Conánn FitzPatrick

In recent years I have tried to move away from the tight line orientated drawing style of animation and start working more loosely. Scribbling is a bit like sculpture; you get the basic form and reinforce anything that does not look wrong. If that fails, remove anything that does not look right. In the end with some persistence I get what I was looking for and if there is anything left that looks wrong it is either a result of laziness or a hole in my knowledge, either way a good reason to practice a bit harder. This new way of drawing changed my way of thinking on what the marks on the page represent. Before I would concentrate on the line and try and create a perfect boundary between one shape and the next with very little attention given to the overall form of what it was that I was drawing.

Now I see a line as a representation of where a form is moving away from me and because I have to keep my hand bouncing around the page touching different parts of the drawing, I get longer to think about what each aspect of the drawing should be trying to do. This really takes the pressure of me; I don't have to spend as much time pre-visualizing the image. I can start with a loose idea and let the final image build it's self and as I go along implementing new ideas inspired by the work in progress, which feels like a much more natural artistic process. I love to draw! It's immediate, fun, challenging and expressive. It takes absolutely nothing to start a drawing, there are no expensive materials to buy, no specials tools, just something to make a mark and something to make a mark on. The human urge to draw is the same as a dogs urge to pee on a tree. A simple train journey from my house to the center of town proves how primal drawing is, graffiti is everywhere. The varying standard of the graffiti is in direct correlation to the amount of practice and the amount of care taken by the artist. Anyone can do it!