Week# 16: Research sketching

   A wise  guy once told me, "You wanna see how much you know about something? Teach it!" so I did and to teach is to be accurate. Although I am no longer teaching traditional photography, I am a student of all things visual. I don't go to classes or have an instructor. I have learned that there is a time to be instructed and time to practice- (as a visual artist) to do is to learn. With my motto being,"You don't get any better by just attending the workshops."

    Often times I am solicited for input from those who travel the same path toward growth in their work. Sadly there are many folks who feel that they have reached a certain point in their creative endeavors and are completely content to remain at that level... indefinitely! They (believe) don't have to sketch, do color tests, studies... they just make art. For those who hunger to progress, these previously mentioned concepts are basic truth for the artist. The purest absolute being to sketch, draw and (most important) pay attention.

   Ted Seth Jacobs said it best when he was explaining how society tends to abbreviate the visual experience with symbols. He went on to explain that as children we are taught to simplify our visual experience in this symbology then praised to master these wrongful observations. The point being that if we truly want to mimic the visual experience in our efforts towards realism then me have to learn to silence the voices in our heads, break the belief of symbolism and learn to make the hand trust the eye to draw what you actually see... oh and the rewards are so much more.

   This is why I draw all the time. It teaches me to properly represent what it is I am looking at. There is something about having that truth in your work that sets the tone for success in whatever you are working on. Most importantly the truth provides the path for the beauty that is never appreciated unless time is invested to stop and really pay attention to what is before you- life!

sketching wings

   This week I drew to researched the truth of insect wings in order to incorporate the beauty into a character I am developing. Such a small vast of all the incredible things that surround us yet often goes unnoticed. Just another day I rejoice that I am an artist, teaching myself to pay attention in life.