Seeing is believing

“When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don’t eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out.” - Winnie the Pooh

Well yes – it’s a quote with a very tenuous link to the drawing below but it’s a great quote and a great drawing. The point is – don’t overdo it and ruin it in the process. It’s not necessary to get bogged down in detail to convey the character and spirit of your subject. This is really a follow-up to my last post which looked at the advantages of allowing the mind of the viewer to complete the picture. I love this drawing (as those of you who have downloaded the e-b‎ook will know) and I realized after sending out last week’s post that it would have been the perfect example of what I was talking about.

Once you can see (or imagine you can see) the person in the portrait at least stop drawing for a while, stand back and ask yourself “does it need any more, or would it be a more evocative drawing if I left it as it is”.

All the best,

Hugh

‘The Artist’s Mother’ by Georges Seurat crayon on Michallet paper

About 1882 – 1883 12 x 9 3/16 in.

By permission of the John Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles