{"id":2865,"date":"2015-04-13T13:59:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T17:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevirtualinstructor.com\/blog\/?p=2865"},"modified":"2019-07-12T10:26:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T14:26:31","slug":"observational-drawing-and-painting-6-things-to-look-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevirtualinstructor.com\/blog\/observational-drawing-and-painting-6-things-to-look-for","title":{"rendered":"Observational Drawing and Painting – 6 Things to Look For"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We hear it all the time – “Draw or paint what you see.”<\/p>\n

Seems simple enough, right? Just look at whatever your subject may be and put it on the surface. Artists and art instructors\u00a0are notorious for\u00a0telling their students to “just draw what they see”, often leaving the student with a confused look on their face.<\/p>\n

For those of us that already know what to look for, this infamous statement makes perfect sense. It seems simple, because it is<\/em> simple.<\/p>\n

Many students however, simply do not know what<\/em> to look for to “draw what they see”. They may see a still life, a landscape, or a person, but they don’t understand how take the visual information and turn it into a representational drawing or painting.<\/p>\n

But once they know and understand what<\/em> needs to be observed and recorded in the art, the “light bulbs” turn on.<\/p>\n

In this post, we’ll look at six things to look for when creating an observational drawing or painting, so that you can draw what you see. (You’ll notice a theme here – if you’re really sharp.)<\/p>\n

Look For the\u00a0Shapes<\/h2>\n

For many of us, the first things we notice are the lines.\u00a0This is how most of us first learn how to draw so it makes sense that we seek these out initially. We see the edges of objects as lines, which are referred to as contour lines. Our first inclinations are to draw these lines first, which often leads to a distorted shape of the subject.<\/p>\n

I suggest that we skip the lines at the onset and instead look for the shapes. Sure, we’ll use lines to draw the shapes, but starting a drawing or painting by identifying the shapes often leads to greater\u00a0accuracy. \u00a0Don’t worry, we’ll address the lines, but it’s often not the best place to start.<\/p>\n

All subjects, no matter how complex they may be, can be simplified into basic shapes. By layering basic shapes and piecing them together, we can build the structure of the subject. The process of finding the shapes in your subject does take a bit of practice and training of your mind, but that’s what sketchbooks are for.<\/p>\n

Here’s a simple example…<\/p>\n

\"ObservationalOh yes – the hand. The subject of the hand strikes fear in every beginning artist because it is quite complex. But even this complex subject can be simplified into basic shapes that are quite easy to draw. It’s just a matter of identifying those shapes and piecing them together.<\/p>\n

In the above example, a rectangle is drawn for the back of the hand. A triangle is drawn\u00a0on the side of the rectangle, connecting the thumb. Organic shapes are drawn for each segment of the fingers.<\/p>\n