How to improve your drawing or get it to where you need it to be.
(A rag-bag of drawing ideas)
(Another) two ways of thinking about drawing
I'm thinking of drawing in two ways here - one, as part of a bottom up process, for example within my mapmaking when I’m trying to record sensations, feelings, emotions, and connecting thoughts. This is as opposed to a top down process where I’m thinking more observationally or trying to explain something, like a diagram or to get to an end point. All the drawings are from my sketchbooks - they’re not meant to be ‘good’ drawings, just drawings that helped me work something out or simply just have fun.
So it’s a case of horses for courses…
Identify what you are trying to achieve with your drawing, it might just be having fun and playing creatively, or it might be making a recording of the subject for a botanical art piece where accuracy and understanding of the science behind the drawing is key. Drawing to understand a structure might include using 'construction lines' which describe the shapes, such as elipses and rectangles, put together. Or showing the process in your drawing, by leaving the lines that helped you find the form.
It might be to explain something in your own words ( or in your own marks) or to describe what something feels like as it’s happening such as the wonderful Yorkshire drawings by David Hockney where he drew rain dropping into a puddle or pool.
Drawing as preparation for linocutting leads you into interesting waters; you can have the drawn line describing one side of the form and the inner line, another, it’s easier to show than explain! Have a look at the linocut of Edward Bawden or Christopher Brown. I don’t want to encroach on copyright territory which is why I’m telling not showing but here’s a link.. Have a look for Goldmark gallery if you don’t want to click the link https://www.goldmarkart.com/blogs/discover/edward-bawden
What are you using to draw?
This will have a big impact on what marks look like, and they’re nothing worse than just hating the marks, you’ll just go on to hate the drawing. Find something you like to draw with - my favourite drawing implement of all time is my mechanical clutch pencil https://www.jacksonsart.com/koh-i-noor-mechanical-clutch-pencil-leadholders
I’m not sure what it is exactly but I love this pencil. I use the widest lead around 5mm and draw anything with it, the way that you can use it as line or form is wonderful. Sometimes I just sharpen one side, on emery paper, so I have a smudgy line and a sharp pointed line. And it’s quite heavy in your hand, maybe that irons out unwanted wiggles, I don’t know but it’s wonderful.
Dip pens are another favourite, it took me quite a while to stop blobbing ink and now I can’t do it if I try. So persevere with them. See the combo of dip pen and ink with the quick rook drawing above.
You can shade a paper with charcoal or even pencil to create a mid tone and then draw into that, using an eraser to create highlight, which kind of follows on from my ‘sfumato' post. Besides these the humble pencil or even a cheap biro can give you some lovely marks.
'What can I draw'?
What do you like? Organic shapes provide subjects to explore with less worry about 'but does it really look like that?' if that is a worry. If you have a desire to draw buildings, you can still draw them in a more organic way, just for goodness sake don’t use that ruler for drawing lines!
It’s a funny thing how a ruler always gives you such an awfully rigid line even if you’re just using it as a guide! If you must, then draw faintly using the ruler, almost rub it out and then use it as the faintest line to guide your free hand line.
Drawing animals is best done in short bursts I think, a part of a head, or the top line of a cow, then gradually put them together using more reference material but keeping the initial drawing enthusiasm.
You don’t have to look at your drawing! Well, not all the time anyway.
I usually ask students to write their name without looking at what they’re writing, to demonstrate that your hand is connected enough to your brain that it knows what it’s writing, and the same applies when drawing. By all means look back at the paper to work out how things are coming together but when drawing from life, you want to be looking at the subject as much as is possible. Aim for 90% looking at the subject, 10% looking at your paper. People throw their hands up in horror when I say that but give it a try.
When drawing you MUST be mindful, it sounds a cliché but unless you’re thinking about what you’re drawing and the impression it has on you, your drawing will lack substance. Think about the qualities of the thing you’re drawing, the thing that makes it what it is. If you’ve gone the equivalent of 'nose blind’, think to yourself, why doesn’t it look like something else - I’ll explain… for example when I’m drawing an apple, I might think, 'why doesn’t this look like a pear or a plum, what is the apple-ness quality?' Or, if I was from outer space what qualities would show this was an apple?
Then focus on drawing out those qualities from it.
Hold the pencil loosely, maybe start off holding it quite far from the point, to draw out loose shapes. Identify the basic shape of the object you’re drawing - maybe it looks like a square with a bit stuck on? A junction on a map reminds you of the angle of a plant stem branching off. Hold those equivalents in your mind, find other analogies to play with.
Don’t underestimate the lovely textural qualities you can create with dots and dashes etc maybe see a previous post too. Our brains link things subconsciously- if you see a map-like dot texture you'll think 'map' and that will help the drawing have substance.
Building form
Draw the bits you can’t see, parts hidden behind other things and extend lines to describe where an object finishes even if you can’t see it. Use a wide range of tones or none at all and create a line drawing, maybe look at the line drawings of Matisse.
More about drawing soon but in the meantime enjoy your drawing, make it playful! Sing whilst you’re drawing!!
