Learning to draw

[Jon]

A couple of years ago I bought a book on how to draw, but I just never found the time to get around to reading it. Always too busy to give it the time. Well, recently I decided to have a go, committing to just 15 minutes per day.

I've always admired those who can draw, because I can't and so it felt like they had some natural talent that I lacked. But at the same time I have a strong belief that you can learn anything, and that consistent skill building can often beat out natural talent anyway. It remind me of the expression that genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.

So, on day 1 the book asks you to draw a house, plane and donut! My attempts are shown below. You can see I had the drawing skills of a 5 year old!

Well, I've come a long way since then! Below is a rose I drew on day 24.

And day 27 a bunch of roses:

I've even impressed myself! I can draw! I've spent about 6 hours in total on my drawing adventure, so it didn't take long to go from childlike skills to something quite decent. This is proof positive that you can learn anything, regardless of a common belief that drawing is a natural talent.

Are there any drawers here in this community, or those who always wanted to learn?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

My artistic strengths are in wordsmithing and playing music. I'm responsive to visual images but not very talented therewith.

 

[Isaac]

Yes I would like to learn and especially how to paint. I wonder if one necessarily has to come before the other one, or not?

By the way, this is exactly why I always feel so inferior when people discuss drawing. The pictures you posted from day 1 are, quite honestly, probably substantially better than what I could draw right now. So if you were at a 5 year old level, I guess I am at a one year old level!

But I have faith and this inspires me to try to learn to paint and/or draw this year

 

[Jon]

@Isaac You can see the progress I made after only 6 hours in total. They results are like night and day.

 

[Isaac]

yes!

 

[Isaac]

What book did you buy, and would you recommend it or have you found better ones since then/

 

[Jon]

Why try to reinvent the wheel? The book I got works!

You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less: Kistler, Mark: 9780738212418: Amazon.com: Books

You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less [Kistler, Mark] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less

www.amazon.com

Edit: Check out the table of contents on Amazon. It shows a picture next to each section so you know what you will learn to draw.

 

[Jon]

Some more pics for inspiration.

Day 6

Day 16

 

[AccessBlaster]

Your progress is stunning

 

[Jon]

Thanks @AccessBlaster. Maybe it will inspire others (besides @Isaac) who are convinced they cannot draw to give it a go. I thought the same and proved myself wrong. I'm the new Leonardo!

 

[AccessBlaster]

I loved drafting class in high school and perspective drawing in art class.

 

[Jon]

You are probably quite good then. People normally like the things they are good at.

 

[Isaac]

Thanks for the advice and link. I am hereby ordering it for myself for Christmas. So far the only thing I'm getting for Christmas is I bought a pair of shoes my wife told me to buy for myself for our trip where I drive her to Mexico to see her family for Christmas. Santa brings Husbands some awfully interesting 'GIFTS' ...

 

[Isaac]

@Jon I am reading the book on amazon free kindle reader, on page 19 so far. at the present time I feel certain there is no chance i shall ever share my original sketches of house and airplane, but, perhaps someday soon--encouraged by success and inspired to share--I might find the humility to do so. I really like the book so far! this activity has not only engaged and intrigued me, but it is fun to read and helps the reader achieve a sense that they are going to do much better than they ever thought. It feels easy and fun.

Plus, it has succeeded in distracting me from other issues that were otherwise causing me significant psychological distress and just for that alone is well worth it!

 

[Jon]

@Isaac Glad to hear you have taken the plunge. Now the fact you are on page 19 makes me think you are reading and not doing the exercises? Or am I wrong? Not sure how much time you are devoting to this.

If you are doing the exercises, what progress if any are you seeing? Did you surprise yourself?

 

[Cotswold]

I was about six or seven and a lad our class took a pencil and a piece of paper and drew a house. It was like watching a photograph developing in a tray of chemicals and in a couple of minutes he'd finished a perfect image of the house in all its detail, complete with a car in the drive.
I knew what I could do, and from that moment I knew I would never be able to draw as easily as that.

 

[Isaac]

@Isaac Glad to hear you have taken the plunge. Now the fact you are on page 19 makes me think you are reading and not doing the exercises? Or am I wrong? Not sure how much time you are devoting to this.

If you are doing the exercises, what progress if any are you seeing? Did you surprise yourself?

I'm definitely doing each lesson, but I will admit skipping some of the 'suggestion' parts. I draw each thing demonstrated, but when it says things like "Go wild - now draw 37 of them until they touch the horizon" - I often don't. Part of it is laziness, but a big part of it is that in many cases the author didn't warn me how much space I would need on the left, right, or top, (or how much relatively the 'additional' things would need to be small-ER, or large-ER), and thus, I realize I don't have the relative additional space I need, etc. Small reasons.

I will confess to doing this a bit more superficially than I probably ought.

 

[Jon]

I was wondering myself about skipping the bonus lessons. I decided to do them in the end. But I might modify them slightly so they don't take up too much time. If you just do the main parts of each lesson, you will still improve massively.

One thing I noticed was that after a out 25 days, when I had to draw a line or circle, I was able to do it with better precision and more rapidly. However, I do use the eraser a lot, and I mean a lot!! This drawing stuff is definitely a skill that improves with even minimal practice. And I also believe it is something that once you got the skill, you will retain a large part of it compare to when you first started. Some of it is not the motor skill of drawing lines accurately, but rather the understanding of what goes into a drawing: light source, therefore shading, building blocks of objects, perspective and so on.

 

[Isaac]

Remember, I am not on lesson 19, just PAGE 19. That's only the first 3 lessons or so.

 

[Jon]

Yes, I understand. Master the sphere!