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    Draw What You See Not What You Think You See: Learn How to Draw for Beginners
    Draw What You See Not What You Think You See: Learn How to Draw for Beginners
    Draw What You See Not What You Think You See: Learn How to Draw for Beginners
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    Draw What You See Not What You Think You See: Learn How to Draw for Beginners

    By Rachel Shirley

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    About this ebook

    Does drawing ability seem restricted to the ‘gifted’ where others would appear afflicted with picture dyslexia or a crippling lack of confidence in drawing? This book (now with large images for tablets) might help those wishing to learn to draw.

    Designed to help build confidence in drawing, this book begins at the beginning, not with an exercise on how to draw a potted plant. Preliminary chapters explore the underlying causes of picture dyslexia with questionnaires into handedness and making visual judgments.

    The main body of this book does not delve into prescriptive matters such as vanishing points, measuring and plotting, but simply with the art of seeing by promoting all fields of vision. Exercises aimed to develop this skill can be found in special exercises that include symmetrical drawing, upside-down drawing, abstract drawing, the weight of marks and much more. The projects progress slowly, not abruptly, promoting success in learning.

    The A, B and C of drawing are touched upon throughout the book, helping to enhance the drawing experience before moving onto specialised shading techniques such as working on a toned ground via chalk and pastel pencils. The main body of the book however, requires the use of but a few basic drawing materials.

    For reference, prescriptive matters of drawing can be found in the final chapter, which explains vanishing points, plotting and how to draw ellipses.

    Book’s statistics: 15,500 words and around 90 images.

    The author has a PCET qualification in teaching as well as a Degree in Fine Art.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRachel Shirley
    Release dateApr 14, 2012
    ISBN9781476341620
    Draw What You See Not What You Think You See: Learn How to Draw for Beginners
    Author

    Rachel Shirley

    I have practiced oil painting from the age of six and have since been involved in countless projects and commissions. A graduate from Kingston University, Surrey and with a PCET teaching qualification from Warwick University, I have won competitions, taught life drawing and have written several books and many articles on oil painting and teaching art.

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      Book preview

      Draw What You See Not What You Think You See - Rachel Shirley

      Oil Painting Medic

      Draw What You See

      Not What You Think You See

      Learn How to Draw for Beginners

      Rachel Shirley BA Hons

      To my sister Heather and my mother Sylvia

      ISBN: 9781476341620

      Text, photographs and illustrations copyright Rachel Shirley 2011

      All rights reserved. The Right of Rachel Shirley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 Section 77 and 78.

      Smashwords Edition License Note this ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Drawings featured within this book

      Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: Distorted perception in drawing

      Chapter 2: The A, B and C of drawing

      Chapter 3: Fields of vision

      Chapter 4: Abstract shapes

      Chapter 5: A picture within a frame

      Chapter 6: Upside-down drawing

      Chapter 7: Objects in foreshortening

      Chapter 8: The weight of marks

      Chapter 9: Light and shadow

      Chapter 10: Advanced drawing exercises

      Chapter 11: Shading on grey paper

      Chapter 12: When rules apply

      Part I: The viewfinder

      Part II: Plotting your drawing

      Part III: Vanishing points made simple

      Part IV: Ellipses without corners

      Glossary

      References

      Other books by the author

      Introduction

      You may have picked up this book because you are at the edge of hope of ever being able to draw. You might be an absolute beginner. You might have spent a lifetime away from creative activities due to work or family commitments and now you cringe at the idea of picking up a pencil. You might be an art student who forever sits apart from others during life class in fear someone might see your work. You might be a child who has a flair for cartoons and doodles only because your attempts at realism are even more cartoonish.

      A weary old frustration might descend upon you every time you read about vanishing points, perspectives, plotting and measuring, how everything comprises cuboids, pyramids and spheres. Books proclaiming to be for beginners actually begin with an exercise on drawing shoes or a spider-plant or a street. Basic exercises move on to ever more advanced projects all too abruptly leaving you flagging. Of course, the book is filled with beautiful drawings proving the author can at least draw, even if you can’t.

      You might be too familiar with books that proclaim you can draw anything so long as you remember the proportions of various subject matter within; the sequence of lines to make up a rabbit, a goat or a horse. And that is on condition your drawing is to feature the subject concerned in certain postures. If only your memory could retain these sequential instructions without continual referral to the book.

      Pages of specialised art equipment required for drawing might leave you feeling overwhelmed. Ink washes, pastels, crosshatching and chalk impressions grace your eyes. Different types of paper, special putty rubbers, scalpels, easels and fixatives for charcoal would seem requisite to achieve professional effects. This might be all well and good if only you could put a pencil to paper and be able to draw something – anything that convinces, that comes close to the truth.

      Consider the cases of gifted autistic people, who since childhood are able to draw complex subject matter such as the Houses of Parliament, horses and portraits. For the most part, these subjects are unaware of the laws of perspectives, proportions, plotting or have special drawing equipment to hand. They simply sit down and draw instinctively.

      For this reason, the main body of this book will contain no mention of perspectives or vanishing points, the use of specialist equipment (except for within chapter 11) or an opening chapter on drawing shoes. I have placed these prescriptive items in chapter 12 at the back of this book should you need to refer to them.

      Instead, this book is going to start at the beginning, to learn the language of line from A, B and C.

      Within you will find a series of drawing exercises geared towards the absolute beginner as well as some questionnaires designed to decode the underlying causes of your drawing difficulty. This book opens with distorted perception in drawing and the question of how lateral your brain is. This might help shed some light onto my choice for the ensuing exercises.

      We will explore symmetrical drawing which exercises all fields of vision, followed by the exploration of abstract forms, negative shapes, the weight of marks and upside-down drawing. Further chapters exercise shading techniques from the most basic practice. Exercises progress gradually onto the shading of various forms.

      Opportunities for progression are available in the form of advanced drawing exercises in chapters 10

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