TIPS: Mark of the Newbie

(Pssst, there’s still time to signup for the Saturday Alla Prima workshop.  Go here: http://artstudiosecrets.com/workshops/new-alla-prima-method-registration/)

Something I’ve noticed while teaching is that bad drawings all have the same problems.  I think there’s something in the way we’re taught to think about line and form wayyyy back in kindergarten that makes everyone do the same stuff.  And to add to the frustration - you can’t see your own errors until you stop making them. 

So hey, if you think of some more, post a comment!  And yes, I’m calling them “bad” drawings.  My old drawings are bad.  I wish I’d known when I’d made them how and why they were bad, but people were often too polite to tell me, or perhaps I seemed too awful to be worth the help.  So I’m just gonna say “bad,” and not “new” or “fauve” or “naive” or whatever might be nicer.

DavidKassan.com

The million segment line.  It starts with a light pencil mark, followed by another, and another, and 999,997 more to describe one single curve.  By the time it’s completed, this line is a furry, tentative wobble and it’s probably still wrong.  I think this comes from not knowing how to start and stop a line with confidence, or, it comes from seeing Denise Horne do it in 2nd grade and thinking it made a very pretty effect.  Fix it:One way is, use several short, light, straight line segments to show where andhow a curve changes direction, then refine with more exact indications of the contour.  Like in the thumbnail to the left, a foot drawing demo by David Jon Kassanthat I stole from his site, he starts with a generalized shepe and refines it.

The random contour.  Sometimes, you’ll want to add in a line under the chin, for instance, even though you’re looking at the model full-face and there’s no line there.  Seems to make sense - she has a chin and you want a line that tells everyone: “Hey there’s a chin there - and here’s the bottom if it.” Fix it:  Draw what you see.  Or more specifically, if you can’t see it - don’t draw it.   

The schema.  This is a term used to describe a phase of drawing development where an icon is identified that will stand in for a particular thing.  Like, kids drawing upside down question marks for noses, or circles with dots in them for eyes.  Our schema get more sophisticated as we grow older, but the concept is the same.  Fix it: don’t draw generic stand-ins for what you see.  Try to draw that eyeball, which belongs to that face in that pose and light.  It’s hard to stop doing this.

The incredible blender.  Personally, I think paper stumps should be administered through a licensing agency.  They should not be used to moosh an obscuring veil of fog over the entire drawing.  Fix it: Try to think in 7 values, 5 values, whatever.  Each change in value represents a distinct shift in the plane.  Look for the edges of those planes, draw them definitively, blend later.

The amazing cascading error.  This happens when someone starts at the top and draws to the bottom, without thinking of the whole picture from the beginning.  One eyeball goes a little leftward, then the nose veers right to compensate, then the jaw is elongated just by coincidence and by the end, it looks like 6 or 7 distinct drawings that ended up on the same paper. Fix it: Measure early, measure often.  There are lots of ways to do this - I start with a large shape and refine it  - the big trapezoidal shape was my first mark, then it was subdivided into measured chunks.

The formless cylinder.This is related to the schema - arms, legs, and torsos drawn as tree trunks.  Also, torsos without ribcages.  Necks with no insertion point in the chest.  Fix it: Draw what you see.  (Sorry, but that’s how you fix it.)  I don’t think you have to absolutely know everything about anatomy, just draw with your eyes open and your mind uncluttered by fear or presupposition.

A little while ago, a friend of mine from middle school posted a kickass unicorn drawing I gave him in 8th grade.  I was like, totally and completely into unicorns.  It was awful.  There’s no reason I should have ever thought I could keep trying.  Almost 20 years later, my brother has the portrait I did of his 2 sons when I first started trying to teach myself painting (about 7-8 years ago).  The errors in that weren’t too removed from the unicorn errors - and I’d gone to art school! (Briefly, but still!)  So, I hope this list doesn’t hurt anybody’s feelings or seem meanspirited in any way - We’ve all been there.