Steem Cartoon : The Art of Drawing

People often ask me what I do during my lessons. I teach people how to draw, how to plan their drawing and how to get their basic techniques right. It is wrong to think that only people who are gifted can draw. It is just like people who can play music. Everyone who is taught how to read music notes and play certain instrument can do it. But of course there will be some that are natural in doing so. Those people will have a slight edge. But I always believe that it is the hard work that makes the difference. I have seen many students of mine who are talented but fail to progress far and students who are less talented but their hard work makes up for it all and the hard work is the one that helps propel them forward.

The picture above is a live demonstration of the human anatomy and how the body works in different movement. It would be weird if a drawing does not replicate actual body movement. Here we ask a student to do several progressive movements and each movement is recorded in drawing.

The students are supposed to capture a sketch of the movement and several progression. They are seated in a circle so that they will more of less capture the subject's movement.

At this stage the quality of sketch is not important but to get the proportion and the mechanical movements of the arm and legs correct. Humans are quite mechanical creatures. It is quite natural that when we swing one arm forward the other will move backwards. We also walk to maintain balance, hence there is always a center of gravity that falls in the middle of the subject.

For example if we are drawing a man who is falling awkwardly, definitely his center of gravity has shifted outside of his body's shadow. That is one of the principles that we observe. There is science in drawing and that will give our drawing more realistic touch.

Students concentrating at their piece.

Next I move on to the human facial features. One good thing about drawing human features is the fact that noone of us looks like amoeba. We have facial features that are quite symmetrical. That makes the job easier because our face can be divided into parts for more detailed and accurate proportions.

The lines in the background are guides. It will tell us where the ears are by reference to the lines. It will also tell us where the hair is and location of the mouth and chin. Difference people have different facial makeup and hence the location of their features will be slightly altered.

What I am showing is a picture of a person and the drawing of a similar size. It is also possible to increase or reduce the size technically. All that needs to be done is to reduce the width of the lines in the background and still follow the same proportions.

Once in a while the students felt that they need to pose for the camera and here is one subject that could not be caught being candid.

The basic lines has to be correct to get the composition and features correct. I move on next to the shadowing and lighting. This further technique will give more dynamics to the subject.

I understand that not everyone can do freehand. I encourage tracing because tracing develops some basic skills and basic observations. A person who traces often enough will eventually be able to draw freehand. That is one shortcut if one is not gifted in freehand art.

Here I show how shading is done and how further lines can accentuate the subject. There are a few methods. One is by using colours and spread. The other by using lines. The closer and thicker the lines, that would mean heavier shades. The heavily shaded areas are the ones that is hidden from source of light.

A final lecture on the important of repeated practice. I would often tell my students that it is always practice that will eventually give you the result that you want. No amount of observation and talent can immediately deliver a result that is obtained after repeated attempts.

So, if you think you can't draw try repeating or tracing a drawing many times and the results will astonish you. You can always start with something simple like doodling which is just main line art and proportion of the subject without much worry on other aspects of it. Then you can progress from there.

credit to @zomagic