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Any recommendations for learning to draw at the level depicted in this article?
He describes a semi-traditional method which is way more than you technically need. But just reading about the method will inform you of a practical approach to begin drawing what you see or have seen. It's like K&R for drawing, lots of 'Oh that's how it works'.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Learn to see what you're looking at. An hour or so of practice from life every day for a year is a good start.
An hour a day is a massive commitment for most people with lives (work, family etc.) You can get very meaningful progress in drawing with much less. Don’t be discouraged from starting.
I use a cheap toy[1] I got for my kid, who got tired of it. It stays next to my keyboard and I doodle drawing exercises whenever I get tired of typing.
A minute here, a minute there, and next thing I know I've completed quite a few of the exercises (about 30m/day, if all the individual minutes are added up).
Works very well, and enforces drawing from the shoulder and not the wrist.
[1] The one I bought (about $10) is this: https://www.takealot.com/kids-digital-12-inch-drawing-tablet...
Any recommendations for learning to draw at the level depicted in this article?
1. Do exercises from books. Doesn't matter what but things like - how to shade a cube, using negative space, draw 50 horses etc. Also do restriction exercises. Draw in a continuous line, use cross hatching or other patterns for shading, paint in black and white etc. These are all about getting comfortable with the process of drawing and putting pencil to paper.
2. Still life. Draw what is around you then draw what is in what is around you (reflections, shadows, colours). Try drawing your own reflection in a spoon.
3. Life classes. Humans are attuned to the human form by evolution, so drawing humans accurately is uniquely hard. You will also learn to draw fast as in a traditional life class poses usually go from very short dynamic poses (30 seconds - 1 min of someone standing on 1 leg) to short (2-3 mins), to 10 minute poses, finishing with a 30 min-hour pose.
4. Doodle! Keep a note pad with you at all times and doodle in bursts while waiting for tests to run, on the tube, in meetings. After not very long you'll be able to do other things while you doodle.
5. Don't use a computer for drawing until you can draw IRL. Making mistakes and being comfortable with not undoing them is important. Often the process of exploring or covering up mistakes spurs creativity and getting the tool out of the way and concentrating on the process is important.
6. Copy great works, even if you don't like them. Investigate the techniques used, the composition, the materials. See if you can find good day and bad day examples of a masters work and work out what separates them. It will also make you feel better when you realise that even the most valorized ot artists sometimes produce rubbish.
7. Change it up! Don't do the above in order, do a bit of each whenever you can. If you plateau do things like draw with your weak hand for a week, or try inverting what you draw when you draw it, or draw things in incongruous positions or situations. Create a baby's mobile of weird objects, hang it above you and draw them from below. That sort of thing.
8. Share your work and ask for feedback. If you can, do this in IRL so when someone says "I don't like this aspect" you can dig in and work out what they don't like. The internet does not facilitate this kind of discussion as so many comments are drive by / trolling.
Any recommendations for learning to draw at the level depicted in this article?
I made a manual for drawing on whiteboards with a bunch of exercises and tips.
Feel free to download it here: https://publish.obsidian.md/alexisrondeau/Attachments/Whiteb...
Let me know if that goes in the direction of what you're looking for!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
An hour a day is a massive commitment for most people with lives (work, family etc.) You can get very meaningful progress in drawing with much less. Don’t be discouraged from starting.
> An hour a day is a massive commitment for most people with lives (work, family etc.) You can get very meaningful progress in drawing with much less. Don’t be discouraged from starting. I use a cheap toy[1] I got for my kid, who got tired of it. It stays next to my keyboard and I doodle drawing exercises whenever I get tired of typing. A minute here, a minute there, and next thing I know I've completed quite a few o…
And the best part is: I can imagine how much work each one of his article takes! Mainly because I have tried writing in a manner similar to Ralph’s myself [1], and I found it is not easy to articulate complex topics in an easy-to-digest manner. Drawings help to lower the barrier to understanding, and Ralph knows this very well.
[1]: https://zineanteoh.com/the-colors-we-paint-of-others
* for the enjoyment of HN community, i share my blog publicly for the first time. the pw is ‘thelittleprince’
Any recommendations for learning to draw at the level depicted in this article?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Learn to see what you're looking at. An hour or so of practice from life every day for a year is a good start.
An hour a day is a massive commitment for most people with lives (work, family etc.) You can get very meaningful progress in drawing with much less. Don’t be discouraged from starting.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaif0PpNMas&list=PLQ9CsVTcIG...
i did some of my most productive studying on the bus or in hospital waiting rooms. even with a fulltime job i would say that 5-6 hours of drawing in a day is very achievable without much sacrifice. you don't need to be that serious about it, but you probably have more time than you think.