{"id":4349,"date":"2025-12-24T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/?p=4349"},"modified":"2025-12-24T08:43:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:43:06","slug":"sketch-of-the-week-dreidel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2025\/12\/sketch-of-the-week-dreidel\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI had a little dreidel \u2026\u201d \u266c\u266b\u266a (Sketch of the Week for Week 51 of 2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week was Chanukah, which means I had dreidels lying around, hence this sketch from life. If anything demonstrates my progress over the last two years of sketching, this is it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In real life, a dreidel is a roughly rectilinear solid that’s basically a modified cube, each side of which is bears a roughly rectilinear character, inscribed squarely on that face. The whole thing has radial symmetry along a central vertical access (or else it wouldn’t spin). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a drawing, there isn’t a single 90\u00ba, nor a single non-angled line. Drawing it accurately to life means making everything about it wrong on the paper. Two years ago that simple fact made me batshit insane; my stupid eyes saw 90\u00ba angles all sorts of places where they were not actually<\/em> visible, and even when I convinced my eye to see what it saw instead of what it knew,<\/em> my traitorous hands kept drawing the 90s they knew to be true in life, rather than the 85s and 95s and 142s the eyes could see from where they were sitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time? None of that sturm und drang<\/em>. I spun a dreidel, I saw a dreidel, it fell, and I drew:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight I’m told is Erev Kristmas. May it be a joyous one to those who observe, and a peaceful Nittel Nacht for the rest of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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