Around 73,000 years ago, humans used a chunk of pigment to draw a pattern on a rock in a South African cave. The recently discovered fragment of the rock is now considered to be the oldest known drawing in history. From
Science News:
The faded pattern consists of six upward-oriented lines crossed at an angle by three slightly curved lines, the researchers report online September 12 in Nature. Microscopic and chemical analyses showed that the lines were composed of a reddish, earthy pigment known as ocher.
The lines end abruptly at the rock’s edges, indicating that a larger and possibly more complex version of the drawing originally appeared on a bigger stone, the researchers say. Tiny pigment particles dotted the rock’s drawing surface, which had been ground smooth. Henshilwood suspects the chunk of rock was part of a large grinding stone on which people scraped pieces of pigment into crayonlike shapes.
Crosshatched designs similar to the drawing have been found engraved on shells at the site, Henshilwood says. So the patterns may have held some sort of meaning for their makers. But it’s hard to know whether the crossed lines represent an abstract idea or a real-life concern.
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Circle Line Art School explains how to draw this simple but effective anamorphic illusion of cubes falling into a hole in the page.
(via The Kid Should See This)
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Shin Shinrashinge created a meticulous setup of his two-dimensional drawings, then guided his phone through his 3D creation to create this one-take story of a boy daydreaming about fighting monsters. Read the rest
Artist Kathleen Darby takes viewers through her step-by-step process of drawing a colorful bird on black paper. Start at the beginning for more details. It's interesting as well as relaxing, as there are some important differences when starting from negative space. Read the rest
Hungarian illustrator Sándor Vámos is a master of anamorphic illusions, 3D drawings that emerge from the paper. Don't miss his time-lapse videos either.
(via Laughing Squid)
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While wearing eye tracking glasses, seven young people and three professional artists each donned eye tracking glasses and drew the same scene, and some interesting patterns emerged. Read the rest
Spend an hour relaxing as Peter Deligdisch aka Peter Draws experiments with cool glass inkwell pens and glowing ink. Read the rest
If drawing stairsteps on an Etch A Sketch seems like the pinnacle of achievement, these masterworks by Kyle Fleming may inspire you to new heights. They may also inspire you to shake yours clean and permanently donate it to the nearest toddler. Read the rest
Zaria Forman was inspired to create large-scale pastel drawings of icebergs and glaciers after going on a scientific expedition. She created this one earlier this year while she was artist in residence at the Mountainside Northstar resort. Read the rest
Wellington, New Zealand artist Kirsty Lillico won the annual $20,000 Parkin Drawing Prize for her piece seen here, titled "State Block." The work consists of a carpet scrap hanging over a string.
"First of all, I've sort of re-represented a drawing made by someone else," Lillico said."Drawing, to me, it's not just about a pencil and paper. I'm using a knife and carpet and hanging it in a space to achieve the same ends."
According to Lillico, State Block was inspired by someone else's architectural floor plan for a state-owned apartment.
"It's looking at the architectural (drawings) – positive, being black (drawn lines of an architectural design), and the negative being the spaces we occupy," she said.
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Faye Halliday recently started making variants of her intricate animal drawings with cut-out sections. She then held them up in beautiful locales to create a delightful effect. Read the rest
YouTuber Peter Draws accepted a viewer challenge and created two lovely sketches using basic school supplies: a standard No. 2 Pencil, a wide ruled composition book, and a manual pencil sharpener. Read the rest
What starts as a live action hand extrapolating a line along a grid gets real trippy real fast, but the fanciful hand-drawn extrapolations follow a discernible mathematical pattern. Read the rest
Artist Lucy Gafford has discovered inexpensive art supplies. Rather than letting shed hairs go down the shower drain, she creates Shower Hair Masterpieces, like this fancy azalea blossom. Read the rest
Over a decade ago, we tipped readers to the astronomy illustrations of Trouvelot. now the New York Public Library has a large collection of his work available online. Read the rest
AxiDraw is a computer-aided pen plotter that uses any writing instrument inserted in the device.
The latest and greatest demo hints at just some of the possibilities. Read the rest
