32. and 33. Always Sketching

Time for another post from the old sketchbook! These two images were sketches I drew on a random sheet of paper and liked so much I cut them out and pasted them into my sketchbook to finish them. Thus the cutout lines. 

These pasted in sketches remind me of some advice that the scientist Henry Eyring gave his son. He said "You ought to find something that you love so much that when you don’t have to think about anything, that’s what you think about." Interestingly when I first went to college I thought I would major in Physics and Astronomy (Henry Eyring was a physicist) but even though I was somewhat interested in the subject, I spent all my free time drawing, sewing dolls, and thinking up stories. Not thinking about physics. In fact for about as long as I can remember I have been drawing, thinking up stories, and sewing dolls. So I switched my major to Costume Design, worked in the apparel industry, and now I'm finally back to sewing the occasional doll and writing stories. As long as my son continues to take long naps...

I'd love to hear what you think about!

7. Glider

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

-Helen Keller

This sketch was inspired by Nausicaa, the Miyazaki film. I lived in Japan for a while as a kid and was introduced to Miyazaki's films there, and I loved his work. He is probably the most major influence on my drawing style. I also loved and owned the soundtracks to his films, and one day I decided that the best way to learn to draw like him was to copy him, so I sat down with the CD case for the Princess Mononoke soundtrack and copied Ashitaka and San off of it. After that I felt much more confident about faces.

I liked this sketch so much after I did it I later painted a larger version as a poster for my room and put the quote from Helen Keller on it.  I agree that life should be an adventure, but I realize more and more that the improbably epic, small things in life usually end up being the greatest adventure. So it was interesting to me to find the following as I checked the source for the first quote:

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. 

- Attributed to Helen Keller

It surprised me because I would have said Helen accomplished great and noble things in her life, becoming the first deafblind person to earn a bachelors degree is no small feat in my mind. But I think our own lives rarely feel epic to us. How about you? Do you see epic-ness in your own life? Would others?

2. Quotes

"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like"

-- Unknown

I once heard someone say that they didn't like quotes, they liked ideas. I think they must have meant they didn't like the endless quoting of movies, youtube videos, etc. that is common. However, when I initially heard them say this it surprised me because I love quotes. To me a good quote encapsulates an idea, usually in a concise and well worded way. For example, the quote that starts this post seems to nicely express what I think about this blog, my artwork, and any stories I decide to post.

 For a while on first starting my sketchbook I wrote good quotes I came across on the inside of the front and back cover (by the way, I do not guarantee the accuracy of the sources), One of my favorite from this front cover is "Limitations imply possibilities". I think about this a lot when I come up against barriers in daily life or art. Several years ago I started having a lot of health problems related to food and digestion, and I ended up on the GAPS diet which meant no grains, starches, or processed foods for a year. It was intense not being able to go to the store or restaurant and grab whatever pre-made food looked good, but because of it I learned a lot about cooking and I now eat better than I ever have and am much healthier and happier. So although the popular saying is to not limit yourself, sometimes limits lead to growth, improvement, and greater creativity in all areas of life.

What about you, do you have a favorite quote that has impacted your life?

Next post will finally be some actual sketches!