I haven’t talked too much about the fact that I teach people to draw. These are semi-private lessons, 4 people at a time, one hour per week in Exeter. This has been happening for 20 years, and through the years I have learned how important it is to be honest. If we who draw can’t tell each other the truth about our work, who else will? And because we all want to improve (yeppers, even me, the Teacher), we need to hear from one another. Critiquing one’s own work is very very difficult – sort of like trying to proofread one’s own writing.
I showed this drawing to my students:
One of them said, “It looks like you just scribbled in the background”.
True, I did. I scribble in all the backgrounds. However, it usually looks like a forest, not scribbles.
I don’t let them get away with something that looks sloppy or scribbled, so they don’t let me either!
I redid it. Can you tell the difference? (The background, not the cabin.)
The background in the first one looked busy, and it was hard to define what was back there. With the second one, we can see what’s in the background a little better, i.e. we can more easily tell that those are tree branches and trees 🙂 It’s still a very “busy” background, but i wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure that’s the way it looks! And my eye is on that beautiful cabin, anyway!! That’s what it’s all about. Sorry about the “Do the Hokey Pokey” quote, there… 🙂
You are right on both accounts, Catherine: it IS busy, and that IS the way it looks. Some of the drawings in the book will have blank backgrounds to prevent busy-background-viewing-fatigue. 😎