Every artistic discipline has its technical backbone. For dance - there's plies, port de bras, and grand battements. For violin there's the triple threat of Schradieck, Ševčík, and Kreutzer exercises. For art there's drawing. And it seems to me, this is where I continue to fall down. Give me paint and I can push it around until it looks like something. Give me a pencil and I feel like an awkward, gawky beginner with no idea of where to start.
Since I've been painting mostly still lifes, I've gained confidence in that area with a pencil. But the margin isn't that great. I have managed to make landscape sketches during our travels in Bolivia. But it's drawing sketches of my children that has me at a loss for even how to begin.
With drawing being the equivalent of practicing scales on the piano, I need to make sure it is deeply ingrained into my art practice. So I'm going to be copying from The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expressions by Gary Faigin, maybe with some Charles Bargue thrown in there. The goal is to do a sketch every night before bed, then post my sketches at the end of the week. Here's some of my best from the past year:
Since I've been painting mostly still lifes, I've gained confidence in that area with a pencil. But the margin isn't that great. I have managed to make landscape sketches during our travels in Bolivia. But it's drawing sketches of my children that has me at a loss for even how to begin.
With drawing being the equivalent of practicing scales on the piano, I need to make sure it is deeply ingrained into my art practice. So I'm going to be copying from The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expressions by Gary Faigin, maybe with some Charles Bargue thrown in there. The goal is to do a sketch every night before bed, then post my sketches at the end of the week. Here's some of my best from the past year:
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