Drawing is an essential basis for good artwork.
Draw What You
See: Sounds simple, right? It is, but then again it
takes concentration. Most of us draw what we think we
see. There is the classic example of eyes. The almond or
football shape almost “hieroglyphic” style that we recognize as
eyes are not what eyes really look like.
Or tree trunks. Brown sticks with branches at evenly
spaced intervals with puffy cotton-like green clouds stuck on
top. Have you really ever looked at a tree trunk?
Conclusion: Remove the filters that you have been
viewing the world through. Know that eyeballs are spheres,
covered by flaps of skin. See tree trunks in their infinite
variety of colors, (ranging from white to ocher-pink to
red-umber to blue-gray) and see various textures.
Simplify: Try to block out
your knowledge of the objects as they are, a flower or a dog,
see shapes and light vs. dark. Squint, blur your vision and let
the vague areas of light and dark guide you.
Faces are something that many people have difficulty
rendering. Hands and feet are also intimidating. When I have
trouble with hands and feet, I remember my own rule…simplify. I
don’t think “hands and feet”; I think “shapes and shadows.”
Stay tuned, instruction photos will be posted soon…
