A Tiny Vocabulary

Since my breakthrough, I’ve been having more fun with my drawings from imagination, but I’m working much harder in a different way. I have greater admiration now for cartoonists and others who draw from their heads. I spend way more time thinking about ideas than I do with execution. I enjoy being creatively engaged – thinking sporadically throughout the day about ideas for future drawings – but I realize now how much more relaxing and unpressured it is to sketch on location. For the latter, I simply show up and draw whatever I see. Certainly there’s work in looking for an interesting composition, but having the limitations of whatever is visually present makes the job much easier. I didn’t think it was possible, but I have an even greater appreciation for urban sketching now!

Coffee cup with built-in cream dispenser

Despite the brain work, I am thoroughly enjoying my 100 Day Project again. It’s still pushing me firmly outside my comfort zone, but without the daily “test” that the frustrating memory exercises used to be. My vocabulary of objects that I can draw without observational help is humorously limited, so I’m challenged in that way, but on the other hand, the limit makes things easier. If I could draw anything from my head that I wanted to, I would probably take even more time to conceive ideas. And the more elaborate the concept, the longer it would take to draw. Faucets, handles, pumps and scissors are things I can draw from memory in a few minutes (though the ideas may have been stewing for days).

The Faucet Architectural era

My limited vocabulary drives home an important point: The more I draw from observation and then practice from memory, the wider my vocabulary will become. This is proof positive that drawing from observation is never wasted. In fact, I absolutely believe it continues to be the most important skill I can develop for whatever I want to draw – from sight, from memory or from imagination. It seems so obvious and fundamental, and yet drawing from observation for 10 years did not make me appreciate that basic skill as much as I do right now.

Faucetwear for the rugged individual