Peter Clarke notes pt. 2

Goddamn, do I love being held to a higher standard.    

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"This is for you.  Your spirit, your soul."

"You can do whatever you want."

[as an exercise] "Draw her with four lines."

[as an exercise] "Make her head tiny.  Make her legs long."

[lays a post-it note onto 18" x 24" newsprint page] "Fit her in there."

"Let it get silly."

[as an exercise/practice] "You're five again.  You don't know what you're doing."

[as an exercise/practice] "Draw like a crazy person.  Let go.  Let what you see be the lead."

[as a mantra/practice] "'This time I am going to do something different.'" / "Swim out there and find something else." / "See more than what you've been drawing." / "What wasn't there last time?" / "[Use any method] that'll start an exploration." / "It's not a route system." 

"Get yourself out of yourself."

"Draw ahead of your hand."

"No matter how long a pose is, the thinking should be similar.  You should be just as free."

[in reference to a "c" shaped neck crease as opposed to an "s" shaped neck crease] "She's not a Barbie doll."

"It has to matter.  Have as much empathy to what you're seeing as possible."  / "You're searching for the feeling in your line." / "Push the experience you're getting as you look at her."

"She's right there in front of you."

"What do you want to happen?" / "As soon as you realize it's not going to go the way you want, start again."

"Yeah, it's tough.  It should be hard."

"It's hard to give up the lay-in, but it flattens."

"It's like a sentence.  A language.  A song."

"Don't think of hands as hands."

"Plant that foot."

"Corner it if it's going to help you." [using 'corner' as a verb]

"The #1 goal is getting it all down."

"Make conscious choices."

"Go granular.  You could go to the fingernail level." / "You could have gone in there." / "I wish you could have done more there." / "There's always more to draw."

"Don't fall in love with your stuff."

"You have to activate your mind and coordinate with your hand.  There's no other way."

"You should see this as a door."

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Zen shit!

Personal epiphanies : 

-Granularity occurs chiefly in the extremities, but can be "discovered" elsewhere, if one allows oneself. 

-Feeling the "organic nature of the human design" helps you draw better humans.  

-Representation (the way we draw something) isn't just subject-dependent; it's also mood/feeling-dependent.  So if you want to represent something purely in straights, or pretend the body is composed of interlinked spaghettios, that's your prerogative, and may just help you come to greater understanding.  Sometimes it won't, but you won't know until you try.  Peter Clarke's core message so far : try different stuff.    

Tonight I was reminded of this MC Paul Barman lyric : "I'm rapping, son! / If you think you think outside the box, you're trapped in one! / I'm advancing the artform.  De-pantsing a fart storm. / Some people don't like thinking.  I guess it's too hard for 'em."

It's not in the wrist; it's in the mind!