Drawing by Rote

[RVM45]

I haven't made any real progress Drawing in some time.

I've heard of this, but its only relatively recently that I think its become a problem for me.

I hardly glance at what I'm attempted to draw.....

I give my subject a cursory glance.....

Then I start diligently drawing a facial oval.....Everyone knows that eyes go "Here"; and they're about "This " Shape. Eye Brows "here".....Nose.....Filtrum.....mouth.....ear--don't forget Tragus; Anti-Tragus; Concha; Clavical; sterno mastoids.....

Woops--almost forgot the Naso-Labial fold.....

I'm very tentative--and do a lot of erasing.

My people only bear a modest resmblance to the subject--but they're not that great as generic people either.

I've tried to put more effort into drawing my skull and my manaquins--But I've gotten to the place that I know my Skull and maniquens pretty well; and don't have to bother looking at them either.....

Is there a good way to force yourself to "Look" and not just draw from memory?

I mean I "Know" But as soon as I start to focus on anything else--or to relax and enjoy the process--I end up back to drawing from memory.

.....RVM45 :cool: :clap: :cool:

[Greg Long]

Draw something different on a regular basis. Draw a still-life, animals, birds, buildings, landscapes etc. as wel as figures and portraits.

[Use Her Name]

Get a large box, place the box upside down so you can't see the inside, cut some holes for your arms, put your pencil and paper inside the box and draw-- see-- you can't see your hands, the paper, nothing. Obviously when you draw like this, you will have parts of it all over. A trick is not to let your pencil off the paper. This is an exercise only so the art might not turn out great, but it trains you not to look at the paper.

Also one thing we used to do for several minutes is on "cheap" paper (usually newsprint) just "loosen up" by drawing broad crazy circles and whirls on the page.

[Goewyn]

I've been painting a lot of people from historical black and white photos lately. Counterintuitively, the fact that these pictures are often blurry has helped my facial accuracy a great deal.

This is because it's often the shadows and the general shape of the face that makes people look different from one another. Because in these photos often only the larger shadows and shape are visible, it makes it really easy to block in the general features accurately, without becoming distracted with nuances.

-- Linda

[Clive Green]

lots of good ideas above - draw without lifting the pencil from the paper, draw looking in a mirror, use colour pencils (or pastels) and only colour in blocks, squint and block in shades, deliberately overemphasise features (caricature), draw with the other hand, draw only one half of what you see ...

stop stressing