August 27, 2025

"...The illusion animators are after ... has to be in line alone and it must represent some story point. In that sense, drawing [for animation] is less a reproduction of nature, and more of an invention of the artist. It has to be a subtle mixture of reality and imagination."

Drawn to Life: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures, Vol. II, Chapter 25: Concepts for Drawing

In this week's adventures in drawing: mermaids, smoking detectives, dancers, circus performers and a tired artist falling asleep in front of her sketchbook, representing how I feel about trying to draw after a full day of cooking, cleaning, work and responding to a constant barrage of "Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama."

I've heard that unless you can spend 40 hours a week drawing, you'd better not even bother trying to become an artist. I might get an hour a day to draw, if I'm lucky. Maybe two. That isn't stopping me. Maybe it's good that I've never succeeded at doing what I'm told.

Some weeks I seem to be able to churn out the work, some times I barely scrape by with a drawing or two. I really hope my 'mentors' are right and it's actually the consistency that matters in the end.

I'm consistently trying to work down my drawings. I want them to look like these. From the pages of Drawn to Life: Vol 2.

Drawing for animation is storytelling with pictures instead of words. One of these days I'm going to be able to pick up my pen and create magic with it. Until then, on to the next.