Hey Elizabeth! I agree with you that noses are hard to draw, but for me so are eyes, lol. Of course with my drawings, I am not attempting a realistic look for human beings or their body parts at the moment, simply because I don't have the natural talent to do so. I am curious, though, how long it takes you to doodle something like the single eye you posted. The eyebrow itself looks as if it would take an entire doodling session, for me at least. You obviously have either natural talent or instruction in drawing technique, because you know how to create, for instance, the reflections in the iris. Overall, you get a realistic look of the eye. Now with me, I absolutely love to draw, and I've been doing it on a regular basis since 2016 (and I was painting in the 90s), but until recently it's almost entirely been abstract. Now I am drawing realistic scenes from the "1989" scenario, but because I cannot make a human look exactly like a human, I am going more for a cartoon look. What I concentrate harder on, are the backgrounds, things like mountains or houses or streets or tunnels. I work the hardest on trying to create a recognizable context, so if I am drawing an underground tunnel, as I am now, the viewer will recognize it as such. The humans I draw are secondary, somewhat better than stick figures but not identifiably authentic.
My "1989" drawings do seem to be forming in a continuous style, though, which pleases me. I am almost finished with my fourth one, which does take place in an underground tunnel. If anyone saw these drawings who was not familiar with my stories of 1989, they would think I was nuts, haha.
But I am having fun, and am trying to train myself in things like perspective and shading. For instance, I wanted to draw a car at a certain angle and I kept getting it wrong and having to erase. So I actually went outside and looked at some cars from the same vantage point, and I studied the depth perception and the mirroring of the sun and stuff like that, and it helped me a whole bunch. Just trying to conceptualize a "whole scenario" of what I want to include in an entire picture - before I even start to draw - helps a lot. Doing this is a form of intent. "I want to draw such-and-such, in this particular way". Then I visualize it in my mind......then I very slowly begin to pencil it in, beginning with the most obvious object in the picture. I use short pencil strokes and have learned to leave room for overlapping objects and not to completely fill in any single object right away.
It's tricky but I am getting the hang of it, and most importantly I am having a blast! I only have time to draw for about 30-45 minutes in the evening, but I do it while listening to classical music, and because I have kept at it, I am getting some good (if cartoonish) results.
This trend toward realism started with my purchase of the Prismacolor pencil set, one of the best art decisions I've made in recent years, so thanks for the tip on the pencils! They are great and now I've gotta get the even bigger set with more color choices......
I could talk about drawing all day. :):) Draw, listen to opera and read about Schopenhauer, lol.
I did watch a movie tonight, called "Two Men In Manhattan" (1959), directed by the great Jean-Pierre Melville. Why he is not a bigger name in French film is a mystery to me. I mean, he is known, but not on the same level as Truffaut or Godard or Chabrol, and he should be, because he is the master of the French Crime Film. Jacques Becker is great also, as we know from his two classics "Grisbi" and "Le Trou" that we have recently seen at CSUN, but Melville made a whole lot more films in the genre, and every single one of them is fantastic. To me, he belongs at the top of the heap.
The story is about a United Nations Representative who has gone missing. He is the rep from France, and the French press who are stationed in New York City are trying to discover where he is before it becomes a scandal. The man is known to close associates as a womaniser. Director Melville himself stars as the reporter from Paris Match who is hot on the trail of the story. With the help of a photographer friend, a Frenchman also stationed in NY, they seek out a series of dancers, prostitutes, singers and actresses the UN Rep is reputed to have known. We get a tour of late 50s New York City in the process, and boy does it ever look slick in black and white. I would bet that Martin Scorcese saw this movie and used it as an inspiration for at least the intro to "Taxi Driver". Melville is about as good a photographer as you are gonna find for city street scenes.
The plot concerns whether or not the two men will be able to locate the missing United Nations Rep, and what they will do with the information if they find him. Is he out on the town, cheating with an actress? The photographer hopes so. He is an immoral alcoholic with no scruples whatsoever. This is shown when the two men sneak into the hospital room of one of the man's girlfriends. She has just attempted suicide over the news that the man is missing, and yet the photographer cares not about her condition. He takes flash pictures close up of the poor woman in her hospital bed, with the intention of selling them for big money to a scandal sheet.
Jean-Pierre Melville's newspaperman character is slightly more moral. He is after a story, too, and he is leading the way to find out what happened to the UN guy. The two men interview woman after woman. Finally they turn up an important clue, but it leaves the Rep in a compromising position.
What should a free press do in America? Should it print disgusting pictures that will ruin a man's life and career? The photographer thinks so, because the photos he has taken will net him thousands.
Melville, however, is working for a very scrupulous editor, who lectures him and the photographer on the overriding indecency of ruining an otherwise good man's life by printing photos and/or writing about his secret moral failings. The UN Rep in question was a French war hero and a political vanguard for his entire career. Only a few insiders knew of his womanising.
But now Melville and the amoral photographer know, and they have pics to prove it.
Should they print them? Should they tell their story with no holds barred?
Or should they respect the man's past heroism and his lifetime dedication to country?.....
The plotline is only half the fun in "Two Men In Manhattan", which I am gonna give Ten Thumbs Up because Jean-Pierre Melville rules. The movie is a time capsule of NYC that can't be recaptured except in such movies shot on location during that era, but the thing with Melville is his attention to detail. He captures every little thing about the city, even things you might miss if you were just passing through.
It only takes 10 to 15 seconds to show a cop putting on his jacket in a diner, or a street kid smoking a cigarette, or a nightclub chanteuse in a recording studio. She actually gets a scene of her own, but there are many other uncredited characters that we only see in passing, but who give the night in New York a sense of authenticity.
My highest recommendation for "Two Men In Manhattan", and for any of Melville's films. Be sure to check out his work if you like French Crime Movies. He is the best. /////
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo (tons of love) :):)
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