I enjoy asking what new acquaintances' favorite styles of art are because I love being pretentious. Most of the time I declare my favorite styles to be Post-Impressionism and Surrealism. In Post-Impressionism I specifically love the way the painters paint the crisp white lace on the noble ladies' dresses. Recently, I have realized however, that there is a style that I like even more than Post-Impressionism and Surrealism. Cartoons are my favorite art style. When I say cartoons, I define that as including both still cartoons and those in animated features, there is something so dynamic about them. Coming to this realization and allowing myself not to be so damn stuffy, I have also been indulging in exploring many more cartoons that I have not seen as well as re-watching some from my childhood. I think cartoons for adults have some of the deepest emotional impact on me when I think of all the other television I watch. I get to admire beautiful artwork drawn by very talented people, but also I get to watch complex themes be explored by the screenwriters with the help of voice actors. The medium of cartoons may be good for reminiscing on childhood, but it is also very versatile art form that is equally adept at telling stories with complex growth and emotional depth.
A few weeks ago, I facilitated a drawing night that was mostly attended by people who draw on rare occasions. Even though I was leading the event, I actually learned a lot about the perspective of novice drawers. I am not using the word artist, because I'm purely talking about people who do not draw very often, not people who intend on becoming or identifying as an artist. For this event, I made a playlist for drawing background music, ordered dinner, and set up some still life objects to draw, including a plant, a few framed insects, and a singing bowl on a cushion. The rule was to allow everyone to draw what they desired and from their own eyes. There was no instruction using step by step directions to draw something. They could use charcoal, graphite pencils, colorful sharpies, or pen.
I allowed everyone some time to warm up with drawing the still-life objects set up around the table. After that warm up time, I sat on the floor in front of the table where everyone was sitting and did a stretch; essentially picked a position and invited the attendees to draw me, explaining that this was essentially a clothed life drawing session. At first, people were shy about drawing me, and then I said, "You don't have to show me what it looks like afterwards. In fact, I don't want you to show me." Then one person said, "No, I'm definitely showing you!" and I smiled and said, "Okay that's fine." We set a timer for how long I would pose, and then I got up and asked if anyone else would like to be drawn. There were a few others who volunteered to be drawn and came up with their own poses, with just the suggestion to pick a pose they could hold without much discomfort for 10 - 15 minutes. At the end of the poses, sometimes we shared some of our drawings.
One of the comments I would hear when people shared was "Am I doing this right?" or "I don't think I did this right," when referring to a part of their own drawing. I was not expecting to hear this question, partly because I am accustomed to going to drawing groups that have regulars who just share their work and seldom ask for help on drawing something. But in response to being asked this, I realized the attendee drew the subject very well, and was just trying to fit into some idea of what their drawing was supposed to look like. A lot of times the question was around whether it was okay that they focused on a specific feature or did not draw the whole person; to which, my response is, of course that's okay, they did a really great job on the feature that they did focus on! This was not a case of avoiding a feature that looked too difficult to draw, but rather having their drawing zoom in on a particular composition, such as just the face.
When reflecting on the question of whether or not someone is drawing something the right way, now I am inspired to ask, is this better than the last time? As long as they improve with each new drawing, I think they are always doing it the right way. Of course, accelerating the improvement can come by requesting a critique from someone who is more skilled at drawing the subject they are drawing, but when someone is still getting comfortable with drawing, it is okay to just allow each new drawing to be a little bit better than the last one, particularly if it is the same subject.