Todoroki Kawaii

I'm sure anyone who has tried to pick up a pencil understands how frustrating drawing can be. When I was in college I had two drawing teachers.  One drawing teacher was very strict and unforgiving. The other was very loose and open minded.  Continually he would say, "I can't teach you how to draw, but I can show you some of the rules."  While the other one would say, "NO, it's like this.", taking my fingers like I was a three-year old and repositioning them on my pencil. Drawing or true discipline in art is something you have to learn from someone else.  A master.  You can try to reinvent the wheel, but you'd be better off listening very closely to someone who has been at it longer that you and build off that. There are tons of "How To Draw" books out there.  But there aren't so many art books that teach you "How to Think".  Lots of books or tutorials are quite similar to what you see above. The ability to draw is an indispen...

Once made the mistake of telling a Tokyo resident that Walt Disney couldn't actually draw Mickey Mouse well.  She never spoke to me ever again.  Seriously. The image of Walt Disney is damn near sacred in Japan.  Or Tokyo anyway.  It's difficult to leave your house and not see at least one Disney related image between home and your final destination. In honor of Walt Disney's 110th birthday, the Disney Family Museum put on an exhibition with the Matsuya Ginza department store in the high-end shopping district of Ginza. Occasionally pedestrian, but it was  very much worth taking a look (despite the aftertaste of the sledgehammer merchandising).  Lots of artifacts from Walt's personal possessions as well as artifacts from the past and wall in the Bambi section that paid tribute to Tyrus Wong that was nice to see. Below are some shots from the exhibition.    Apparently Walt's early drawings of Mickey Mouse were there, but I didn't get to see them...