Drawing Challenge #Day 17

Day 17’s drawing challenge was to make two eye drawings. First we had to draw an eye as realistically as we could. Once we had done that, we had to draw a second eye, which was as graphically simple as possible. The objective of this challenge was to explore the polar opposites of the visual solution.

According to the instructor, too many artists associate drawing with realism and spend a lot of time trying to draw photo-realistic picture (That’s true!). However, photo-realistic drawings are not the norm in illustrative circles.

At the end of the challenge, we had to state our preference – realistic or graphic.

This is the realistic drawing that I created by following an extremely good step-by-step tutorial on YouTube.

Then I went on to draw a graphic eye. Of course, the simplest way to represent an eye, is to just make a dot. I’ve done that in cartoon sketches before. For this challenge, I drew the eye that I usually make while distractedly doodling in meetings:

The instructor preferred the graphic approach as it allows a more diverse range of styles, which you can use in a lot of different types of projects, whereas realism (according to him) has limited use because it is is just that, realism.

Personally, however, the graphic eye was a bit of a letdown for me. I has enjoyed drawing the realistic eye so much. With each stroke, the eye started to come ‘alive’.

But of course, drawing realistically needs a lot of time for doing all the detailing. The ultimate objective of this challenge I guess was to realize that we probably need to find a middle ground between these two extreme approaches.

Published by Leena T Pandey

I have been reading voraciously since the age of five when I first discovered the joys of reading. I would lap up anything in print. Unrolling an emptied newspaper cone with one hand, stuffing roasted peanuts in my mouth with the other, all the while devouring the printed content on the cone with my eyes, was one of my first experiences in hedonistic pleasure. In fact, sometimes I feel that I am on an adventurous journey through the secret dreamworld of other people's imaginations, interspersed with occasional visits to my own life to attend events like graduation, first job, marriage, and so on. As a true-blue reader, I think I am uniquely qualified to comment on and critique other people's works of labour. I can tell exactly what puts the average reader to sleep, what sets their pulse racing, and what has them salivating for more. Write to me at leenatpandey@gmail.com. View more posts