drifter93's sketchbook

[Nature]

Man, drifter, looks like everyone is chomping at the bit to tell you all these different things you need to do.

With all this advice, wouldn't it seem reasonable that before one pursues one's studies in anatomy, perspective, construction and complicated methods of deconstructing drawing, one first get reasonably good at just drawing what one sees? Take something like anatomy, if you're having trouble drawing in proportion, having to juggle that alongside having to deduce a figure's underlying anatomy seems like you're just biting off more than you can chew. Same goes for construction, if you can't draw a figure well from looking at one, now you have to do that at the same time as you have to learn how to abstract it into a series of 3d objects and hopefully assemble them well enough to re-create the figure accurately.

I get that people like flashy stuff but maybe it's better to just learn how to draw what one sees accurately first. It seems reasonable to me but I appear to be in a minority opinion on this forum

Anyway, give it some thought, I don't mean to dictate how all drawing is to be done, just to try and balance out all the "modern" drawing advice with some more traditional thoughts on the matter.

I think you're 100% right. Drawing what you see accurately is the first step you take to becoming "proficient" at drawing in general. Having a good eye and accurate hand will take you farther than any other skill because how well you can draw or paint anything always comes back to that. Hell, just drawing things with correct proportions will make you seem good at drawing to most people.

I'd recommend focusing on building up that hand eye coordination - judging proportions and making accurate marks - which I would say is the core of all drawing, imaginative or from observation. The most efficient way to do that is to copy, copy and copy some more.

Then after you aren't struggling so much with the basic act of drawing with acceptable accuracy then you can far more easily tackle things like construction and anatomy that give you more knowledge and understanding of your subjects.

IRC in one of his video courses Steve Huston recommended beginners NOT to focus on anatomy too early, because its more important to capture the figure as a whole before getting too specific.