I got Hirschfeld On Line from the library. It’s a nice collection and very inspiring. One thing that blew me away about Hirschfeld’s technique when I realized it is that his big fluid lines are not always singular lines. For example, check out this great drawing of Charlie Rose:
This is a scan of a reproduction so we are limited here, but look closely at the chin. From a distance it seems like two curved lines. Yet on further inspection, you notice the lines look a little jagged. As it turns out these two “lines” are actually composed of many little jaged lines. This is true for almost all the lines in the drawing.
I have trouble explaining why this is so monumentally mind-blowing for me. I guess because it breaks apart a lot of my assumptions. Yet it’s not a unique pen-and-ink technique. For instance, I have this 1950 book, The History and Technique of Lettering by Alexander Nesbitt, and in it he suggests a similar method of building up shapes through short strokes.
Anyway, I first realized Hirschfeld drew this way when I say this video of him drawing when he was 99 years old.
Yes, I remember when you first posted this.
And I encourage this blown-mindedness in you. I think the more great artists can be demystified, the more we can see and hope to achieve their greatness.
But if you are looking for the one chance no corrections philosophy, it does exist: see Chiang Yee’s Chinese Caligraphy. Chiang Yee also published a series of amazing books called “The Silent Traveler in …” (Japan, London, New York, War Time) in which he draws familiar western locales in his traditional Chinese ink painting style, and writes prolifically about the subtle but meaningful differences between cultures.