The Pareidolia Project: A Creative Drawing Experience

1. Trailer: My name is Brent Eviston. I practice and I teach drawing. Now, although I absolutely love the traditional aspects of drawing, there is so much more to drawing than simply creating images that look like the objects they depict. Drawing is also a powerful tool that will allow us to explore our creativity as well as to discover new things about ourselves. In this course, you'll be introduced to the ParadolaPject. Paradola is the phenomenon of seeing meaningful images in random or abstract visual information. Nearly all of us have had the experience of seeing faces, figures, animals, or other shapes when viewing clouds or stains. In this course, we are going to leverage paradolia into a creative project. O This course begins with you twisting, tearing, crumpling, and otherwise shaping pieces of blank white paper. Next, we'll examine those pieces of paper to see if you can find any indications of figures or other living forms. Once we find them, we will draw them, but we will not simply draw them as crumpled pieces of paper. We want to bring these drawings to life. We want these drawings to appear figurative. I'm going to take you through the process of drawing each piece of crumpled paper as if it were a living figure. Now, this will be unlike any drawing or creativity course you've taken before. So you may be asking yourself, why should you take this course? First, you will improve your drawing abilities. This course will challenge you to combine both the technical and expressive aspects of drawing. Next, you'll increase your creative capacity. A course like this is like a workout for your creative mind. And finally, you will discover new things about the workings of your mind. This project is an excellent tool for self discovery. But beyond those things, this is a very human project. It leverages a phenomenon that we've all had. In fact, you don't even need to be an artist to participate in this course. Even if you have never drawn before, you are welcome to participate in this project and have a unique creative experience. So come join me in the PeradolaPject, where you will improve your drawing skills, increase your creative capacities, and learn new things about who you are as a unique individual. 2. Introduction: What do you think these drawings depict? Do they appear abstract or do you see hints of life? When you look at these drawings, what do you see? My name is Brent Eviston. I practice and teach drawing. Now, as much as I love traditional drawing, there is so much more to drawing than simply creating images that look like the objects they depict. The project you're about to experience is a more creative, expressive and experimental drawing project. I'm going to be leading you through a project that I've done for many years. It begins with me twisting, tearing, crumpling, creasing, and otherwise shaping blank pieces of paper. I then examine each sheet of crumpled paper to see if I see any signs of life, anything that looks figurative or animalia. When I find pieces of paper that appear figurative, I draw them, but I don't simply draw them as pieces of paper. I draw them as if they were living figures. Our minds are hard wired to find figures and faces. This tendency is so strong, it often misfires when we see random or abstract visual information. Nearly all of us have had the experience of seeing faces, figures, animals, or other shapes when viewing clouds or stains. This is a very common experience, and this project leverages that experience into a creative project. There's this wonderful quote from Leonardo Da Vinci that goes something like this. Stop and look into the stains of walls, the ashes of a fire, clouds or mud. If you consider them well, you may find marvelous ideas. Battles of animals and men, various landscapes and monstrous things. By indistinct things, the mind is stimulated to new inventions. DaVinci was aware that our minds often interpret random visual information like clouds or stains as meaningful. This phenomenon of seeing meaningful images in random or abstract visual information is called paradolia. Paradolia is something everyone experiences time to time. In this course, we are going to be working with randomly crumpled pieces of paper that are not shaped or formed with any intention. But despite the fact that these crumpled pieces of paper will have been randomly formed, some of them will absolutely appear to take on living characteristics. You will be amazed at how easy it is to start to see figures or other recognizable forms in these random pieces of paper. Now, when we interpret random visual information as meaningful, I don't believe that this is merely a misfiring of the mind. I believe that these specific ways each individual interprets this visual information can teach him or her about how their mind processes information. So not only is this a creative project, it is also an incredible tool for self discovery. You will learn how your mind processes information, how you come to think the way you do, and how you determine your beliefs. Projects like this one are a way to delve deep into the subconscious to see how we process information. I've done this project for many years, and I will tell you that different people come up with completely different interpretations, even from the same pieces of paper. The question is, what will you see when you do this project? What will you learn about your mind? So you're probably asking yourself a very valid question. Why should you take this course? Well, I think there are a few reasons. First, it will introduce you to a completely novel approach to drawing. For those of you who are most interested in more traditional forms of drawing, this is a way to expand your vocabulary of lines and marks. This course will teach you ways of drawing more expressively and creatively. As you may know, I do a lot of figure drawing. So much of the line quality that I use in my figure drawings I learn from this project. This project will also challenge your technical skills. Part of this project requires you to believably draw the folds and creases in crumpled pieces of paper. This can be an incredibly challenging exercise that will absolutely improve your traditional drawing skills. But the drawings you'll be creating in this course will also be creative and expressive. This course will give you some experience finding a balance between drawings that are both technically believable as well as beautiful, creative, and expressive. I believe that a successful drawing hovers in between these two extremes. On the one hand, a drawing that is technical can be very impressive, but they can often seem a little dry and distant, while as a drawing that's too expressive, can often appear abstract and be difficult for people to interpret. This project will show you how to create balanced drawings that are both technically proficient and expressive and beautiful. And finally, this course is an excellent way to explore and expand your creative capacities. Creativity is one of the most sought after skills, not just in art, but in business and in entrepreneurship. So even if you're not interested in drawing or art, you can still get a huge amount from this course. This course will show you practical ways to become more creative. So now that you have a sense of the ideas, we'll be exploring, let me take you through the project so you understand what this course looks like. First, I'll take you through the process of how to take blank paper and shape it into dynamic and interesting abstract forms. Next, we'll examine each piece of crumpled paper to see if we can find any signs of life. We're looking for anything figurative, animalian or any other kind of recognizable form. Once we find those forms, we will draw them. But instead of simply drawing them as crumpled pieces of paper, I'm going to show you how to create drawings that emphasize the figurative aspects. I'm going to show you how and where you can exaggerate, how you can use line quality to make these forms become alive. I'm going to show you how you can use quick compositional sketches to plan your finished pieces. And finally, I'm going to take you through the process of doing completed crumpled paper drawings all of Europe. The materials for this project are pretty simple. First, you'll need a number of pieces of cheap white paper for you to crumple and form. Next, of course, you'll need drawing materials. As always, you are welcome to use whatever drawing materials work best for you. In this course, I will be drawing with black colored pencil. You'll also need some paper or a sketchbook so you can create simple sketches of your crumpled pieces of paper before we do more finished drawings. And, of course, for your finished drawings, you will want high quality drawing paper. So the materials for this course are very simple. Essentially, you'll need paper and pencil. As with my other courses, I recommend completing one lesson per day. But as always, you are welcome to adapt the course structure to fit with your life. My guess is that while you've been viewing glimpses of these mysterious drawings, you have already started to populate them with figures and forms. My hope is that you're starting to ask yourself why? Why are you seeing these specific images in random crumpled pieces of paper? So if your interest has been peaked, let's head into the studio for part one of the PeradoliaPject. 3. Creating Paper Specimens: So here we are in the first part of the ParadolaPject. Here we are going to focus on creating the paper subject we'll be drawing. Now, I often refer to these paper subjects as specimens. The paper specimens we'll create really tend to remind me of insects or other small animals that we might find as specimens in a laboratory. Now, as you know, our ultimate goal is to create paper specimens that have living or lifelike qualities. However, while we're sculpting our forms today, we don't want to try to create lifelike forms. I don't want you to intentionally try to sculpt things that look like figures or animals. We want to create random forms. So right now, I simply want you to focus on creating complex, dynamic, abstract paper forms. You should not try to sculpt anything that appears living. The goal here is randomness. In the next part of the project, we'll examine all of the paper subjects that we create and try to find some that have living forms. But again, we want this process to occur randomly. At the heart of this project is our seeking out lifelike forms in random information. I think that the randomness is what makes this project interesting. I believe that seeking out lifelike qualities from random visual information is a much more fascinating way to see what is in our minds. And I think in doing so, we learn things about how we process information, how we come to our beliefs, what kinds of ideas and avatars may be populating our minds. This project creates a forum for all of the ideas that are deep in our subconscious to come to the surface so we can see what they are. That's why the randomness of this step is so critical. So here is how this part of the project is going to go. Right now, you are going to crumple, twist, tear, pull, and fold pieces of paper to create complex abstract forms. Now, it's important for you to understand that most of the paper specimens you'll create will not appear lifelike or figurative in any way. But the more paper specimens you create, the more likely you are to find some that look like figures or other creatures. This means that it's best to create many more forms that we actually draw from. When I do this project, I tend to create dozens at a time. I'm going to ask you to create a minimum of 12 paper specimens. But remember, the more you create, the more likely you are to find some that appear figurative. So for this part of the project, you're going to need at least one dozen sheets of paper. And what I found is that the best paper to use for this kind of project is just cheap 8.5 by 11 inch paper, printer paper, copy paper. You don't want to use any fancy papers. In fact, I've worked with watercolor paper or other kinds of art paper, and they tend to have a softness to them, which is great for a drawing surface, but they just don't hold a fold as well as cheap printer paper. So once you've got your paper, I'll take you through the process that I go through while I'm shaping these papers specimens. Now, of course, from one perspective, there is no wrong way to crumple a piece of paper, but there are some things that I like to think about while I'm shaping these paper forms. Some people have a tendency to simply ball up their piece of paper, and then they wonder why it doesn't look like anything. I don't want you to simply ball up a piece of paper. That's not what we're doing. Remember, we are trying to shape complex abstract forms. So the first thing that I do when I get a piece of paper is I start to tear into it. I like to break up the rectilinear edges of the paper, and by tearing into it, we immediately start to create different textures. The straight edge of the paper appears very different from the more ragged torn edges. So because I'm tearing into the paper, I usually get at least two paper specimens out of each sheet of paper. As I tear into the paper, I have to make a decision about how big I want each specimen to be. Sometimes I tear into a piece of paper just a little bit, but end up using the entire sheet of paper. Other times, I'll tear around the edges. Sometimes I'll tear a single sheet of paper into four or five different paper specimens. This tends to create rather small specimens, but remember, we're going for a range of different kinds of shapes. I also want to remind you once again that at this stage, we are not trying to sculpt anything specific. So one of the things that I do, so I'm not tempted to try and sculpt figurative forms out of paper is I will often not even look at the paper that I am manipulating in my hands. This keeps me being aware of the specific forms that I'm sculpting and allows me to be surprised at the end. And as I mentioned before, I am not simply crumpling. I'm twisting, I'm folding. I'm pulling. Oftentimes, I'll crumple up a piece of paper to create an initial set of crinkles, then I'll uncrumple it and then start shaping it again. You want to create a wide range of shapes and folds. You want some folds that are very big and seem to soar through the air. You can create other sections that are really crinkled and have all kinds of intricate little details. Now, while I'm sculpting these forms, I often try to create what I call switchbacks, areas where the paper seems to zigzag back and forth. These switchbacks can often start to resemble appendages. Every single time I get a fresh sheet of paper in my hands, I try and manipulate it in a different way. I try to create shapes that I've never created before. Now, I've been doing this project for many years now, so it is a bit of a challenge for me to try to come up with new ways to tear, crush, and manipulate the paper. But that's still my goal. I still try to do something unique each and every time I get a fresh sheet of paper in my hands. Remember, the more different kinds of shapes we create, the more likely we are to see something figurative in these forms. Now, it may seem strange that I'm trying to give you instructions on how to crumple paper. But remember, this is a creative project. This is part of how creativity works. We're trying to deal with a familiar subject like a sheet of paper in ways that we've probably never thought about before. And this is what I love so much about these projects. It will really change the way you look at simple, mundane objects. So while you're crumpling your sheets of paper, I want you to feel free to experiment. You don't have to do it the way that I'm talking about. What I'm giving you is just a starting point. But remember, in a creative project, your goal is to make it your own. So feel free to go far beyond the kinds of ideas that I'm giving you right now. Now, I am not particularly superstitious, but there is something about working with this paper and starting to see figures or other living creatures come out that feels almost seance like. It's as if we're starting to pull creatures from the ether. I'm not claiming there's some spiritual component to this process, but I am saying that the hands can work things out that the mind sometimes struggles to consciously deal with. On some level, we are making our hands perform the actions that shape these papers. And I choose to believe that there could be meaning there. I'm going to let you get to crumpling your sheets of paper. Remember, you want to create at least a dozen individual paper specimens, but the more the better. If you want to create 30, 40, 50 or more, feel free to do that. And remember, try not to consciously shape these pieces of paper into any specific forms. The goal here is randomness. We want to be surprised when we see the shapes that we create. And this is the first part of this process to allow our hands to create random paper forms. And I say random with a bit of a wink because I don't know where the meaning starts to come into this process. I do know that the images are meaningful at the end. And so I like the idea that each part of the process is a forum for us to work out ideas in the mind. Projects like this are a way to explore the depths of our mind to figure out what drives us, what we're afraid of, how we construct meaning, and what are the mental models we use to navigate daily life. So go create your paper specimens, and I will see you back here for the next part of the project, where we're going to begin examining these paper specimens for lifelike or figurative qualities. 4. Selecting Paper Specimens: Welcome to the second part of the PeradolioPject. In the first part of the project, we shaped numerous forms of paper into dynamic abstract forms. Here in this second part of the project, we're going to be examining these paper forms to see if we can find any figurative qualities. We're looking for any pieces of paper that resemble humans, animals, or any other creature. Now, I say any other creature, because in addition to animals, you may see things that look more like fantasy creatures like dragons, leviathans, or mythological creatures. Remember, we are just looking for indications of life. These forms don't need to be realistic. Once we find some paper specimens that resemble humans or animals, we need to set those aside and prepare them for drawing. Now, at this stage, it is likely that you have crumpled at least a dozen sheets of paper into dynamic abstract forms. But remember, only a few of them are going to appear to have human or animal like qualities. Most of the paper specimens that you've created are unlikely to show any human or animal like qualities. Once you do find pieces of paper that appear to have figurative qualities, they are likely only to appear that way from a very specific viewpoint. This means that we not only need to set these paper specimens aside, but we need to do it in a way where we can display their figurative qualities. So now I'm going to share how I examine my paper specimens. Remember, you don't need to do it exactly the way I do it, but hopefully this will give you a sense of how you can proceed with this part of the project. First, I recommend laying out all of your paper specimens on a flat surface so you can see all of them at once. It's best if the surface you lay them out on is dark. A dark surface will help to showcase the white shapes of the paper. First, you should just take a look at all of the specimens laid out. See if any of them jump out at you as having any figurative qualities. But if nothing immediately jumps out at you, the next thing you want to do is to examine each piece of paper individually. Pick each one up and examine it from every possible viewpoint. Turn it in your hands to make sure that you are seeing it from every angle. While you're doing this, move your paper specimens slowly and pay close attention to anything that might look figurative. Now, at this point, you're probably realizing why it was so important to create paper specimens that had a wide range of dynamic shapes and forms. So now, I'm going to take you through some of these specific qualities of the paper specimens that I feel make them look particularly figurative. And in doing so, my hope is that you will get a sense of what you should be looking for when you examine your own paper specimens. So I want to start off by sharing some of the pieces that I've selected. These are the pieces that looked figurative to me. Now, while I'm showing you these, I want to make it clear that you need to work with the paper. You need to meet the paper halfway. It's not as if these are going to look exactly like figures. You need to respond to the information that the paper is displaying and allow your mind to start to craft the images of figures. Let's start by focusing on this piece. Now, before I share what I see, I want to ask you, what do you see in this piece of paper oriented in this direction? Now, we all tend to see these things a little differently, and maybe you don't see anything in this piece of paper. That's okay. But I just wanted to give you an opportunity to come up with your own interpretation before I started to share what I see. So to me, this figure appears to be in profile. It appears to be walking from left to right. Here is one leg moving forward while the other leg is back. I see this as being a torso and this as being a head. This appears to me to be an arm projecting forward. Once I saw this figurative shape in this piece of paper, I couldn't unsee it. This figure of the image walking forward from left to right is very strong in my mind. Now, the more I look, the more information that starts to come out. For example, here and here, the folds start to resemble feet or shoes. The curves in the contour here start to suggest a face. This shape here appears to be part of the upper arm that comes down and bends into the part of the arm that's projecting forward. Now, again, if you're not seeing this, that's okay. But I wanted to share with you the kinds of things that I'm seeing that start to bring these pieces of paper to life. Our goal right now is not to figure out how to draw these. It's just to start to see something lifelike. So next, let's take a look at this piece of paper. So hopefully, you're starting to see why it's so important to create pieces of paper that have a lot of different kinds of shapes and folds. This project is nearly impossible if all you're doing is balling up the paper. But when we have all of these different changes in direction, we have big shapes, we have small shapes, that's when we can start to trigger the paradolia effect in the mind and begin to see figures. For this figure, I'm seeing something very specific. But before I share what that is, again, I want to give you an opportunity to take a look and see how your mind interprets this. I am seeing a figure that is pulling something. Imagine for a moment that this here is an arm. This is the back, and this shape here is the head. Just by accident, this line could almost represent what this figure is pulling a rope or perhaps a chain. The figure has leaned way back with one leg forward and the other leg back. Now, if you saw something completely different when I asked, that is great. Remember, there are no right or wrong ways to engage these paper forms. Now, many of the figures that I see tend to appear to be wearing dresses, robes, long coats or other forms of flowing garments. Now, because of the way paper works, many of the creases and folds do a good job at emulating a look of fabric. Alright, let's take a look at another. Now, to me, this piece of paper feels a little more abstract, but I'm still seeing figurative elements. I'm seeing this as the front of the head where the face might be. The torso is here, and we see one leg extending back while this leg is coming more forward. This appears to be an arm traveling forward, and this almost appears to be a headdress or some kind of flowing fabric. I can feel my mind having to work a little more to create this particular piece of paper into a figure. Remember, you need to work with the paper in order to start to see figures or other forms. Remember, these pieces of paper only tend to appear figurative from particular directions. If we change the orientation, some of the figurative qualities start to disappear. But when we orient these figures in particular ways, they really begin to embody specific elements, elements that can appear remarkably figurative. It can also be fascinating to start to place these figures together. So interesting relationships start to emerge. However, we'll talk more about that later on in this project. But hopefully, this gives you a sense of how to start to look at these paper forms and how to work with them to start to discern figurative elements. So at this point, you should have a good idea of how these paper specimens appear to me. But it's important for you to remember you may see things completely differently than I do. The figures or animals you find may look completely different from mine. We're looking at these paper specimens the same way we might look for shapes in the clouds. This is something your brain is naturally inclined to do. This is not a special skill. You just have to open yourself up to the experience and allow your mind to do what it does. Now, if you're really struggling with this part of the project, if you feel you've got your pieces of paper laid out and nothing is jumping out at you as being particularly figurative, that's okay. Here are some things you can do. First, take a bit of a break, get away from the project and come back to it later on with fresh eyes. It's not uncommon for me to think a particular paper specimen has no lifelike qualities, and I've come back days, months, or even years and found something figurative in a paper specimen that I had written off. Now, after seeing some of the paper specimens that I feel appear figurative, you may decide that your paper specimens are simply not complex or dynamic enough. This does happen, and in fact, rather than starting with fresh sheets of paper, you can simply tear into and reshape the paper specimens that you've already used. It's also very important to come to this project with the right attitude. If you're coming to this project thinking, there's nothing to see here, but just pieces of garbage, then you are highly unlikely to see anything figurative or meaningful. So you need to open yourself up to the experience and come at it with the right attitude. Assume that you will see meaningful forms in these abstract paper specimens. I'd also like to note that you may see things beyond figures and animals. Some people tend to see more plant like things, trees, vines, flowers. I've known people who have seen more architectural or mechanical things like buildings or vehicles. So if figures aren't jumping out at you, but some other forms are, that's fine. Work with what you see. Remember, part of this project is letting your mind bring these paper forms to life. They don't need to be figurative. You get to learn what your mind interprets in these abstract forms. Now, ideally, you'd be able to find at least three or four paper specimens that resemble something that you can draw, but you only really need one or two for this project to work. So once you found some paper specimens that have some figurative qualities, we need to set them aside in a way that we can come back and find these forms again. If you simply set the piece of paper down at a table and think you're going to remember, you may not. I've been through this experience before. I have found a piece of paper that displays some figurative qualities that I find very compelling, and I've simply set it aside. When I picked it back up, sometimes I can't remember exactly the viewpoint that I saw these figurative qualities from. So when you set these pieces of paper aside, you need to display them in a way that allows them to showcase whatever forms you saw that you found compelling. Now, there are many ways you can display your paper specimens. The easiest way is to lay them out on a dark surface. You want to orient them so that they are showcasing their figurative qualities. You want to lay each one down in the position that shows whatever form you found so compelling. Now, this method works pretty well, although if you live with other people, you need to tell them that these pieces of paper that are crumpled up are part of an art project. They are not trash. I have absolutely had roommates who have thrown out my precious paper specimens. Now, one of the most common ways that I display my paper specimens is by pinning them to black foam core. Now, if you're unfamiliar with foam core, it is a kind of board that has a piece of foam sandwiched between two pieces of paper. It comes in all kinds of colors, but I feel that the black foam core is most useful for this project. It really offsets the white of the paper. So I will take my paper specimen and pin it right to the foam core. The foam corp does a great job accepting push pins or specimen pins. Now, for this project, I actually use specimen pins that are designed to pin insects, but push pins will also work. I've also used various kinds of clips. One of the most useful clips I found is attached to a wire, and it's weighted at the bottom. These kinds of clips will hold up your paper specimens. Now, depending on how big the paper specimen is or its specific shape, these clips don't always hold them up properly, but many of them work. You can even put these paper specimens under glass. Putting them under glass can hold them up as well as protect them. Get creative with it. Experiment to see how you can display your paper specimens in a way that they best showcase their figurative qualities. I also recommend snapping a quick picture of your paper specimen with your phone so you can quickly capture the figurative qualities. Now, at this point in the project, some people do start to question it. They realize that they've been spending a huge amount of time staring at crumpled pieces of paper, something that most people think of as trash. They start to feel childish or as if this kind of thinking is potentially disturbing. But here's the reality. If you want to be creative or if you want to have creative experiences, you need to learn to tolerate and even appreciate this feeling of being a little unsettled, a little disturbed. Remember, when we deal with creative projects, we are confronting the unknown. And a confrontation with the unknown is always going to be unsettling. But that's what creativity is all about. If we're dealing with what we already know, by definition, it is not creative. Now, hopefully, most of you are very interested in this project and curious to see where it's going to go. For those of you who may be struggling a bit, stick with it a little longer. See if you can find something meaningful and valuable here. I know that Ia found this project immensely useful in discovering things about myself that I didn't know. People who have been introduced to this project also get a great sense of meaning from. At the very least, this will give you a sense of how the creative process works and how creative people think. So now, go examine your paper specimens to see if any of them appear figurative to you. Once you've found some paper specimens with figurative qualities, you'll be ready for the next part of the project where we're going to do quick sketches of each specimen and start to discover what about them appears figurative. I look forward to seeing you in part three of the PeradoliaPject. 5. Sketching Paper Specimens: Welcome to part three of the ParadoliaPject. In this third part of the project, we are going to familiarize ourselves with our paper specimens by doing quick sketches of them. This is a very important step between examining our paper specimens and doing final drawings of them. The goal of these quick sketches is to learn about our paper specimens and in particular to discover what about them makes them appear lifelike or figurative. You're also going to gain some experience drawing these paper specimens and learn how to emphasize their lifelike qualities. For these quick sketches, you'll simply need some paper and a drawing tool. You do not need to use any costly art paper. In fact, you can use the exact same cheap paper that you used to create your paper specimens. For a drawing tool, you can use either pencil or pen, whatever you're most comfortable with. I'll be using a ballpoint pen. I like using ballpoint pen for this part of the project, because it keeps the drawings from being too precious. BallpointPen is a down and dirty medium. It has a very limited range of line, so I have to keep the drawings pretty simple. I recommend spending no more than 5 minutes on each quick sketch of your figurative specimens. And in these quick sketches, you don't need to add a lot of detail. You want to focus on the larger forms of the paper specimens. 5 minutes should be plenty of time to simplify your paper specimens down to their most figurative elements. So now I'm going to take you to the drawing board where I'm going to show you how I approach these quick sketches of my most figurative paper specimens. So here on the left, I have a paper specimen that appears to me to be very figurative. To me, it looks like somebody walking from left to right with an arm raised. So the first thing I want to capture is the overall gesture of this paper specimen. Now, gesture drawing is a fundamental concept in figure drawing. So very lightly, I am drawing this line that moves from the top of the head all the way down to the bottom of the foot. This to me, seems like the primary action. Instead of focusing on any details, I'm simplifying all of this information to capture this line that flows from top to bottom. Hopefully, you can see that movement flowing through this paper specimen. Next, I'm going to draw this leg projecting forward. So to me, these lines capture the overall position and flow of the figure. So next, I'd like to start breaking this drawing down into its various elements. So up here, this looks like a torso to me with the chest being here and the back of the figure being here. I'm keeping these lines very light because I want to adjust them. Next, I'll start drawing the rest of this leg projecting back into my left. I think this line can project even more forward at more of an angle. So one of the things I'm immediately doing is focusing on the figurative elements. Our goal here is to find a balance between accurately representing the forms we find in the paper, but also to emphasize the figurative qualities. I'm not doing a realistic rendering of crumpled paper. I'm emphasizing the figurative elements to make them come forward, to make them occupy center stage. To me, the head of the figure appears to be about right here. Now, it's not a very head like shape, but there are some indications of a head. So now that I have the large shapes drawn, I can start to add some more of the folds of the crumpled paper. I'm looking for elements in the paper that seem to emphasize the figurative qualities. Remember, the goal here is to draw this piece of paper as if it were alive, as if it were a figure, not merely as a crumpled piece of paper. So we're looking for information that seems to enhance the figurative qualities. We can also de emphasize any elements of the paper that are detracting from the figurative qualities. We get to decide what goes into drawing and what doesn't. This line here seems to correspond to how the muscles of the leg might actually curve or how fabric might curve over this upper portion of the leg. Right down here, I can see a couple of creases that look as if they could be a knee. So I'm going to emphasize those creases. Now, this element that sticks out here, I might deemphasize that or edit it out entirely. So instead of using a dark, hard line, I may just indicate it very, very lightly. Now, as we get down here, we can see this part of the paper curve. I might emphasize this shape just a little to make it look more like a foot. So here you can see I'm not inventing information, but I am exaggerating this shape just slightly to make it look a little more foot like. You can see this shape here, I've moved up a little bit to give the figure a bit more of a waist. So this shape here starts to appear almost like the pelvic region. Now, there are some other shapes coming off the back, but again, I can de emphasize those to focus on this cinching here that implies a waist. Again, I'm not inventing information, but I am exaggerating just slightly to emphasize the figurative qualities. It's amazing how visual information will start to resemble familiar things the more we focus on it. For example, this triangular shape here almost looks like a knee. The folds of the paper almost seem to appear like fabric. Now, by doing these quick sketches, I can work out so many of these shapes and forms before I start on the final drawings. So by the time I get to my more finished drawings, I'm already very familiar with the subject. This shape here starts to look like the calf muscle. So again, I'm going to emphasize that. I think I want to lower this foot just a little here. Once again, on the right side, I'm going to emphasize this shape. I'm going to stretch it out just a little to imply more of a foot like form. Again, I'm not inventing information, but I'm exaggerating what's there to bring the figure more into focus. So hopefully, this is really starting to appear to you like a figure. This shape here starts to look like a shoulder. This shape here almost starts to look like fabric of a shirt coming over the chest. Now, this shape here appears to be a little too big to be an arm, so I'm going to make this shape a little smaller and de emphasize all of the shapes coming down here. This way, I can focus more on the part of it that seems to have the shape and proportions of an arm. This piece of paper here, I can include it just a little bit, but again, I'm going to de emphasize it so it does not take center stage. So again, this line here, I'm just going to draw very lightly. So hopefully, you can start to see what I mean by finding a balance between the technical information we find in the paper specimen and the more figurative qualities I'm focusing on in the drawing. So now I'm going to put a little more detail into this form for the head. So this shape here almost appears to be the divot we would find near the eyes and right above the nose. It almost looks like a bit of a face shape. I'm going to pull this form out in the back just a little bit to give it more of a head like proportion. Once again, I'm not inventing, but I am exaggerating the figurative elements. So I'm going to include just a few more of the technical elements in the drawing, just a few more of these folds, just to add some dynamism and some visual interest to the drawing. The last thing I want to point out here is how this initial gesture line is still detectable in the final drawing. You can really see how that gesture line informs many of these contours of the figure. After doing this quick sketch, I feel much more prepared to do a more finished drawing of this paper specimen later on. Now, as I'm wrapping this up, I want you to compare my paper specimen to my quick sketch. They are not exactly the same, but they are incredibly similar. But here, I've just pulled out the more figurative elements, so the drawing seems more alive. And this is the kind of drawing I'm going to ask you to do today, quick sketches that emphasize the figurative qualities of your paper specimens. So I wanted to take a few minutes and show you some of my other sketches of my paper specimens. Again, I only sketch the most figurative paper specimens. I've really tried to make this figure appear as if it's a leaning back and pulling something. We really feel this sense of pulling that goes through the arm and into the shoulder. I wanted to emphasize this leg coming back and supporting the pulling motion. In this next paper specimen, we can see a figure that appears to be running or in some other kind of stance, but we see this leg extended back, this leg projecting forward and bent. We can see here the shape of a head that has hair or perhaps some kind of headdress extending back. Now, this figure does not appear to have any arms, at least not in this sketch. Next, we have a figure that appears to me to be in some kind of robe. This figure appears to be wearing a headdress that extends back. I tend to see a lot of these headdresses in these paper forms. Here we can see an arm coming forward and down. And here we see the robes widen before they come and hit the flat ground plane. Once again, we can see some indication of a mask or a face. Here we see two figures. I really like this figure. This figure appears to be in a twist. The legs we're seeing in a side view, but the torso appears to be twisting towards us, and to me, this shape for the head makes it appear to be looking this direction. And here we see a hint of an arm extending out toward the right. So here we see a figure that appears to be lunging. This could be interpreted as an arm, but to me, it almost looks like a wing extending from the back of the torso. Here, of course, is the front of the head, again, with some kind of headdress coming off of the back. So hopefully, these quick sketches give you an idea of what we're looking for. To me, these drawings start to look more like figures than crumpled pieces of paper. My goal was to really showcase the figurative aspects. So hopefully now you have a sense of how you can approach these quick sketches. As always, you do not need to do it exactly how I do it. You are free to make your own kinds of decisions and explore your paper specimens however you feel most inspired to do so. We're trying to find a balance between depicting the crumpled paper in a believable way but focusing on the more figurative aspects. These don't need to be realistic drawings. These quick sketches are an opportunity for you to show what about these paper specimens looks most figurative to you. Now, while you're drawing, I encourage you to ask yourself questions about your paper specimens. Do they seem to have an age, a gender, any personality traits? Do they seem to be engaged in a particular activity, dancing, fighting, flying, falling? What does the body language tell you about these paper entities? Remember, you want to be open to these experiences. You want to go in assuming that there is meaning here, and you want to fully experience that. So at this point, I would encourage you to begin asking yourself, what does it mean that you interpreted random information in these particular ways? What is your mind trying to tell you with these interpretations? What can you learn about yourself and how you process information? Your ultimate goal with these quick sketches is to familiarize yourself with your paper specimens and discover what about them makes them appear lifelike or figurative to you. You can even try and draw the same specimen in different ways to see if you can tease out more figurative aspects. And as always, feel free to experiment and to make this project your own. The most important thing is that we are here to have a creative experience. So now it's your turn. Go do quick sketches of the paper specimens that you found to be most figurative. And as always, if you want a more immersive experience, I recommend doing some writing about these paper specimens. Take some time and write a paragraph or two about each of the paper specimens, their characteristics, their personalities, their physical attributes. Writing about them will help them become even more alive and meaningful in your mind. All right, go do your quick sketches, and I will see you back here for the fourth part of this project where we are going to start final drawings of our paper specimens. 6. Crafting Finished Drawings: Welcome to the fourth part of the PeradoliaPject. In the previous video, we did quick sketches to familiarize ourselves with our paper specimens. We explored what made them appear to be figurative and practiced emphasizing those living qualities. Now, in this part of the project, we're going to take everything we learned from our quick sketches and apply them to more finished drawings that appear to be more thoughtful, more detailed, more expressive, and more resolved. So today we're going to explore some essential concepts that will help these drawings appear more finished. We're going to explore line quality, composition, and sense of place. Line quality refers to the different kinds of lines we use when we draw. These lines can be light or dark, thick or thin, hard or soft. We're also going to explore composition, and in particular, we're going to see how placing our paper specimens on different parts of the page may impact its meaning. And finally, we're going to talk about sense of place. We don't want these paper specimens to appear that they're just floating in a void. We want to give them the sense that they're occupying a particular environment, even if that environment is just hinted at. So before we get to today's demonstration, let's go over materials. Because this is going to be a longer, more finished drawing, I encourage you to use high quality archival art paper. I'll be doing my drawings on Canson metiens paper. Each side of a piece of Canson paper will have a different texture. I'll be drawing on the smooth side of white paper, but you don't need any special materials for this project. If you have access to high quality drawing paper, great. But if not, you are welcome to use whatever materials you have on hand. I'll be drawing with my most common drawing pencil, a black Lyra Rembrandt poly color. And, of course, it never hurts to have a new eraser and a drafting brush. So now that you have a sense of materials, there's one more idea I want to share with you before we get to today's demonstration. You'll notice that my drawings of these paper specimens contain little or no light and shadow. These are line drawings. I'm not rendering light. I'm creating these drawings with line quality alone. When I first started this project, I tried out many different ways of drawing. And my initial drawings of these paper specimens did include lighter shadow, but I felt this made them look almost too solid. By stripping away the light and shadow and crafting these drawings using line quality alone, it gives them a much more apparition like appearance, which I think is very appropriate for this project. So now let's head to the drawing board where I'm going to demonstrate how I approach my drawings of these individual crumpled pieces of paper. So here you can see I'm all set up with my paper specimen pinned to my foam cord board on the left and my white drawing paper on the right. The first thing I want to think about is composition. This arm appears to me to be outstretched as it pulls. So whatever this figure is pulling is going to be to its upper left. This means that I'm going to place my figure on the lower right. I want to leave some room on the upper left to imply that there's something up there that this figure is pulling. Now, again, I'd like to remind you that this is all my interpretation. None of this information is innate in this crumpled piece of paper. These crumpled paper specimens are random. We get to choose how to interpret them and how to communicate our vision on paper. So I'll begin with my gesture. As I would with a regular figure drawing, I'm going to begin very, very lightly. I'm going to focus on the largest shapes and dynamic forms. To me, this figure appears to be captured in mid movement, so I want my lines to help communicate that movement. Now, it's very likely that at this point, these lines are just barely visible, and that is okay. I'll darken these lines later on. Here's an indication of the figure's head. This part here appears to be a shoulder, perhaps sticking up. And here is the arm reaching out as it pulls back. As the figure begins to take shape, I can get a little more specific with my lines and marks. And you can see that I'm starting to draw with slightly darker lines. At this stage, I'm not yet using any very dark lines. The darker lines will come once I've captured the more basic forms. I want to make sure I've solidified the subject before I start drawing with darker lines. It's so interesting to me the information that starts to emerge. For example, this point right here can almost stand in for a kneecap pressing from underneath what appears to be fabric. This tight curve here almost appears to represent an ankle of the foot. Now, of course, not every crease or fold will be meaningful, but I do think it's rather fascinating that some of them really do appear to stand in for specific anatomical features. Remember, the more time we spend with these specimens, the more specific and meaningful the information will become. So here you can see that I've emphasized the lines and the visual information that support the idea of an arm pulling. But of course, up here, we have all of these other lines. I rarely edit out information entirely, but I don't need to emphasize those lines. I can draw them lightly. This is how I tend to compromise. I want to create honest drawings of the information that's contained in the paper, and yet I want to push the vision of a figure. So this comes down to emphasis. Anytime I want to emphasize something, I can use darker, harder lines. But if I want to de emphasize something, I can still include the information, but I'll draw it with light, soft lines that tend to fade into the background. And as I've mentioned before, I'm also very comfortable altering proportions. I don't alter proportions much, and I'm not making up visual information. Right here, you can see that I've enlarged this portion sticking up. To me, this starts to look like a head that's sticking up behind a large collar. By slightly increasing the size of this area here, it makes it look more like a head. Now that I'm looking, this curve right here almost implies the muscle of the thigh. And down here, we have some lines that stand in very well for fabric covering a calf muscle. This is what's so incredible to me about this project. The more I look, the more the lines seem to gain meaning. It's absolutely fascinating to me how much the brain can start to populate and bring to life random pieces of information. This point here is starting to look like a pointed toe. This here starts to look like the heel of the other foot as it grinds into the ground for support. The more time I spend with this figure, the more it seems to come alive in my mind. This truly is a testament to how creative our minds can be if we give them the right opportunities. So at this point, we've talked about composition. We placed our figure on the lower right, so it appears to be pulling something on the upper left. We've talked about gesture and capturing the overall movement and action of this figure. At least, to me, this figure really starts to look like it's pulling something. We've talked about emphasizing the anatomical features that support our vision of the figure. I've been using darker, harder lines to emphasize certain information and lighter softer lines to de emphasize. Now I'd like to introduce you to another way we can use line quality. As I'm getting more specific with these paper forms, I can use line quality not only to emphasize, but to show tension and release. In the areas where the paper seems to be twisted, folded or contorted with the most force, I like to darken the lines. I think this really starts to communicate the twists and turns of the paper. Right here, for example, we find that the paper is really twisted and contorted. So I can use darker lines to really emphasize that idea. Areas where the paper tends to relax more, I can use lighter, softer lines. Here, for example, where the papers just folded a little bit, I can use these light soft lines, so I can include the information, but they're not going to take center stage. Other areas where the paper seems twisted and contorted quite a bit would be right here. So I'm going to emphasize those folds and contortions with dark heavy line. As the paper relaxes as it gets further away from these epicenters of folds and twists, I can use lighter, softer lines. Now, of course, this is not a strict system. It's just a way of varying line quality so we can bring dynamism to our drawing. I don't draw every forceful fold with dark lines, nor do I draw every relaxed area with lighter, softer lines. It's just a guideline. Ultimately, our goal is to create beautiful drawings that appear to be lifelike. Often I use my intuition to figure out what lines to darken and what lines to lighten. And in every drawing, the solution seems a little different. Another way I'll use line quality for emphasis is if I want to pull something to the foreground or let something else fade into the background. You can see that quite clearly with the arms. Here, this appears to be an arm in front. But with this line being so light, it appears to be an arm further back. So all over, you'll see me emphasizing certain pieces of information while de emphasizing others. This information at the end of the arm here appears to imply a bit of a hand or fist. But rather than draw the entire length of it, I'm just going to emphasize the ends. To me, this gives it a more hand like appearance. And I can see a hint of perhaps another hand coming up right behind it. So at this stage, the drawing becomes all about emphasis. What pieces of information do you want to emphasize? What information do you really want your viewers to take notice of? And, of course, what information do you want to de emphasize? What information do you not want to be as a parent of viewers? So, hopefully, this has given you a sense of how to approach these drawings. There are just a couple more things I'd like to address. First, we can give the illusion of grounding our figure on a ground plane. So here you can see I'm using lines to emphasize where the feet would come in contact with the ground plane. I can even put in a hint of shadow to really create that illusion. Again, I'm doing this very subtly. I can also create a sense of place by adding a simple horizon line or other visual information. So to do that, I might grab another piece of crumpled paper as a model. I might take a look and draw very simple folds of this new piece of paper just to give a hint that there's some kind of landscape. This particular piece of paper, which I just grabbed at random, almost starts to communicate a mountain range in the background. I think that's pretty interesting. Again, we don't need much visual information. We just need enough to imply a sense of space. Now I'm going to continue to work on this drawing. I'm going to continue to look for the pieces of information that I really want to emphasize. We'll check back in with this drawing once I've done a little more work on it. But my strong hope is that my vision of a figure that is pulling something is really beginning to appear. So here is where this drawing stands right now. I may go back into it later and finesse some of the line quality, but I think this is starting to work. I think the figurative form is really coming through as well as the action. First, I want to call your attention to the overall gesture. For whatever reason, this figure seems male to me. We really feel this figure pulling. I've added a few lines and marks to suggest a rope or something else that he's pulling. I created this by grabbing a random piece of crumpled paper and following the contour of one edge. These paper forms hint at hands, and we can see where these hands are grabbing and pulling. The figure is leaning back as he pulls. We see one leg coming forward. We see the other leg first come down and then jut backward. This form here hints at ahead. There's a slight cinching here as if this were a waste. The way I drew the line quality made this part of the paper appear to be the arm closest to us and this arm being further away. I ghosted in just a hint of crumpled paper to create a mountainous horizon line, and I've anchored this figure to the ground plan by giving just a hint of shadow under the feet. Hopefully, my vision of this figure is starting to shine through. So at this point, you should have a sense of how to approach drawing an individual paper specimen. So now it's your turn. I want you to do drawings of individual paper specimens. For now I only want you to draw one paper specimen on each sheet of paper. Later on, we're going to start to combine multiple paper specimens into a single drawing. But for now, let's just focus on individuals. Now, I want you to think of these drawings as portraits of people, not merely drawings of crumpled pieces of paper. Your goal should be that when somebody else views your drawings, they don't see paper. They see a figure. You want them to see the specific figure that you conceived. Now, of course, this is a very subjective project, and to some degree, this goal is impossible to achieve in every case, but this should be your driving motivation. You want to approach these drawings more as figure drawings than as drawings of a still life. Now, I know that some of you may only have a single paper specimen that appeared figurative, while others may have many, but I want you to do one drawing for each paper specimen you selected that appeared figurative to you. Of course, you will start off by drawing from observation, but at some point, feel free to put the paper specimens aside and just work with the drawing in front of you. That's your opportunity to really start to pull out the figurative qualities of your drawings. The paper specimens should be a starting point, but the end point should be your vision of the particular figure that appeared to you. And as always, while you are drawing today, I want you to think about who these entities might be. Why did you see these particular forms? What does this tell you about where you are in your life, about how you think about things? What stories are these figures a part of? What are these entities trying to tell you about yourself? Remember, in reality, you're just drawing meaningless crumple pieces of paper. All of the figurative qualities, all of the associations and ideas that are coming forward are entirely invented in your mind, and I choose to believe that this could be meaningful. And as always, you can enhance and deepen your experience of this project by writing about it. It could be about the individual paper figures that you're seeing. It could be about stories that they imply. It could be about the thoughts, memories and emotions that come up while you're drawing. Part of these kinds of creative projects is going deep and allowing yourself to experience the full breadth of ideas. If you're going to do a creative project, why not go deep? Allow yourself to experience it fully. Delve deeply into the emotions and ideas this project brings up. In my experience, this is what being creative is all about, being open to these experiences, even if at times they seem strange or unsettling. But as someone who's done a lot of these projects, I can tell you, it is absolutely worth it. These kinds of projects have benefited not just my creative life, but my personal life as well. So now, go do your drawings of your individual paper specimens. I will see you back here for the fifth part of the PeradoliaPject, where we are going to begin to combine multiple paper specimens into a single drawing. 7. Further Explorations: Welcome to the fifth and final part of the ParadoliaPject. So far, you've created more finished drawings of individual paper specimens. In this lesson, you're going to combine multiple specimens into a single picture plane. By combining your paper specimens together, you'll be able to explore new meanings. These paper specimens will seem to interact with one another. These combinations can suggest situations, narratives, or even stories. To me, this is when this project really comes to life. Each figure in an image will be in relationship to every other figure in it, whether you only have two paper specimens or several. And beyond figures, you can also include paper specimens that remind you of other objects, architecture, vehicles, anything that you see when you look at your paper specimens. Remember, this is a creative project. The goal is not simply to follow my rules. The goal is for you to have a creative experience, so feel free to experiment and explore with your paper specimens. Now, for this part of the project to work, you are going to need a minimum of two paper specimens that are either figurative or remind you of some other kind of object. You're first going to create a single image that combines multiple paper specimens. After that, I'm going to encourage you to create as many drawings of these paper specimens as seem meaningful to you. But our first goal is to figure out how to combine multiple paper specimens into a single picture plane. The first thing I'd like you to do is gather all of your figurative paper specimens together. Lay them all out on a surface and just take a look at them. Ask yourself what paper specimens might seem meaningful or interesting to combine. I want you to select only two, bring them together on a flat surface, and start to arrange them in different ways. Even though you're only starting with two paper specimens, you can arrange them in many different ways. You can turn them around. You can raise them up and down. You can place them close to one another or far apart. The goal is to look for some combination and arrangement of these paper specimens that seem meaningful or interesting to you. And remember, you don't have to understand the meaning. It just has to seem compelling in some way. The more you engage in these creative projects, the more familiar you will get with this feeling that something is working, that something here is compelling, even though you may not be able to explain it. Trust that feeling. Those are the kinds of moments we are looking for during creative projects. Once you feel like you've explored a single pair, try another pair and then add three or maybe even four paper specimens together. Keep combining them in different ways until you find unique and compelling combinations. Some paper specimens may appear friendly to one another. They may appear to engage one another in conversation. Some of them may appear to dance, while others may appear antagonistic. They may appear to fight or otherwise argue with one another. Once you find some compelling combinations of these paper specimens, it's time to create some simple composition sketches. Before beginning a more finished drawing, I recommend doing a number of compositional sketches. These compositional sketches will help you figure out how you want your picture to look, how you want to compose your paper specimens within a picture plane. Even if you've only selected two paper specimens, there is still a near infinite number of ways to compose them in the picture plane. When I create my compositional sketches, I tend to do them in a sketchbook using a ballpoint pen. My goal here is to simply explore the composition of the paper specimens on the page and their relationship to one another. I keep these drawings very simple and include very little detail. Now, when I create these sketches, I often use composition grids. I'll either use a grid that divides the picture plane up into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, or I'll use a grid based mostly on diagonals. To create this grid, I tend to draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. Next, where those lines intersect, I will draw a cross with one vertical line and one horizontal line. Finally, I will connect the ends of the cross. This creates a diamond in the center of the page. You can use the lines and intersections of either of these composition grids to help place your figures in an interesting and aesthetically pleasing way. But these composition grids are completely optional. You are not required to use them. For this project, we are much more focused on creating meaningful and compelling images than images that are composed in any particular kind of way. We want to prioritize the position of the paper specimens in relationship to one another. Now, I find that these combination drawings work best with two or three paper specimens, but I've created drawings that include five or even more paper specimens. Remember, it is entirely up to you. I just want to give you one more note before we explore more finished drawings. You are more than welcome to change the scale of your paper specimens. If you think one paper specimen should be much bigger or smaller than another, even if they don't appear that way in reality, you are welcome to change the scales. Remember, the goal here is not to produce hyper accurate drawings of crumpled pieces of paper. The goal is to create meaningful drawings that appear figurative. Use any tools you want to to achieve that goal. Remember, this is a creative project. There are no wrong ways to engage it. Now it's time for you to create your first finished drawing of multiple paper specimens. When you're ready, select one of your compositions and begin to draw it on high quality drawing paper. You're welcome to create your finished drawings at whatever size seems appropriate to you. My drawings tend to range from about eight by 12 " all the way up to about 18 by 24 ". When you're creating your finished drawings, remember, you can use all of the drawing techniques we explored in previous lessons. Vary your line quality. You should have some aspects of these drawings created with dark, sharp or heavy lines, while other parts of the drawing can be created with very soft, hazy, almost vaporous lines. Some areas of your paper specimens may appear solid, while other areas may appear transparent. And just like we did with your drawings of individual paper specimens, you can create a sense of place by adding value in the background, a horizon line, or even indications of some kind of environment. So now, I'd like to take you through some of the variations that I've done with this project over the years. When I started this project, I was creating very small drawings of these paper specimens. Many of these drawings were approximately the same size as the paper specimens I was drawing from. Shortly after that, I started creating very large drawings, the largest of which were five feet high and eight feet wide. Next, I experimented by creating drawings on wood panel. I did this by first adding gray and white gesso to create a textured background. Now I do think the drawings done on white paper do have a certain beauty to them. However, I started to get this strong sense that these entities needed to appear to be emerging out of a dark background. Now, I have experimented doing drawings on dark paper with white pencil, but I just wasn't getting the effect I was hoping for. When I work on these more creative projects, I often digitally manipulate the final images. This is not something I tend to do with my traditional work, but with the creative projects, I really open the doors. So I photographed the drawings, brought them into my computer, and started to experiment with the color and contrast. By first creating the drawings on white paper with black pencil and then inverting the values, the lines started to appear to glow, and the dark background really took on a beautiful depth. This also started to give the appearance of these figures and forms emerging from the darkness. So by digitally manipulating these drawings, I was able to get much closer to the vision I was looking for. But the black of the background still seemed to me a bit too harsh. For whatever reason, I kept envisioning the dark background as a deep blue. So I began to experiment with different colors of blue. And finally, I arrived at a version of blue that just seemed right for this project. When experimenting with these more creative projects, I really tend to work intuitively. I don't plan as much as I do with my more traditional work. This intuitive way of working often leads to immediate decisions being made, and I often don't know why I'm making these decisions or why certain ideas or ways of working seem so compelling. So I've done this project for many years now, and this is one of the reasons I keep coming back to it. Working on these more creative explorations feels completely different than working on more traditional drawings. I really love just following my intuition about not always knowing what's going to happen in a drawing. So even after all of these years, these drawings still seem very mysterious to me. These are some of the only kinds of drawings that I really get that sense that I'm looking at someone else's work, despite the fact that they are deeply personal. Truth be told, I really don't know how people are going to receive these drawings. They are so different from the work I usually create, or at least the work that I share publicly. But there's something about these drawings I find so fascinating, both in the process of creation and in the final results. I find them haunting. To me, this project is right at the intersection of more traditional realistic drawing and creative experimentation. Now, for those of you who are more interested in realistic or traditional drawing, I urge you not to write off creative projects like this. If you are studying drawing of any kind, but you are not engaging the creative side, then you are limiting your capabilities. Studying only the technical side of drawing and not the creative side is kind of like having a computer but not hooking it up to the Internet. To experience the full power of drawing, you must engage both the technical and the creative sides. Well, thank you so much for joining me here. It is truly an honor to be part of your drawing experience, and I truly hope that you've gotten something out of this project, even if you're not participating, hopefully, this project has opened your eyes and your mind up to new ways of drawing.