drawanyway.com

Yesterday I tried to make the point that you don’t have to draw every minute detail you see when you’re drawing from life. One of the nice things about painting and drawing is that you can alter reality - and let’s face it, where else in life do you get a chance to do that?

However, another nice thing about art is that there are no rules. So one person says you should draw big. Why not decide to go the other way, and draw really, really small? It might work for you. Or, fly in the face of the general precept that drawing without lines is a good technique, and decide to border everything you draw with really thick lines. You never know, you might start a new movement. The thick line movement*.

So today I am going to contradict yesterday’s post, and add that, for some people, putting in every tiny detail might just be the thing that tips them over into greatness. That way, I can come clean and admit that in fact, some of my favourite art (by others as well as stuff I’ve drawn) is exceptionally detailed.

For example, take a street scene that shows every road sign, telegraph pole, telephone wire, railing, and traffic light. These are all things we see every day. Perhaps, to some extent, we screen them out because they are so mundane.

That might be the precise reason that a detailed picture can work so well. It’s as if the artist is reminding us to look again at these everyday objects.

There’s a shared recognition, too. This is a technique that works in literature, comedy, film - so why not visual arts?

Your task du jour: choose a subject, large or small. Could be a view, could be the stapler on your desk (this should work well with relatively complicated equipment). Then see if drawing it in minute detail is a technique that works well for you. If not, well, you can always go back to the loosening up techniques.

* Hello, Lucy Cousins.