by Beau Smith

Created on: June 14, 2007

A spark caught fire recently. Surfing the Net, I came upon the lovely and, yes, racy (he likes to call it "retro") art of Shane Glines. He draws women. He's really good. He did work on the cartoon character Kim Possible. Like I said, he's good. I draw women. Not as well as Shane. He's had more practice. ButI have it in me to improve, a lot. He inspired me.

Inspiration bubbles up from within. Externals are connecting points, where passions collide. Those moments excite, and this was no exception. Glines woke my desire to not only draw well, but masterfully. I draw well, and in my own way, masterfully. But I have not devoted my heart to drawing with the mastery I know I am capable of. Until now. Thanks, Shane, and Net.

Okay, here's the deal: Drawing is like playing the guitar. You can quickly develop some facility. You can learn basic chords, learn how to strum, and you can sound pretty good. But you won't sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Well, none of us will sound like Stevie, who lived with piles of 45s (the record, not the bullet) and played guitar all the time. The story goes that he would play so hard for so long that his fingers would start to bleed. (You know, like Paul Mcartney on "Helter Skelter".) Would Stevie stop playing? Oh no. He would Superglue the tips of his fingers to the skin on his right arm, rip the fingers away such that the skin tore from the arm and stuck to the tips of his fingers, and Stevie would keep on playing. No, you won't sound like Stevie. But you don't have to. Few guitarists have reached such a peak, and that doesn't stop them from making money with their music and sounding great and unique. You don't have to sound like Stevie. (Or engage in his obsessive behaviors.) You don't have to draw like Micheangelo to be good. But to be incredible, to attain what is possible with drawing, you have to do it a LOT.

Even that is not enough. You have to have goals. You have to work to reach them. I could tell you to look at things and draw them. This practice will make you a better draftsman, no doubt. Further, you can get yourself drawing books and do the exercises. That will help. But to really be good, not even great but getting there, you must learn how to draw the figure. A life drawing class should not be out of the question. When I went to art school, the first drawing class I took had me drawing the figure. You know, the naked person standing on a stage. Get yourself a large pad of newsprint and some charcoal and produce drawing after

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