Anyone learn how to draw or sketch?
 

Is it possible to learn how to draw or sketch? I know there are classes but do they work? Anyone learned? I'm not an artist and don't draw well but do have an eye and have automotive design ideas I need to put down on paper.

Shaun, even those with tons of natural talent "study".

I would encourage anyone to take art classes regardless of their "endgame".

I've dabbled in more mediums than I care to list and I wish that I had more time
At the moment to do more. Looking forward to taking up some of them again when I retire.

DO IT. There is a lot that can be learned. Here's a couple of books off my shelves that I find myself going back to every couple of years. Don't know if they can still be found.

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Like anything else it's a skill that can be learned and improved on.

Certainly if you have a natural affinity for it that makes things easier.

Practice is critical.

All the phenomenal artists I know draw every single day.

They get up in the morning and "warm up" by sketching something while having breakfast.

They do it for a living, these guys work for studios like WETA, ILM, Lucas, etc...

You certainly don't need to dedicate that kind of time but like most things, the more you do it regularly the better you get.

What he said.

The "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" book shown above is the bomb....

The creative side of my brain is the size of a shriveled up pea under my grandmothers front porch that was shucked 50 years ago...and it worked for me. (plus it's really a lot fun)

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Ditto - it's all about practice. I've taken classes and I've got my own copy of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and some others. It really is like any other skill - put in the work and you can get quite good; I've seen quality drawing in classes done by people that haven't a lick of talent, my own work included. The problem, of course, is putting your work up against people that do have talent - it's what makes most people quit, or never see how good their stuff is.

For some like my eldest daughter it's something that she's constantly doing, almost as a need to release the creative buildup.

This raises a question that has perplexed me for most of my life.
Are you not an artist because you don't have the skill to express your creative thoughts, or does just being creative make you an artist, whether you express it or not?

My area of skill is writing, but I have a "feel" for creatively visualizing. I see cool stuff in my mind.

Music - no. I've never imagined a creative sound in my head.

I have a friend with an incredible imagination. He can tell fascinating, engrossing stories right off the top of his head. But he can't write a coherent sentence. To me he is an artist.

I feel blessed that I have an imagination and one skill that lets me express it, but I wish I could draw. I do play around with drawing from the right side of your brain now and then. It provides a different way of looking at the world than most of us left brain engineering types look at it.

Thank you Michael, would be a good start but...




OK, thanks Scott, I'll hire an artist or do some work in Photoshop.

Great questions.

I've always felt art required skill, otherwise it's just a manifestation of imagination. So when, some day, I get the chance to create some sculpture on the scale of Richard Serra using carbon fiber instead of steel, it certainly won't just be some large bolts of fabric set with epoxy.

But then this painting I did years ago using no skill at all, is it art? Or the study in blue? What is that?

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Regardless of one's level of innate talent, you cannot help but get better if you do, do, do. So yes, you can learn. I do not know what your starting point is and I cannot speak to pedagogies, but I think you will be happy with your results, whatever they are.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to do, do, do. Draw, draw, draw.

Shaun,

Art is only one thing and you touched upon it, the manifestation of imagination. One does not need to necessarily have the physical skill. Take a writer for instance, are the hands necessary?

I'd call your study in red art because it created an interest and emotion when I look at it. And no, it's not hate or distaste, lol.

I even had a name that popped in my head when I first looked at the study in red. Had you named it as you created it or even afterwards?

Sol.

You just do it. And keep doing it... keep learning different styles and look at all kinds of art.

Some people are just naturals.. and it's amazing to watch them. My father sketched his whole life. Made sense he was an architect/builder, and a painter (water, oils.. you name it) and also a tattoist.. He never stopped getting better... His father was a draftsman, but never did anything outside of work. I never understood that.

I was lucky to gain some of his skills, but never to the level he did. He could draw upside down to explain an idea to a client.. blew me away... I put together a binder of all his stuff last year.

One of the coolest things I remember was when he taught me perspective drawing. That opened up a whole world for me. I still sketch every day.

Some of his stuff.. Mine doesnt even compare...

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This is awesome, btw.

Check out a movie called The Tree of Life.. it makes me think of that.

Now we to have define what works can be considered art! Writing, to me, isn't art. It's writing. Yet a play, acted, is art in my book, which is merely a book of scraps, certainly not art.

Sol? Really? Sol? Sol is the old Jewish guy who owns the diner on W79th, makes a great reuben. :D

No name for it. And it's gone forever, to a girl.

Now that's talent!

I would love to do this but I don't have the time to practice, I seriously don't. From a time-value perspective, I should focus on things I already do well to pay for the artist to render what I need.

Just saw the trailer, that looks like my kind of movie! can't wait to netflix it.

thanks!

Get "The Drawing Textbook" by Bruce Mcintyre.

http://www.lampposthomeschool.com/wp...e_mcintyre.jpg

Pretty sure you can get a copy on Amazon.
When he did this book he was an animation illustrator for Disney.
He also had an educational show teaching the drawing basics in the book.

It is great for the basic principles of spacial representation and shading. This will get you what you need to illustrate your automotive ideas.

Once you get those basics, you just practice drawing or painting, whatever.

Mom's cousin, the senior art professor at a local University told me (when I was 4) to just draw and paint and DO NOT take any lessons.
Said if you take lessons you end up drawing or painting like whom ever you took lessons from.
Said to just get the stuff and make pictures. That way you will develop your own style.
This especially includes working in different mediums.

Ever notice Chip Foose doing illustrations of the cars they are building up. He uses pencils, charcoals, markers, and paint all on the same illustration.

Maybe you can hire one of those police detective artists who draw whatever you describe!

Or you can draw flies...

OK, now you're just showing off. :D

Artists are born artists. But Drawing is a skill that can be learned. Looks like you're in a college town. There are probably real life drawing classes near you. Look for the one with the fewest hippies and housewives attending. Anatomy is fundamental. A few books that helped me are the illusion of life by Thomas and Johnson. Art anatomy by rimmer, muybridge, toth and Miyazaki.

I've worked for twenty years as an animator, illustrator and storyboard artist. Many people start out with "talent". But like most things it's the self motivated and self taught who are the best. There are so many cal arts and design center grads back living with their parents while I'm still going.

Same here. I wish I had the (extra) time. I focused it towards guitar. I can play like
EVH. Only took 30 years.. and a supportive father who played like Page.

I try to set aside an hour each day for playing. Keeps the brain wet..


Tree of Life was one of those films that made me go "Whoa..." I caught it halfway in at a motel and immediately downloaded it.

Hey thanks for the drawing tips! I could really use some....:D

I want to get back into art, especially now that I'm trying to slow up on my business commitments.

I first got into art when I took an art class as an elective in college in the late 70's and learned how to make a frame, attach a canvas, and use acrylics.

I did some paintings but also screwed around with pencil drawings - more like cartoon style - surf & ocean scenes, etc. None worthy of public consumption - purely for my own enjoyment.

I still have my sketch book and took pics of them a few years ago........

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I've never really tried to draw/sketch as I don't think I have the skill - however there are numerous posts on reddit of folks that show their progress from one year to another. Samples below are at current age 17 and show where they were in skill previous years.

My Realism Drawing Progress over the last few years. - Imgur

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I never took an art class till college. I rebelled by switching majors from
Chemistry to Art. I was VERY intimidated - I had NO experience in drawing.

Art is the same as singing/ playing instruments - you either 'have it', or not.
If you can sketch complex three dimensional objects as well as figures, you
may do well. One of the most difficult subjects is the human body.

My favorite teacher would take entire class up to the swimming hole with a stunning nude coed,
and pass joints while we sketched her posing on the rocks. What could be better?
I got to draw Neeked hotties, smoke weed, and paint. It was the 70's.

I soon learned that you had to be a real SuperStar to make a living in illustration.
I switched majors in Graphic Design.

At my first real job (ATARI) I had the honor of working with some awesome illustrators
(remember PacMan, Missile command, Centipede, Asteroids?) - all the Classics.

Give it a try, practice and follow your passions.

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My career followed a similar path. Started college as a biology major and switched to art/graphic design. Still doing the design thing and painting neeked people at a weekly life drawing session. I get irritated when people say things like "you are so talented." Like others have said it's more about putting in the time and practice. Draw, draw, draw and then draw some more. Here's a link to some of my paintings:
Paintings : Steve Fabian : Fine Art

Couple thoughts, from someone who picked up a pencil at age 2 and still studies art. I don't buy the notion that some people have it and some people don't, in the sense that "talent" is somehow something you have from birth. Talent is a reflection of how much you work at something. The more practice you do, the more talented you become. Whether this is about drawing, or playing a musical instrument, or throwing a baseball, it's all the same. The desire needs to be in you and you need to actually do something with it. Art will be important to me until I die.

So, yes you can learn to draw. No, you can't do it fast enough to fill your current need.

With regard to your two paintings: the red one is great; the other one, not so much. Some ideas work, others don't. That's why any studio has many unfinished works lining the walls. It's also why the great masters often did numerous smaller, simpler studies to work out their ideas before starting the final piece. I didn't realize that you had done those paintings. I actually used the red one as a laptop background for a while. I think is works best displayed in a horizontal orientation. I'd gladly display it in my house, had you not given it to a girl. Tell her I'll trade her for a pair of shoes. Women love shoes.

"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" is a good start.

There are plenty of books for drawing for beginners you can find on line. If you are near a Blick Store, they have books as well.

There are how to's on You Tube from the Artist Network you can watch or visit the Artist Network web site ( allot of information on this site). You might also look into your local junior college to see if they offer basic drawing courses.

I agree...but "it" to a much larger extent, including other artistic forms of expression as well as beyond the arts:

Very enjoyable thread. Some of the examples posted are really quite something, especially the "Sol" painting Shaun created. Beautiful.

My mother was very creative and began to take drawing classes when I was in high school. She didn't have "it" but wanted to learn to express herself in an unfamiliar medium.

This was in the 70's and she was a rural real estate developer...she wanted to be able to confidently sketch ideas for clients in advance of the professional graphic artists and architects. Set the stage, so to speak.

Well, I'm going to have to disagree with JavaD. My daughters have inherited what I'd call talents going back at least 3 Gens. On my dads side. It's been interesting to see how it manifested in each, how they differ from each other and myself.

There are distinct differences between my father and I that I've been cognizant of for years.

Technical drawing can be learned to a great degree through learning techniques and practice. The ability to conceptualize from the third eye and then transfer that to medium is I believe an innate talent. This where my daughter and I differ. I'm technical. I draw and paint from pictures. Ask me to draw something completely from my mind and it comes out cartoonish. The best pencil portrait I've ever done fools most into thinking its a photograph until they've got their noses up to the glass. My daughter on the other hand has a direct link from the imagination to the hand. She doesn't even have to think about it. It just flows out of her. My other daughter's talents manifested in the physical. She really has to work at drawing but, put clay into that girls hands???? In many ways, she is more like me. I paint but, always from photos or in real time outside. The highly structured, mechanical Side of me had to really learn to loosen up to the point where I'm pretty much an impressionist. I've yet to master watercolor even to an exceptable personal standard.

Sounds like you may want to take a two phase approach.

First start with the "Draw What You See" approach to build up the eye to brain to hand connection. This is found in those still life and life drawing courses.

Secondly you can then move on to the draw what's in your brain part, which is a bit harder for some.

The third method..............taboo in some circles, embraced by other professions. Tracing over and or modifying an existing image. This is best done successfully after mastering the two previous methods mentioned, but knowing a few simple rules about perspective and proportions can fast track you there.

Fourth method...............all sorts of computer programs, and again it may help to have some knowledge and experience with the one or more of the previously mentioned methods as a framework or backdrop.

EDIT: An architectural example of the third method in hybrid form: I build a simple mass model of a building or take a picture of a house. I then print it out, extrapolate the perspective's vanishing points and vertical measuring lines, and draw in the changes and or building addition. Trace over and add trees and grass.

As for automotive, let's say you want to make your own rear spoiler. Take a picture of the car or find one on the Internet, print it out and mark it up or trace over it.

Right now that method isn't working for me, so I need to find my large scale Porsche 911 model and fabricate a cardboard/plastic/metal spoiler for it - then take a picture and trace over it.

I can run a photocopy and splash some color on it, color pencil it, watercolor it, whatever. One could even scan it and use a computer paint program to finish it off with.

The thing to remember is that any drawing is 2D even the 3D ones on your computer screen. Nothing beats a model - the only true 3D. It's just so literal and the tactile experience of building something is irreplaceable. The medium might be clay, fiberglass, cardboard, foamcore board, rigid insulation foam, or whatever.

I often draw things at one level of complexity, but when I go to build something (usually a scale model), it often gets simpler and better.

If you are trying to develop something, simpler is often better.

So, what's missing? Knowledge. If I asked you to draw a cube, you could. You know what a cube looks like. Or an egg. A simple shape, you've seen a thousand of them. Where you probably run into trouble is with something more complex. You can do a portrait from observation, but not from your mind, because you don't have a detailed understanding of the anatomy of a head. If you did, it becomes easy. Or easier. Buy a few books on perspective theory. Buy a few books on anatomy for the artist. It's what the old masters studied.

Drawing like you do, a line needs to be in a specific place. Right here, not there, or there. You focus on that. Drawing from nothing, you have to start with a general shape, then refine it. Details come way down the road. You have the ability to see when something is not right. All you have to do is keep refining what you put on paper.

The first thing they teach you in an art class is to be loose. It's a hard thing for most people. Growing up, for me, the hard thing was blowing through my stock of paper in a pad. Paper was expensive, no sheet could be wasted, must be careful... all of that was counterproductive.

I agree, and it's the reason all of those old dusty learn to draw books started with circles and squares, then ellipses and rectangles, then cylinders and boxes to draw anything from a horse's head to an automobile.

The substructure of what something could be divided down to and bitten off into digestible pieces so that the brain could process it was essential.

I should say that in my method numbering system, the first method of drawing what you see might be a waste of time as it's intended for "artists".

Drawing from a knowledge base in order to extract ideas from the brain as in methods 2 & 3 would be more productive for a "designer".

I think the sun is in awe of Troll Man's wave shredding skills. Very cool!

I helped my dad build this. The real one sits on the beach in Malibu. Building that house was a great time. Swam in the ocean every day..

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What you say about tangible results is critical.. It does make things easier..

I'm of the last generation to learn how to manually draw plans. I learned from my grandfather, dad and in high school. Still got all my dad's templates. I remember it took a while to shift to AutoCAD. For him, longer. He couldn't grasp Xrefs. He'd draw everything on a single layer...

Here's a quick video on how to lay out a head:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1EPNYWeEf1U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There's a million of these on the internet. Another million books that talk about it. Take the basic shape you get here and add the details. Each detail (eye, nose, mouth, ear, etc.) has a method you can learn. From there, it's all about changing the details. How does a Kardashian's mouth change when making a selfie? Easy to observe and file away for future reference. How do your wife's eyes change when you answer a question wrong? File that away. Etc.

JR