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| 10/25/18 University Village Starbucks |
At Starbucks the other day, I sketched a young woman working at
her laptop. She was young, but she wasn’t eight, as she might look in my
sketch. When I compared each feature I had drawn to her face, I thought I was
reasonably accurate, and yet a small miscalculation in facial proportions or
some other subtlety can result in a 30-year-old woman looking like a child. Ah, if only we could shave a few years or decades off our own appearance so easily!
Of
course, I’ve done it the other way, too: Made attractive young men look like old
geezers, even when I kept their hairlines intact. The sketchbook can be cruel or kind (and usually arbitrary).
I don't think she looks that young. You are correct that sometimes the slightest miscalculation can cause someone in our sketch to look much older or much younger. Unless I'm actually doing a portrait I don't really worry about it any more.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't worry about it, either. . .it's just fascinating to me that it can be a very small thing that determines how old someone looks.
DeleteHa, I'd like to shave off a few years with my fountain pen! If only it could be that easy....
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! Me, too!
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