why would she draw me?

[YBtheOutlaw]

i know this is stupid but incidents like this certainly unsettle me.

my question is, why would someone possibly draw a portrait of you, without you asking them to do so?

well, when i returned to the class from the canteen today there was a paper with a pencil drawing of my shoulders and up. my friend sitting next to me told that a friend from the adjoining class left it there. it was a good drawing and clearly depicted some of the physical features i had noticed in my face. it felt strange because i never really observe features of others faces. maybe good artists do. she had no chance to draw it watching me, so my image had to be in her head. i looked very masculine in it and i liked it straight away. but i'm very confused as to why she suddenly decided to draw me. as i said such personal concerns make me uneasy. just in case this comes useful, i don't try to pass, but my natural ways are quite manly that most of my friends can't help treating me as a guy.

[Lexi Belle]

i know this is stupid but incidents like this certainly unsettle me.

my question is, why would someone possibly draw a portrait of you, without you asking them to do so?

well, when i returned to the class from the canteen today there was a paper with a pencil drawing of my shoulders and up. my friend sitting next to me told that a friend from the adjoining class left it there. it was a good drawing and clearly depicted some of the physical features i had noticed in my face. it felt strange because i never really observe features of others faces. maybe good artists do. she had no chance to draw it watching me, so my image had to be in her head. i looked very masculine in it and i liked it straight away. but i'm very confused as to why she suddenly decided to draw me. as i said such personal concerns make me uneasy. just in case this comes useful, i don't try to pass, but my natural ways are quite manly that most of my friends can't help treating me as a guy.

Depends, some people draw things they like, maybe she liked something about your face and wanted to draw it.
Now that she has drawn it from a living reference, it'll be easier for her to recreate it on her own.  It's actually a very common thing for artists to do, just drawing random people because of a certain trait they have, in fact, many sketching guides and classes RECOMMEND you do so.  They usually also advize you to ask first, but ya know. If she liked ya that's nerve wrecking. xP

[chuck]

I have drawn many many many things (people, animals, trees etc) without permission. I probably would have been a little less blatant about it. But maybe you have an interesting face, maybe you were just in her line of sight, maybe she is practicing on any one she can  see. Maybe she is crushing on you. I would say that if the drawing is realy good, and she is a talented artist, that it probably is not personal.

[aleon515]

I have done this too, Chuck. I think people who like to draw often do so when they are bored or unengaged. I wouldn't particularly put any sort of special emphasis on it. A lot of reason why I take a certain subject is that they are in a position where it is easy for me to draw them or they have some characteristic that is fun for me, such as a certain kind of hair (not in a negative way). Usually I like the looks of the subjects I draw, but not always that I think they are the most beautiful or handsome. I don't draw a really good likeness as this is a particular talent, but a lot of times people whom I have drawn are happy about it. I have never gotten any complaints EVER. Though occasionally someone will say (rightly) that it doesn't look like them. I usually say, yeah looks like it could be a relative. I'm sure if you said, well it just kind of made me uncomfortable, the person wouldn't do it again. Or if you don't want them to keep it, you could ask for it. I wouldn't be so blatant either. I am guessing it is NOT personal in the sense you might think. I've been doing this from childhood and a lot of people who draw start then, so it isn't something I would even think about.

--Jay

[JenSquid]

I've done this a few times myself. Drawing people from observation is extremely useful practice for artists. It not only makes you physically better at drawing, it also trains you to SEE details more accurately. Like everyone else said, if she seems to be a talented artist, then it's probably nothing personal, and merely an artist doing what artists do.

[Taka]

the reason for drawing someone isn't always too profound. i drew a girl in my class in grade school simply because she sat where i could see her when we were sent out to draw something.

but she might want you to compliment her if she left it for you to see, like a silent call for attention. maybe it's a crush, maybe she just wants someone to notice her and chose you for that because the picture turned out good, or maybe she just couldn't find a better way to say she's sorry for drawing you without permission. you won't know unless you talk to her. i don't really understand girls too well, so i don't know what to think about things that could be a hint but might not be after all.

[Natkat]

Take it as a compliment. I only draw the people which has most to them who attract me. not nessesarry as in a sexual way but they do have something over there look, some features I like or there an asmosphear who give a certain power to the drawing.

and somethimes it also just a good excuse to be able to stare at someone without being a creep
--

[aleon515]

Funny thing though. Because of this post in group yesterday, I was looking around at who I might draw if I had a pencil and paper and so on. I figured out easily who it would have been. It was NOT the person I was at all attracted to in anyway at all. It was the person who was in easy view, but not really close, and someone, I just liked the looks of. There is usually something but it isn't at all sexual or any other thing like that. There was a woman I used to work with and she had spindly type curls. I find these are fun.

I think you might be a bit self-conscious and worry that maybe someone who is drawing you might be thinking certain kinds of things, having to do with your gender. While I think gender variant people are more interesting actually (maybe it's because it's my people so to speak), I wouldn't necessarily pick them as subjects just for the heck of it. I am usually at that point, just conscious of drawing, so I am not actually thinking about the person at all, but like this should be shaded more, the arm I drew is turned too much, this isn't a good likeness, those kinds of thoughts. I think that artists usually are thinking those types of things. You let go of certain types of thinking and enter other types of thinking.

I wouldn't ask someone, and this is why, first no one has ever said it bothered them or even implied it, but I wouldn't want someone to start asking self-conscious, that they'd change positions a lot or get wiggly or something. I've asked only if they figure it out, like then I might say "do you mind?"


--Jay

[YBtheOutlaw]

well i'm not a good artist myself and never drawn anybody seriously, and i've never had myself drawn except for a couple of times- once i had myself cartoonized, the other time this funny teacher drew me on the blackboard and that was like 7yrs ago. so i had no idea as to why somebody should draw me and i wanted to know the possibilities. i have plenty now thanks to you all.
i don't know if i can put it as a really good drawing, it was fairly good and you could recognize it as me, it was a very small drawing the size of a half of a postcard i'd say. plus probably she didn't have a chance to draw it watching me, at least not that day. that means she remembered my features, and i don't really remember or observe people's features unless i'm really attracted to them, which also has not happened very often, so it felt strange. urgh... maybe i'm being too self conscious with my dysphoria and all.

[aleon515]

well i'm not a good artist myself and never drawn anybody seriously, and i've never had myself drawn except for a couple of times- once i had myself cartoonized, the other time this funny teacher drew me on the blackboard and that was like 7yrs ago. so i had no idea as to why somebody should draw me and i wanted to know the possibilities. i have plenty now thanks to you all.
i don't know if i can put it as a really good drawing, it was fairly good and you could recognize it as me, it was a very small drawing the size of a half of a postcard i'd say. plus probably she didn't have a chance to draw it watching me, at least not that day. that means she remembered my features, and i don't really remember or observe people's features unless i'm really attracted to them, which also has not happened very often, so it felt strange. urgh... maybe i'm being too self conscious with my dysphoria and all.

I'm guessing the person tried to watch you and not be obvious about it. For instance, staring isn't really acceptable.  Except that they left the drawing you probably wouldn't know. I'm usually a bit more discrete and pick up my drawings even if I don't like them. I'd say most people who draw don't really do this kind of random drawing from memory. It sounds like the size some of my little drawings are, on an envelope or when I was in school they'd be in the margins. Many teachers got drawn that way.

You might think this way that you wouldn't look at someone unless you are attracted to them, but artists really like to observe what's there, but that doesnt' mean they are awesome at getting a terrific likeness. You have to have more experience and some particular knowledge to get a good likeness.

You know how they say that a doctor isn't thinking of you this way, an artist isn't either.
But I'd say it's your dysphoria. As I've said, no one has ever objected. Seems like some people are flattered, but maybe quite a bit more than they should be, given what I just said. I was known to do this in staff meetings and not so discretely. Never known people to avoid my table or something.




--Jay

[YBtheOutlaw]

just an update, i met my friend who had left the drawing. of course she hadn't drawn it- i knew it already- some other girl in her class who's not particularly a friend of mine had. she had kept it from everyone else but somebody had caught a glimpse of it and thought she had drawn a boy she liked. (now thats good news) so she had snatched it from her, and when they realized it was me they had wanted to show it to me, but she had refused and finally they had persuaded her. but she had pleaded them not to tell me who drew it, but my friend did. so i can't just go and ask her, but i guess i can put it as a random drawing by a good artist afterall, maybe because i look interesting (oh im flattered ) and stop worrying about it. i don't really care about the reason anymore.

[Taka]

well then.. all you can do is tell the friend who showed you the drawing that you like it, and the compliment should reach the artist.
good to know that at least one girl finds you interesting.