Line Quality makes such a difference. I just drew two pictures - basically the same face - the main difference is Line Quality.

See how differently the pictures look:

Laugh at yourself ~

Admit it - The Human Form is Funny! We tell ourselves that we have Beauty. Or that we're okay. Or or that 'nobody will notice'..... But for what?

We're all funny-looking. And we're all beautiful.

We're all funny-looking. And we're all beautiful. And mostly, we are all skin stretched over skeletons -- skeletons with those mandibles hopefully fully of rooted teeth -- skeletons with those hard foreheads and occipital ridges.

Any face. With 2 holes smack in the middle. And hard foreheads. And those choppers behind the lips. And don't get me started on Ears.... Ever imagine the skull underneath? We are as much our skulls as a painting of a tablecloth shows the form of the table beneath it.

I love you all.

Yeow. Client just came to the Studio. Brought me a deposit for TONIGHT.

So much to prepare. And she wants me to draw Outline-Only - because she wants to get as many pictures as possible in the given time.

I don't usually do Outline-Only - It feels more like cranking them out than doing Artwork. But it is an Option I offer.

So now - get ready to draw a lot of Boy Scouts. First I wanted to see what would happen if I choose a Yellow Outline - If Golden-Boy sits in front of me:

Good thing I practice first. I can see that that isn't a good idea. I had to increase the time on that picture by going back in with the black marker. The Yellow didn't show up.

Okay. I hope I stick to Black Outlines. Or Blue. Or Orange.....

But what if someone sits down who has dark skin - Here I'll try one in which I add just a little bit of Shading. Sometimes, you just can't stop with Just the outline:

And............... We're Off!

It's been said that the Artist is always drawing herself no matter what the subject matter of the painting is. That's true. The Artist's Personality comes through in everything she does.

Here are two line drawings that I scribbled out quickly - no predraw, no agony. I'm glad I'm the person that I am. I like these much better than the 3rd drawing - where I tried to redraw the girl in a way that I've seen students trying to control a picture to be perfect. (I've even seen some people take out rulers!) Do you see that the pictures show as much about Me as about the person I was drawing?

This is a truth that comes through in everything that we do - not just our Artwork. It's not what happens out there that determines what we're going to do. It's our own Essence that determines what we see, what we choose, and how we act.