I was asked if I could provide some drawing tips. Not a difficult request you might say, but it made me think carefully. I’d need to start by asking a few questions.
It depends what you want to get out of your drawing, why are you doing it in the first place and what are your stumbling blocks?
Accuracy and representation
For some people, the goal is accurate representation of what’s before them. Whether it’s a landscape, a model or a still life. These artists are looking for analytical tips and tricks to transfer a version of the 3-D scene they are viewing, onto a two dimensional sheet of paper. Of course there are many approaches and devices that will help them achieve this goal. But figurative accuracy is not the only objective of drawing, and so such tips may be of little help to other artists.
I remember an early life drawing class when the tutor watched me working and commented – ‘Ah, you’re sticking very close to the model, I see.’
This surprised me as I thought this was the only way to draw. Wasn’t this the purpose of the exercise? But I soon learned that for many, the subject before them is just a starting point for wider exploration. These people all look for different tips and guidance to get the best from their exercises.
Speedy distillation
For some, drawing can be an activity involved in extracting the key essence from a subject as quickly as possible. In other words working to use as few lines or strokes necessary to capture the moment.
A common exercise in figure drawing is to begin with a one minute pose, then speed up to a 30 second pose, then 10 seconds, then 5.
Often artists draw to understand specific things that are happening before them. Studying movement or passages of light. This can be developing skills to record fast moving subjects or create expressions of movement in a static canvas. Take a look a Duchamp’s famous ‘Nude Descending a Staircase’. You can imagine the series of drawings that helped prepare for this.
Exploring hidden depths
Architectural or landscape artists however, may want to explore perspective effects. How to create impressions of depth on a flat surface.
You will often see the work of renaissance artists with straight lines drawn converging on distant vanishing points as they build illusion into the structure of their drawings. Exploration can be as important an objective as creation.
Things may not be as they seem
Often we want to clarify what occurs in the real world in comparison to our imagined world – what does a tree actually look like? How is a wave formed? How long is an arm? What does a conker look like?
From figurative to abstract.
Many artists’ ultimate goal may be to create abstract or non-figurative paintings as an end product, but extract subject ideas from a real situation. A real-life landscape can provide a starting point to construct an abstract painting. The starting point will almost always be drawing but with very specific approaches.
Take a look at some of the work of the St Ives school from the 1950s. Some amazing abstract paintings, but unmistakebly products of the Cornish landsacape. Drawing upon the surroundings.
A work in itself
Yet one more reason some people choose to draw is to create drawing as an end in itself. For them a drawing is a finished artwork and they will be seeking very different guidance from those whose drawings are preparatory.
So, when asked for drawing tips, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Everyone has their own objectives and their own issues. However, I think there is one common, connecting theme – that’s observation and expression. And observation is something I will be dealing with in another post – however, what you observe and how you express it is very personal and what goes to make your work unique.
