The Complet Idiot Guide To

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Contents at a Glance
Part 1. Drawing and Seeing, Seeing and Drawing 1
1 The Pleasures of Seeing and Drawing 3
Drawing is all about learning to see.
2 Toward Seeing for Drawing 15
Rediscovering seeing as a child.
3 Loosen Up 33
Right brain practice.
Part 2. Now You Are Ready to Draw 45
4 The Picture Plane 47
Drawing on plastic—and on your patio door.
5 Finding the View 59
Using the viewfinder frame.
6 Negative Space as a Positive Tool 67
Seeing what’s not there.
Part 3. Starting Out: Learning You Can See and Draw 77
7 A Room of Your Own 79
Creating a place to draw.
8 How To Get Started 91
Tips to start you on your way.
9 Step Up to a Still Life: Composition, Composition,
Composition 101
Learning to draw the still life.
10 Toward the Finish Line 115
Finishing touches.
Part 4. Developing Drawing Skills 125
11 At the Finish Line: Are You Ready for More? 127
Balancing all the elements of a drawing.
12 The Journal As a Path 141
Your drawing journal.
13 This Is a Review—There Will Be a Test 151
Putting it all together in one handy chapter.
14 All Around the House: A Few New Drawings to Try 165
Household objects as drawing subjects.
15 Into the Garden with Pencils, not Shovels 179
Botanical drawing and more.
Part 5. Out and About with Your Sketchbook 195
16 What’s Your Perspective? 197
Getting technical about perspective.
17 This Land Is Your Land 213
Landscape drawing.
18 Made by Man: Out in the Landscape 229
Drawing what you see outside.
19 Houses and Other Structures 241
Making your structures real.
Part 6. Drawing Animals and People 255
20 It’s a Jungle Out There—So Draw It! 257
A guide to animal drawing.
21 The Human Body and Its Extremities 271
Drawing the human anatomy.
22 Dress ’Em Up and Move ’Em Out 287
It’s all in the details.
Part 7. Enjoying the Artist’s Life! 299
23 Just for Children 301
Teaching your kids to draw.
24 Decorate Your World 315
Using your drawings to decorate your world.
25 Express Yourself 327
Using your drawings as vehicles of self-expression.
26 The Artist’s Life 337
Living the good life, artist’s style.
Appendixes
A Your Artist’s Materials Checklist 345
B Resources for Learning to Draw 347
C Drawing Glossary 349
Index 353
Contents
Part 1: Drawing and Seeing, Seeing and Drawing 1
1 The Pleasures of Seeing and Drawing 3
What Is Drawing? ..........................................................................3
Drawing is … ................................................................................4
The Artist’s Answer ......................................................................5
Express Yourself ............................................................................6
Why You Draw, and Why Sometimes You Stop Drawing ................7
Looking Through the Barriers ........................................................8
Learning How to Look ..................................................................8
Open Up Your Eyes ........................................................................9
The Gallery of Life ......................................................................10
Seeing Your Way to Drawing ......................................................11
Techniques as Tools of Expression ................................................12
Developing a Way of Seeing and Drawing ....................................13
2 Toward Seeing for Drawing 15
Free Your Mind, Your Eyes Will Follow ......................................15
The Wonders of the Human Brain ..............................................16
Are You a Lefty or a Righty? ........................................................17
From “Logical Left” to “Relational Right” ..................................18
Right-Left-Right: Your Brain Learns to Follow Orders ....................18
The Art of the Child ....................................................................19
Simple Materials to Begin ..........................................................21
Paper ..........................................................................................21
Pencils ........................................................................................22
Eraser ..........................................................................................22
Drawing Board ............................................................................22
A Few Other Things ....................................................................22
Exercises to Get You on the Right Side (of the Brain) ................23
Profile/Vase-Vase/Profile ..............................................................23
Reviewing the Exercise ................................................................24
When the Familiar Gets Unfamiliar ..........................................26
Right Side Up/Upside Down ........................................................26
Copy a Complicated Drawing ......................................................28
Keep Up the Good Work ..............................................................29
Exercising Your Right(s) ..............................................................29
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................31
3Loosen Up 33
Now You See It ............................................................................33
Warm-Up for the Eyes and Hand ................................................34
Entering the Flow ........................................................................35
To Begin ....................................................................................36
The Next Set—Send Off the Logical Left ....................................36
Contour Drawing of Your Hand—Without Looking ......................37
Contour Drawing of Your Hand—While Looking ..........................38
Another Set to Keep It Gone ......................................................40
Contour Drawing of an Object—Without Looking ........................40
Contour Drawing of an Object—While Looking ..........................41
Farewell, Old Lefty ......................................................................42
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................43
Part 2: Now You Are Ready to Draw 45
4 The Picture Plane 47
What Is a Picture Plane? ............................................................48
How to Use a Picture Plane ..........................................................48
Historical Uses of Drawing Devices ............................................49
How a Picture Plane Works ........................................................50
Preparing a Plexiglas Picture Plane for Drawing ........................50
Isolate a Subject with the Picture Plane ......................................52
Transfer the Drawing to Paper ....................................................54
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................56
5 Finding the View 59
A Viewfinder Frame ....................................................................59
Making a Viewfinder Frame ........................................................60
Using the Viewfinder Frame ......................................................63
Draw What You See in the Viewfinder ......................................65
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................65
6 Negative Space as a Positive Tool 67
Find Your Space ..........................................................................67
The Virtues of Negative Space ......................................................68
Learning How to Use Negative Space ............................................68
Select an Object to Draw: They’re Everywhere! ........................69
A View Through the Viewfinder ................................................69
Where to Start—Location, Location, Location ............................70
Draw the Holes, not the Thing ....................................................71
See the Object Through the Space Around It ............................72
Getting Negative ........................................................................73
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................74
Part 3: Starting Out: Learning You Can See and Draw 77
7 A Room of Your Own 79
Finding Space and Time ..............................................................79
Setting Up Your Drawing Room or Table ......................................80
Studio Beautiful 101 ....................................................................80
The Best Time to Draw ................................................................82
What About Drawing Classes? ....................................................83
Beginning Materials You’ll Need ................................................83
On Paper ....................................................................................83
Drawing Instruments ..................................................................84
Storing Your Materials and Work ................................................85
Beginning Techniques to Use ......................................................85
viii
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing
The Marks That Can Make a Drawing ........................................85
Simple Geometric Shapes to Practice ............................................86
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................88
8 How to Get Started 91
What Are You Going to Draw? ..................................................91
Select Your Objects and Pick Your Subject ....................................92
Choose the Format and the Paper ..............................................92
How Will You Arrange the Objects? ..........................................92
Seeing Arrangement and Composition ..........................................93
See the View and the Distance ....................................................93
On the Page ................................................................................95
Next Step: Establish Eye Level ....................................................96
Site the Image on the Paper Using the Center Lines ....................96
Making a Simple Contour Drawing ............................................96
The Lightest Sketch to Begin ........................................................97
Check It Over ..............................................................................97
Correct It Now, Render It Later ....................................................97
Your Sketchbook Page ..................................................................98
9 Step Up to a Still Life: Composition, Composition,
Composition 101
What Is a Still Life? ..................................................................101
Picking Objects: Classic, Contemporary, and Out There ..............101
Why Artists Love to Draw Fruit and Vegetables ........................104
A Few Thoughts on Composition ............................................104
Off Center Is Often Better ..........................................................105
Centering on Purpose ................................................................105
Charming Diagonals ................................................................105
Other Shapes to See in the Shapes of Things ..............................105
Composing a Still Life ..............................................................106
Choosing from a Group of Possibilities ......................................106
Filtering and Framing for the View You Want ............................106
Space in a Still Life ....................................................................106
Vantage and View ....................................................................106
More Work on Eye Level ............................................................106
Making Things Sit Down, or Roll Over, and Stay ....................107
Ellipses Are Your Friends ............................................................107
When a Cube Is a Cube, in Space ..............................................108
When a Cylinder Is a Rectangle, with Curves ............................109
Fitting Other Shapes into the Boxes They Came In ....................110
Drawing That Still Life ..............................................................110
See Your Still Life in Space ........................................................110
Site the Arrangement on the Page ..............................................110
Start with a Light Sketch to Position ..........................................111
Check Your Spacing ..................................................................111
See the Detail in Each Object and Draw What You See ..............111
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................112
ix
Contents
10 Toward the Finish Line 115
Line and Shape Are in the Lead, Form Follows Close Behind 115
Weight Is in the Rear, but Coming Up Fast ..............................119
First Things First: Shape and Space ..........................................119
Now Start Again ......................................................................119
Getting to That Finish Line ....................................................122
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................123
Part 4: Developing Drawing Skills 125
11 At the Finish Line: Are You Ready for More? 127
New Materials ............................................................................127
New Papers ..............................................................................128
More Drawing Tools ..................................................................128
More Techniques ......................................................................130
Drawing in Circles Is not Going in Circles ................................130
Scale Is Sizing Things in Space ..................................................131
Measuring Angles in Space ........................................................131
Back to That Race to the Finish Line ......................................132
And It’s Details in the End—by a Hair ....................................132
Take a Closer Look and See the Detail ......................................133
Nature’s Detail Is Unending ......................................................133
At the Finish Line Again ..........................................................136
Onwards and Outwards ............................................................138
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................139
12 The Journal As a Path 141
Why Keep a Sketchbook Journal? ............................................141
Artists on Their Work ..............................................................142
How They Feel About Their Studios and Tools ..........................142
How They Feel About Drawing ..................................................142
Different Kinds of Journals ......................................................144
Travel Journals ..........................................................................144
Closer to Home ........................................................................144
Your Journal Is All About You ..................................................146
Using Your Journal ....................................................................146
Expressive Drawing ....................................................................147
Drawing as a Form of Healing ..................................................147
Therapeutic Drawing ................................................................148
Spontaneous Drawing ................................................................148
Zen and Drawing ......................................................................148
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................149
13This Is a Review—There Will Be a Test 151
Through the Looking Glass ......................................................151
Seeing as a Child ......................................................................152
Look/Don’t Look ........................................................................152
Guides Are What You Make Them ..........................................152
Plastic Picture Plane Practice ....................................................152
x
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing
A View Through Your Viewfinder Frame ....................................153
Or, Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide ......................................154
Accentuate the Negative ..........................................................154
Making Arrangements ..............................................................155
Slowly You Draw, Step-by-Step ..................................................156
Making a List and Checking It Twice ........................................157
Form and Function ....................................................................157
Getting Some Distance on Your Work ........................................158
Your Learning-to-Draw Cheat Sheet ........................................158
A Form for Form ......................................................................160
Exercising Your Rights ................................................................161
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................162
14 All Around the House: A Few New Drawing Ideas to Try 165
Your House is Full of Ideas for Drawing Practice ....................165
Time Is of the Essence ..............................................................166
Your Kitchen Is a Storehouse ....................................................166
Silverware ..................................................................................167
Pitchers and Bowls ....................................................................168
Not Just for Sleeping Anymore ................................................168
Fabrics ......................................................................................169
Shoes ........................................................................................170
Hats and Gloves ........................................................................170
Drawing in the Living Room ....................................................171
Try Another Chair ....................................................................171
Antique Lamps—and Antique Things ........................................171
Objects That Reflect You ..........................................................172
Bathroom Basics ......................................................................172
A Sunny Window ....................................................................173
Out of the House and onto the Patio (Door) ..........................174
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................176
15 Into the Garden with Pencils, not Shovels 179
Botanical Drawing Is an Art ......................................................179
Take Your Sketchbook with You ..................................................180
It Started with Eden ..................................................................181
Be a Botanist ..............................................................................182
Work on a Blooming Stem ........................................................183
Butterflies, Insects, and Seashells, Too ........................................183
Go Wild! ..................................................................................184
The Almighty Vegetable ............................................................185
Garden Pots and Tools ..............................................................186
Gardens Other Than Your Own ................................................187
What Else Is in Your Garden? ..................................................188
From Figures to Frogs—And a Few Deer and Gnomes ................188
Birds, Birdhouses, Feeders, and Squirrels ....................................189
Chairs in the Grass ..................................................................191
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................192
xi
Contents
Part 5: Out and About with Your Sketchbook 195
16 What’s Your Perspective? 197
Understanding Perspective ......................................................198
Perspective Simplified ................................................................198
Perspective and the Picture Plane ..............................................199
Perspective in Pieces ..................................................................199
Tools for Landscape and Perspective ........................................203
Getting Small and Smaller in Space ..........................................203
Learning to See, Measure, and Draw in Perspective ................204
Closing the Roof ........................................................................205
Measure for Measure ..................................................................206
A Few More Tips on Planes in Space ..........................................208
Detail, Detail, Detail: God Is in the Details ..............................209
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................210
17 This Land Is Your Land 213
Go Out for a View ....................................................................213
But Which One? ........................................................................213
Framing the View ......................................................................214
On the Line—the Horizon Line ................................................215
On the Page: Siting Your View ..................................................215
Some Thoughts on Landscape Space ..........................................215
Tools for Landscape and Perspective ........................................216
Seeing and Drawing the Landscape ..........................................216
Photographs: To Use or Not to Use, That Is the Question ......217
The Landscape in Pieces ............................................................217
Trees and Shrubs ......................................................................217
A Tangle of Textures, Vines, and Grasses ..................................220
Beaches, Rocks, and Cliffs ........................................................221
Sky and Clouds ........................................................................222
Water and Reflections ................................................................223
The Best for Last: The Small Things ..........................................224
As Your Drawing Progresses ......................................................225
Light, Shadow, Atmosphere, and Contrast ..................................225
Detail Is, As Always, Detail ......................................................226
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................227
18 Made by Man: Out in the Landscape 229
Evidence of Human Influence ..................................................229
Roads, Fences, Gates, and Walls ................................................230
In the Farmyard ........................................................................231
Special Uses, Special Structures ................................................232
On the Dock of the Bay and Beyond ........................................232
Docks, Harbors, and Shipyards ..................................................232
From a Canoe to the QE2 ..........................................................234
The World of Vehicles ..............................................................235
Bridges, Trains, and Tracks ........................................................235
Moving Vehicles ........................................................................236
Your World Is What You Make It ..............................................237
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................238
xii
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing
19 Houses and Other Structures 241
A World of Buildings ................................................................241
City Mice and Country Mice ......................................................241
The Old and the New ................................................................243
Making It Stand ........................................................................244
Informal Perspective ..................................................................244
Formal Perspective ....................................................................245
Keeping the Pieces in Proportion ................................................245
It’s in the Details ......................................................................245
In the City ................................................................................247
In the Country ..........................................................................247
Materials and Techniques ..........................................................248
Period Pieces and Special Places ................................................249
Classical Beauty ........................................................................249
Down on the Farm ....................................................................250
Out on the Edge ........................................................................251
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................253
Part 6: Drawing Animals and People 255
20 It’s a Jungle Out There—So Draw It! 257
Drawing Animals ......................................................................257
In a World of Action, Gesture Is First ........................................258
Basic Proportions and Shapes ....................................................258
Bulking Them Up ......................................................................260
Fur and Feathers, Skin and Scales ..............................................260
Go Out Where They Are ..........................................................261
Your Backyard and in the Neighborhood ....................................261
Field and Stream, Mountain and Lake ......................................263
Natural History Museums and Centers ......................................263
Farms, Stables, and Parks ..........................................................264
Zoos, Circuses, and Animal Petting Parks ..................................265
Safaris ......................................................................................265
Animal Portraits ........................................................................265
Problems in Portraiture ..............................................................267
A Bit on Materials and Techniques ............................................267
Animals in Your Drawings ........................................................268
Scale and Detail, Indoors or Out ................................................268
Detail and Scale, Close Up or Far Away ....................................268
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................269
21 The Human Body and Its Extremities 271
Drawing the Figure ....................................................................271
Getting Some Practice and Help ................................................272
Use Your Sketchbook ..................................................................272
The Gesture of Life ....................................................................272
Direction and Gesture ................................................................272
Thoughts on Quick Action Poses ................................................273
Body Parts and the Whole: Anatomy, You Say? ......................274
The Hip Bone Is Connected to the … ........................................274
xiii
Contents
Muscle Is Good ..........................................................................275
Some Basic Proportions ..............................................................276
Age and Gender: Some Basic Differences, As If You
Didn’t Know ............................................................................278
Body, Age, and Proportion ..........................................................278
Where’s the Beef? Where the Ice Cream Goes ............................280
What We Have to Look Forward To ..........................................280
Extremities: Getting Over Hand and Feet Phobias ..................281
Hands ......................................................................................281
Feet ..........................................................................................282
Head and Neck ..........................................................................283
More Form and Weight, Now ..................................................283
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................285
22 Dress ’Em Up and Move ’Em Out 287
Add That Human Touch ..........................................................287
No Flat Heads Here: Heads and Faces ......................................288
Types and Proportion ................................................................288
Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat ....................................................289
Especially for Children ..............................................................290
Likeness and Portraiture ............................................................290
Some Basic Proportions and Shapes ............................................291
Setting a Scene for a Portrait ......................................................292
When You Are Your Subject ......................................................293
Folds, Drapes, Buttons, and Bows ............................................294
Over and Under: Folds and How to Draw Them ........................294
Detailing: Make the Clothing Fit the Woman or Man ................294
Putting People in Your Drawings ..............................................295
Where Are They? ......................................................................295
What Are They Doing? Action, Gesture, and Detail ..................296
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................297
Part 7: Enjoying the Artist’s Life! 299
23Just for Children 301
From Symbols to Realism ..........................................................301
Educating the Right Side ..........................................................302
From Hunter to High Tech ........................................................303
Visual Learning for All Reasons ................................................303
We All Love to Draw ................................................................304
Kids Draw at Any Age ..............................................................305
The Very Young ........................................................................305
Stages from Symbol to Image ....................................................305
Tactics ........................................................................................307
Materials for Kids ......................................................................307
Reference Materials ....................................................................308
Retraining the Critic ..................................................................308
See the Basics ............................................................................308
Pick Simple Terms to Explain Things ........................................309
xiv
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing
When Problems Arise ................................................................310
Distractions and Quiet ..............................................................310
Tension, Frustration, Fatigue, and Short Attention Span ............310
Fun Drawing Exercises for Kids ................................................310
A Place for Everything: How to Start ..........................................312
For “Mistakes” or “Problems” ....................................................312
Above All, Have Fun ..................................................................312
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................313
24 Decorate Your World 315
Have Sketchbook, Will Travel ..................................................315
Using Your Own Images ............................................................316
Trading Information: How-To’s or Recipes ..............................317
Illustrating an Idea or a Technique ............................................318
Illustrating an Idea ....................................................................318
The Story of You ........................................................................319
Illuminating Your Personal Life ................................................320
Reinventing Your World ............................................................321
Cabinets and Furniture ..............................................................321
Ceilings, Walls, and Floors, but No Driveways ..........................321
Expanded Uses for Your Skills ..................................................322
Focus on Fashion ......................................................................322
Cartoons: Humor or Opinion? ....................................................323
That Twisted Look: Caricatures ................................................323
Further Out: Your Fantasies ......................................................323
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................324
25 Express Yourself 327
Moving Into the Realm of Color ..............................................327
Some Brief Words on Color ........................................................328
New Materials You Could Try ....................................................328
Into the Field of Color ................................................................329
Taking a Stab at a Colored Drawing ..........................................330
Caring for Your Work ................................................................330
On Storage ................................................................................331
Matting and Framing ................................................................331
Turning a New Page: Fine Art Meets Tech Art ..........................331
Creating a Virtual Sketchbook ....................................................331
Scanning Your Images ................................................................332
Printing Your Images ................................................................332
E-Mailing with Your Own Art ....................................................332
Creating Your Own Illustrated Home Page ..................................332
How to Learn About Drawing on the Computer ....................333
Computer Art Programs You Can Learn ....................................333
How to Choose a Computer Art Class ........................................334
Your Sketchbook Page ................................................................335
xv
Contents
26 The Artist’s Life 337
Following the Muse ..................................................................337
Where Artists Find Inspiration ..................................................338
What They Have to Say About Their Work ................................338
Museum Walks ..........................................................................340
The Wealth of Museums ............................................................340
Styles of Drawing Through History ............................................340
Learn by Looking, Then Try a Copy ..........................................341
What Do You Like? ..................................................................342
Sharing Your Work ....................................................................342
To Show, to Publish, or Just to Draw ..........................................342
Take a Path to the Zen of Drawing ..........................................342
Encourage and Support Your Creativity ......................................343
Knowing When to Push Yourself Higher ....................................343
One Inspiring Tale to End ..........................................................343
With Our Best Wishes ..............................................................343
Appendixes
A Your Artist’s Materials Checklist 345
B Resources for Learning to Draw 347
C Drawing Glossary 349
Index 353