i saw these wonderful videos of Milton Glaser recently and thought it'd be great to share. if you don't already know, Milton Glaser is a famous graphic designer, widely known for being the designer of the I <3 NY logo, but he has also done an immense amount of other work that is really fascinating. Born in 1929, an original gangster, if you will. if you do just a little research on him, you'll see that he does a lot of hand drawn, hand painted pieces and as wonderful as digitally illustrated things are, there's nothing like the real, raw interpretation of form.
i really enjoy drawing and sketching, as a child i spent several summers at horse-back riding camps and when we would have some downtime at the farmhouse (yeah, i'm pretty country), we would go out on nature walks and sketch (as i remember, a lot of covered bridges) and i was actually pretty good! then growing up in junior high and high school - you know how it is, even though i was a fairly active member in my high school's art program i just didn't do it as much as i would've liked but then again, who knows what i was thinking back then. i got back into it during college and even excelled in drawing nude models using charcoal and kneaded erasers, i loved it. i'll have to dig them up. now, idk how many professional nude models i can get these days but even if it's not in your private studio, in the medium of your choice and you sketch for only 10 minutes a day, it's probably just as good for your health as that trusty apple.
"When children are prevented from drawing, their brains don't develop fully." - Frank Wilson
now if you have some time you should watch this incredible video of his lecture at the School of Visual Arts Theatre. it's worth it (around 3/4 of the way through, it starts Q&A)
he introduces the phrase, "the act of making things that move minds" which is magic because i feel that is the most valuable purpose of creating art. especially when it is in a way to bring opposition together.
his studies of light and dark inspire me, about what can be seen within lines and pattern being repeated when only the color is changed. through his pieces, he demonstrates how things can be "seen" that are not really there. "it only exists in your mind, it has no physical reality"... way to flip it on anyone who believes "whatever you can't see, isn't real".
i also loved the part about taking two different types of art and putting them together, he combines a study of shakespeare with the idea of pattern making and i know that my fellow creatives will appreciate the idea of combining different types of art forms with one another. we love to collaborate, it's one of the best things about the industry we work in.
there's also a brilliantly insightful video here on miltonglaser.com
"There's nothing more exciting than to see somebody change from sort of a condition of...inertness or inattentiveness into a mind that begins to inquire about meaning. I think if you don't do something to project into the future that way, the possibility for total self-absorbsion and narcism becomes very much greater."
what do you think? do think drawing could have a great impact on our perception of life?
