While fishing about (excuse the pun) for some good crustacean references, I noticed that, although there seems to be thousands of different verieties of those tiny shrimp-like organisms going about their business in the oceans - and looking remarkably similar, it's the little differences that make one species look rather cuddly, and another quite horrible. Is it something to do with the combination of colour, the proportion and shape of different body parts in relation to one another, and maybe the look of their eyes?
Some of the transparent ones have little tubby bellies and tiny black eyes - rather like Oliver Hardy. Those are uber cute. Others are bright pink or mottled silver and certainly catch the eye. But then I come across ones with a colour that can only be described as rotting flesh - with sickly looking eyes and elongated legs that stick out at odd angles. Yuk!
I know it's that subconscious association we have with the illness, desease and disfigurement of our own species but, as usually happens, the simple act of putting pencil to paper makes everything you take the time to really look at become something of beauty.
1 comment:
I know what you mean about ugly things becoming beautiful when drawn. I experience something similar when writing about "ugly" things - where I find out afterwards that maybe they were not so ugly as I first thought.
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