I had an itch about the large drawings that I started yesterday. I kept trying to tell myself for the last 24 hours that the drawings could still go somewhere, but deep down I knew that the idea wasn’t coming across the way I wanted it to. So today I made a quick trip to the studio to erase both drawings. Etching ink is easily removed with baby oil, so all it took was a bunch of rags and a lot of rubbing on the surface to remove the images. I like to tell myself that I saved $80 by erasing these two images. (the Dura-Lar is $40 a sheet, not cheap by any means!)
I rushed prematurely into these two large drawings, when I should have spent more time doing sketches. I did some sketches in Photoshop, but those really weren’t sufficient enough. In my eagerness to accomplish something, I stupidly skipped over the drawing stage and that’s what really got me. I really should know better by now, but sometimes you have to be reminded the hard way.
I think this idea will only work if I can get poses that can truly communicate anguish as a strong contrast against the smiling faces. So as painful as this is, I’m going to scrap all of my photo references (I must have over 1,000 images) and start all over again. Many of the poses in my current reference photos are too reliant on the expression of the face to communicate the anguish. I’ll do another photo shoot with my model, this time with a much clearer vision of the kinds of poses that I’m looking for.
I’m really frustrated with myself right now. I know all of this indecision and doubt is all part of the process, but that doesn’t make it feel any better!
Clara Lieu 