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Monday, November 15, 2010

Daily Post: Drawings of Tati, also, How Not to Keep a Sketchbook

Did these while re-watching a little bit of Tati's "Playtime". Tati, for those who don't know, is the great French silent auteur and my favorite silent actor. In "Playtime" There's no plot to speak of and sometimes all it looks like is a lot of elaborately choreographed people walking around, but patience is rewarded. Apparently Tati's most expensive film. Can't wait for Chomet's "The Illusionist" which will star an animated version of Tati.

I'm particularly pleased with this one:



I love Tati's combination of ungainliness and grace, with his tall awkward stoop. The guy on the far right is just a random Frenchman from the film, but here's Tati again, stooping.



An Added Note About Not Keeping a Sketchbook:

I've been continually told throughout my education how important keeping a sketchbook is, but I've always hated sketchbooks. It always feels like a big commitment, putting a drawing down in that hard bound book. Even cheap ringed ones feel like some kind of indelible record of my crappiness. But lately I've been keeping more of a "sketch envelope". I take a sketchbook with me when I travel (which is rarely) but since I'm home more often than not, I just sketch on 11x17 bond paper. It's cheap, and I don't have to give a bad drawing a second thought. There's no commitment involved. This has worked out well for me and I have been drawing more than ever. The good drawings go in the envelope, the bad ones in the trash. So the sketch envelope seems to be the best solution for us shut-ins who hate keeping sketchbooks.

3 comments:

  1. Amazing drawing! And the envelope is a great idea, I've been keeping sketchbooks since I was 14 and I hide the early ones in my mom's basement.

    I know what you mean about commitment. There's also something awful about non artists flipping through my sketchbooks. The expect polish and finish and are easily shocked by nudes....

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  2. Thanks Eric! That drawing was one of those lucky ones. I'm sure some of the drawings in the envelope will be just as embarrassing as any sketchbook drawing. And yes, that's the other drawback of sketchbooks--people always seem to feel entitled to leaf through them. They wouldn't ask to leaf through your personal diary, but a sketchbook is fair game. So there's the social weirdness of a sketchbook on top of everything else. Oh, and I have to admit, I'm not above asking to see someone's sketchbook either, but as you implied, having kept one myself, I'm a little more forgiving in my judgements.

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  3. I had never seriously contemplated the "social weirdness" of a sketchbook. What an enlightening conversation!

    I think your sketchbook compromise is awesome. As someone who has always enjoyed writing I was, for years, on the constant receiving end of blank journals. I have never enjoyed journaling or the "daily writing" assignment. However, a prof of mine introduced me to the "writing notebook" in college. There's a distinct difference/agenda to the writing notebook and I fully embraced it. It's always nice to find an alternative that works. :)

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