Why Learn to Draw?

I'm probably going to get myself into a lot of trouble with this post, but so be it. 

If you're a representational artist, drawing is one of those skills that you really owe it to yourself to learn, and learn how to do well.

Why learn the skill of drawing when, in these days of computers, digital photos, and projectors, tracing is so easy?

Leaving the purist arguments aside, yes, I do know that various forms of tracing have been used by some well-known artists in the past. Generally though, these methods were employed by artists who already knew how to draw from "scratch." Tracing was (usually) something they employed occasionally and didn't rely on for all of their paintings. Can you imagine the great John Singer Sargent doing all of his portrait work from traced photos? No, neither can I.

These days things are very different.

When I go into a gallery today I see too many paintings that obviously had their beginnings as a tracing of a photo. I don't have an issue with folks who are already skilled in drawing, tracing every now and again (and here you thought I was a total purist). But I do have an issue with folks using tracing exclusively when they never learned how to draw.

I also object to is the thinking that drawing is not necessary for a "successful" representational painting. I would argue just the opposite - that drawing is an essential skill to have if you want to produce quality representational paintings.

Why?

If you know how to draw, it's much easier to salvage a painting if something goes wrong while you're working on it. And trust me, at some point, something will go wrong. Usually when there is a deadline looming. For a very important show. In three days. You'll place a misguided brushstroke and suddenly someone's foot (or paw) looks like a sausage! If you have some drawing skills, you can probably salvage this without discarding the painting and starting over. If you rely only on tracing though, you'll probably need to start over from a fresh tracing. You've lost your outlines with the misguided brushstroke and now you don't know what to do to salvage the foot.

Also, because you draw, you're not "married" to the photo - it's easier for you to exaggerate or accentuate certain things (such as making legs a little longer, exaggerate gesture or movement, or change the tilt of a head or the position of an arm). And because you can easily change things to suit your tastes, your own style will evolve more easily and quickly than if you only knew how to trace. Back to John Singer Sargent...have you noticed how he often exaggerated the height of his subjects or the length of their fingers? And can you imagine Sargent's work without this exaggeration? It's part of his style, and he could not have done it without knowing how to draw.


If you know how to draw, sketching from life will open up a new world of subject matter and observation to you. When you draw something yourself, you get to know how that subject looks very intimately. Every curve and angle makes sense after you draw the object. And the more you draw and sketch, the more you observe and the more intimately you get to know your subject. It's a beautiful positive feedback loop! This is precisely why seasoned artists continue to participate in weekly life drawing sessions, some throughout their lives. It continuously hones our observation and drawing skills. And learning to observe will help you immeasurably not only in your drawings, but in your paintings too. The more you draw and observe your subject, the easier it will be for you to see when something "just isn't right" with one of your paintings. Even better is that it will be easier for you to fix it!

I use my drawing skills constantly with my wildlife art. I take a sketchbook with me on hikes or wildlife observation trips...and I use it! Depending on what mood I'm in, I can draw the wildlife, native plants and flowers, or landscape details. I take my sketchbook with me to natural history museums, especially if they have a particular mounted specimen that I need to see and study (especially helpful for extinct species like the Great Auk or Labrador Duck). And yes, my drawing skills have been the starting point for my paintings, and the savior of many of those!

Besides all of that, drawing is just plain fun! :)

Try it sometime. Give yourself a chance to really learn to draw by taking an in-person class with a live instructor. And be patient with yourself - it might take you 3 or more months to learn the basics, and perhaps years to master the skill. Every time I put pencil to paper I learn something new.

As you've seen, though, the benefits of drawing are very much worth the effort of learning it!