uncanny valley

today's sketch is dedicated to my awesome friend corey.  she is super talented in the kitchen and on the sketch pad.  she's the one who had the bright idea for these sketch blogs.  she also draws people all the time in her sketches.  i do not.  so last night i drew a lady, for corey.


but before i post my sketch, i wanted to ramble and justify  my dislike for drawing people.  mostly because i can't draw people. they just look weird.  or i obsess over a nostril and suddently it's like, whoa, that chick has a gigantic nostril.  what an odd focal point.


but it's not just me!  apparently there's this theory called "uncanny valley".  you know how you can watch a pixar movie and totally love how buzz and woody look, but when andy comes on screen you get a bit weirded out?  well this theory proposes that when human replicas (andy, or a robot, or whatever) look and act *almost* human, but they're not completely perfect, it elicits a response from people most easily described as revulsion.  


and look, there's even a graph!  and a zombie reference.  this is like a perfect day!

now, i'm not saying that i'm revulsed by my drawings because they are *almost* perfect replicas of people and therefore fall into the uncanny valley.  far from it.  i just really like random knowledge, and in this case, it relates to my dislike for drawing people.  


now i'm tired.


but, without further ado, here's my drawing, for corey.  which, incidentally, is called the uncanny valley, which, even more incidentally, is a former name of my awesome friend.  and now we're full circle.  holla!

uncanny valley, pencil, september 14th, 2011