I was recently asked if I could write a guest blog post for my friend Lori Putnam, on any subject of my choosing. I decided I would write my thoughts about what drawing means to me, and why I think it matters so much for an artist to draw regularly from life.
How important is drawing? Do
I need to learn to draw or can I just skip that and get straight to painting?
Occasionally I come across a
student whose face drops when I mention the discipline of drawing practice.
Somewhere along the line they have picked up the belief that drawing skills
elude them and are nursing a hope that it’s not that important to being able to
paint, which is what they really want to do anyway. After all there are plenty
of techniques out there to lean on if your drawing skills are lacking – grids,
tracing, projecting, carbon transfer paper …although admittedly these things
are not so easy to use in the field.
I feel extremely fortunate
to have had a love for drawing stretching back to my childhood, as far as I can
remember. For me drawing was the most natural of ways to try and make sense of
the world. I seem to have a primordial appetite for visually recognising
shapes.
As far as I’m concerned,
being able to draw accurately from life, far from being restrictive, is
actually a pathway to freedom. Drawing underpins everything in the context of
figurative painting. It doesn’t matter how good one is at mixing colour or
applying the paint, if the drawing has failed the painting has failed. Artists
sometimes remark that although they are generally happy with one genre they
can’t paint ‘..….’, fill in the blank here with ‘boats’, ‘figures’ or ‘horses’.
Students often show a struggle with perspective. The fundamental problem here
is lack of drawing practise. When you can competently draw from life, no
subject matter will ever feel out of bounds to you.
Why draw particularly from
life? How is it different to drawing from paintings or photos? When we draw
from life we are bombarded with information about the world before us which we
see in three dimensions, and using basic materials we are having to translate
and simplify that information onto a flat surface, in a convincing manner. The
skills involved are a long way away from copying something that is already two
dimensional such as a photograph. That’s not to say I don’t think it’s
worthwhile to ever sketch from the static image as any drawing practise is
better than none, but it hasn’t taken you through that all important process of
interpretation. I would say be aware that it’s the process of drawing from life
regularly that’s going to have the fastest and most profound impact on your
painting skills, so make every effort to get into a daily habit of even just
ten minutes. If you fall out of the habit, as I do from time to time, make
every effort to get back into it as soon as you can.
The drawings in your
sketchbook don’t have to relate closely to your painting work. This year my
sketchbooks are full of faces and figures. I mainly paint marine landscapes. Drawing
for it’s own sake is hugely important to me, and when I am in a regular drawing
practise I can feel the benefits within my paintings. I feel sharper, more
visually ‘tuned in’ and also more open and inspired. The paint flows from my
brush more smoothly. Tiny choirs of winged angels hover above my easel singing
softly. Ok, so the last sentence wasn’t quite true but you get the idea.
Drawing is the artists way
of learning from the world around us, it is a conversation between you and
nature with the only intermediary being the tool you use to draw with. It’s
also about personal growth, and there’s something immensely satisfying about
working privately in your sketchbook for your own interest and improvement in
these fast paced times where photos are snapped and shared worldwide in a
matter of seconds. I use drawing as meditation, a chance to check in with my
deeper self. Do you incorporate drawing
into your working practise? I would love to hear what drawing means to you.
