This is going to be a short one today. I’ve been busy with #NaNoWriMo and trying to balance jobs with art. It’s not easy, as many of you can probably guess!
Sometimes I think I could draw-slash-write a kid’s book or something like that, just because I love drawing wild friends like these. I wonder if parents will let their kids read my creepy books?
Well, whether they will or won’t, I have a feeling there are kids who would love it – after all, I was a spooky child myself.
But anyway, I’m not sure if that’s a path I’m willing to go down. I don’t quite have a story in mind, and something tells me that’s important *wink*
Something I’ve started to become more and more comfortable with is creating characters with feelings and motivations. In addition, I love making these imaginary beings less and less human-looking. I think I’ve been improving a lot, but have work to do on anatomy. The only thing I can do about that is continue to practice; which I am, I promise!
I see this drawing as a person from another dimension; one where people have feelers like threads for hands, huge curved horns, fangs, and big glassy eyes…Intense looking, but otherwise very much like someone you’d know in our iteration of the world.
Today I’m showcasing one of my living creations. I didn’t really give it a name, I only knew that I was going for something bipedal when I started.
I feel like this monster’s about to read a poem in front of the mic, or get down on its knees during a performance.
I started making wiry hair that curved upwards, and told myself I really didn’t want to draw a medusa (she already exists and her image goes on fine without me!). Since I’m rarely interested in creating anything remotely realistic, I didn’t stop myself from turning its hair turned into arrows. It’s something fun that doesn’t technically belong there, but I couldn’t be happier with.
Today I’d like to introduce you to two drawings that are, to me, joined by a single thought: how easy is it to represent what I am thinking and feeling through art? A big question, for sure, that raises a multitude of others!
Universe Soup, 2019
Questions, such as: how do you express your feelings about a specific thing without creating your own vocabulary, risking the alienation of the people who look at it? Or should you try to make the effort of using common themes and symbols to connect with others?
These are pretty big questions that lead to big artistic decisions! Artists have argued historically about how much one should be taking the viewer into consideration, like how much should be explained to them. And then we have the critics and art enthusiasts of all kinds, with their own opinions as the experiencers! So who should you listen to, as an artist? Your peers, your audience, your critics, or your heart?
I think that because art comes from you, you get to set the rules. So I may not like your art, or understand it, but I can respect that you did something that comes from you. To be fair, I expect the very same to be thrown back at me.
While I like making art that other people can understand, even if some parts of it are a little cryptic or too personal to translate. I know that some viewers’ own experiences and cultures are going to be a barrier to their understanding of what I’m trying to say, just as my own experiences will be a barrier to my own ability to communicate to them. I can hope that people get it, but I can’t depend on it. And it isn’t in my personality to dwell on things I can’t depend on! Therefore, I keep on doing what I am doing, as best as I can.
There is one thing I absolutely love, something that only depends on human beings acting like themselves.
Learning collage, 2019
Both Universe Soup and Learning collage, abstract drawings I made earlier this year, are trying to portray something simple in each of them. It is more fun to me, and fulfilling, to let people see what I do and hear about what they see.
The first drawing, Universe Soup, has to do with how I view the vastness of space, while the other, Learning collage, speaks more to how and why I do some of my best learning through books. Every line I make has a purpose; every shape I use has a meaning. I wonder, reader, what you saw – were those themes obvious? Or did you see something else entirely?
And if it was the latter, would that be a failure on my part?
Gentle friends, I introduce to you a new member of the monster family! I’d like you to meet Mr Fangs.
I started his creation with the blobby shape of his eyes and face, but I did not complete his rounded jaw. Somehow, it became apparent that I was going to give this brother some teeth. And so I did! I went right for the mouth and everything else grew from there.
Mr Fangs is curious to meet you!
This drawing was definitely less intuitive and more planned. Well, more planned in my own way, which means not too planned but with some moments of clear thought and decision-making as I drew.
Did I want him to be realistic? I decided that the answer to that was a strong no. Thoughtful anatomy, then, was thrown out of the window. But did I want him to make some sort of sense, physically? Yes, because I wanted him to be a character one could relate to. So while he has two legs to stand on, they are ridiculously pointy like the toes of HIMfrom the Powerpuff Girls. And so on, and so forth.
Something about Mr Fangs is that I knew he was a kind soul. His character certainly dictated what he would look like. Before I knew it, his eyes were soft and welcoming, his hair tentacles warm and curious. He has the big teeth and all, but is he trying to menace you right now? Absolutely not. He even put on his friendliest collar to impress you.
In the end, I’m very pleased with this fellow and how he ended up. He really is exactly the type of monster I felt like creating.
Lucky me! I’m currently visiting my home country of Mauritius. I drew this before arriving; not as a landscape that directly resembles features of the geography, but as an ode. As I’m sitting in the car on drives around the island, these are the impressions I get: green mountains, bodies of water, the curves of the landscape.
Now that I am here, I am too entranced by this place to draw! But my feelings of awe are side by side with sadness. We humans truly do not deserve this beautiful land. We never have. Since we arrived hundreds of years ago, we plundered the Dodo and many more of nature’s gifts. I fear that soon, these drawings and whatever is stored in our minds may be all that is left.
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus due to a huge life event that just happened – my wedding. I didn’t do much drawing or posting here or on Twitter (@khadejalidraw) but right now I’m slowly getting back into things.
I thought I’d start with a sentimental piece, to jump right in!
“Her Tears are Tearing”
I’m pretty darn sensitive; most definitely a crier. This piece is about how my extreme emotional states are a beauty and a burden.
There are some things that should be kept to the viewer. However, there is something behind this work that informed my lines. The lens with which I see my life isn’t just coloured by my emotions. My emotions are the lens.
Here’s a little sci-fi for you! I felt like I was channeling a part of me that’s always wanted to draw comics. I don’t have a specific story I’m trying to tell, which I love. It’s just a little cryptic snapshot I came up with when I put the pen to paper.
Khadeja Ali draws 
