learning to draw

[firemaiden]

I'm like you Punchinella, I wanted to learn to draw - as an adult. I spent a lot of time and effort (and money) trying to learn. It takes practice. Especially practice seeing. It's worth trying to learn -- if nothing else, it is certainly a big adventure, and gives you a greater appreciation for the beauty of things - human faces with all their wrinkles become fascinating, and what colours things are - is that shadow really black? or is it purple... etc --

You have nothing to lose, go for it!

 

[Imagemaker]

I let drawing go for years after doing it a lot (for private enjoyment) in my teens and 20s. I look forward to going back to more finished drawings someday, but love doodling at any time.

When I journal, I often stop to doodle in the margins. When I look back through old journals, there's a changing pattern of styles and shapes, like a reflection of the experiences. Those doodles begin to say as much as the words sometimes.

Play!

 

[Astra]

I originally trained as a draftsman (draftsperson?), and sketched every once in a while when the mood struck. (ranged from pretty good to awful, as I recall, except for horses, and more horses...)

I jumped to computer graphics a couple of years ago, and, sad to day, my sketching ability/practice time has been almost non-existent lately. I, too, find that for many of the things I want to do, I'm going to have to re-learn drawing, at least for the preliminary sketch aspect of the work. There's just so much I can't do as well as I'd like when I'm working totally without prelims.

I also know that the only way I'm going to do it is to open up time to simply draw (eek - not on the computer?), and put an extra wastebasket or two in close proximity, wherever I am. For every drawing that's worked from scratch, two or three or more are, well, awful.

One of my worst problems is that I've known Kelly Freas for a number of years, and watching him pick up a set of magic markers and simply create one wonderful thing after another on the spur of the moment without ever blowing it - well, that's a difficult act to even consider following. (I know he's been doing it as long as I've been alive - that doesn't, somehow, seem to count)

 

[Nevada]

--One question though: is the New Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain fundamentally different from the original? Does anybody know? Because a couple of days ago my mother offered to send me a copy (of, I presume, the original) . . . with so many people mentioning it, I'm thinking I should probably take her up on the offer. ???

I can't compare the two, since I only have the first. The original is a wonderful book, and though I'm sure the new one has something more, I really don't think you can go wrong starting with the older version.

Thanks for this thread, Punchinella. I'm going to get out my paper and pencils and "play" (practice) too now.

Nevada

 

[isthmus nekoi]

Hm, tips I can think of:

Always try to draw from 3d rather than from photographs. On photographs, everything's been flattened on the picture frame for you, and you won't develop the ability to translate 3d to 2d. Naked ppl are the best 3d subjects!!!

Don't let yourself fall into ruts. Try every now and then to break out of your comfort zone, whether it is using a different media (say ink instead of graphite), to try different ways of shading etc. Even if your experiments turn out funny, you will still learn from them. I remember in art school we were forced to use our other hand (not dominant one) to loosen the brain up.

Don't think your sketchbook has to be picture perfect. You're not hanging this thing on a wall and framing it. If you are overly concerned that your sketches don't look nice and try to make everything very neat and framable each time.... you will never make enough mistakes to learn anything.

Drawing is also about feeling and touching. It doesn't just engage the eyes. Your whole body is into drawing. If you really get into a groove, you will start feeling a rhythm coming into your body to energize you. That's the best part and they don't really teach it in schools. It's about being receptive which I'm sure ppl here are very good at.

 

[firemaiden]

Drawing is also about feeling and touching. It doesn't just engage the eyes. Your whole body is into drawing.

Yes! My best results happened when I pretended I was "sculpting" the figure on the paper, using a kinesthetic sense of how the subject would feel to caress or mould, rather than relying solely on my eyes.

 

[punchinella]

Aaaah, that's seriously cool firemaiden & isthmus.

I'm going to work on shells today, another aaaaaaaah . . .

 

[Ruby7]

[B

--One question though: is the New Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain fundamentally different from the original? Does anybody know? Because a couple of days ago my mother offered to send me a copy (of, I presume, the original) . . . with so many people mentioning it, I'm thinking I should probably take her up on the offer. ???

Punch [/B]

Hi Punchinella, take your mother up on her offer. I believe that the new version is simply an updated version of the old one, but not much was changed or added. All the information and exercises that you need will still be in the original edition. YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOOK!!

Ruby7

 

[Hedera]

I've been carrying a sketchbook and drawing stuff in it occasionally - it's fun to do!

I'm probably not dedicated enough to become really good at it, but as long as the process is enjoyable I don't really care.

Two little books that are wonderfully fun, and very inspirational are 'The Moonlight Chronicles' and 'How to make a journal of your life', both by Dan Price.
They're around $10 on Amazon.

They're really fun to read and look at, and I love the looseness and sense of joy his drawing style has.
Both books are great reminders that things don't have to be 'perfect' to be excellent!



Oh, and another thing I like to do for practice is copy tarot cards - especially Marseilles majors work well for that.
It makes you *really* look at the card, and it's interesting to translate those shapes and forms into your own 'handwriting'.

 

[FearfulSymmetry]

Hi Punchinella,
I took a drawing class at my local comunity college once because they wouldn't let me take the painting class I wanted without it. It was really good!! A lot of people in the class weren't even interested, they were required to take it for some reason or another, but I think everyone improved drastically by the end. A formal class teaches you different techniques, lets you get comfortable with different materials, forces you to focus for a good amount of time, gives you an excellent opportunity to get input from a knowledgable teacher and other students.
I think a lot of people who give up on art do so because they don't realize they are using bad materials that even the best of artists couldn't make a nice picture with. A class helps you out with that.

Tossing in my .02!

Marie