What is drawing?

~ What is drawing? Are there specific tools/ surface/ media interaction that define this act? Must it be 2-D and does it require a frame/ boundary to exist?

Drawing: a picture, image, etc., that is made by making lines on a surface with a pencil, pen, marker, chalk, etc., but usually not with paint, which would designate as a painting. There is really no limit on what you could use as tools or surface areas. a drawing does not have to be 2-D, and does not necessarily need a frame to exist in space.

~ Must drawing be graphic in nature? Elaborate with at least 2 examples.

Graphic is defined as:

1. giving a clear and effective picture

2. pertaining to the use of diagrams, graphs, mathematical curves, or the like

3. of, pertaining to, or expressed by writing

4. written, inscribed, or drawn.

5. depicted in a realistic or vivid manner

 

I  would say that a drawing does not necessarily need to be graphic in nature, as it could be very simple with few lines, not realistically portraying a specific image, but perhaps giving the impression of something, material or non-material. 

 

an example of a graphic drawing:

Pencil drawing by Rick Fortson

 A non-graphic drawing:

Heather Hansen uses her body as a tool while interpretive dancing to create non graphic images.

Heather Hansen - heatherhansen.net

 

~ Does the act of drawing necessarily result in a drawing? Are the two mutually inclusive? Explain.


The act of drawing doesn't need to result in a drawing, it the verb just could be used as a way to release emotion by using tools on a surface. A person could draw with their hands in a puddle of spilt ink just for the texture or experience of doing it, rather than to create an image.



~ Does drawing serve as the basis for other forms of art or stand on its own? Does it matter that we make a distinction?
Drawing does serve as a basis for other forms of art such as painting or building a building. It can stand on its own, if the artist just wants a drawing alone. It does not matter that we make a distinction because it has always been the root of all art.

~ Find three examples you feel best exemplify DRAWING with captions (artist, medium, date, size) and an explanation on WHY you chose these.

"Evil Queen" - J. Scott Campbell, 2009, pencil

I chose J. Scott Campbell because he is an amazing comic artist that I follow avidly, this particular image is in a Fairytale Calendar. I chose this image because he is very good at finding interesting angles, and even thought the proportioning is not spot on, it allows for a grander image.

Marc Allante - Age 2, Marker

Marc Allante - Age 24, wax, 2013

This is just kind of cool. This artist shows his progression from age 2 until he is 25, and I thought the one from when he is 24 was really interesting because he creates a recreation of "David" in a wax drawing, literally drawing with wax as it is melting.

Mica Angela Hendricks and 4-year-old daughter - Pencil, Ink, and Marker

"Professional illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks bought a new sketchbook, her 4-year old daughter started adding her own contributions. Mica noticed that unrestrained imagination of a child allows her girl to finish the drawings in a way that the artist could never think of herself. Now the mom starts a piece by drawing a face, and the daughter finishes it up with the body she thinks to fit best. Mica never knows how they will turn out: “Sometimes I would give her suggestions, like “maybe she could have a dragon body!” but usually she would ignore theses suggestions if it didn’t fit in with what she already had in mind. But since I am a grownup and a little bit (okay a lot) of a perfectionist, I sometimes would have a specific idea in mind as I doodled my heads. Maybe she could make this into a bug! I’d think happily to myself as I sketched, imagining the possibilities of what it could look like. So later, when she’d doodle some crazy shape that seemed to go in some surrealistic direction, or put a large circle around the creature and filled the WHOLE THING in with marker, part of my brain would think, What is she DOING?!? She’s just scribbling it all up! But I should know that in most instances, kids’ imaginations way outweigh a grownup’s, and it always ALWAYS looked better that what I had imagined. ALWAYS,” says Mica."

This is just another example of an awesome way to think outside the box. I love this artist's style, and how she handles tools. Because I am a perfectionist, I always hate it when people touch my work, but allowing a child to complete my drawing is ABSURD. This series turned out really well considering Mica had to learn how to let go, and just go with it.