Should I give a female friend a drawing I did of her, even if we haven't hung out out of school before?

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Hoosier_Daddy said:
Perhaps but usually we don’t then hand them the drawing. And if one were making for public display there are privacy issues.

Draw my kids at the park without my permission and I find out about it, a bloody nose would be the result…
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I’ve been a professional artist for over two decades, went to art school in Philadelphia, and I’m involved in one of the largest public art centers in the US…and I’ve never seen privacy issues arise in art for public display. A drawing is not a photograph.

Really—artists draw people of all sorts, in various styles from closely observed to highly stylized, and for all kinds of reasons.
 
AbideWithMe said:
I’ve been a professional artist for over two decades, went to art school in Philadelphia, and I’m involved in one of the largest public art centers in the US…and I’ve never seen privacy issues arise in art for public display. A drawing is not a photograph.

Really—artists draw people of all sorts, in various styles from closely observed to highly stylized, and for all kinds of reasons.
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No matter where you went to school, I would be offended if you drew me without permission. It has nothing to do with how many artists do it or how good you are it has to do with a social and personal boundary. Some artists pride themselves on pushing boundaries. I can respect that, but I can also object to it. Either way I think this young man would be ill advised to go ahead with his plan of a gift…

Ps which public art center are you involved with.

I do enjoy art.
 
If you’re the arty type and draw pictures of lots of people, you could perhaps gently test the waters by discussing your artistic endeavours with her and telling her she’d make a good subject for a picture. If she responds positively, then ask her if she’d mind if you did a picture of her as a gift for her. Then wait a little so she doesn’t know you did one without her permission

Such an approach is much less confronting and more likely to.succeed then just presenting her with a picture.
 
AbideWithMe said:
Many young adult and teenage artists do manga drawing, which is really stylized. It doesn’t require the sort of detailed observation of a subject which some other styles of drawing require. It’s not that intimate of a thing. And it’s not creepy.

I’m just guessing, but from the OP talking about a drawing of his friend as a strong women, and from the younger artists I know myself from an art center, I’m thinking he did a manga drawing of her.
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It doesn’t really matter if you are trying to match or reproduce facial details - one way or another he has decided that she is worthy of his time to draw, more so than presumably many other people, and has spend a significant amount of time thinking about her attributes - physical or not. As I said, unless he can say to her that he does this for all of his acquaintances, to single her out as THE ONE HE DREW, would make most women uncomfortable.
AbideWithMe said:
Artists draw people all the time without asking first. I’ve sketched complete strangers.
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True, but you could probably tell that stranger that he or she is one of many, many strangers who you have sketched, and that you didn’t put a lot of reflection and though on them personally, as opposed to the other strangers in your life. It’s not the drawing that makes a person uncomfortable, it is the appearance of being obsessed with the person that will make them uncomfortable. I’m assuming a person in the park who you sketch wouldn’t necessarily think that, especially if you have sketches of lots of other park goers (although I could imagine some people being upset and worried if they saw you sketching them), but an opposite sex friend with whom you aren’t that close, with will get a too-much-too-soon romantic vibe from this.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Ps which public art center are you involved with.

I do enjoy art.
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It’s the Goggleworks in center city Reading, Pennsylvania. It’s a great community center for fine arts, fine craft, music, dance and writing, set in a troubled city.
 
LilyM said:
If you’re the arty type and draw pictures of lots of people, you could perhaps gently test the waters by discussing your artistic endeavours with her and telling her she’d make a good subject for a picture. If she responds positively, then ask her if she’d mind if you did a picture of her as a gift for her. Then wait a little so she doesn’t know you did one without her permission

Such an approach is much less confronting and more likely to.succeed then just presenting her with a picture.
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I think that’s good advice.
 
ThyKingdomCome said:
It doesn’t really matter if you are trying to match or reproduce facial details - one way or another he has decided that she is worthy of his time to draw, more so than presumably many other people, and has spend a significant amount of time thinking about her attributes - physical or not. As I said, unless he can say to her that he does this for all of his acquaintances, to single her out as THE ONE HE DREW, would make most women uncomfortable.

True, but you could probably tell that stranger that he or she is one of many, many strangers who you have sketched, and that you didn’t put a lot of reflection and though on them personally, as opposed to the other strangers in your life. It’s not the drawing that makes a person uncomfortable, it is the appearance of being obsessed with the person that will make them uncomfortable. I’m assuming a person in the park who you sketch wouldn’t necessarily think that, especially if you have sketches of lots of other park goers (although I could imagine some people being upset and worried if they saw you sketching them), but an opposite sex friend with whom you aren’t that close, with will get a too-much-too-soon romantic vibe from this.
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I don’t disagree with most of this, but in responding to you before I wanted to point out that there’s a great range in the amount of time, close observation, and intent between various styles of drawing.

Based on other responses, I’m thinking people who don’t personally know a variety of artists may be taking movie scenarios too seriously, giving them a warped sense of what is reality: all the numerous reasons why an artist may draw someone and consider giving that drawing to the subject.

The OP has given little information. We don’t have reason to assume an obsession, a poor sense of boundaries, or any of the disparaging terms—“creepy, nerdy”—used by posters here. To be frank, regardless of how seriously or casually the OP practices art, I hate seeing young artists squelched by people who throw words around when they know very, very little about the person they’re talking about, and when they may just be projecting their own issues onto the question.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Think titanic. Leo asked first. Or she offered. Either way it was certainly smoother than what you got going on there…
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Titanic was a movie and it was in the script for Rose to be appreciative. We all know real life is not like the movies 😛
 
AbideWithMe said:
I’ve been a professional artist for over two decades, went to art school in Philadelphia, and I’m involved in one of the largest public art centers in the US…and I’ve never seen privacy issues arise in art for public display. A drawing is not a photograph.

.
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Perhaps it never got to your ears, but if I walked into my gym and saw a picture someone drew of me, I would just rip it off the wall and throw it out. It would never make the news and no one would probably notice, but nonetheless, it would end up in the trash.

I also think you are missing a VERY key point. When you draw a stranger, you do it as an artist to increase your collection of work. The OP is trying to build a friendship with this lady. I am trying to guide him in how to build a friendship, not increase his portfolio. That is why the ‘model’s’ reaction is more important here.
 
Thanks to all who responded. I don’t think I will give her this drawing after all.
 
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