10 Comments
The straight lines for rhythm after the curves have already happened, that's the bit I always get wrong. I go in thinking I know where the structure wants to live and then the piece tells me I was off by a mile. Sounds like you let it speak first.
Yes, you should try. It's only after the curves have been laid out that I look at where straight lines would be most appropriate. And only then do I wonder where they should appear and where they should be hidden.
That line about letting the hand form the curves and then deciding where color goes after, that's the part of making something I always find hardest to trust. The temptation to lock it all down from the start instead of letting one decision call the next. Sounds like you've found a rhythm that lets the piece say when it's done.
I can't seem to have a precise idea at the start of what I'll end up doing. Of course, I think about where I'm going to put color, but I trust my instinct more than my will. I admit it, sometimes it doesn't work (and I also share with you my "bad" drawings). But I found a balance by working this way. I think I would have a lot of trouble drawing otherwise.
That instinct over intention split, yeah. Some of the work that's stayed with me came from trusting the accident more than the plan.
Letting the hand move and then deciding where the color goes, that flow you describe feels like such a generous way to work. It sounds like you really trust the process to take you somewhere.
I don't think I really know how to do it any other way. Even if sometimes I feel like adding color before drawing. But most of the time, in the drawings posted here, it's really the basic linework that gives the finished drawing all its momentum, not the other way around.
That makes complete sense, the line itself knows where it wants to go.