It happened so that I gave numerous drawing classes this season. People love pencil drawing and sketches, and they are excited to learn how to create such art or a value drawing for other art, like for a watercolor and acrylic painting. Therefore, I have many drawings now. I always ask my students to also use big size paper for their creations. We most often use 24 x 18 in or 61 x 46 cm paper.
Using reference image or setting up still life
I personally prefer real items in front of classroom for my pencil drawings and sketches. During summer and fall, it’s extremely easy to find something suitable. We used real items for still life, but perspective pencil drawings and sketches are simply composed and constructed from imagination. I haven’t got images yet of other drawings with personal items, shoes, jeans jackets and figures. We gradually increased complexity and went from still life and perspective drawing to pencil drawings and sketches of figures. That took about 30 private art classes. Large size paper makes a lot of sense and allows creating the best compositions and value transitions.
Tutorial won’t do that
Tutorials usually teach something one: style or technique of a particular artist, one subject or one feature of it, and that doesn’t always mean your tutorial will include explanation or clear understanding why to choose exactly this one style, feature or part of subject. Demonstrations are frequently done on small sheets of paper. I’ve mentioned this numerous times before: if you can draw, you can draw anything without any limitations. You won’t need photos, printouts, grids and similar things. If you can draw, you just observe, pay attention and allow pencil to do its job. Which I always do! I hope you love seeing these drawings and sketches! I have to post many at a time because there are way too many.
For me, many of paintings start with pencil sketch or drawing. It can be a marker or a simple black pen, too. I’ve never counted my drawings, but there are numerous of them, many hundreds. Every time when I give an art class, I create an outline sketch, value sketch or quite a detailed drawing. Compared to other medium choices we have, drawing is the simplest and the least dependent medium on anything. We need just something to draw with and on, but the rest can be imagination, real items, even a photo. In my opinion, pencil drawing is the beginning of any art which displays realism to some degree.
Easy drawing process
Pencil drawing doesn’t require timing your process. It allows to start, put off and continue any time afterwards. With water media, such as watercolor or acrylic, timing is an extremely important factor. The same goes for humidity, ambient temperature and similar aspects. Quality of water media art is strongly affected by the quality of art supplies. Pencil drawing can be done even when we do not have special pencils of different hardness, we can draw even without eraser and pretty much on any paper. I do regret that many of my drawings are done on transparent paper since I needed them to be transferable onto watercolor paper. They don’t look that good when photographed and cannot be presented as finished artwork, although, many are. In fact, any large and very large drawings are problematic to photograph.
Pencil drawing: amazing activity and practice
Sketch and draw real things
I’ve noticed that people, who haven’t been using photos as reference for creation of their art initially, develop the ability to draw more effortlessly and it is easier for them to understand the mechanism of capturing something which has volume onto a flat surface. These, who have started out tracing, copying and using somebody else’s drawing, have more difficult times. It’s probably because they don’t trust their eyes, have less confidence and don’t want to take risks or experiment. However, all it takes is seeing your subject in an artistic way. Seeing is the part which many of us are lacking.
Quick marker drawing on shadows
All buildings and one-point perspective drawings are constructed and drawn from imagination, without using any reference.
Constructed one-point perspective drawing, full size 24 x 19 in or 61 x 48 cm
Distorted photo images
I come from a different background; therefore, I simply didn’t have photos and couldn’t take them either. That worked out as an advantage eventually. If you look online at photo images, you cannot help, but notice how distorted they are. That most likely comes from the frequent use of phone cameras and the way perspective, as well as colors are automatically adjusted. What we get, is a profoundly wrong reference which is no good for drawing or painting. If you pay attention to shadows or reflection, solid structures and their dimensions, or for that matter, comparative size of separate parts and their proportion, the absence of correct linear perspective is very notable. If the reflection or shadows stretch for miles, it simply looks wrong. It will be even less acceptable in a painting. The same applies to buildings and street views.
Drawing from pre-pandemic art class, also imagined, constructed drawing, no reference neededDrawing from 2018, 1 point perspective, also just lines and linear perspective
Live art classes
Since private art classes resumed, we’ve done a few drawings, pencil sketches, as well as watercolors and acrylic landscapes. My younger students usually aim for filling up portfolio, therefore, they want to learn about perspective, shadows, direction of light and similar aspects of drawing. That is fantastic because regardless of medium, any more or less realistic art consists of the same parts: composition, linear and atmospheric perspective, values, contrast, light and shadows, as well as size and proportions between parts. It is interesting that younger students eagerly want to learn about perspective, correct proportions, types of shadows and ways to display play of light on their drawings and paintings. One-point perspective is a very good subject for beginners.
Pencil drawing of pears and apples
Painting process simplified
The fastest way to learn about all aspects of a successful painting is using pencil. Pencil drawing allows seeing the essence of your subject easier and in a more impressive manner. Students love the fact that they cannot do drawing wrong, hence, we can erase anything if want to. Pencil drawing is a fantastic pastime for people, who have time, or the best artistic practice and preparation step for artists, established and beginning. It is a calm and soothing activity. There’s no rush as with water-soluble paint which might dry too fast, get tacky and so forth. There are no worries about water flowing where you don’t want it or pigment acting weirdly. Pencil dances on the paper and this allows creating our phantasy or reality. Whichever we choose, we are the winners. Pencil drawing is extremely rewarding in any regard.
Fence drawing is a complete artwork
Mastering drawing
Taking or making time and being observant is difficult for folks nowadays, but drawing requires seeing things which people normally do not notice. This activity makes our world bigger with every single pencil line. Due to preparation work for art classes, as well as the huge time that was necessary for setting up the outdoor classroom, I have not been able to post practically anything on both my blogs. Well, here you have it. My pencil drawings are not done just within a few hours. My drawings are usually large, up to 29 x 22 in or 74 x 56 cm, and they take plenty of time. I would say, to post this article with images which come from different years, and to take and edit current photos, took me at least a month. Many hours go into every single drawing, most often, 20 or more hours for the large ones for sure. However, it is time well spent.
Line drawing, pencil outlines intended for watercolor painting
Close-up view of frut and buildings
Online presentation and new art classes
You will obviously see the small online images. The paper was bright white, yet, it didn’t look that bright on my pictures. Well, it is what it is. Enjoy and join the art classes if you live around Ajax, Ontario:
My other blog is about life and getting the best out of it. Many people who click on “like” from the Reader, do not know I have it, but I write also poetry and stories, about my observations and interesting facts which became notable after many decades. You might like to have a look:
Why should you spend time on value drawing? If you do such drawings large or full painting size, it will take quite a lot of time, from a few hours to a few days. However, these value drawings will be all reference materials you need. I have added many photos of my very large still life drawings, so that you see what I’m talking about.
Drawing for watercolor
I started to do such large size value drawings because my goal was to eventually create a watercolor painting. As you may know, watercolor paper is very fragile and painting does not look good if there are lots of visible pencil marks or even worse. Erasing damages watercolor paper. I do such drawings on tracing paper. That is because I use a specific drawing transfer technique which allows seeing my final drawing very well without applying graphite pencil too much. It saves me work afterwards and prevents my paper from damage.
Large is great
I make these drawings large, to be more exact, the actual painting size. I usually paint full-sheet 22 x 29 inch ( 56 x 74 cm) watercolors, and sometimes a bit smaller acrylics. The drawings shown in my photos are 22 x 29 inches ( 56 x 74 cm) and 20 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm) .
I usually do these and similar drawings in class, 20 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)
Value drawing is a guide and a map
All answers to questions which arise during the painting process are in the value drawing. I love painting from real things as opposed to photos, and if the subject is sensitive, such as flowers, food, fruits, vegetables or moody nature scene, I have to use something which quickly captures the subject. I obviously cannot get done a large painting within a few hours. Therefore, instead of taking photos, I do value drawings and sometimes value sketches.
Camera doesn’t replace visual perception
Partially, I don’t rely on photos since I got my first camera not that long ago and I was very much used to draw everything what other people were taking pictures of. The other aspect to that is the way any camera distorts the subject or view. My eyes perceive it much better than any camera would, and I create a composition on a fly.
Photographic visual memory
I don’t know whether I was born with it or whether I just developed it, but I only found out quite late in my life that I have literary photographic visual memory. I simply did not pay attention to that when I was young.
Advantages of having great visual memory
School was easy for me. I memorized everything extra easy, and I added an analytic approach to memorizing things. I am still able to remember lots of text just by looking at it. That helped me enormously when studying at university. I personally think that my visual memory comes from drawing. I was drawing everything whatever I saw since age I cannot even recall. Parents told me about that. It was a surprise because there were and are no other artists in my family which is actually quite extensive.
Memory can be improved at any age
I do believe and have seen that visual memory can be improved to a great extent. What happens in real life is that people most often don’t use their memory and brain. The more support from devices we have, the less we use our own memory. That is disastrous and leads to early memory loss.
How drawing helps keeping excellent memory
It is obvious that one can have all kinds of reminders and lists on their phone and computer. However, there are people like me who never ever compile a list or use a reminder. I’ve never forgotten any appointment or meeting in my entire life. I never make any lists, neither shopping, nor to-do lists, not even invoicing or student lists. It is all comfortably filed in my head.
My most recent drawing, 20 x 24 inches (46 x 61 cm)
The reason I love drawing
I don’t draw to only exercise my memory. I draw and paint also not because of likes or social media comments, followers or any other feedback from fans. I draw and paint because that is my way of life. I live in a visual world where everything is a painting and any view is art. That is the way I see the world and life.
Multiple and various uses of value sketch and value drawing
Having a value sketch or value drawing is of big advantage, not only because you have a perfect reference and guide, but also because you can use this value drawing with any painting media afterwards. You can go ahead and complete it as drawing, pastel painting, transfer to watercolor paper and paint with watercolor, transfer to canvas and paint with acrylics or oils. You can reuse it and flip it, as well. Finally, you can use any part or fragment of value drawing, as well as create a composition which consists of value drawing elements.
Any of these drawings might become paintings, this one is 22 x 29 inches ( 56 x 74 cm)
It is a preview
It also serves as a sneak peek. It is clearly visible what works well in your composition and what not that much. Therefore, it is possible to correct everything while you transfer the drawing, so, that you do not have to deal with issues during the painting process.
Uniqueness of our drawing style
Drawing is like handwriting, and our personal style is like our handwriting. It carries the specific features of our character, nature and mental abilities. It is possible to describe one’s nature by simply looking at their drawing. It is and it should be unique. Don’t trace photos, it is so much more rewarding to simply look around and see.
Still life is beautiful and teaches all drawing aspects
You don’t draw because you haven’t tried to do it right
When somebody says: I cannot draw, that actually means they are not interested in seeing the surroundings or the subject. How much one has noticed becomes only visible when we ask that person to draw it. While everybody is under impression that we can see everything, that is not true. You will only start seeing what is around you if you will try to draw it: all shapes and shadows, and relationships between lines.
Whatever we can see, we can draw
It does not necessarily have to be a real thing. You can see and imagine with your internal vision, and that should work as if drawing from reality. You build up the directions for your hand in your brain. If you are not trying to challenge yourself, your hand will create inaccurate and sloppy lines. In order the hand would draw what we are seeing, we pretty much have to become that particular subject in your imagination: the tree, the apple, the blossom and even the bowl, and even more so if you are drawing a figure or face. That is why most artists are quite recognizable from portraits they paint: all of them carry some features of the artist. Confidence is a big deal, too, and we can become confident only by doing.
These are only lines on paper, but what fantastic illusion of an attractive, appealing and impressive reality they create!
I have been mentioning in my articles for numerous times how huge the gain from learning drawing, sketching and painting is. Drawing and painting is not intended only for those who want to be artists or already are involved in creative activities. Drawing is an activity everybody can pursue and art class helps.
Repair and boost cognitive function
There is more and more proof that learning and doing arts is a unique activity which boosts brain activity and development of new neurons and their connections that there is no doubt: drawing, sketching and painting is the best exercise to keep our brain fit, thus, preventing early memory loss and age-related dementia.
Enjoy and have better memory
I recently read about a new brain fitness trial which was carried out at the Newcastle University in a population of 30 volunteers divided in 3 groups for 8 weeks. One group was walking for 3 hours a week, the second doing puzzles and crosswords, and the third group took part in art class 3 hours a week. All participants were tested before and after their respective activities.
The best results undoubtedly showed the art group, which is no surprise to me because I’ve observed that during all years of teaching. I would like to just mention that I have been working with student groups of 5-30 people for almost 35 years, and those who did arts quite often excelled in ANY area of their life.
If you can write, you can learn drawing
Is everybody able to draw? Yes, everybody is able to draw, but in order to do so they have to learn seeing and processing the object of interest in their brain so that the hand knows what it should be doing. Along with maintenance of good brain health and memory, it is a fantastic, rewarding leisure activity. Once one knows how to draw, they can forget about camera, image processing on computer, they can forget about copying photos.
Mastery is time- and effort consuming
Well, those, who want to master drawing from life, must count on 10,000 hours, at least. That’s the estimated time frame to learn drawing effortlessly. Although, the benefits are so obvious, majority of people will admit they cannot draw. In fact, the truth is they don’t know how to look at something, how to pay attention and what to look for The ability to draw is based on our visual ability to process the visual information and to make our brain move the hand with pencil.
Before you draw, you must learn seeing
Therefore, before we draw, we have to learn how to pay attention and notice relationships between parts of an object, its layout, size and how to reproduce everything on a correct scale. That means, most people see things, but they never focus enough to memorize what they see. At least it is not enough for being able to draw from memory.
First attempts
What are the usual problems when starting out with drawing, sketching and painting? It depends on whether one is at the class only for the result, or for the process. Process is good for everybody, but results are evident after longer time. I have sometimes people, who want to achieve excellent results right away, in 1 workshop or 1 class, or they think, it’s not worth continuing. While we progress, we can still enjoy a lot and give our brain the necessary exercise.
First watercolor washes begin to identify all particular items in still life
Drawing looks rough because camera cannot capture all aspects of surrounding room and drawing on paper, but drawing the actual size is really helpful, that is drawing large and very large.
The entire drawing, I had to make it darker in order it was visible. We draw on watercolor paper with extra light lines which are hardly visible, therefore, taking picture of such drawing produces very washed out image.
First washes, it’s a good paper, Arches, cold press, heavy. I go layer after layer and usually add to background and parts of painting as I go and as I see fit.
How to get better with drawing and painting
Watch, learn seeing and exercise focusing ability! Drawing is not the same what copying photos, transferring images from photos or printing off outlines. Once one gets used to flat objects in a photo, they will have much harder times to ever learn drawing from reality. Reproducing photos also does not facilitate the brain activity as drawing for real does.
Learning changes our ability to see
All people, who wanted to participate in drawing and sketching classes noticed soon that they are seeing everything in a different way. Would you like to boost your memory and have some pleasurable pastime? Join the club. We are starting out next week. I’m sharing some pictures which show different types of drawing. We usually draw with very light lines for watercolor painting. We can sketch out main values if the reference object can go bad or disappear soon.
I made lines much darker. On the actual painting paper, lines are very light in order not to shine through after I have added watercolor paint. The finished painting is below, after text.
This is how I have set up everything for my watercolor painting. I create a detailed drawing first, then transfer only outline onto watercolor paper and continue with watercolor paint afterwards.
I actually completed one still life only 3 years later and the large still life 4 years later, but since I had a sketch, it was no problem. Here is link to the large still life and how it came out: Finished large Autumn harvest still life
This is the painting, drawing is visible slightly above. It took a few years before I got finishing ths watercolor painting with vegetables.
In my opinion, the only way to draw efficiently is using real subjects, real setups or ask somebody to be a model. Everything else means reproducing photos. Some do this very creatively and successfully, some not that much, but only manual drawing from real subject makes one free and independent of any devices. We can interpret our painting also in any way we prefer while photo limits one to use only what is on a photo.
When somebody says they attend art classes, other people usually understand that it means practicing and learning to become an artist. That’s pretty much incorrect because as the current research reveals, there is no other activity more beneficial to prevention of brain aging, avoiding loss of memory and related disorders than drawing, painting and sketching. Art projects in art classes are usually suitable for beginners, for hobbyists and for anybody with interest in creation.
Brain exercises
The unique features of creation boost ability of the brain to create new neurons, as well as the existing have longer life span. Do you believe that brain aging is not inevitable? That is not true. Our brain is just as any other part of our body, yet, it contains all the vitally important tools for regulating and managing the other systems. Therefore, it’s crucial we keep exercising our brain every day, every hour and every minute. Anything which is not in use deteriorates and loses flexibility, it degenerates.
How drawing helps the brain flexibility
Drawing connects the brain function with our fine motor functions, and does even more than language. It allows expressing feelings, emotions, states of our mind, mood, our character, hidden thoughts and memories. As we draw, our hand transfers the ideas onto paper. It is a reflection of the most intense mental work, conversion of one type of energy into another. That is why drawing is used in determination of our brain health. It signalizes earlier than any other tests whether everything is still fine, or maybe it’s time to get advice.
Mental fitness
We need to move and exercise all our body parts, but mental exercise increases the rate at which our new brain cells survive and make functional connections to the existing networks of neurons. The more active a particular brain cell is, the more connections it develops with its neighboring neurons. That is where art classes come in. As we learn, we intensively think about each line we are putting down on paper or brushstrokes. This boosts our memory cells, thus, preventing them from cell death. Activities that require using all our senses, breaking our routines and engaging in new experiences are extremely good for brain health.
Age is not of essence
Age does not matter because it is equally important to have good memory in young and even more so in old age. Creative exercises like our Fun and Pleasure acrylic painting afternoons or sketching and watercolor exercises should not be undervalued. It seems like a play or some brushing around with different colors, but, in fact, it is a very strong brain ability booster. Images show my still life sketches, but students did very well, too. I’d like to simply publish only my sketches in this post.
My journey
I can share my own experience. I was reading a book a day and painting or drawing every single day for about 1 hour between ages 8 and 16. I was reading systematically through everything library had to offer. That involved history, geography, art, music, science of the corresponding century starting with ancient Egypt. We didn’t have internet back in the 70-s. When I moved on and started to study at the University I was only 17 because I could and I had developed extraordinary visual memory thanks to reading, drawing and painting,
Best memory booster
I hardly had to study because I was able to remember up to 60 pages of text which I read through within some half an hour using the diagonal approach. I still can remember every single tough term in texts which I was translating 5 years ago. I never have to make any lists and write notes to myself. In my case, drawing and painting showed an enormously positive effect on memory, cognitive function and reasoning so far.
Art is important part of learning
For young children, artistic activities are as important as physical exercising, especially because they are under-using their own cognitive ability due to the overuse of mobile devices. We are always welcoming new participants in our art classes!
Plain and simple: creativity unblocks the pathways in our brain and gives us a chance to use our hidden resources, and there are so many. Therefore, I expect everybody getting involved in new art projects: simple, colorful, uplifting and very rewarding. Thanks for reading!
