John Martz

Posts tagged “drawing”

Doodling is a pre-emptive measure to stop you from losing focus.
I believe it has an absolute biological function. I don’t think it’s decoration, and I don’t think it’s an elective. I think it’s the corollary to our immune system, except it has something to do with regulating our moods, and our ability to be in the world — you know, be able to stand it.
Lynda Barry on drawing
Unfortunately, picture-drawing is considered childish, which is partly why visual thinking has taken a backseat to verbal agility. But that may be changing, because the Internet has boosted the utility of imagery.
Clive Thompson on the Power of Visual Thinking
Draw in your sketchbook right before and immediately after working on a piece.
…comic strip drawing really isn’t drawing at all, but rather a kind of diagramming.
Art Spiegelman, on the work of Chester Gould.
Writing and drawing are thinking. We’re told in school that they are skills but that’s wrong. Drawing is a way of thinking. It’s a way of seeing.
Chris Ware, quoted in The Comics of Chris Ware: Drawing is a Way of Thinking, a book of critical essays on his work.
You best learn to draw by drawing.

Drawing isn’t work. It’s a form of prayer. And I’m bored.

From Christophe Blain’s Isaac the Pirate.

Drawing isn’t work. It’s a form of prayer. And I’m bored.

From Christophe Blain’s Isaac the Pirate.

I think copying someone’s work is the fastest way to learn certain things about drawing and line. It’s funny how there is such a taboo against it. I learned everything from just copying other people’s work.
I have spent the last few days drawing dozens of these little doodles and characters, with the intention of using them for a project. Only now that I’ve drawn them, I’ve realized how wrong they are for what I’m doing. So I’ve decided to scrap all that work and start over.
In a fit of frustration last night, I started sketching a new idea, which is not only stronger, but also seemed to form out of thin air. It didn’t, of course. I wouldn’t have been able to have that fifteen minutes of pure inspiration if I didn’t first endure those two full days of going down the wrong path.
It’s why you should never find yourself having not drawn anything for longer than a day. When you’re not drawing, you fill up with bad drawings, and it takes longer to get them out of your system. Your drawing hand is like the shark that needs to keep moving so that it doesn’t die.

I have spent the last few days drawing dozens of these little doodles and characters, with the intention of using them for a project. Only now that I’ve drawn them, I’ve realized how wrong they are for what I’m doing. So I’ve decided to scrap all that work and start over.

In a fit of frustration last night, I started sketching a new idea, which is not only stronger, but also seemed to form out of thin air. It didn’t, of course. I wouldn’t have been able to have that fifteen minutes of pure inspiration if I didn’t first endure those two full days of going down the wrong path.

It’s why you should never find yourself having not drawn anything for longer than a day. When you’re not drawing, you fill up with bad drawings, and it takes longer to get them out of your system. Your drawing hand is like the shark that needs to keep moving so that it doesn’t die.

I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.