That, friends, is the scientific name for the Brown Bear. Throw that into your party-conversation every now and again and watch the number of impressed people not change at all...
Hey, I try. Although there are many types of Brown Bear still, so if you're trying to be specific, there'll be a third jumble of letters thrown onto the end there. Just don't get in a scientific name-off with a Bearologist any time soon, that's all I'm saying.
So anyway, this weekend, I decided to play with Sharpies. They're utensils that I feel as though I should be able to use more adeptly, but unfortunately my attempts usually end up looking like childish scribbles (more so than anything else I do, to clarify). But I want to get better at things, so I'm gonna keep trying, darn it! As I've been working on improving my printmaking skills, as I discussed in this post from a couple of weeks ago, I've been drawing a lot of bears. (Why? Because I think bears are adorable and would be the perfect subjects for some Christmas cards.) So when this itch to try a Sharpie drawing came upon me, an image of a bear was the first thing that popped into my head.
Hey, I try. Although there are many types of Brown Bear still, so if you're trying to be specific, there'll be a third jumble of letters thrown onto the end there. Just don't get in a scientific name-off with a Bearologist any time soon, that's all I'm saying.
So anyway, this weekend, I decided to play with Sharpies. They're utensils that I feel as though I should be able to use more adeptly, but unfortunately my attempts usually end up looking like childish scribbles (more so than anything else I do, to clarify). But I want to get better at things, so I'm gonna keep trying, darn it! As I've been working on improving my printmaking skills, as I discussed in this post from a couple of weeks ago, I've been drawing a lot of bears. (Why? Because I think bears are adorable and would be the perfect subjects for some Christmas cards.) So when this itch to try a Sharpie drawing came upon me, an image of a bear was the first thing that popped into my head.
I started out with a light pencil drawing, because I will never be so good at this that I can bang out a semi-lifelike drawing of a furry critter with no preparation.
I scribbled and scribbled and scribbled some more, trying to take into careful consideration where every one of those marks was going. I tend to have an issue from time to time where I seem to expect my hands to be able to make the image in my head magically appear on paper, and I end up with some seriously awful results. No matter what another artist might tell you, it is absolutely necessary for you to think about where you're putting every line, dab of color, and shape, if you want what you're making to turn out at all how you're picturing. (Does that sound like common sense to you? I hope so, because it is, but if you ever watch a seasoned artist painting or drawing or sculpting or throwing pottery, I swear it looks like they're just sort of magicking it onto the canvas or paper or whatever. Turns out that's experience, not a technique. This will be a blog post in the future, I can smell it.)
Now, I say I was obscenely careful with every movement that marker made on paper, but there was still a little bit of lighthearted scribbling involved. This was a project for fun, after all, not to induce more stress.
Now, I say I was obscenely careful with every movement that marker made on paper, but there was still a little bit of lighthearted scribbling involved. This was a project for fun, after all, not to induce more stress.
I had decided before I began that I wanted the image to be on a black background, so once I was finished trying to imply fur all over the place, I set in trying to fill in the background.
The toll of Sharpie fatalities was high that day.
And once that was done, I was finished! I will say, this is far from the kind of drawing I would count as a success in the world of Sharpie art. It's actually a little juvenile. But I don't even care. It's better than I expected, and I know that the next one will be even better than this. I had fun, and I learned from it. I learned to be even MORE careful with the marks I'm putting down. I learned to take line weight into consideration even more than I already do (there are some delightfully bold and blunt lines that show up from time to time on that thing, and I think that I could have used those more intentionally and effectively if I had planned it from the start). There are a few other things I learned as well, but they're silly little details, and/or I've already forgotten them.
So, of course, as soon as I was done, went and waved it in Paul's face, because I'm still a little kid that wants people I care about to tell me that something I've drawn is cool. I'm still very seriously considering putting it up on our refrigerator. And since it doesn't LOOK like something I drew as a small child, I'm showing it to you all as well. It's not a masterpiece, but it's progress, and proof that I had fun doing something for a little while.
Thanks for looking,
Sarah
Thanks for looking,
Sarah