Pencil vs Paint

In the beginning, I worked strictly in pencil and charcoal. I was young and wanted to just stay in my comfort zone. I used my hands to smudge and blend for my shading. I couldn’t wrap my brain around painting because I didn’t like working with a brush - I couldn’t blend paint the same way with my hands.

In college, I had to take an intro painting class for my Fine Art degree. It was not my choice, but it was a requirement to take classes in multiple types of media. Lo and behold, I discovered that I LOVED oils! For the next 15 years, all of the art that I produced were oil paintings. I still loved to draw and did often, however, all of the drawing that I did was in live model sessions for practice or prep sketches for oil paintings. I had it in my head that pencil work wasn’t appropriate for finished professional pieces. In addition, I liked to draw loosely with lots of frenetic lines - I didn’t want them to be polished. That further cemented in my mind that drawing was for prep, not finished pieces.

Where did that idea come from? I have no idea, but that was the rut that I was stuck in. Several people that saw my work complimented my pencil work. Once when I was painting live, I had my sketchbook out when I was painting. I came back from the bathroom to find a guest going through it and she asked if any of the sketches were for sale. Even then, I didn’t think that I could be taken seriously if I worked in anything other than paint.

Then, a few years ago, I started painting my woo woo dolls. That was when I started working in a more illustrative style. Shortly after my woo woos were born, Misery came to me. She started as pencil sketches and soon I was adding ink. That’s when everything changed. To me, Misery was pure emotion, so I didn’t want clean lines. I loved the sketchy feel with lots of lines and a touch of chaos. I fell in love with Misery immediately. As I got to know her better, I started to experiment. Soon, I was adding some paint, oil pen, ink wash, even charcoal. That has now led me to have the courage to play in mixed media...but that’s another story ;-) 

For someone that painted the same subjects in the same media almost strictly for 15 years, I’ve pretty much done a 180. Since I created my first woo woo in 2014, I’ve seen my work in a very different light. Now I’m excited to experiment with materials and “just see what happens”. I now believe that drawing is ABSOLUTELY acceptable for finished art. I don’t need color or paint to create something beautiful. Clean, unbroken lines do not necessarily make art better. I’m creating more than ever and love it. 

So, drawing vs painting? I’ll take both, please!!