Recently, it seems like in the animation industry drawing rough has become a style in it of itself.. and nothing else! There is the mantra "It's better to draw rough and make it clear then to worry about the details".. or.. "block in the general ideas first..then the details are secondary".. But here is another perspective from a great draftsman Rico Lebrun (famous fine artist and teacher at chouinard and disney)
"Even the slightest indication must at all costs avoid vagueness. The writing must be intense and specific. The blocking in of large mass, simulating boldness, is often a promissory note which we will not be able to honor later. It is, in fact, the story of the particular will lead properly to the general. A false reading of the particular will change the entire structure"..
here is Lebrun on sketching..
"..When we cannot really talk we gossip. When we cannot draw we "sketch" hoping to bypass the difficult through brevity.. the sketch should be the unering chart of a condition. It should never be used temporarily to placate vanity, which seeks to affirm itself through the delusion of promises made and promptly forgotten. Anxiety can encourage vacillation to suggest promising but untenable hints. It can lead you to shoot a round of ammunition at an imaginary target while the enemy is sitting on your rudder. It can reassure for the wrong reasons.."
10 comments:
Those are awesome, Sharp words that clearly uphold uncompromising quality! It is completely true what you said Shiyoon, there are such 'mantras' in the industry that are based on shallow grounds, only deriving from surface value, and not true artistic insight and wisdom. I LOVE how he compares drawing and writing. The mastery comes (both in writing and drawing) in the powerful 'definition' of your statement, and I completely agree that most times if your statement is scattered, it will carry less resonance. I think this separates mere 'artists' from true 'masters'.
Hey Hey!! Just wanted to show you a sculpt that was inspired by one of your drawings...My husband, Ryan, sculpted it. You can find it on his Deviantart site here:
www.ryantottle.deviantart.com
I think your work is so beautiful! Keep up the amazing work! :)
Alena
These are some of the most interesting words on drawing I have read in a while. Nice post!
guilty as charged. i'm quite brought to the senses by reading this. very astounding.
dang...i need to reevaluate things.
I never thought of it in that sense before. I'm very much a sketch guy - more comfortable doing a ton of various sketches on one subject than a long, deliberate drawing on the same thing. To think of it as reassuring for all the wrong reasons...that's a new incite.
Also, thanks for sharing the blog at SDCC! I also appreciate the feedback you gave at the portfolio review!
Kind of mixed feelings on this.
I think he's saying that it's not enough to just get a gesture and rest on that - the details, however small, have got to be with as much clarity and skill as any broad line of action. Yeah, I agree with that.
I think though that depending on whatever style someone's going after, the emphasis may not be on the same thing from artist to artist. Some may have a better go of it doing large minimal-line gestures and leave it at that; others may use that part of drawing (the minimal line/broad sweep gesture) as a step towards using whatever favorite skill of theirs on the drawing they want to use next, like lighting/tone, or composition, or line weight, etc.
I think it's a good reminder in the article: that whatever tricks one has in their grab bag, that each one has its place and shouldn't be slacked on if possible...
In fact (and maybe I'm seeing this filtered through the lens of a board artist), I kind of think that's what he's getting at here: Be so skilled at every aspect that when it comes time, you'll be able to bust out on all aspects of your drawing (detail included) with as much intensity, skill, and speed as that first blocking-out sketch.
...And you know, keeping with an analogy in the article: small talk in conversation isn't such a bad thing.
I kind of get what he's getting at here, that each drawing should have focus and purpose every time, not just meandering doodles. But there's the danger of making each drawing so over-emphasized and a moneyshot (again, seeing this through boarding lenses) that the flow of the whole thing is kind of at a high note the whole time, y'know. Using the music analogy: No crescendos, no bridges, no interludes, not build ups, etc. - just one long intense motif over and over again.
But this kind of applies to comics too, doesn't it? Each frame can't be a mind-blowing piece of poster art - there are scenes that do need to have a (skillful) subtlety about them - again, like small talk - in order to lead up to the weightier things that one may want to say later on, both visually and story-wise.
Well shoot, now you've got me typing. Two posts in one day. Aiyah.
These quotes are awesome, where it can find the complete words of Master Lebrun?
these quotes are awesome. thank you for sharing. I found your blog via mark kennedy's blog. I just have to say, you did such awesome work on Tangled. I saw it twice, once w/ 3d glasses and once without the glasses, (because the colors dull with the glasses don't they?!?!) I also bought the art of book. You guys are so dang talented. The movie floored me with how beautiful it was. Thank you thank you thank you, and send my thanks and awe along to all who worked on the movie if you have time :D
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