It's winter time here at Draw Me A Lion headquarters and I mostly sit in my studio with my trusty and fuzzy studio assistant thinking up new projects and ideas for the upcoming year.
One thing I always make sure of with all of the things I design for my line is that they can't be too perfect if you know what I mean. I always pay attention to keep that handmade feel, especially in my drawings. It's important for me that someone can look at a drawing and have it be fun to look at, in a way that makes them go..."Oh, maybe I could do that..." and then take it from there. When a drawing is too complicated and detailed this doesn't happen as easily.
I think the thing that stops so many people, especially adults from drawing, is this whole idea of the drawing needing to be 'good', ... and usually what they really mean by that is that their drawing needs to look as realistic as possible. For example, if you draw a chair and it looks exactly like a chair then it's a 'good' drawing. I however think just the opposite. To me what makes a drawing of a chair good is if it looks totally different than any old chair that I could just snap a quick picture of with my phone. Who needs a drawing of a chair that actually looks like a chair? Boring I say! Give me a drawing of a chair that has wings, or a chair that can move and run around with a person, or a drawing of a chair with a hat, or a face, or with wheels, or with totally crazy wild colours or anything else you can imagine. Because I think THAT'S really what drawing is all about.. Imagination. Try is sometime won't you?
Here is a photo of me, of my studio assistant taking a nap and a drawing I did of me in my studio. If you want to see more of me in my studio you can
watch this short movie here that was made in warmer times not that long ago.
