Milton Glaser Draws Shakespeare & Explains Why Drawing is the Key to Understanding Life

In this fas­ci­nat­ing over-the-shoul­der film of the artist/designer Mil­ton Glaser, we watch as the man behind the “I Heart NY” logo, the Bob Dylan psy­che­del­ic sil­hou­ette, and the Brook­lyn Brew­ery logo draws Shake­speare and deliv­ers his thoughts about draw­ing.

He only talks for five minutes–and before you know it, he’s pro­duced a sketch of The Bard. We wish it was more, but his obser­va­tions make for some good inspi­ra­tional quotes, whether you dab­ble in art or not. He cri­tiques art schools for drop­ping draw­ing from their cur­ricu­lums because draw­ing does­n’t jibe with their com­put­er-based, career focus. “While peo­ple have what they need, per­haps, for their pro­fes­sion­al life, what they don’t have is a fun­da­men­tal instru­ment for under­stand­ing the real­i­ty of that life,” he opines.

Draw­ing is how Glaser under­stands the world, and how it keeps him present in real­i­ty. It’s the basis for all art that is to come, no mat­ter if the stu­dent goes on to abstrac­tion. It’s also essen­tial, he says, for child devel­op­ment, and any child not giv­en the tools to make art is being done a dis­ser­vice.

For those won­der­ing about that book Glaser men­tions writ­ing, Draw­ing Is Think­ing, you can get it here.

And if you’re curi­ous about Frank R. Wilson’s The Hand, which Glaser com­pli­ments, it’s here.

And final­ly, if you need a quick primer on the man, here’s a quick overview of Mil­ton Glaser by the New York Times. “Draw­ing is my great­est plea­sure,” he says, and it shows.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

World-Renowned Graph­ic Design­er Mil­ton Glaser Has a Laugh on Old Jews Telling Jokes

Sketch­es of Artists by the Late New Media Design­er Hill­man Cur­tis

Mick­ey Mouse In Viet­nam: The Lost Anti-War Ani­ma­tion from 1968

Ted Mills is a free­lance writer on the arts who cur­rent­ly hosts the FunkZone Pod­cast. You can also fol­low him on Twit­ter at @tedmills, read his oth­er arts writ­ing at tedmills.com and/or watch his films here.