Minimalism – how it all began

I always had an affinity to drawing/ sketching, but I didn’t have a plan or a focus. I might need another life to be able to draw hyper-realistic. Minimalism was my entrance to drawing! After trying different styles, MOTU turned out to be just perfect for me! Let’s look at the very first drawings: It`s few strokes with a felt tip pen, not more. Bringing the right colors together, more or less in the right place, makes the figures suddenly identifiable! That was my moment. I guess the brain does the hard work for the viewer to identify the old toys. Calling it pareidolia would be wrong since I intended to draw MOTU characters, but I guess the brain will be bringing memories in and so complete my simple drawing. See how off the proportions are, how little details the bodies have. I was just in rage, hurrying to get them all onto paper.

Realizing that I won’t be drawing seriously cool, dark sci-fi heroes and monsters, I decided to do what I like – make fun of it. This is by no means meant to dishonor MOTU, it is the opposite! So let us look at MOTU moments (you might notice that some details went even more wrong, that is because of new gestures). Some are hilarious, aren’t they?

The second generation was slightly larger, more detailed versions. I tried to get the proportions more accurate, and I added more details. The faces are very rudimental, but I can see some character or mood in them. Now we’re seeing some eyes, mouths, and the details on our Motu characters we love! My lack of skill accidentally created some funny expressions!

Once having the necessary details, it is possible to transfer them to other characters, blending them together, like many skilled artists have done before.

Please note I’m using scenes I found to modify! The scene itself is not my invention. From here on I’ll share the drawings in my blog, and describe more of the details! Few were colored with felt pens, but later I discovered Autodesk Sketchbook. From then on until now (July 2021) I draw with pencils, then finish the outlines with a black felt tip pen. To date, I didn’t figure out how to draw in Sketchbook from the start. I just like the real pencil too. The colors come from Sketchbook, and that makes so much of a difference. I’m totally aware that there is so much more possible, but I am not there yet. In the future, I will also try other software.

Just one example of the evolution of drawing He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe!