Training My Little Hands To Learn to Draw Again
Sometimes, I have this paranoid thought that my hands would one day forget how to draw. I know it’s a crazy thought. Humans have always had this innate desire within us to try to make sense of our existence and of the world around us through drawing. Our earliest ancestors, the cave people have already learned this craft thousands of years ago.
When My Hands Felt Very Light, I Doodle
When my hands felt very light, I realized that it easily follows what my brain commands it to do. A gentle, flowing line there, a hint of a shadow, a hard curve at the corner and a generous flow of veinlike lines to complete the details of whatever it is I’m working on.
There are of course, some really bad days when my hands would feel very stiff and my line becomes very heavy. My drawing would have some hard edges and my fingers wouldn’t budge. They will just stay suspended somewhere in the middle of the paper, and stubbornly refuse to follow what my brain is telling them to do.
So whenever this feeling of “lightness” comes to my fingers, my hands would automatically grope for any pen, pencil and paper or notebook that I might be holding at that exact moment.
I was drinking coffee at Coffee Nations in Bali Lane [...]
Fairy Sketches
Growing up and watching The Neverending Story, Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, the idea of “other worlds” and “fantasia” have always inspired me as a child.
Some of these ideas have been even fed to me unconsciously by my parents, uncles and aunties. My childhood has been filled with Philippine folk tales of nuno sa punso, diwata and Ibong Adarna, so its not surprising that this fascination would extend until my adult life.
Recently, I’ve been reading this book by Linda Ravenscroft, “How To Draw and Paint Fairyland”. Linda provides some very useful insights into creating and inventing fairies and fairy environment.
I haven’t really had the time yet to create a real “fairy artwork”, but I was able to create some very rough sketches:
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Footnote:
*nuno sa punso – Philippine ghoul or dwarf in Philippine mythology
*Diwata – are similar to Western fairies or nymphs, possessing supernatural powers. Diwatas are avatars of Nature, [...]
When the Wedding Bug Strikes…I Doodle
I’m a very visual person.
I understand things clearly through drawing. Whenever my mind gets muddled by abstract problems or the most mundane of things, I think through drawing.
I enjoy the mindless abandon that I feel whenever I create doodles. Milton Glaser is indeed right about “Drawing Is Thinking”.
Aaron and I still have more than a year ahead of us before our BIG DAY.
I’ve been doing a lot of “thinking” lately.
Seems like I’ve been hit by the wedding bug…
Doodles from Last Year
I always keep a very small sketch notebook in my bag everywhere I go. Grocery lists, things to do and doodles are randomly recorded in this little book. Last weekend, I decided to do some re-organization of my closet and cabinets. I came upon my doodles from last year (2008) and decided to tear all the doodles from the sketchbook and paste them all inside my closet.
Here are some of my doodles from 2008. It kinda felt like opening up my imagination vault from last year and looking into what’s happening there during those days when lines and forms simply escape from that vault to stamp their form into these small papers.
