OMG this reminds me of when I was a teenager and I would doodle eyes, everywhere while I was on the phone during class after school, then it was lips open closed smiling .......and when the eyes started following me around the room I knew I nailed it😊
I practice this way! Instead of drawing a large portrait, I divide the page into 16 small squares. In each square I only spend 2-3 minutes to draw a new portrait, then move on. The drawings are super rough, but it doesn't matter because it only took a few minutes! I love looking at the array of 12-16 small portraits :) It's much easier to see what's good and what needs improvement.
Yes! I'm more of an illustrator and comic artist, but I learned this lesson of iterative drawing when studying cartooning. The practicing without relying on an eraser to fix mistakes part is really important, and many artists don't understand why. It's not about making things harder or giving yourself no crutches or something like that. When working on finished pieces or comissions, yeah you want to use the eraser as much as you need. However for practice and studying, you want to learn how to place all the lines and forms as best as you can all in one go, without stopping to fix mistakes. You're training your visual library, your ability to pre-visualize what you want to draw, your understanding of the structures you're drawing, and your ability to see the structure and proportions while you draw. Repeatedly erasing and making slight adjustments somehow short circuits this training. Allowing yourself to make mistakes here is important. It seems counter intuitive, but doing this iterative drawing and allowing your mistakes to just exist of the page builds confidence, and makes you a faster, more efficient and more flexible artist. I think it's also important that we learn to lay down lines and marks and sort of just let them be as they are. Drawings and paintings don't have to be perfect. If an artist can learn to allow pieces to be imperfect, they may be surprised at how amazing everything looks once the piece is finished. Art can go beyond plain realism, and look much more interesting for it.
I have a slight variation on this technique. As I have made videos of almost everything I paint I can look back at myself doing what I did and I have found I have gained confidence in my drawing and painting in a way I never have before, through identifying where things « went wrong » and what I should have done instead. I don’t spend ages analysing it, it just seems to penetrate my brain better. Thanks for your videos x
Hello Louise.. Thank you for sharing this video. I am a musician and this really holds true. I like this way of thinking about my other creative endeavours. However that's not why I'm commenting. I thoroughly enjoy the videos you make and I always feel more calm, a little bit seen as a slow gower myself but more than that is I feel like I've learned a lot and inspired in many ways. With that in mind, as a calm creative who isn't in a rush. I would love to know what your routine is like. Are you an early riser? Do you wake up and walk/meditate/jump straight into creating or business related actions? It would be really awesome to know what the routine of a calm creative is like. Thank you again for your awesome channel and for sharing the videos that you do and the art that you make.
Hi Louise. Compliments for your videos, they are both instructional and inspirational. I wanted to ask you: what do you call the device you use to paint with the powder graphite? It looks very practical. Thank you in advance for your reply.
this is great advice... wish i could apply it! lol. unfortunately i get so bored with a portrait (or any drawing for that matter) after the first time i draw it. i am going to keep trying though!
Do people really not see their own errors? Can people really not see it when their proportions are off without using some sort of technique? Or are people just looking for shortcuts? On a heretical side note; I guess "iterative drawing" sounds kind of more fancy than "repetitive drawing" 🤷♂ And "repetitive drawing" is often used to describe "pattern drawing". But the latter also sounds lame. But not as lame as "drawing mandalas". 🤯
OMG this reminds me of when I was a teenager and I would doodle eyes, everywhere while I was on the phone during class after school, then it was lips open closed smiling .......and when the eyes started following me around the room I knew I nailed it😊
I practice this way! Instead of drawing a large portrait, I divide the page into 16 small squares. In each square I only spend 2-3 minutes to draw a new portrait, then move on. The drawings are super rough, but it doesn't matter because it only took a few minutes!
I love looking at the array of 12-16 small portraits :)
It's much easier to see what's good and what needs improvement.
Yes! I'm more of an illustrator and comic artist, but I learned this lesson of iterative drawing when studying cartooning. The practicing without relying on an eraser to fix mistakes part is really important, and many artists don't understand why. It's not about making things harder or giving yourself no crutches or something like that. When working on finished pieces or comissions, yeah you want to use the eraser as much as you need. However for practice and studying, you want to learn how to place all the lines and forms as best as you can all in one go, without stopping to fix mistakes. You're training your visual library, your ability to pre-visualize what you want to draw, your understanding of the structures you're drawing, and your ability to see the structure and proportions while you draw. Repeatedly erasing and making slight adjustments somehow short circuits this training. Allowing yourself to make mistakes here is important. It seems counter intuitive, but doing this iterative drawing and allowing your mistakes to just exist of the page builds confidence, and makes you a faster, more efficient and more flexible artist.
I think it's also important that we learn to lay down lines and marks and sort of just let them be as they are. Drawings and paintings don't have to be perfect. If an artist can learn to allow pieces to be imperfect, they may be surprised at how amazing everything looks once the piece is finished. Art can go beyond plain realism, and look much more interesting for it.
I have a slight variation on this technique. As I have made videos of almost everything I paint I can look back at myself doing what I did and I have found I have gained confidence in my drawing and painting in a way I never have before, through identifying where things « went wrong » and what I should have done instead. I don’t spend ages analysing it, it just seems to penetrate my brain better. Thanks for your videos x
Hello Louise.. Thank you for sharing this video. I am a musician and this really holds true. I like this way of thinking about my other creative endeavours. However that's not why I'm commenting.
I thoroughly enjoy the videos you make and I always feel more calm, a little bit seen as a slow gower myself but more than that is I feel like I've learned a lot and inspired in many ways.
With that in mind, as a calm creative who isn't in a rush. I would love to know what your routine is like. Are you an early riser? Do you wake up and walk/meditate/jump straight into creating or business related actions? It would be really awesome to know what the routine of a calm creative is like.
Thank you again for your awesome channel and for sharing the videos that you do and the art that you make.
Don't draw features draw forms and light. If you get the shapes right likeness will come. It helped me immensely when learning to draw.
Exactly! Me too.
a very nice reminder, thank you! the fact that we often hear about drawing everyday to improve, tend to overshadow the more directed advises
Practice makes perfect
Thats a really helpful piece of advice... thank you
Hi Louise. Compliments for your videos, they are both instructional and inspirational.
I wanted to ask you: what do you call the device you use to paint with the powder graphite? It looks very practical. Thank you in advance for your reply.
this is great advice... wish i could apply it! lol. unfortunately i get so bored with a portrait (or any drawing for that matter) after the first time i draw it. i am going to keep trying though!
Amazing 👏
Thanks alot ❤
What tool are you using to apply the charcoal powder to the paper?
I think it's a panpastel kit
🖤
❤♾️
Do people really not see their own errors?
Can people really not see it when their proportions are off without using some sort of technique?
Or are people just looking for shortcuts?
On a heretical side note; I guess "iterative drawing" sounds kind of more fancy than "repetitive drawing" 🤷♂
And "repetitive drawing" is often used to describe "pattern drawing". But the latter also sounds lame. But not as lame as "drawing mandalas". 🤯