Struggling with Change!

[leeds1]

I have watched most of your Basic and Creative videos now and have thoroughly enjoyed them….they are well described and make total sense. However it has kind of set me back a bit because some of your techniques and preferences are different to what I have been used to to date…..you use minimal blending and minimal eraser marks as a couple of examples and more focus on line work, layering and negative space/drawing use. I started another pet portrait the other day, armed with your video information and with lots of confidence but, alas, I failed miserably to execute some of your techniques, got frustrated and am about to start all over again. I think my main difficulty is the negative drawing concept….I understand it but struggled to utilize it correctly on a new portrait. One question that you may be able to answer quickly is regarding your approach to starting with the darks first and working forward to the foreground. Am I right in assuming that, using this approach, all of the foreground elements need to be outlined completely first so that you can then draw the backgrounds and mid grounds around these foreground elements?? I hope this question makes sense!!
Anyway, I really want to get my drawings to a better level using your techniques and am willing to put the practice hours in. I looked at your online workshops that are coming up and am possibly interested in the Intermediate Level workshop?? I have been drawing for about 18 months now and feel that the Intermediate level (and its content) might best suit my needs. Any advice/words of wisdom on the above challenges I am having and a way forward for me would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike Sibley]

They are well described and make total sense. However, it has kind of set me back a bit because some of your techniques and preferences are different to what I have been used to to date… you use minimal blending and minimal eraser marks as a couple of examples and more focus on line work, layering and negative space/drawing use.

I started another pet portrait the other day, armed with your video information and with lots of confidence but, alas, I failed miserably to execute some of your techniques, got frustrated and am about to start all over again. I think my main difficulty is the negative drawing concept…

Coincidentally, I'm guiding CyndiR through my Intermediate course at Drawspace, and she is encountering the same problem - as well as nailing the tapered line. I've just critiqued her "Grizzly hair" exercise, and I think it might help you too...

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This [drawing hair using negative drawing] is important, because I'd hate for you to become discouraged - this can be an awkward exercise for some artists because it's really a way that I work personally and not something that will necessarily suit you. But it is a technique that works - just possibly not for you. )

Keep practising. Once you can do it without thinking, you'll be so pleased. I could easily argue that every line you draw should be tapered. Blunt ends are a nightmare 99% of the time. And 100% in hair.

You are nicely tapering one end of your marks - but the initial blunt ends are a problem. You're creating a resemblance of hair at present, but the blunt ends say "this is not hair" and the shadows that define the hairs are missing, so there's little suggestion of layers. Or, more accurately, your blunt ends are defining the edges of the layers - but that's simply unnatural in hair.

The major missing ingredient is the V-shapes!. Angle every alternate stroke so you form Vs between them. That space IS the hair. Your lines represent the shade in between them. It's a common error - but easily fixed. Concentrate on creating the Vs. At present, you're drawing HAIRS, not spaces.

The aim is to create marks with V-shaped voids between them. What matters is the spaces you are leaving and not the marks themselves. Ideally, your marks should alternate their angles. Keep repeating that, and you'll produce a sort of saw-tooth line of tapering white shapes that will ultimately become the hairs. You can fill in between the "hairs" at any stage. I feel you were concentrating on the marks and not enough on the gaps - and it's the gaps that are important. The trick to making this work is to look at the white you are leaving and not the lines you are drawing. Once you get used to imagining the next white shape on your paper, you'll find yourself effortlessly drawing your dark marks around it.

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I've had a go at the top row of #4. I've found, or invented, V-shapes within your lines. This is Stage 1 - lines defining the edges of the Vs - with a little Stage 2, where you begin to add shading between them. In practice, at this stage, all the Vs would be white.

You can see it in action here: DIVIDE LINE AND TONE and DRAWING HAIR Part 3 at 26:43.

Being able to split detail from three-dimensional form can often help you produce more realistic drawing, and it makes life easier and more manageable. Trying to handle both together can be quite a problem at times, especially in small scale drawings or distant subjects.

One of the things I'm trying to introduce in this course is working from your mind - drawing what you 'see' and never just making pencil marks that you hope represent something. When a child draws or paints, they paint their mental picture. They believe that what they are drawing is real. Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." and that's the mindset I'm trying to get across.
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...regarding your approach to starting with the darks first and working forward to the foreground. Am I right in assuming that, using this approach, all the foreground elements need to be outlined completely first so that you can then draw the backgrounds and mid-grounds around these foreground elements??

Yes! Absolutely essential. That also gives me the freedom to invent and interpret in the background and midground. In the case of a pet, the foreground, as a rule, is what the client recognises.

And by working both dark to light and background to foreground, once the darks (the absolute background) are established, every layer as you work forwards, has its immediate environment already established, so it can reference and react to it.

Anyway, I really want to get my drawings to a better level using your techniques, and I am willing to put the practice hours in.

OK, but don't force it. I'm guessing that you currently erase highlights in hair? That's a common approach. The reason I don't do that and use negative drawing instead, is because erasing creates soft-edged lines and rarely erases back to white. Negative drawing protects those whites until you know exactly what you want to do with them. I've been drawing hair for over 40 years, and negative drawing has developed to remove all the faults inherent in the other methods. Otherwise, I wouldn't use it.

BUT it takes time to retrain yourself to work with negative drawing. The biggest shift is learning to look at the white you're defining and not the lines you're drawing. Or, at least, being aware of both as you draw. I think you're lucky in only having 18 months to undo.

[Mike Sibley]

My previous reply exceeded the character limit, so here's the rest...

I am possibly interested in the Intermediate Level workshop? I have been drawing for about 18 months now and feel that the Intermediate level (and its content) might best suit my needs.

Look through the videos again. The BASIC techniques series is based on the Beginners (Foundation) course. CREATIVE techniques covers the Intermediate course. It might be that the more technique-based Beginner would help you more. The Intermediate assumes you have the skills learnt from the Beginner. For "Beginner" read "Foundation" - it's only called Beginner to fit into Drawspace's categories - it's not a reflection of your abilities.

You can read a full description of both courses here: ONLINE DRAWING CLASSES.