
Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List - timr
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/michelangelos-illustrated-grocery-list.html
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baddox
I really wish I could draw. And I don't even mean the incredibly detailed and
skillful paintings that get the most attention, I mean simple line drawings
like this that completely and undeniably capture the _essence_ of what a
simple object looks like in the least amount of detail possible.

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auctiontheory
If I could learn to draw (as an adult, earlier this year), you most certainly
can. Check out _Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain_.

What surprised me is how technical and detail-oriented drawing is - at least
how I was taught. Didn't feel at all "artsy."

I'm looking across the room at a self portrait that's very nearly
recognizable(!). If you are willing to put in some hard effort, drawing is
totally doable, even for the completely "untalented."

~~~
baddox
I'm sure I could learn, given enough time and effort, but I don't consider it
worth it, especially since I strongly suspect it will be a very uphill battle
for the way my brain "naturally" works.

~~~
phaus
>I strongly suspect it will be a very uphill battle for the way my brain
"naturally" works.

What we have been trying to explain is that this belief is incorrect. Everyone
likes to pretend that the ability to draw is some sort of mystical power
bestowed upon artists while they were still in the womb. HN in particular
should understand how silly this is, because non-technical people generally
think the same thing about programming and general computer skills.

Learning to draw is largely the same experience for everyone. If you don't
think that this process is worth the effort, then you don't really want to be
able to draw, as you originally claimed.

There used to be a threat in an art forum where a member joined, barely able
to draw a stick-figure. He kept uploading his work and getting feedback, and
eventually, he opened his own art school.

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baddox
> Everyone likes to pretend that the ability to draw is some sort of mystical
> power bestowed upon artists while they were still in the womb. HN in
> particular should understand how silly this is, because non-technical people
> generally think the same thing about programming and general computer
> skills.

I used quotation marks around "naturally" because I don't believe that my
abilities are completely determined by genetics. I think "nurture" may have
just as profound an effect on my lack of drawing ability, namely the fact that
I was never interested in drawing when I was younger (when I suspect my brain
_was_ naturally more inclined to learning such things). And I do believe the
same thing about programming: I doubt that a completely computer- and math-
illiterate person in their mid twenties would likely find it easy to learn
programming.

> Learning to draw is largely the same experience for everyone.

I _highly_ doubt that. It's one thing to say that anyone _could_ eventually
learn a skill like drawing, but an entirely different thing to say that
everyone has very similar experiences learning to draw.

> If you don't think that this process is worth the effort, then you don't
> really want to be able to draw, as you originally claimed.

That's a silly semantic argument about what I meant. Wanting to be able to
draw has nothing to do with being willing to do whatever it takes to be able
to draw.

~~~
phaus
>That's a silly semantic argument about what I meant. Wanting to be able to
draw has nothing to do with being willing to do whatever it takes to be able
to draw.

It isn't about semantics. If you wanted to draw well, you would draw. You said
that you will not so I think that its a fair statement that you don't really
want to.

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bhaumik
unrelated but Ben Franklin's daily "to do" list:
[http://i.imgur.com/a0XsLmL.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/a0XsLmL.jpg)

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murd_malo
wow

