Introducing myself into an artistic community was and is somewhat difficult. My mom was an art teacher, but neither me nor any of my siblings expressed any kind of burning artistic passion classified as the traditional painting and sketching. That is, until I became a college student and was desperately searching for things to waste time on. I loved doodling in notebooks, but taking drawing seriously wasn’t interesting to me until I found animation and fanart communities. Watching speed drawings became a way for me to both engage with people in an online community and to help me learn about digital art. Although my mother was always available to help me navigate through artistic communities and practices, it was fundamentally up to me to express interest and drive to participate.
I have found that I have two very distinct artistic communities that I associate with. One is through an online, anonymous presence, and the other is the friends and family who I share my art with. I have found that making an account online makes it easier to interact with people from certain fandoms. The anonymous factor is expected of online presence- in the world of Tumblr, rarely do people reveal what they look like or divulge in personal facts. The art world there is closed off, anonymous, and directed solely to the fandom they are creating work for. The art I share with my online community is much different from the art that I share with my family and friends. Not that it is something I would be embarrassed about, but because fan art I create is riddled with nuances and inside jokes from that particular area. Sharing it with my friends would only make them confused and would detract from the joke or meaning of my work. The work I share with my family is typically fast drawings and caricatures of them. My youngest sister, Estee, loves to keep my little drawings and even has a sticky note of a 30 second doodle I did of her from over a year ago that I did as a joke.
As Barney explains in his article, there are distinct literacies we must learn for each practice we participate in. Online slang and artistic technicalities were all things that went over my head as I dove into new communities, but luckily Google is always available to answer my questions.
The process to making a speed drawing was actually harder than I expected. I found out too late that my screen recorder has a 15 minute timeline, hence the abrupt cut off at the end. I also don’t own a mac, which entails that I don’t have video editing software so I had to try sending it to my phone to use iMovie (which didn’t work), and then a website that can speed up videos. The video was originally 15 minutes of just line art and is sped up to a 1 minute clip.
Sierra, what a lovely drawing! The hair and glasses really captures that it's you! Your response engages interestingly with the idea of communities that we discussed in class, and how people outside don't necessarily understand the work of your community. I'm curious as to what about the animation and fanart communities drew you to really explore drawing yourself. What about these aspects of art pushed you to explore your own artistry?
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