SKETCHBOOK

CHARLES SCHULZ ON HIS PROCESS OF MENTAL DRAWING

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

While I am carrying on a conversation with someone, I find that I am drawing with my eyes. I find myself observing how his shirt collar comes around from behind his neck and perhaps casts a slight shadow on one side. I observe how the wrinkles in his sleeve form and how his arm may be resting on the edge of the chair. I observe how the features on his face move back and forth in perspective as he rotates his head. It actually is a form of sketching and I believe that it is the next best thing to drawing itself. I sometimes feel it is obsessive, but at least it accomplishes something for me.

—Charles Schulz

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3 Comments on “CHARLES SCHULZ ON HIS PROCESS OF MENTAL DRAWING”

Tim Says:
November 11th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
This is interesting — it reminds me of what Trollope said about his process of writing. He wrote 2.000 or 2,500 words per morning (his rigorous methods were famous), but he said that the real work came throughout the day, when he “daydreamed” about his characters and got to know them so well that he knew exactly what they would do in each situation that presented itself in his novels.
Austin Kleon Says:
November 11th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
That reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw yesterday:

THINK! It’s not illegal yet!

Thank God we can daydream whenever we want.
Austin Kleon Says:
July 29th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Vasari on Da Vinci from THE LIVES OF THE ARTISTS:

…he was always fascinated when he saw a man of striking appearance, with a strange head of hair or beard; and anyone who attracted him he would follow about all day long and end up seeing him so clearly in his mind’s eye that when he got home he could draw him as if he were standing there in the flesh.