Dropping pebbles, not breadcrumbs

It feels really good to say this: I did what I said I would do.

I said I would work on making new portfolio pieces over the summer, and I did. I said I would send out a mailer in August, and I did--it is in the mail now. I'm nervous, but excited. I'm moving forward!

Now that that months-in-progress goal is taken care of, its time to make a new one. I will, of course, continue to create new work for my portfolio and work to improve my skills. But I want something new to work on.

Something I've always been interested in is teaching art. I would love to some day not only to work as an illustrator as I do now, but also to teach drawing and illustration.

I was lucky enough in high school to have an amazing teacher who taught real drawing and observation principles. Many would-be art students aren't that lucky. So much of what I see of art classes in schools or in art class outlines online are more like what I would call "materials manipulation" classes than actual classes. They choose a media or process--watercolor, collage, mosaic, whatever--and give step by step instructions for how to create a piece. They focus on teaching how to hold and use the materials and on following step by step instructions, rather than actual observational skills that will help the students create original work.

My biggest personal pet peeve in this category are those classes where a teacher will tell new students step-by-step how to create a certain painting. The students follow along, using the same colors and brushes and ideas as the teacher. In the end, each painting looks more or less like the next. What frustrates me about this is that nearly all the real learning and creative thinking done in this exercise is done by the teacher rather than the students. The teacher is the one who thinks of the idea and figures out how to execute it. The students leave with a completed painting and very little idea of how to create one on their own.  I do not call that real art training. It may give the students an enjoyable evening and a sense of accomplishment, but it does not give them real drawing or creative thinking skills.

There is a time and a place for these types of exercises. Elementary school age children usually have not yet learned to care whether their art looks realistic or not, and these "materials manipulation" classes are fun. But around 10 or 11, kids start to recognize when their drawings "look right" or not. They ought to be given instruction that will help them develop real observational drawing skills, rather than continued "materials manipulation" classes.

People are free to disagree with me. If you think that these classes are really valuable, tell me why in the comments. I'm willing to believe they're not as bad as I've painted them here.

But this is what I think--real drawing classes that teach real observational skills need to be more generally available. They are becoming more available online, but I would love to see this as real classes, in person, face-to-face. I would like to be able to teach that type of class. That is my dream.

But how to get there?

To start teaching--start teaching. That is my plan.

I'm going to be teaching myself, along with anyone who wants to follow along, here on my blog. I'm going to outline ten drawing exercises which I believe will help develop real observational skills for beginners. On Monday I will post the exercise, on Friday I will post the images I made doing the exercises and any thoughts about it--whether I think it was successful, whether I improved, how I would do the exercise differently in the future. I will post all ten exercises by the end of November.

Starting now.

You may have noticed the weird title of this post--dropping pebbles, not breadcrumbs. That is my attempt to reference the story of Hansel and Gretel, and it applies to today's exercise. This activity is well known through Betty Edward's book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The idea is to make a record of your current ability, something you can look at to see how well you draw now, before doing any other classes or exercises. If you don't make a record, you will have a hard time seeing your progress--like when Hansel and Gretel dropped breadcrumbs and couldn't see their way back home. (Ok fine, weird comparison. Moving on.)

Though I didn't have regular, long-term drawing instruction growing up, I did have music lessons. I want to create an art class that involves daily practice like my music classes did. Therefore, each exercise will be something that you do each day through the week, not something you do once a week and then forget about. This is another thing I feel many art classes are ineffective at--only expecting the students to do and think about art while they are in class, rather than working on it daily.


Exercise: Pre-Instruction Drawing

Goal/Focus:
Getting started, seeing your progress

Materials:
Sketchbook or paper, pen and/or pencil, mirror

Other Resources:
(These aren't required, but helpful if you want more information)

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

This video of Betty Edwards introducing her instruction methods

Assignment:
Each week day, choose one of these subjects to draw. Choose a different subject each day. Draw from life, not photographs. These should each take 20 minutes or more.

-Self Portrait

-Hand

-Still Life--choose 1, 3, or 5 objects, arrange them attractively, draw them

-The corner of a room, including any furniture, decorations, etc.

-A full figure, other than yourself. Include the full body, head to toe, in your picture.

Use whatever paper you have--if you have a sketchbook already, go ahead and start there, if not, use the paper you have. Try to get a sketchbook before next week. A sketchbook is easier to transport, and having something to take with you everywhere really helps you develop a drawing habit. That's the real secret to drawing "talent"--time spent, everyday, on drawing and observation.

If you draw on loose paper for this exercise, find a safe place (maybe a folder or a drawer) to put these drawings so you can find them in a couple months after doing all the exercises. If you do them in your sketchbook, put a paperclip around them so you don’t open that page until completing all of the exercises.