"I original wrote this on a whim but thought I would share it here as well. These are just my thoughts and advice on learning to draw. I'm mainly referring to figure drawing, but it really applies to just drawing in general.
The worst part about having tons of papers and books is having to move those tons of papers and books. I just recently moved into a new place and along with me came a giant stack of figure drawings that I've kept in my closet since I started Art Center back in 2005.
Seeing my drawings from first term was nostalgic, terrifying, and encouraging all at the same time!
I've had many discussions with people about whether or not they are improving or what they should do to get better and really there is no secret to it. It just takes time, focus, and lots of paper! I see too many people get discouraged because they are not improving fast enough or they get drawn into shortcuts while losing track of the fundamentals. And fundamentals, as simple as they seem, really do take the longest to internalize and master. The rest is just fluff. A box by any other name is still a box!
I thought I would share some things to think about that really helped me improve. They may sound a bit corny but they work! they really do work!:
shoot for the moon!
I still remember those inspirational posters that hung above the chalk board in middle school and one in particular still stands out. It read: "shoot for the moon and if you miss you'll land amongst the stars." (hahaha)
At school everyone seemed to be looking over everyone else's shoulder to see who the biggest threat was. I think some friendly competition is good, but if your only goal is to be better than the person next to you then you will only end up being better than the person next to you. I realized at one point that my only real competition was myself. I didn't need anyone to tell me when my drawing was bad because I could see that for myself. I stopped comparing my drawings to my peers and started comparing them to the artists that I really looked up to like the old masters: Michelango, Pontormo, Rubens. If you have a lofty goal in mind you will never be satisfied with where you are and in turn you will never stop improving.
be honest with yourself!
A big thing that stops improvement is plateauing. I think a lot of times this happens because we start to get comfortable with where we are at. It feels good to draw things that we are used to or that are easy, and it's good to indulge once in a while, but if you do the exact same thing over and over you will not improve. One of my teachers emphasized drawing the whole figure and to treat it as a complete statement or idea. I didn't quite understand why at first, but as I looked around at workshops, everyone was just drawing torsos! torsos upon torsos! They were well drawn torsos, but when it came to drawing hands and feet or finishing a drawing they couldn't do it. And I was one of them! I then made an effort to draw out the whole figure (even in the two minute poses!) and it forced me to deal with those areas that I was uncomfortable drawing- like the hands and feet. You are also forced to respond to the model and compose your drawing rather than mindlessly going through the motions. The only way to get over areas you have trouble with is to slow down and deal with them rather than glossing over them."
Also a blog with his own work :)
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