The Art of Natural Dressage

This thread is for experimenting with other people's drawing styles. The idea is to take one and the same picture and then draw it like Dani, like Lena, like Nelly, like Nora, and so on. I haven't had the time yet, but the girls have already started.

Nora drawing like Nelly (unfortunately you do not really see the shadows because they are so soft - but each contour of the horse has a tiny shadow, just like Nelly was drawing in the past)


Nelly drawing like Nora

Oh, that is really great, girls.
I just love them both, already!!!!
Each one is so special (though I want to see it with shades, of course...).

I havent got too much time at the moment as well, maybe this weekend...
But that is a great action

I made a first attempt to draw like Nelly, Lena and Nora. Only sketches of a few minutes, but for me it was a first test to get an impression how hard it will be - and the good thing is that I feel like I cannot copy someone else's style at all, yet, which means that I will learn so much from this whole experiment.



And then later in the evening - my first serious attempt of copying Lena's style.



It was very interesting for me to draw in this way, because I had to change a few things in my way of thinking about the drawing process. Usually, for me drawing is all about decisions and taking position. That's just necessary for the high contrast drawings I usually do, because if something changes from very dark to very light within a few millimeters, I have to know what I am drawing and what I want it to be like. In contrast , for this soft, low contrast way of drawing, I had to stop thinking about shapes and structures (because this immediately made me want to draw more clearly again) but merely think in terms of lights and shadows. Something that does not start or end anywhere in particular.

Second, I had to try to switch my thoughts off or direct them away from the drawing process, because as soon as I started being fully there, this put me in a much more interpretative mode again, one that emphasizes interesting things and makes the drawing about me, instead of about the photo. Well, for me that's essential in drawing, but the plan was to do it differently this time, so I actively had to take myself out of the process and bind my movements more directly to the visual input I got from the photo, if that makes any sense.

Also, it surprised me to see my strong reaction to the thought that I will still have to smear the whole thing to create the characteristic wischi-waschi style. This is funny, because I am not getting very attached to my drawings and would not have any problem to give it away. So I don't know what it is... well, I just postponed that step by simply not finishing the drawing, yet.

P.S.: I just checked back with Lena's version and was quite surprised how different our drawings still were in terms of style - while I was drawing, I had felt that I was doing it rather Lena-like. I guess what I did wrong was that I decreased the contrast, but not so much the differentiation. So if I will try it again, I will try to think in terms of wider areas, and even softer transitions between them.

What a great idea!

By drawing 'like someone else' you have to define 'how they draw, and how you draw and how that differs' but also putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and maybe discovering how that technique can work for you!

I myself haven't drawn horses since finishing art school... a year ago or more already... But this might be a good inspiration to start again.

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kirsten
time is what you make of it

Would be great if you joined us, Kirsten! You are on my ToDo list as well, but I am saving this for later, because I think your line style will be one of the hardest things for me to do.

I just finished and smeared the Lena drawing

Not drawing like anyone else in particular, but different from my usual way of drawing - I wanted to experiment with wild lines. I made some photos in between, because I always thought it would get much worse if I continued. After the third one, Nora and I decided that we liked a previous version more, which opened up the possibility to destroy it completely. So I decided to make it all grey, just for fun. Well, in the end I don't find the fifth version that bad either, but anyway it's nice to have a whole photo collection of my path from one drawing style to another one.

Today I tried to draw like Lena. Here are my results.

We made a "between- photo" because Romy finds it so sweet and was "afraid" that the mane I'll draw will make it bad.


Here I am ready.


Romy finds it just so sweet and said that I could draw for children books.

Nora, the eyes of your Lena horse are so alive. Wonderful...


What a great idea.

Romy, the wild horse is excellent. The wild lines suit you.

This weekend, I had to find my own pure-pencil-style again (didn t do it for a while...), before starting to draw like you. I studied some horse heads, but I wasn t completely happy with the results. I will scan some these days, to show you.
When I "found maself" again, I will start to copy yours...

Hihi, sweet pictures

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Today Nora wanted to try drawing like me. I must say I was quite flabbergasted by the result

But there is one thing which I don't do like Romy- I drew it finish .