Posted by Chuck Grimmett. Learn more on his About page.
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Learning to Draw, Day 11: Perspective
Today I did exercises to learn how to draw perspectives. The first was about finding scales and angles, then the second was a drawing of a complex scene to put those to use. I chose our entryway, complete with a crooked doormat and a pile of our shoes. I think the left side came out…
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Learning to Draw, Day 10: Negative Space
Today I had to draw a chair, but not in the usual way. Instead of drawing the lines and shapes that make up the chair, I had to draw the negative space instead. I didn’t take a photo or use the plastic pane very much, but drew from looking at the chair and occasionally using…
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Learning to Draw, Day 9: Hand with Object
I repeated yesterday’s exercise, but this time with a fountain pen in my hand, cap on. It took me about an hour. I still don’t quite get the shading, but it is becoming easier to zoom in on details and lines.
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Learning to Draw, Day 8: My First “Real” Drawing
Today I did my first “real” drawing. Not a trace, not an upside down copy, but an actual drawing. I focused with one eye on my hand and drew the lines and curves the best I could. I still don’t really know what to do with shadows, highlights, etc, but I’m pretty pleased with my…
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The NYTimes Magazine’s set of graphic stories (read: comics) they published last week are fantastic. Check them out: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/02/magazine/new-york-stories-introduction.html
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Learning to Draw, Day 7: Tracing a Foreshortened Hand on a Plane
Today I did an exercise to help see like an artist sees: Using a plastic viewfinder to create a flat plane, resting it on my hand, and then using a non-permanent marker to trace all of the edges. (Reminder: In drawing, an edge is where any two areas meet, not just an outline.) I did this…
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Listening Notes: Invisibilia – Emotions Part One
Link to episode: https://overcast.fm/+D88LXtYzQ Emotions don’t happen to us, they are responses to things that happen to us. In fact, we don’t respond directly to the things that happen to us, but rather we respond to our concept of what happens. We don’t directly respond to the outside world, we respond to our mind’s interpretation…
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Using Walks, Drives, and Commutes For Work
I used to think that walking, driving somewhere, and commuting were things that we fundamentally opposed to work. Complete downtime. Even using them to listen to podcasts isn’t working. It is a good use of the time, but it isn’t working. I now regularly go for walks throughout the workday and take time commuting between my house…
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Learning to Draw, Day 6: Pure Contour Exercise
Today I read a section on childhood drawings and then did another exercise to help me shift my perception: Pure Contour Drawing. I put my pencil on the paper pad, scrunched my hand together, turned so I couldn’t see the paper, and then tried my best to draw the creases I saw in my hand…
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Listening Notes: Venkatesh Rao on The Three Types of Decision Makers, Mental Models, and How to Process Information | The Knowledge Podcast
Listening Notes for Venkatesh Rao on The Three Types of Decision Makers, Mental Models, and How to Process Information | The Knowledge Podcast Link to the podcast: https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/02/venkatesh-rao-decision-making/ Types of Decision Makers Evidence-based Moral (right vs wrong) Tribal (emotional/affiliation decision-making) Staying grounded in reality by maintaining cracks in your mental models. (Note: I first need to codify my…
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That was a good keynote. Makes me excited about Apple’s future again. I’m preordering a 10.5″ iPad Pro. I’ve been waiting a full year for an update to the line and this looks incredible.
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Learning to Draw, Day 5: Upside Down Tufted Titmouse
Today was the last upside down copying exercise: Picking a line drawing on your own and copying it. I searched around for a few minutes on Google Images and found a drawing of a Tufted Titmouse from SuperColoring.com. Here is the upside down comparison: And the rightside up comparison: I felt my focus shift a few…
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Learning to Draw, Day 4: Upside Down Knight
Betty Edwards in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain recommends copying 2-3 line drawings upside down to get a sense of how it feels to shift to a different way of seeing. Today I copied a line drawing of a knight on a horse by an unknown German artist. It was easier than yesterday’s drawing,…
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Learning to Draw, Day 3: Copying Upside Down
Yesterday I had about 30 pages of information about the brain and how it works and a short symmetrical vase (an optical illusion made out of two face profiles) drawing exercise to do. That took up the whole hour I set aside with only a few squiggly lines on a piece of paper to show,…
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First radish of the season! (D’Avignon)
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Learning to Draw, Day 1
This month I’m learning to draw. This is a skill I’ve never had. I once thought that there are analytical people and artistic people, but I’m no longer willing to accept that. Just like swimming or writing is a particular skill that can be taught and learned, drawing and calculus are both skills that can be…
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Forget Daily “Work/Life Balance”
Forget about daily work/life balance. Juggling too many things at once leads to stress and poor performance. Trying to balance everything by offsetting stuff with other stuff just leads to too much stuff. Set your priorities for each day (or each week or part of each day) and focus intensely on those few things. Working…
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A Prediction for the 2020 Election
I think that the 2020 presidential election will finally be when we’ll see colors other than red, white, and blue showing up as main branding colors in a mainstream candidate. The 2016 election and people’s response to Trump paved the way for “outsiders” and given people permission to color outside the lines. I’d love for…
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How to Avoid Pastoralism
I’m rereading Breaking Smart Season 1 right now and I got to thinking about Rao’s concept of pastoralism vs prometheanism and how to avoid it. Whenever you find yourself pining for a specific technological solution, especially one that was dreamt up more than 15 years ago, ask yourself whether or not you want the actual…
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Focused vs Unfocused Reading
The gap between focused and unfocused reading is huge, especially when compounded over time. Reducing distractions can lead to huge improvements in the number of pages read and understood. Maybe even more than traditional speed reading methods. On my flight to Chicago this weekend, I read half of James Hogan’s Inherit the Stars. On the…