This is so interesting, Holly! I find making a “finished” piece of art very difficult because I love the freshness of the unfinished piece, the beauty of the marks that build up to make a work of art.
Whereas writing may be a tearing down and drawing/painting a building up, the common ground between the two is that they are both explorations. They both start from the same place on the map of wonder. When I think of this, I think about how Lewis Carroll did not have a word processor. The most elaborate tool he had may have been a fountain pen. The typewriter was as yet uninvented. Imagine his revisions.
My father was an animator whose work spanned the inception of the medium until the advent of computer animation. I remember watching him when he was still doing everything by hand, preparing to lay down a final highlight on a painting of a spacecraft. He used an airbrush for this. He made at least three or four passes with the instrument before the releasing the final zzzzt of paint. It was perfect. He had been practicing his entire life. It still amazes me and I can’t come anywhere close.
I really love your art and your imagination. I discovered your work on instagram this summer during 3materials and really loved your ability to convey atmosphere by leaving a lot “unsaid”. I hope you can allow your drawing to take shape naturally, come into focus as your skills increase. Your voice is authentic and that is priceless.
Thanks, Holly. I’m @lynnetuitive on IG. I am amazed when people can use the computer to manipulate their hand drawn work. I think @ohnmarwin has done a good job of it with manipulating her watercolor paintings for commercial food illustration. She has a very fresh style and it comes through. For me, I feel lost when my hand doesn’t actually feel the medium, because either writing or drawing I have to at least start with the drag of pencil on paper. The word processor is a godsend (I had to write longhand or use a typewriter in college…ack) but procreate is a lot more challenging. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here overall. I tried one of your Companion Pieces and it helped me get in the deepest zone I’ve been in for a while. Really great.
Ah, thank you for engaging so deeply with this piece! I think if you have fresh and beautiful marks (and that's where your taste lies) then you have a finished work of art.
Fascinating to hear about your dad. I don't think I've yet lived through the computerisation of any of my skills, but that's something I've got to prepare for...
I'm drawn to hand-drawn and almost consciously wonky animations, but I guess that would be visually tiring when trying to tell a longer story. I suppose we need a certain amount of cleanness, accuracy and technical skill in an animation so as not to distract us from the important parts.
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I'll try to figure out who you are on Instagram and return the compliments!!
I can very much relate to a lot of points you made! I've been thinking more and more about collaging – if the final illustration consists of more than just one part (for instance a foreground and a separate background), it might be easier to make changes... Sometimes I've also considered cutting out the parts I don't like and keeping the bits I do like. Isn't revising a text sort of like that, cutting and pasting, collaging?
Yes! I've been using collage to patch together an image I'm happy with. But collage has a very distinctive look that I don't always want. I'm hopeful that I can learn to digitally collage in a way that's not too visible. Editing text as collaging is a nice analogy :) When I revise writing, though, I feel like I'm making new pieces to stick down (not pulling them from an existing bank)
I really enjoyed this meditation on a perennial illustrators’ problem - keeping the freshness of roughs in finished work is something I’ve had so many conversations about over the years and I still don’t know what the answer is! It’s interesting to think of writing as the opposite process…
Thank you so much, Jane! It's so encouraging that you enjoyed this. I think my writing analogies are occasionally going to fall short, but I like that they're making me think about old things in new ways, or about new things entirely
Thank you! I'm just on the train now with a bag full of window stickers for the phone box. I had to look up what a pill bug was! Up here we call them 'slaters,' but the family name for them is 'cheesybobs.' It always takes me a few seconds to remember they're 'woodlice' to most people.
Excellent Holly; I love your analytic approach and your insights. I would probably preface ‘getting through the ick’ with ‘if you can’ , and sometimes I can’t! I’d never thought of checklists for drawings before but you’ve made me realise I do have them, I’ve started to scan and print out my roughs, I then scribble directions to myself all over them - I don’t mind scribbling all over a printout and somehow having a second remove from the original gives me more clarity- and a lot of recycling!
Oh it’s not an official list just big circles round things with notes that say stuff like ‘make head bigger’ ‘add printed texture here’ ‘ not working- re draw’ 😂 but it is useful because if I don’t get it done that day I know where to start the next time I have a drawing day! Also I now realise how important printing stuff out is for page turns 👌
Aha OK! I do have an 'official' (albeit unwritten checklist) for editing writing, and it also results in notes that say things like 'think of better metaphor,' 'too much description,' 'feelings?' and 'but why?!' 😅
I enjoyed reading this. I've been chasing what I call 'the free line' forever, and in fact now I'm basically writing about the history of that chase here on substack... I've tried no end of tricks to keep me 'looking the other way' when I make my line, I really enjoyed your thoughts about this, thanks.
This is so interesting, Holly! I find making a “finished” piece of art very difficult because I love the freshness of the unfinished piece, the beauty of the marks that build up to make a work of art.
Whereas writing may be a tearing down and drawing/painting a building up, the common ground between the two is that they are both explorations. They both start from the same place on the map of wonder. When I think of this, I think about how Lewis Carroll did not have a word processor. The most elaborate tool he had may have been a fountain pen. The typewriter was as yet uninvented. Imagine his revisions.
My father was an animator whose work spanned the inception of the medium until the advent of computer animation. I remember watching him when he was still doing everything by hand, preparing to lay down a final highlight on a painting of a spacecraft. He used an airbrush for this. He made at least three or four passes with the instrument before the releasing the final zzzzt of paint. It was perfect. He had been practicing his entire life. It still amazes me and I can’t come anywhere close.
I really love your art and your imagination. I discovered your work on instagram this summer during 3materials and really loved your ability to convey atmosphere by leaving a lot “unsaid”. I hope you can allow your drawing to take shape naturally, come into focus as your skills increase. Your voice is authentic and that is priceless.
Thanks, Holly. I’m @lynnetuitive on IG. I am amazed when people can use the computer to manipulate their hand drawn work. I think @ohnmarwin has done a good job of it with manipulating her watercolor paintings for commercial food illustration. She has a very fresh style and it comes through. For me, I feel lost when my hand doesn’t actually feel the medium, because either writing or drawing I have to at least start with the drag of pencil on paper. The word processor is a godsend (I had to write longhand or use a typewriter in college…ack) but procreate is a lot more challenging. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here overall. I tried one of your Companion Pieces and it helped me get in the deepest zone I’ve been in for a while. Really great.
Ah, thank you for engaging so deeply with this piece! I think if you have fresh and beautiful marks (and that's where your taste lies) then you have a finished work of art.
Fascinating to hear about your dad. I don't think I've yet lived through the computerisation of any of my skills, but that's something I've got to prepare for...
I'm drawn to hand-drawn and almost consciously wonky animations, but I guess that would be visually tiring when trying to tell a longer story. I suppose we need a certain amount of cleanness, accuracy and technical skill in an animation so as not to distract us from the important parts.
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I'll try to figure out who you are on Instagram and return the compliments!!
I can very much relate to a lot of points you made! I've been thinking more and more about collaging – if the final illustration consists of more than just one part (for instance a foreground and a separate background), it might be easier to make changes... Sometimes I've also considered cutting out the parts I don't like and keeping the bits I do like. Isn't revising a text sort of like that, cutting and pasting, collaging?
Yes! I've been using collage to patch together an image I'm happy with. But collage has a very distinctive look that I don't always want. I'm hopeful that I can learn to digitally collage in a way that's not too visible. Editing text as collaging is a nice analogy :) When I revise writing, though, I feel like I'm making new pieces to stick down (not pulling them from an existing bank)
I really enjoyed this meditation on a perennial illustrators’ problem - keeping the freshness of roughs in finished work is something I’ve had so many conversations about over the years and I still don’t know what the answer is! It’s interesting to think of writing as the opposite process…
Thank you so much, Jane! It's so encouraging that you enjoyed this. I think my writing analogies are occasionally going to fall short, but I like that they're making me think about old things in new ways, or about new things entirely
Btw I love your flying babies and the little girl curled up like a pill bug - what a fantastic idea for an exhibition! Can’t wait to see it
Thank you! I'm just on the train now with a bag full of window stickers for the phone box. I had to look up what a pill bug was! Up here we call them 'slaters,' but the family name for them is 'cheesybobs.' It always takes me a few seconds to remember they're 'woodlice' to most people.
Oh I like yours better!!
Excellent Holly; I love your analytic approach and your insights. I would probably preface ‘getting through the ick’ with ‘if you can’ , and sometimes I can’t! I’d never thought of checklists for drawings before but you’ve made me realise I do have them, I’ve started to scan and print out my roughs, I then scribble directions to myself all over them - I don’t mind scribbling all over a printout and somehow having a second remove from the original gives me more clarity- and a lot of recycling!
I like the scribbling on a print-out idea - thanks for that! I want to hear what's on your drawing checklist too (please!)
Oh it’s not an official list just big circles round things with notes that say stuff like ‘make head bigger’ ‘add printed texture here’ ‘ not working- re draw’ 😂 but it is useful because if I don’t get it done that day I know where to start the next time I have a drawing day! Also I now realise how important printing stuff out is for page turns 👌
Aha OK! I do have an 'official' (albeit unwritten checklist) for editing writing, and it also results in notes that say things like 'think of better metaphor,' 'too much description,' 'feelings?' and 'but why?!' 😅
I enjoyed reading this. I've been chasing what I call 'the free line' forever, and in fact now I'm basically writing about the history of that chase here on substack... I've tried no end of tricks to keep me 'looking the other way' when I make my line, I really enjoyed your thoughts about this, thanks.