The 5 Line Self Portrait

March 4, 2003 11:44 AM

Five lines combine to define thine. [via CandidColors]
posted by pedantic (9 comments total)

i love this site...! john adler and geniuda (on page 18) are my favourites. it's amazing how much can be expressed with just a few lines.
posted by t r a c y at 12:34 PM on March 4, 2003

ive been doing this fer years !
posted by mishaco at 1:06 PM on March 4, 2003

That's fun, and a challenge. At first I thought it would be five lines of text. I'm not sure which would be more difficult for me.
posted by jennyb at 1:06 PM on March 4, 2003

This seems a bit contrived and silly.

Five lines? Have these people ever heard of Peanuts? Al Hirschfeld? Cartoons in general? Maybe not.

It seems like one of those theatre exercises. "Now pretend you are the color green, and you have limes for fingers."
posted by y6y6y6 at 1:42 PM on March 4, 2003

y6y6y6 - well that's the reason why i liked it so much, it reminded me of how much stuff someone like bill waterson could put on calvin's face with just a few squiggles. i don't think there's anything contrived or negatively silly in that the project isn't something that's never been done before. by your admonishment bill waterson should never have picked up his pencil because charles schultz had already beat him to it. besides, it *is* an exercise, originally set out for design school students. *gets out wacom tablet and pen*
posted by t r a c y at 2:01 PM on March 4, 2003

In the creative arts, limitations are freeing, y6y6y6. That's why such exercises exist. Draw something. Draw a self portrait. Draw a self portrait in only five lines. Which gets the pencil moving fast and with purpose? The latter. Pretend something. Pretend you are green. Pretend you are green and have limes for fingers. I'd buy a ticket to that last show, thank you.
posted by rainbaby at 2:02 PM on March 4, 2003

the site poses the question "can you define yourself with five lines?" and then seeks to loudly answer over and over, no.
posted by xmutex at 2:24 PM on March 4, 2003

I'm intrigued. This would make a great Flash game, using the minimal lines available in the basic MSPaint program. I realize that it would be limiting, but that's the point, no?
Please tell me there is not such a game on the site and I didn't miss it. I've been foggy lately.
posted by Shane at 3:05 PM on March 4, 2003

[this is good]
posted by gsteff at 4:42 PM on March 4, 2003