Drawing From Observation (drawing Real Life Objects)

You can draw! One of the most common things I hear when I tell people that I am an art teacher is usually something along the lines of "I can't even draw a stick figure". While that isn't likely, a lot of people believe that they really can't draw, when actually the truth of the matter is they have never been taught how to draw. It is a common misconception that the only good artists are the ones who were birthed with a pencil in their hand and a beret on their head...NOT TRUE! You can learn to draw just like learning to tie your shoes, dribbling a basketball or playing a musical instrument. The more you practice and pursue it, the better you get...but I promise you can do it.

In this instructable I am going to share some tips that I give my students to help jump start them in their ability to draw from real life, and remember, "Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle..." - Jon Acuff.

If you can close one eye, hold up the pointer finger of your dominant hand and trace (in the air) an actual object that is in the room with you...guess what? YOU CAN DRAW!

The concept of this simple exercise is so easy, you may feel a bit silly holding your finger out and "air tracing" something. BUT, it is the same kind of "tracing" that your eye needs to do when you are drawing from observation. When you air trace you are actually taking the information that you see in front of you and transforming it from a 3-Dimensional object, to a 2-Dimensional flat plane.

I got this particular nugget of wisdom when I was student teaching back in the year 2000 (I'm old!) from one of my professors at The Ohio State University, the late Dr. Sam Short.

Many of you have had enough experience on a computer to know that often times when you make a selection around an object you get the moving/marching/dancing ants that form an outline around your selection. If you force your eye to move around the object you are drawing as closely as the marching ants move around the digital selection then you are halfway there. The next step is to transfer the path of the marching ants from your eye to your paper with your pencil.

IF YOU CAN'T SEE IT, don't try to draw it! Many times we are not able to see every part of the object(s) we are drawing. For example, if you are drawing a chair and it is at an angle in which you can only see three of the legs...for goodness sake ONLY draw three legs. This is the moment in which your brain screams, "WAIT A MINUTE...chairs have four legs, if you only draw three it will be wrong." BE STRONG, resist the suggestion from your brain to add or INVENT any parts or pieces. When you begin to invent such things your drawing will become guesswork versus drawing from observation and THAT is when awkward and strange things begin to happen in a drawing.

Drawing is just like any other "muscle memory" skill, i.e. shooting a basketball, playing an instrument, etc. The more your hand and eye get used to working together in this way, the more comfortable and successful you will become with the process of making drawings from observation.