Signatures

There has been a lot written about drawing, and how to draw, and what it means when we draw. I have shelves full of these books, and I thumb through them diligently, looking for some clue as to how to improve, or some easy insight. It's as if there may be a missing essential piece of information about drawing, that someone else has, or once had, and could be transferred by reading about it. A bit pathetic really.
As a child, like most drawers, I drew a lot, and it wasn't necessary to know anything at all- so I can't say what would be different now.
Drawing is another form of handwriting, or signing your name. A signature is indelibly the signatory's, and only with great difficulty can it be faked, or, for that matter, copied. A drawing obviously has the same characteristics as a signature, and we certainly read much of the personality of a draftsman in sketches. It takes a Graphologist to interpret a signature, and perhaps not all that accurately. But it does not take a Graphologist too appreciate a signature, or a drawing. We see qualities of a personality appear in a drawing, regardless of the drawer's intent. Picasso said (I think) that try as you might to draw the perfect circle, it will have your indelible mark to it.