The Drawing Club

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32 The Drawing Club

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Some animators feel that a pretty drawing isn’t the goal. How-

ever, I spent my art career working in print illustration, so I was

always thinking about what the finished drawing would look like

because my drawing was the final printed version. I was taught

about the beauty of line quality and how to balance your marks

compositionally to create a better design on the page. I tried

to do drawings that were aesthetically aware. In other words,

the way my marks worked together was an important part of my

design, like type for a graphic designer.

I also had to think about the predetermined space I was given:

a magazine cover, an album cover, a full-page illustration, or a

double-page spread. Every illustration I did was designed with

the space in mind. I first learned the importance of the space in

art school when some of my instructors wouldn’t let us flip the

page on our drawing pad over the top of the drawing board. They

would tell us that this would create a roll of paper at the top of

our drawing board compromising the compositional space of the

paper. They wanted us to always be aware of all four sides of the

paper and to compositionally place whatever we were drawing

as a design on the paper. This meant the positive space of the

subject was just as important as the negative space surrounding

it. Consequently, even now I often put just one figure on a page

because I like designing in a box. Doing a drawing in a prede-

termined shape, such as a box, is true two-dimensional design.

Film Noir, watercolor on bond paper, Jeffrey James Smith Cabaret, watercolor on bond paper, Jeffrey James Smith

Zorro, watercolor on bond paper, Jeffrey James Smith

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33

(Text)

Chapter 2: Why Is 2-D Design So Important?

the space in mind. I first learned the importance of the space in

art school when some of my instructors wouldn’t let us flip the

page on our drawing pad over the top of the drawing board. They

would tell us that this would create a roll of paper at the top of

our drawing board compromising the compositional space of the

paper. They wanted us to always be aware of all four sides of the

paper and to compositionally place whatever we were drawing

as a design on the paper. This meant the positive space of the

subject was just as important as the negative space surrounding

it. Consequently, even now I often put just one figure on a page

because I like designing in a box. Doing a drawing in a prede-

termined shape, such as a box, is true two-dimensional design.

Zorro, watercolor on bond paper, Jeffrey James Smith

(Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook

#175 Dtp:204 Page:33

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