When I teach art, I learn from my students. This is one of the biggest rewards for being a teacher. I am teaching a beginners drawing class at the local college, and I have a very good class, very enthusiastic, an interested bunch of adult learners. We have been together for four weeks now, and I am happy with their progress. They are all doing quite well.
I am beginning to realize from seeing them draw in class, that one of the hardest lessons for them to learn is to draw often, relax and have fun. I put that on the blackboard, I tell them several times in class, and yet when I give them an in-class drawing assignment to do what do I see? They hunch over their paper, they grip their pencil like they are going to write, they get deadly serious, and start drawing. When I approach them to look at their work, they start apologizing, or try to hide it. Their work is good, but I can see the tension in their lines, in their shading.
This has been a great lesson I have been given by my students. Up until a few years ago, this would have been me as well. I had been drawing for decades, but still had not learned how to relax and enjoy.
I am not sure where this approach to drawing comes from, but it seems to be ingrained into us all. I wonder if it was not built into us in our early formative years learning to write. As a child, we had to develop small muscle control for writing. We started with big pencils and big letters, and as we gained control, our letters and pencils got smaller. It was all about learning control, and we had to concentrate hard because we were getting graded, and it was important to Mom and Dad. We took it very serious, even for young children.
Somehow, this same grip on the pencil, and this same attitude of serious, hard effort seems to transfer to our early efforts at art. Maybe because by now this approach feels natural and familiar. Any way, this whole complex of feelings, and motor skills move immediately into our art.
I can remember as an early student of art, how I noticed the relaxed, sure and big motions with which the art teachers drew. I wanted to draw like them, so I redoubled my serious attitude, hunched more over my paper, and gripped my pencil tighter. Isn't this the way I learned to write better? The problem was that doing that did not achieve what I wanted to in my drawing.
The second contributor toward this get serious and draw attitude was that I did not draw enough. Whenever I would sit down to draw, I was bound and determined that the drawings I did were going to be the best drawings I had done yet in my life, and definitely something to frame and put up in the local art gallery. After all, if I only drew for five hours a month, I had to make the most of the time didn't I? No time to waste playing, doing drawings to learn from, or worse, drawings that would not make Mom's refrigerator door.
Thank God, I have reached a stage in my drawing where most of what I do is play or for learning. I realize now that eight or nine out of ten drawings are not going to be my best, and that the vast majority are needed to learn the skills to produce the really good ones I do. Do I still do "serious" drawings? Yes, I do, but some of my very best are play ones that spontaneously appeared on the paper, and these often have more feeling and energy than my "serious" ones. These spontaneous ones are a real joy and surprise. They are the true gift of lots and lots of practice drawings. The "serious" ones are more carefully planned, carefully executed, and appeal to my organized brain and are very satisfying in their own way. I need both to feel fulfilled as an artist.
Now, I draw at least once, and some days, several times a day. I draw to work out problems, to learn, to play, to experiment, to create, and sometimes just to draw. With all this drawing, I have time to copy masters and learn what they have to teach through their drawings, I have time to make mistakes and learn how to do better, I have time to draw a thumbnail, a value study, experiment with composition, and then take a shot at the final finished drawing.
There is no substitute for drawing, relaxing and enjoying the process.
This is the hardest lesson for me to teach my students -- draw as much as you can, relax and enjoy. The more you draw, the faster you become better. Draw enough, and it becomes part of your life.
I am beginning to realize from seeing them draw in class, that one of the hardest lessons for them to learn is to draw often, relax and have fun. I put that on the blackboard, I tell them several times in class, and yet when I give them an in-class drawing assignment to do what do I see? They hunch over their paper, they grip their pencil like they are going to write, they get deadly serious, and start drawing. When I approach them to look at their work, they start apologizing, or try to hide it. Their work is good, but I can see the tension in their lines, in their shading.
This has been a great lesson I have been given by my students. Up until a few years ago, this would have been me as well. I had been drawing for decades, but still had not learned how to relax and enjoy.
I am not sure where this approach to drawing comes from, but it seems to be ingrained into us all. I wonder if it was not built into us in our early formative years learning to write. As a child, we had to develop small muscle control for writing. We started with big pencils and big letters, and as we gained control, our letters and pencils got smaller. It was all about learning control, and we had to concentrate hard because we were getting graded, and it was important to Mom and Dad. We took it very serious, even for young children.
Somehow, this same grip on the pencil, and this same attitude of serious, hard effort seems to transfer to our early efforts at art. Maybe because by now this approach feels natural and familiar. Any way, this whole complex of feelings, and motor skills move immediately into our art.
I can remember as an early student of art, how I noticed the relaxed, sure and big motions with which the art teachers drew. I wanted to draw like them, so I redoubled my serious attitude, hunched more over my paper, and gripped my pencil tighter. Isn't this the way I learned to write better? The problem was that doing that did not achieve what I wanted to in my drawing.
The second contributor toward this get serious and draw attitude was that I did not draw enough. Whenever I would sit down to draw, I was bound and determined that the drawings I did were going to be the best drawings I had done yet in my life, and definitely something to frame and put up in the local art gallery. After all, if I only drew for five hours a month, I had to make the most of the time didn't I? No time to waste playing, doing drawings to learn from, or worse, drawings that would not make Mom's refrigerator door.
Thank God, I have reached a stage in my drawing where most of what I do is play or for learning. I realize now that eight or nine out of ten drawings are not going to be my best, and that the vast majority are needed to learn the skills to produce the really good ones I do. Do I still do "serious" drawings? Yes, I do, but some of my very best are play ones that spontaneously appeared on the paper, and these often have more feeling and energy than my "serious" ones. These spontaneous ones are a real joy and surprise. They are the true gift of lots and lots of practice drawings. The "serious" ones are more carefully planned, carefully executed, and appeal to my organized brain and are very satisfying in their own way. I need both to feel fulfilled as an artist.
Now, I draw at least once, and some days, several times a day. I draw to work out problems, to learn, to play, to experiment, to create, and sometimes just to draw. With all this drawing, I have time to copy masters and learn what they have to teach through their drawings, I have time to make mistakes and learn how to do better, I have time to draw a thumbnail, a value study, experiment with composition, and then take a shot at the final finished drawing.
There is no substitute for drawing, relaxing and enjoying the process.
This is the hardest lesson for me to teach my students -- draw as much as you can, relax and enjoy. The more you draw, the faster you become better. Draw enough, and it becomes part of your life.
Great stuff. I found your site and blog after finding your name on the Camosun College website as a drawing instructor. I like your approach... and just might see you in class!
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