Links to Learning To Draw

In case you are a new reader of this blog and are wondering how to find the earlier chapters of Learning to Draw, here is a convenient clickable list of the first eight.

If you want to click on all these but get tired of going back to this page, just right-click on each one and open in a new tab. Then you can go through them sequentially without wearing out your Back button. How did a California artist become so computer savvy? By asking people and trying stuff!

Ever say a word so often that it ceases to make sense? I just destroyed the word “chapter” for myself!

Fruit On The Vine

Learning to Draw, Chapter 23

Kirby found this photo and it really grabbed her around the heart. I decided they are named Adams and Soldier. Can you tell me why I chose those names?  (besides the fact that I love to name animals) Kirby just smiled when I told her. She’s getting used to me.

When you are deciding what to draw, pick something you love, because you will be staring at it for a long time.

Learning to Draw, Chapter 22

This is Scooter as photographed and drawn by Kim. It is her first drawing. Really! She has been working on it for several months, diligently trying to sort out the proportions and stripes and toes and whiskers. It is upside down because this is the view I have when I am helping Kim. Sometimes I have her work on it upside down so she isn’t distracted by the schooter-ness of Scooter and she can just study the proportions, edges, textures and values.

If you turn both your photo and your drawing upside down, you can often see the angles, proportions, shapes and values more accurately.

When you are learning to draw, you can be fast, or you can be good.

Learning to Draw, Chapter 21

Olivia is drawing this pick-’em-up-truck from a photo of mine. There was a little bit of ambiguity around the door handle. The magnifier/loupe/linen tester/bug identifier is so helpful when the photo isn’t giving up its secrets. I peered through and said – “Oh! The gas tank had a sticky-outy thing with a round cap on top that we are only seeing in profile and it is right next to the door handle”. Good thing I was born in the ’50s so I could explain it to Olivia (although October of ’59 hardly gave me much experience in that decade.)

Know what you are drawing because if you don’t, those who know will know that you don’t know.

But Wait. . . There’s More!

These 2 “$4 Lawn Job” pieces will be in the Richeson 75 exhibit. I am a bit puzzled over why the bridge is in the book but not the exhibit and these 2 are in the exhibit but not the book. Life is full of mysteries!

Redwood & Dogwood, 9-1/2 x 6″, pencil, $400

Wood, Wind, Waves, 11-3/4 x 7″, $500

$4 Lawn Job, Part 4

Our lawn mowing boy spent a fair amount of time thinking about what Mr. Persnickety told him. “No one has ever done a $4 lawn job for me.” He decided that he would be the first. I’ve forgotten much of what the boy did, but it did involve some sort of a roller device to flatten any slight bumps and there was a nap in the middle of the day so he could continue on in the afternoon. When he had finally exhausted every possible method of perfecting that lawn, he knocked on the door and announced to Mr. Persnickety that he had done a $4 lawn job. Mr. Persnickety was skeptical and began inspecting his work. After going over every inch of his yard, he agreed that the boy had indeed accomplished the impossible and he paid him his $4.

What does that have to do with my art? Hang on, I’m getting to that part! You may have noticed that I don’t participate in many competitions or shows that are juried and judged. Earlier in my career, I tried those. After several rejections, (one show was a consistent winner – Madera Arts Council Ag Arts) and after reading a great deal about ways to build an art career, it seemed best to just focus on the local market.

Then, along came the Richeson 75. This is the first show I’d heard of that separates dry media from oils from wet media, which means pencil isn’t competing against painting.  Something told me to try this show, and I knew I was facing my own $4 lawn job challenge. (REALLY! That is how I thought of it!)

First, I chose my best subject and found the best possible photo of it. Then, I cropped it to the Golden Rectangle proportions, drew it carefully, shaded it, took it to my students to evaluate, layered a bit more, lightened here and darkened there, put it under a magnifier and sharpened all the edges of the bridge, studied it, changed a few things, and finally, sent it to the Richeson 75 in the Landscape, dry media category.

Rappity, tappity, bingety, BANG, BOOM!!! chhhhhhhh (that last noise was a cymbal.)

Rural Dignity, pencil, 6×9-1/2″

It will be in the exhibition book for the Landscape, Architecture and Seascape 2011 show!!

$4 Lawn Job, part 3

Our lawn-mowing boy in the story was satisfied with the $2 job for awhile, and then decided to see if he could do the mowing job for $3. This time he mowed carefully in one direction, then mowed carefully in the other. He probably trimmed the edges and dug out some weeds. It took a bit of fancy talking, but he convinced Mr. Persnickety that the job was indeed worth $3.

When I read the story, I couldn’t figure out how he could possibly improve on that massive effort at perfection. I thought he ought to be satisfied that he was able to do a $3 lawn job; after all, Mr. Persnickety had warned him in advance that no one had ever done a $4 job in the history of hiring neighborhood boys to mow.

This is just how I felt when I began drawing collages. It took a long time to plan, a long time to lay out, and a very long time to shade. Didn’t seem as if there was any place to improve after that!

$4 Lawn Job, Part 2

After our boy in the story mowed the lawn, he went home to puzzle out how to earn $2 next time. After some thought, the second time he mowed he probably went over the lawn two times, a bit more carefully and perhaps in 2 different directions. He told Mr. Persnickety it was a $2 job, he was paid, and both were happy.

In comparing this story to my drawings, this is my version of the $2 lawn job. Still have pencil, desire,  and skill. A neighbor/friend/customer suggested that I back up and show the cabin in its setting. (Thanks, Janey!) I was a bit worried about tackling trees, but knew I could figure it out with enough practice. Eventually I got comfortable with the added “growies”.

$4 Lawn Job, Part 1

There is a story from my childhood about a boy who went to a neighbor looking to earn money. The neighbor, whom we will call Mr. Persnickety, said he could mow the lawn. The boy was to supposed determine if he had done a $1, $2, $3 or $4 job and tell Mr. Persnickety. If the man agreed, he would pay the boy that amount.

I’ve never forgotten the story. In applying it to drawing, my early work would be the $1 job. Have pencil, have some skill, have great eagerness, will draw. It is probably the equivalent of making one quick pass across the lawn with the mower. Here are 2 of my early drawings. I had no idea how to handle trees or shrubs, and if someone asked me to draw a building, I drew it. Just it. Nothing else but it. Start at the beginning, finish at the end, sign, get my dollar and go home.

Reasons to Learn to Draw

#13 in the series “Thoughtful Thursdays”

Reasons to Learn to Draw

Drawing is a skill that can be both taught and learned. If you compare it to typing, this makes sense: some people top out at 25 words per minute and others can become as fast as 90 words per minute. All are indisputably typing.

Why should a person learn to draw? Back in the “olden days”, it was considered a necessary life skill and was a regular subject in school. Now that we have easy and accessible photography and even easier and accessible internet, drawing has fallen into the categories of hobby or talent. Why draw if you can take a photo?

A few years ago there was a retired gentleman in Three Rivers who had trouble filling his days. We became acquainted at various art shows, and we would discuss drawing. After several conversations, he approached me and asked, “Do you really think you could teach me how to draw?” I responded in the affirmative and asked him why he wanted to learn. His answer still cracks me up: “I don’t really care about art; I just want to meet women!”

Besides the social aspect of taking drawing lessons with a small group, drawing helps us to look carefully at the places and items in our lives. It teaches how to see what is really in front of us, not what we assume is there, or think we see. A number of my drawing students have told me that after a few weeks of lessons, they begin to observe the world around them differently. Details, light and shadow, shapes, and ideas for drawings are all suddenly visible as never before.

Some people choose to take drawing lessons out of curiosity. They’ve heard me say I can teach anyone how to draw, with the qualifier that he can listen to instructions. These folks wonder if they are the exceptions and decide to just give it a try. The only ones who haven’t learned are those who quit too soon!

Other students come to me because they are painters who are dissatisfied with their paintings. Still others want to become painters and they know that drawing comes before painting. By learning to draw in pencil, a person will learn to see shapes, proportions,  perspective, and learn about values. Values are the darks and the lights, and without them, a picture gets described as being “flat”.

Several people have asked me for help because at some time in their past an art teacher crushed their spirits. If someone thinks he might have an artistic bent and his work is thoughtlessly dismissed, it can really damage his confidence. I have spent time listening to people’s stories, looking at their work, showing them new ways to do things, and watching them blossom into people who can draw.

Some of my drawing students draw better than I do! Although I thoroughly enjoy the time together, I ask them why they think they still need lessons. The answer is usually that if they haven’t reserved a spot in their week specifically for drawing, they won’t ever draw at all in spite of good intentions.

The man who just wanted to meet women did make some friends, and before he succumbed to cancer, he completed 2 beautiful pencil drawings. He just kept repeating, “I can’t believe I did this!” Rejoicing with him over his accomplishments is one of my happiest memories in all the years of teaching private drawing lessons.