down with stick figures

if you’ve ever been my roommate before, chances are you saw me on one of my “drawing kicks”. i’d buy some pencils and a sketch pad at the LSU bookstore, doodle for a few days, and then eventually put them away and forget the whole thing. the usual reason for stopping was that i sucked at drawing.

so guess what: i’ve got the itch again. but this time it’s different. maybe it’s b/c i have more time to think about it, or maybe it’s b/c i’m older, but i think i figured out why i go on these art tangents. i’m a maker. i have this natural need to create. it’s one of the reasons i became a programmer, so that i could literally make something out of nothing. but while programming is definitely creative, it doesn’t really tweak the same nerve-endings as something like art and music do. and i know that if i actually get good at drawing it will make me better at my job, and break me out of my focused, analytical, logical rut.

so instead of just buying some supplies (well, i did that too) i went to a bookstore on my way home from work and bought The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. (aside: being able to just hop off your bike and walk it around the store rocks!) from what i can tell so far (i’m on chapter 4), this book is to drawing like Good Eats is to food. rather than just show you the steps and the results, it gets down into the science. the author spends alot of time talking how the brain works and the real physiological reasons why some people can’t draw what they see. (mainly due to the left brain dominating over the right brain)

so hopefully whenever i get through this thing i suck a little less, and maybe i’ll post a few pictures. i had to draw a “before” self-portrait, but i’ll wait to share that one until i have an “after”. :]