#23 Year in Review: Art for Art's Sake
There is a value judgment attached to doing something for its own sake. You shouldn’t talk just for the sake of talking, much less argue for the sake of arguing. You can’t eat for the sake of eating and there is no forgiveness if you steal for the sake of stealing. I’m reasonably sure that you can run for the sake of running. But can you study for the sake of studying? Should you? And should you lie for the sake of lying?
So you can imagine the trepidation with which I approach the subject of this newsletter.
I don’t have answers.
Just some drawings
In no particular order.
Fan Art
This week I binge-watched Queen’s Gambit. I sometimes draw favorite scenes from shows that I like. Doing this works for me like a masterclass in design, lighting, color and composition. I learned a lot of things drawing this scene below.
See a video of the drawing process on my comics/personal instagram.
Every painting is a no-consequences opportunity to test new styles, focus on specific problem areas, and work out new tricks. With this scene from Barry (below), I tried to make a minimalistic likeness of Bill Hader. In the scene from Succession, other than the likeness, I tried a digital pencil-watercolor combination. The final one, from Sacred Games, is a more loose drawing with splashes of colors.
Portraits
With the same sort of idea, this year I have made portraits of different people on Reddit. I made them on r/redditgetsdrawn, where redditors submit photos for artists to voluntarily draw/practice.
Instagram Live
Some other art made just for art’s sake was drawn live on Instagram But let’s be fair, I also did it for the glamor and attention.
#WFH
This year, I made art for the sake of confronting the world with some measure of control. I made drawings of people’s #WFH setups after putting out an open call for pics on social media. I drew over 50 pieces. Here are a few.
I started making drawings of healthcare workers after that. This too was done for no reason other than for art’s sake.
Podcast
Next week, on Christmas Day, I will release Ep 10 of the podcast. That makes 9 conversations with artists from around the world, about our shared passion for urban-sketching. I’m fortunate to be part of a global community of artists that is finding new and interesting ways to document their world, even when we are in lockdown. Maybe because of the lockdown, it has become easier to find common ground with people that are thousands of miles away from us.
I’m going to take a step back after this episode, maybe pause for a month. I don’t want to think of it as the end of a season, but I find interesting common threads that run through the various conversations, and I want to tie them together before the task grows too big. Maybe I will put them together as compilation episodes based on certain themes or specific questions. Does that sound interesting? Tell me what you think!
Listen to the podcast on your choice of listening service!
Spotify | Apple | PocketCasts | Google | Web | Gaana | JioSaavn
YouTube
I made digital paintings of my favorite scenes from every episode of the first season of Sacred Games on Netflix. Enjoy!
I like to do things for their own sake.
Sale
Use code SNEAKYSANTA on my Etsy store to get an exclusive discount on books and signed prints.