I don’t crosshatch. I don’t like to put a line through another line.
— Tony Millionaire
Doodling a lot with my sumi-e brush:
And drawing on the bus with a big, fat chisel-tip marker (keeps you from being too precious with your line):
As a woodcut artist, I’ve always been attracted to black-and-white art. I think it has something to do with the rich contrasts. I love a deep rich black that you can stare into, forever. The effect is like our colorful world torn down to its base so that we can read the unerlying message. The truth is always easier to take in black and white. Typography is always more legible in black and white, so why would we be surprised to find the readability of artworks enhanced by those contrasts? Remove the grays and hues, reduce the image to lines and solid blacks, and open up the whites. You have a thing of beauty and simplicity.
Another way to understand our attraction to black and white is through the science of how we see. The human eye consists of rods and cones that process the reflected light of our world. These signals are then translated into color and form for processing by our brain. The rods, which are sensitive only to black and white, are the first components activated in a baby’s eyes. That’s why infants readily respond to high-contrast black-and-white images. We are hardwired to appreciate black-and-white artwork.
—George A. Walker, preface to Graphic Witness
i really love your exploration of different drawing utensils. very good exercises.lookin’ good!
Thanks! I’ve been into thick lines lately…trying to simplify things down to their essence…
Did you see the show, several months back, at the Blanton of Albrecht Durer’s woodcuts? Truly impressive work in an unforgiving medium. It is amazing what can be done in black and white.
By the way, sometime back you had a post on Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia. I think you would enjoy This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitan. It contains a lot more of the nuts and bolts of how our brains do what they do in response to musical input and is leavened with the sensibilities of a musician.
I totally failed to see that show–not only that, but I’ve still yet to visit the Blanton! This week is Third Thursday (open until 9 PM), so I’m going to quit messing around and visit it this weekend.
The Levitan book sounds great! I’ll add it to my list. Thanks for the recommendation!