2mo ago

The Perfect Bear

41 comments

The amazing paintings in that cave don't stop there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave#Paintings
- Fun fact, it's actually been theorized that overlapping cave paintings like that were essentially a rudimentary form of animation, as flickering firelight would create the illusion of movement.
  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ice-age-artists-may-have-used-firelight-to-animate-carvings-180979943/
  
  what a rollercoaster of emotions: "please just have a video- oh they do! great. oh hold on that's a terrible video that shows absolutely nothing and just gives me a headache with its 5 frames per second, why did they even bother?"
  
  I appreciate that you stated it in a way that the fun fact is there's a theory, and not that the theory was definitive fact. But it definitely seems plausible.
- Damn man. At least they made the art they had banging around in their skulls.
  Meanwhile I can’t do a thing I’ve got so much reference material for because “what if it’s not just the way I want”
  you dumb removed you can fix it if it sucks holy shit.
  Edit: I wonder if cave painters had issues with.. not properly representing their vision.. their visions were… more bison shaped then, but all the same…
  
  Lol, now I'm imagining 200 feet from this cave is the Cave of Initial Sketches.
  
  I wonder if they did a lot of drawings in dirt to get practice.
- Is this the cave where they built a full scale replica for visitors right next to the actual cave because the real cave is too sensitive to light?
  
  Yes, this is that one.
  
  I think it also has a lot to do with the humidity of human breath.
- Holy shit... that is incredible. Thank you for the insight! I never knew and am at a bit at a loss for words — just... awe
  
  I've known about Chauvet cave for years, and I'm still in awe every time I see a picture of it. To think most images in this cave are around 35,000 years old. Human history (written history) is maybe 6,000 years old. This is more than 5 times older than that. Humans existed, and were creating things like this, for 30,000 years before the written word.
  Pablo Picasso visited the Lascaux Cave (also in France, but much younger), and said the following:
  “We have learned nothing in twelve thousand years.”
  ― Pablo Picasso
  I linked this above, but check out Cave of Forgotten Dreams documentary on this cave.
- looks like we had a big cavemen artist in there actually
- And then you look at paintings from the Middle Ages and wonder how people evolved backwards

- that you are, Unga Bunga the 3rd. That you are...

Looks like it was done using the spline tool.
- so reticulated
- I'm assuming that's because they were using the curvature of their thumb.
  
  what is an arm but a series of compasses?
- I think it looks like it was painted with a thump, I was staring at it in amazement for a couple of minutes

The uhhhhhhhhhhhh
- It's the same picture.

Wanted to see how I could do in comparison. Here's my doodle:

unironically I'm kinda proud of it. Thought I'd do worse
- We can only truly judge your work in 10-20,000 years.
  
  And then it'll be up to the humanoid cockroaches to decide.

Really captured the "if not friend why friend-shaped" energy.

He looks like he wants to steal my picnic basket...
- Surely you mean pic-a-nic basket?
  
  Hey, hey, Boo Boo!

The old masters of art.

TFW ancient cave paintings look more lifelike than medieval paintings.

Peak art, an inspiration to us all
- It's honestly pretty good even though it's rather simple. I look at some paintings from like the middle ages and wonder why no one seemed to actually learn to draw until more modern times. But there was definitely an artist in this cave individual.
  
  I often wonder about that. The human brain didn't significantly evolve for the past couple thousands of years. Yet, paintings we see from 2000 years ago often look like a toddler made them, with very bad proportions and perspective. Is the notion of perspective in drawing cultural?

I love the way the line breaks fit here. I read this like they drew around the bear to get the perfect shape.

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