Thank you Mr. Efron
I have had a major breakthrough. Artistically speaking, anyway.
My friend Kristen is really good at drawing cartoon-style illustrations, and when I met her during Freshmen Orientation, I was envious. I decided that I would practice until I developed my own cartoony style of drawing. Well. I've gotten okay at it, but not great.
I was poking around on DA recently, and came across a portrait of Viven Leigh as Scarlett that was so realistic I thought at first that it was a photograph. I continued on to the artist's gallery, and then the galleries of those that she had added to her own favorites. I was overwhelmed. I realized in that moment, that for the past few years I hadn't drawn anything that I could be really, truly proud of. Even worse, my drawing had devolved into quick, meaningless sketches that didn't challenge me or draw upon my skill. I had gotten away from my true love, just sitting for hours, focusing on every minute detail of a person's face, lovingly copying out their every curve and shadow.
Flipping through the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, I came across a photograph of Zac Efron. Now, I've never been much of a fan of his (sorry Tara), but something about this picture just inspired me. He was so classically beautiful, so casually elegant, that I knew I'd found my first new portrait subject.
I got all my materials and settled down comfortably to draw. The first line I drew was bad, I erased it. While sweeping the eraser bits away my hot pink nail polish left a long fushia streak across the page. A bad omen. I tore the page out, to be used as a buffer under the page I would work on.
New page. Clean slate. Perfection. I sat for one hour, ate dinner, then sat still for another five, rarely moving. The world around me faded into the background; only the emerging figure on the page and I existed. I drew him out, slowly, until he smiled crookedly up at me.
It was like I had been in a desert for so long, I had forgotten how water tasted, had forgotten how it quenched me. Now, I can't stop drinking. It's like oxygen, that perfect meditative state.
My friend Kristen is really good at drawing cartoon-style illustrations, and when I met her during Freshmen Orientation, I was envious. I decided that I would practice until I developed my own cartoony style of drawing. Well. I've gotten okay at it, but not great.
I was poking around on DA recently, and came across a portrait of Viven Leigh as Scarlett that was so realistic I thought at first that it was a photograph. I continued on to the artist's gallery, and then the galleries of those that she had added to her own favorites. I was overwhelmed. I realized in that moment, that for the past few years I hadn't drawn anything that I could be really, truly proud of. Even worse, my drawing had devolved into quick, meaningless sketches that didn't challenge me or draw upon my skill. I had gotten away from my true love, just sitting for hours, focusing on every minute detail of a person's face, lovingly copying out their every curve and shadow.
Flipping through the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, I came across a photograph of Zac Efron. Now, I've never been much of a fan of his (sorry Tara), but something about this picture just inspired me. He was so classically beautiful, so casually elegant, that I knew I'd found my first new portrait subject.
I got all my materials and settled down comfortably to draw. The first line I drew was bad, I erased it. While sweeping the eraser bits away my hot pink nail polish left a long fushia streak across the page. A bad omen. I tore the page out, to be used as a buffer under the page I would work on.
New page. Clean slate. Perfection. I sat for one hour, ate dinner, then sat still for another five, rarely moving. The world around me faded into the background; only the emerging figure on the page and I existed. I drew him out, slowly, until he smiled crookedly up at me.
It was like I had been in a desert for so long, I had forgotten how water tasted, had forgotten how it quenched me. Now, I can't stop drinking. It's like oxygen, that perfect meditative state.