"Emoji"

You are the type of person who reads complete sentences.  I know this because you're reading one right now.  I think people like us are on the way to extinction.  I even text people with spelled out words and punctuation.

I understand that there are millions of people who don't use words anymore.  They just grab an emoji someone else has created to express the quickest thought or emotion.  They click "like" on Facebook without pausing very much to consider how much they like the post, or even bothering to watch/read the post.  Hurry up, hurry up, you have more time to waste on other things online while hoping someone likes something you've posted.  Maybe someone will even type a poorly spelled sentence in response?

In a way, it's all just fun for fun.  I read your blogs, you read mine, it's a happy, international sharing community -- but we're the grownups who actually have thoughts and the patience to read complete sentences, and I'll be the first to admit that I spend way too much time hitting "like" or other useless online endeavors.

I think the emoji world of desperately seeking likes is another story.  Conversations are limited.  People are isolated and lonely.  Young people have never lived in the world where people actually had verbal conversations with ideas and feelings communicated and commiserated.

I'm saddened this week that Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain committed suicide.  You'd think they would've been happy given their successes?  They both seem to have had people who loved them.  I'm sure they both racked up tons of likes along the way, and yet they were clearly miserable.

Misery has existed as long as humans have existed.  Suicide has also always existed, but the rate has increased 25% in the US since 1999.  Globally, it increased 60% in the last 45 years with a death every 40 seconds.  The World Health Organization says it will be every 20 seconds by 2020.  That's a lot of miserable, hopeless people -- and you aren't going to cheer them up sufficiently with an emoji.  They need real conversation with an empathetic person, and they aren't getting it from an eggplant cartoon.

Everybody knows this, and still, every suicide is a shock.  It shouldn't be at this point, but it is.

Maybe you're the unhappy one.  Reach out.  Talk to someone without emojis.  Use words and sentences to really communicate what you feel and what you need.

If you're happy, spread that around.  Reach out to someone who could use a helping hand.  Listen.  Care.  Avoid telling others how they "should" feel or what they "ought to" do unless that's really what the other person is hoping from you.  Listen some more.

Projected statistics aren't an unavoidable eventuality.  We can change them.  My hope is that all of us will contribute to a better future where those who want to escape life can see happiness shining through.

"Lesson"

I doodle face parts. It’s a compulsion. Lots of happy eyes, angry eyes, scared eyes, surprised eyes have filled my bills, napkins, and notebooks, and I’m feeling a compulsive need to spread my compulsion. Let’s all really look at each other and maintain eye contact. Who looks away first? It’s a fun experiment, but looking at each other results in eyes that are drawn only from the front, with a nice round pupil looking back at us. Irises aren’t as round when a person looks away.

Eyeballs are called “balls” for a reason. They’re as round as a soccer ball. We just don’t see the whole ball because they’re sunk into our heads and partially covered with eyelids. Rules of perspective apply to everything, even eyeballs. As you can see in the ¾ view, the part of the iris which is closest to the viewer is wider than the part further away.

Rules of lighting apply to everything too. If you draw a white ball, it’s lighter close to the light source, and gets darker as it curves away from the light. Since an eyeball is a white ball, the same rules apply, even after you put the pupil and iris on it. When you draw eyelids, remember that they follow the curve of the eyeball too. They also cast a shadow on the eyeball. Since light comes from the top in most situations, that means the eye is usually darkest under the upper eyelid, but since the eyeball is curving under and away from the light, there will also be a lighter shadow near the bottom eyelid too.

Everyone knows that eyelashes are attached to the eye lids, but people often have a disconnect between what we know and how we think about things. Look in the mirror. Notice how far away your lower lashes actually are from your eyes. Notice that eyelashes can cause shadows too.

Paint/draw highlights last. Eyes are wet and glossy, and we can get distracted by the shine and forget all the basic rules above. If you get the structure of the eye right in the first place, the highlight(s) are just the extra detail that makes the eye come alive.

Some people view absolute realism as the holy grail in art, but these observations can apply to whatever style you want to work in. A darker line on the top of a cartoon eye suggests the longer lashes and the shadow of the eye lid. It works for everybody, even animals, in every style… except for my photographic model for this post.

Did you like my "lesson"? I'm never quite sure if people want this kind of post. If you do, I can do more of them. If not, I can go back to my usual ramblings. Or some combination of both.

M. C. Escher Exhibit at Akron Art Museum

As I said in the previous post, I went to the Escher exhibit last weekend. It was long-planned, plans thwarted, and finally, finally, I got to see it. Gotta say it was a bit anticlimactic. Most of the pieces were prints from wood cuts and lithographs, so there wasn't much difference in seeing them in person vs. seeing them printed in a book. Yes, they were somewhat crisper, but it wasn't like the first time I saw Van Gogh's paintings in person. Studying his work in art history class and out of books, I never understood why people liked Van Gogh so much until I saw his work up close and personal. The texture and color of his paint is vibrant and exciting. Escher's work is logical and disciplined. It kind of felt like looking at blueprints for a really cool project. In other words, the ideas are what excite me about Escher more than his techniques.

There were some original drawings in the exhibit. I wish there were more of them. The drawings were something that could've been pulled out of his sketchbook, but they gave me more of a sense of his thinking than the finished prints. There was also a foamcore model of one of his drawings with a peephole a few feet away to look through. If you just looked at the model, you could easily see how it just doesn't make sense. Columns that hold up nothing suddenly snap into position when viewed through the peephole.

I'm glad I finally got to see this exhibit. If you live anywhere within driving distance, I'd recommend it. It will be in Akron through the end of May.