No music related post today, and not for lack of good music I want to write about with new You Me At Six and Paramore having dropped last week. Today I want to talk about a little struggle I had growing up drawing in public a lot.
I’ve always enjoyed drawing characters. Bringing someone to life on paper, creating someone who looks at you. It’s a way of practising, and of letting your mind take a break, rather than an expression of something.
I don’t mean to draw what I draw most of the time, I don’t start with an image. When there’s paper in front of me and I acquire a pen, I will doodle. And doodling characters is what I like best.
Somehow people seeing me drawing always assume that I’m depicting a certain character. Everyone will ask who it is, and only some will believe my honest answer – nobody, actually? Just some girl?
Some people find that answer very hard to accept, which leads to frustrating conversations very quickly. It’s a little funny, but I never understood where this expectation came from, this idea that I can only draw things that already exist.
I draw a head shape. Add eyes. Add a nose. And a mouth. And some hair. Some body, some items the body interacts with. Boom! New person! Infinitely more simple than making sure your features match the ones created by other artists to draw someone else’s character!
It’s not a real issue, of course, and I’m always happy to answer any questions about my art. People taking an interest are appreciated. One time on the tram a lady asked where I had gotten the linework of a piece I was working on, thinking I was only adding colour when I was creating a full drawing on a white piece of (digital) paper. It’s heart-warming and a great motivation to keep going.
But this one conversation I’ve had so, so many times. “Who is that?” And I really, really cannot come up with names for everyone that i draw.
jenyoyo 