing a geometric shape and form every day? I wanted something simple, something that I could complete without a lot of frustration, and drawing geometric shapes and forms seemed like such a good idea.

I quickly learned, however, that while drawing basic shapes may be simple enough, it’s a bit tricky to turn them into forms, and even trickier to create realistic drawings from them.

So, once more, I apologize for today’s drawing. In fairness to myself, I will say — as I so often do — that it could be worse. Even though I didn’t successfully accomplish my drawing objective, I did learn from the experience, and when it comes right down to it, that’s largely what drawing challenges and projects are all about — they are learning experiences, opportunities to try new things, challenges to help us grow and develop. Certainly my 100 Days of Shapes and Forms is doing all of that.

I give myself credit today for doing this drawing. For what it’s worth, I’ve gone through the blocks one by one now, so I’m “doubling up” and doing drawings of two blocks in one composition.

I give myself credit for using the sighting technique, even if my results were imperfect. Like drawing itself, it’s a skill to be learned. I’ll keep working on it.

I give myself credit for taking time with this drawing. It might look as if I rushed through it, but I really did slow down and think about what I needed to do. My execution wasn’t good, but I had the right idea.

I give myself credit for using a ruler and for patiently erasing and re-drawing where needed. Obviously I didn’t do enough of this! But I still give myself credit for trying.

I give myself credit for trying to add a bit of texture. I could have shrugged if off as a “bad drawing” and not bothered with it, but again, it’s part of the “practice” value of this 100-day project.

I give myself credit for adding a background, albeit a very messy one! It does help me to “ground” the objects I draw, to see them not floating in space, but in an actual sort of setting.

And, finally, I give myself credit for being honest, for sharing a drawing that’s laughable, for pointing out my weaknesses for all the world to see. All right, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. All the world doesn’t read this blog, but it’s public and anyone who visits can see my silly “gnome-like” drawing.

Yes, I thought this would be a very easy project. I quickly found out that there’s more to drawing shapes and forms than I’d realized. And I’m glad for that. This little project, no matter how simple it might seem, is challenging me and teaching me a lot. My drawing skills will defeinitely improve because of these “not-so-simple-as-I-thought” exercises.