DRAW LIKE A MASTER

                                                          Drawing portraits by Eiman Muiny

I should start my writing by citing The Book of the Art of Cennino Cennini ( the end of 14 Century ) 

 

In Chapter # 104, he asked this question,  In what manner the art of painting picture should be acquired?

 

Know that you can not learn to paint in less time that thus. In the first place, you must study drawing for at least one year, on tablets; then you must remain with a master at the workshop, who understands working in all parts of the art; you must begin with grinding colours and learn to boil down glue, to acquire the practice of laying grounds on panels, to work in relief upon them; and to rub them smooth and to gild; to engrave well; and this for six years, afterwards to practise colouring, to adorn with mordants, to make cloths of gold, and to be accustomed to paint on walls for six more years, always drawing without intermission either on holidays or workdays. And so, through long habit, good practice becomes a second nature. Adopting other habits, do not hope ever to attain great perfection. There are many who say they have learned the art without having been with a master. Do not believe them, for I give you this very book as example: even studying it day and night, if you do not see some practice with some master, you will never be fit for anything, nor will you be able with a good face to stay among the masters.

And he noted: ( the first year was a preliminary trial. If the master was satisfied at the end of that time, the boy was bound to him for twelve years. In the later years of the apprenticeship the lad's earnings helped to pay for his board and lodging. The pupil was sworn never to divulge the secrets of the art until he become a master himself, when he was allowed to teach his own pupils, first binding them secrecy.

 

See,  he mentioned secrecy, So, with full respect to my profession, I shall write from my own experience,

And just to start , I should say, to be an artist you have to work and do what you have to do to be an artist. No one born knowing how to fly or how to be an astronaut.

 

Learn how to draw from reliable sources, find the ones you really like and  match it with your desire in learning drawing. There are so many methods in teaching drawings such like drawing on the right side of the brain, some others teaches free hand drawing and some others teaches constructive drawing, and some other teaches the academic way such as universities and collages. Don't depend on social media, no one take their education from an Instagram post, it might inspire you or teach you a new pencil movement.  Advance artist can benefit from these posts more than others.

To draw like a master, it means you have reached the level of proficiency in your performance where you can draw anything by just looking at it, knowing that, you are not drawing what you see, you are drawing what you know! And believe me there is a big difference and a big gap between the two.

 

There isn't a shot cut in drawing an object, be careful and be calm when you want to draw. Give it some time and plan it in your head before you hold a pencil.

 

Look carefully to the object, and think, and ask yourself a question, In what manner I am going to map out the initial lines, the size of it on the paper, do I need to use light press pencil or a bold charcoal, a plane white paper or a coloured paper.

 

Shop for you art supplies, the current art market is full of modern tools manufactured base on old centuries recipe. Me personally, I don't like to make my pencils and charcoal in house, I've tried before but, I will tell you, don't waste your time and your money, there is so much to do and to be a good artist, it’s a long term commitment. So focus on your practice and buy your tools from the market, you can easily shop online and explore options from around the world.

 

When you want to draw, draw on anything, start on simple paper and then get the habit to collect sketch books in different sizes and different kind of paper with different thickness, some art supplies sell booklets that has assorted kind of high quality paper. I once tried to make my own paper and it was fun, but let me say again you don't need to do so, just buy it.

 

Drawing is painting, because simply, you need to vary your pencil strokes in order to see volume, hue, line, shape and form and pencil pressure,  you can make the whole drawing with one pencil ( B or B2 )  no mater what you are drawing either a landscape, or still life or a portrait. Be nice to your paper, build up your drawing little by little, and work on light pencil strokes. Don't press hard, give a room to modify your drawing in case if you need to efface it.

 

I am a studio person, I like to work indoor and it took me a while until I got the courage to go out and draw from life. Don't depend on drawing from picture although it's not wrong, but don't be shy to ask people to pose for you or stand in front of a building in a busy downtown to draw the city scape, even though you now you might not get it right. The more you do it, the better artist you can be. 

 

Some drawing programs take five years to finish, and another five years to practise to be a professional artist. So don't rush yourself, you will go through frustration but don't give up. You will feel yourself less than other artist, but don't give up. If proficiency is your goal, So, work for it.