More On Drawing Lessons

These drawings are all by my drawing students, in progress, quickly photographed by my inadequate phone.

Different levels of experience, different levels of completion, but all work at their own speeds on subjects they choose.

Some of the things I tell them: “You can try this if you really want to, but it might even be too hard for me”; “You draw better than I do so I’m not sure why you are here but I will try to help you”; “That looks really fun!”; “Oh wow, that is going to take a long long time”; “I drew something like that once and ended up hating the subject”; “That is a great photo and will make a great drawing”; “Good thing you know your subject matter because it is really difficult to tell what is happening in that little area”.

I also help with step by step instructions. Lessons last 1 hour with 4 students per class. $55/month plus supplies, no lessons in July, August, or December. If you would like to know more, email me (cabinart at cabinart dot net, spelled out because it is supposed to discourage robots from contacting me) or use the contact button here on the website.

Drawing Lessons

Drawing is not a talent; it is a skill, and if you can listen and be patient with the process, you can learn.

Look what is in progress right now with my drawing students of all levels (I took the photos quickly with my phone so OF COURSE they look better in person):

Some are almost finished, some have weeks or even months to go. Each student works at her own pace on the subject of her choosing. Some work from their own photos; others find photos from other sources. Some are doing the drawings as gifts; some turn them into cards; some have reproduction prints made from their originals to share with people; some are drawing commissioned work.

Everyone has fun (including me). 

More later.

Soldiering on with Drawing Lessons via Email

C sent me this, requesting help with some specific areas.Oh how I wish we were together in person! But my o-so-wise dad taught me this: “If you put a wish in one hand and spit in the other, which hand actually contains something?” So we shall soldier on.

First, I did this:

Then I wrote up these notes:

P.S. It costs a fortune to have a transplant, and while insurance covers much, there is much more that it does not cover. If you feel generous and inclined to help my friend, Rachelle, this is the best way to do so: HelpHopeLive.Org

Drawing Lessons Via Email

My drawing student, C, and I continue working together on the horse named Buck, who I called Mr. Curly. 

She scanned her drawing instead of taking a picture with her phone this time.

C also asked me about the eyes, and after doing a bit of measuring, I could see that the one on our right is a bit low. I wrote up some instructions for her:

Then I decided that drawing various parts of Buck, showing the layering differences using 3 pencils of varying hardness (4B, 2B, and HB) might be helpful.

My show “Still Here” is still there, at Arts Visalia, that is. The phone # to make an appointment to see it is 559-739-0905. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon-5:30 (5 on Friday). I will be there on Friday, April 30, the last day; the work will be removed at 5 p.m.

 

Drawing Buck

My drawing student C and I continue to work on her pencil drawing of the horse, Buck. This last time she took a photo of the drawing instead of scanning it. I tried to help and was able to show her how to put a lock of hair across the eye. She also asked me about her hair shading techniques, and after staring at it a bit, I finally concluded that it was all too squarified for me to tell what was pencil and what was pixel.

Here is what I told her in the email (because I think my writing is a little bit too sloppy):

“About the hair crossing over the eye: The question to be answered is always: Which is darker? sometimes the only way to tell is to squint at the photo so the detail and color blur. Another way is to turn your photo to black and white, but this sort of feels like cheating. Well, not cheating, but bypassing the ability to learn to see values by letting the computer do the work. Often the black and white method backfires, because the 2 things are the same value (darkness). This means you get to decide (you are the boss of your picture.)
 
“The hair is darker in some places and lighter in others. Just make the adjustments to whatever is behind the little clumps so that it shows up. It is okay for the clumps to look broken or disconnected.
 
“Hair always tapers at the tips.
 
“I can’t help you on the shading; because of the pixelation, it is too hard to tell what you have actually done and what is getting squarified. 8-( 
 
“You can either keep going and then scan it, or you can rescan this and I can keep going here!”
 
So, this lesson is on hold for a bit.
My show “Still Here” is still there, at Arts Visalia, that is. The phone # to make an appointment to see it is 559-739-0905. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon-5:30. The last day to see my work there is Friday, April 30.

 

New Virtual Drawing Lesson #2

Last week we saw the beginnings of C’s new horse drawing.

The eyes are the best place to start when drawing a living being. The eyes on Mr. Curly were too dark to see on the photo, so I used the computer to lighten and enlarge. (If you can’t see a thing, it’s almost impossible to draw the thing. Duh. You are welcome.)

Eye on the left after enlarging and lightening:

Eye on the right, after lightening and enlarging:

My demonstrations and notes, scanned a little darker than accurate in order for C to be able to read my handwriting, which makes the drawing parts a little too dark. There are many drawbacks to this virtual stuff, but C is a very committed drawing student and an excellent communicator.

I wonder how many of you will unsubscribe to my blog because this type of post is making your eyes cross.

New Virtual Drawing Lesson

Look at this beautiful photo of a horse by my drawing student C. She wants to draw it and I will do my best to help her, through emails.

The first set of instructions was this:

  1. Trace the main parts to simplify the visual information
  2. Copy the tracing onto the drawing paper, rotating directions. Start upside down, then sideways, next other sideways, finally right side up. Each direction will show you different shapes and angles that need to be corrected.
  3. Trace a few more details onto the first tracing.
  4. Add those details to the drawing, remembering to rotate.

This is what C sent to me after finishing those actions.

She is drawing the same size as her printed photo. This means she can scoot the tracing over the top of her drawing to check her accuracy. 

When students draw the exact same size as their photo, they can do this sort of checking. Here are some thoughts about that:

  1. Always force yourself to draw first, BEFORE laying the tracing on top. We all need to exercise our “seeing muscles”, and practice is the only way to learn to see accurately.
  2. When you draw the same size as your photo, you aren’t learning to see proportionately as quickly as if you draw larger or smaller. Sure, you will still have to see how things relate to one another inside the drawing, but you aren’t looking at the whole to learn to think thoughts such as “half is always half” or “a third on my drawing needs to be the same as a third on the photo”.
  3. When you draw the same size as your photo, sometimes you get paralyzed by the thought of changing size.
  4. If you are dependent on drawing the same size as your photo, it is even harder to transition into drawing from real life. Drawing from real life is the hardest way to draw, because you are going from 3 dimensions to 2 dimensions, and every time you slouch a bit or accidentally lean to one side or the other, the image in front of you changes.

Stay tuned. The virtual drawing lesson will continue.

 

Virtual Drawing Lesson 5

Virtual Drawing Student C finished her drawing of the horse, Rocky. She sent me a new photo that I named Mr. Curly, and I have instructed her how to begin.
About starting Mr. Curly:
1. First step is always to decide how big and where on your paper that Mr. Curly will go.
2. Remember to draw a border so that you don’t view the edge of the paper as the edge of your drawing. Margins are necessary for many reasons.
3. Do you have tissue paper so you can trace the main shapes? The purpose of this is to simplify the image in order to get the bare bones laid out on your new paper.
4. If you don’t have tissue paper, you can skip that step. It is a little harder to see the main shapes with all those colors and textures than if you are looking at just an outline on tissue.
5. Remember to look at the drawing (and the tracing or the photo) upside down, sideways, other sideways, and then finally right side up. 
6. Go slowly, draw light, and don’t stop until all the shapes look perfect. Okay, you can stop if you need a break or feel stuck, but don’t begin shading until you have all the outlines down. Remember to draw the dog before you draw the fleas.
7. After it looks perfect, scan and send it to me so I can see if there are any problems with the proportions.
 
P.S. Maybe Mr. Shaggy or just Shaggy would be a more appropriate name. Or how about Lurch?

Virtual Drawing Lesson Thoughts

In working with my drawing student C via email, we discussed the fact that the drawing of her horse Rocky got finished in record time for her. She is such a good thinker and clear communicator that I decided to share what we discussed. These are her conclusions about finishing quickly and my thoughts.
C’s drawing table is where she can work any time she passes by without having to set things up.
It is so helpful to have an art project be accessible so it isn’t a project unto itself just to set up. 
C felt dependent on my help when in class and a little intimidated to just dive on in.
I need to find a way to encourage my students to be more independent so they don’t wait for me to tell them each step; at the same time, I understand why they wait for instruction, because who wants to erase?? 
C felt a little intimidated about being with people who are more advanced than she is.
It takes awhile for people to realize that their classmates are super encouraging and that all of us started at the beginning, not suddenly arrived as accomplished artists. I sometimes purposely bring something ugly and early to show my students so they won’t feel embarrassed by their own early origins. My students all make better first drawings than I drew AFTER I started accepting commissions. 
C had confidence drawing horses, a subject that she has painted several times.
She is right about having more confidence when drawing a familiar subject. I often remind my students to pick something they love, because they will be staring at it for L O N G time.
 
I love that my drawing students become friends, love listening to them all get to know each other, love learning from them on a variety of topics. Sometimes I wonder if it would be more efficient to ask everyone to stop talking and focus. Then I remember being in a colored pencil workshop when the very unpleasant instructor shouted, “QUIET! NO TALKING!” and I never want to do that. So, we’ll just keep on as things are, and I will continue looking for ways to encourage independence.

Virtual Drawing Lesson 4

C sent me her drawing with a list of 5 questions. This time I was more orderly, instead of making little patches of topics all over the paper. She only had one area that I needed to demonstrate, but I handwrote the entire sheet of instructions anyway. Then I realized that no one else would want to read all that scribbling.

Here is her drawing:

And here is a more concise list of instructions.

  1. There are a couple of scratches on the drawing. These can be fixed with a super sharp 2H or lighter pencil, working under a magnifying glass. (Yes, it is difficult – I can do this, and you may address me as “Dr. Pencil”.)
  2. Her decision to make the horse’s upper lip look more like reality than the photo was a good decision. (You may address me as “The Mayor of Realville”).
  3. She circled an area of the chest and said it didn’t look right to her. I told her it is because the strokes are too long, and I demonstrated those, scanned them, and emailed the scan. 
  4. When I spray-fix my drawings, I use Blair Matte Spray Fixative to keep my drawings from smearing. Beware: it alters the colors of some colored pencils (had a terrible spray fix accident once, still scarred), and I always try a little squirt first to make sure the nozzle isn’t clogged. 
  5. The best paper for my style of drawing is Strathmore (brand) Bristol (weight) Smooth (surface) 400 Series (quality).

I provide most of the paper to my drawing students in person. There are many things that are better about taking drawing lessons in person, but we are doing the best we can with this. I think C is doing a great job in communicating clearly, working on her own, and encouraging her reluctant instructor to push through her annoyance with technology.