Tag: Learn to Draw

Horrorse.

“Master Dali, The Principal will see you now.”

[Image found in here.]

There’s nothing wrong with that student’s sketch, because it has little to do with artwork. Duplicating individual squares of a grid is a geometric exercise in hand-eye coordination and nothing more.

On the other hand, the sketch is awesome. Ignore the grid and mock the assignment. Realism is what cameras are for.

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The key to drawing is to sketch what you see, not what you think you see. Forget what it is you’re trying to draw, squint your eyes and sketch out the dark spots, then add the medium spots. The white spots will figure it out on their own.

Look at a tree. It’s not a flat lollipop, and when you draw it, make sure there are holes in it for the birds to fly through.

Grampa Strutts gave me that advice a long time ago. Then he showed me this book. Download a copy before it’s gone and study it. It’s Beyond the Valley of Awesome.

[Related post here.]

Andy Loomis’ Twenty Kids

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Andrew Loomis was a successful graphic artist that authored several excellent “how to” books on illustration in a variety of media. The page above is from “Fun With A Pencil,” a book my grandfather had that I memorized when I was a young tad.

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First published in 1939, this book has all the basics of graphic design covered, with an emphasis on cartooning and caricature of the human form. Proportion, balance, lighting, perspective are all covered with graphic examples.

I had forgotten about the book until Loomis’ name popped up at Neatorama and memory bells went off in my brain… couldn’t be the same Loomis, but it was.

Now his books, including his first one “Fun With A Pencil,” may be downloaded for free via link found at Process Junkie. The download is a .rar zip file with every page in .pdf format. I had to chase down another shareware program to open it. Believe me, the trouble is worth it.