Sketching in the desert, continued
Of all the things there are to draw in the world, for me the most fascinating, compelling, and damnably difficult is sketching people I know.
It’s way more pressure than clandestinely sketching complete strangers in a café or an airport. When you draw someone you know, you’ve got nowhere to hide.
This little scribble (lower left) of 2nd AD Rich Goodwin standing between takes on the POP set in Ouarzazate was one of the few times I felt I got a recognizable likeness, even though you can’t see his face. (Whereas the one of John Seale looks nothing like him.)
Getting Adults to Draw
This NPR interview with Mo Willems really struck a chord with me. He points out that while all kids draw, almost no adults do, and questions why:
“People stop when they decide they’re not good at it. Nobody stops playing basketball when they realize they’re not going to become a professional. The same thing should apply to cartooning.”
About a year and a half ago I started carrying around a notebook and sketching what I saw. Aside from the pure fun of it, my new hobby has enriched my life in more ways than I ever expected. Willems has some great things to say in favor of picking up the pen, and I can’t endorse his message enough.
Paris in springtime
I’ve been experimenting with those watercolor pencils. You pencil in the color and then go over it with a wet brush and it turns to watercolors. Still not fully sold on it.
Still more camels
This was day 30 of the Prince of Persia movie shoot. A spectacular setup with about 350 extras, horses, camels and goats lined up on a ridge. That afternoon a sandstorm rose up suddenly, prompting the decision to wrap early.
A huge exodus of cars, trucks, animals and extras ensued. I had the bright idea of walking the five minutes back to base camp along with the extras, instead of getting a ride, so I could take pictures of the exodus. This was how I found out that (a) a five-minute walk in a full-on sandstorm takes a lot longer than five minutes, and (b) it only takes about thirty seconds for a camera to get so full of sand that its moving parts won’t move any more.
When I got to the air-conditioned sanctuary of Mike Stenson’s trailer, he remarked: “You’re a different color than when I saw you last.”
Then it rained.
