Nov 8,1999 Nov 3, 2024 Michio Wakamatsu
Go to Table of Contents for Botanical Illustrations Go to HomeAnyone can draw realistic pictures. All you have to do is switch the way you think to look carefully and draw.
Below are some exercises to switch the state of your mind when drawing from an abstract state to a state where you look at the subject more concretely. Try them one by one.
（１）Vase = Drawing the upper half of a woman
Use the outline of the silhouette of a woman's upper body to draw the left side of the vase. Next, draw a symmetrical line for the right side of the vase to complete the vase.
When you drew the left half, you probably drew the shapes that you remember as symbols for the body parts, saying the names of each part one by one: this is the neck, this is the shoulder, this is the arm. This is the conceptual way of drawing.
Next, how did you draw the right half? This time, the left half is already done, and you need to look at it and draw it exactly symmetrically, so if you draw it using symbols, it won't work. Look closely at the shape on the left, and without thinking about whether it's the shoulder or the arm, you try to move your pencil accurately along it, observing the specific shape of the curve, the slope, and how close it is to the center. Remember the state of your mind at that time. Did you notice that the words disappeared and you were in a quiet state where you were specifically following the shape of the line? This is the state of drawing by looking closely. Remember this state, and try to switch your mind to this state whenever you draw a picture.
（２）Copying an inverted figure
Copy a realistically drawn complex line drawing of a figure. First, place one in the normal position, then place the example upside down and copy another one. Comparing your two copies, the inverted one is much more realistic. What is going on inside your mind when you draw it upside down? Instead of thinking of the name of each part, you would have tried to accurately trace the length, shape and angle of the lines drawn there. This is the state of looking carefully and drawing.
（３） Drawing the outline of the palm
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Without looking at the hand holding the pencil or the picture you are drawing, sketch the other hand. Set an alarm for about 10 minutes, and draw carefully without any interruptions so you can concentrate. Draw as follows. Place your viewpoint at a point on the outline of the palm, for example somewhere in the lower left, and then move your viewpoint slowly clockwise along the outline, moving the pencil along with it. Try to trace the outline of the hand accurately without thinking about whether you are drawing the joints or the nails. Don't worry if the drawn shape is different from the shape of the hand. You will be surprised at how the lines of the finished picture look more realistic in places than you have ever seen before. What was going through your mind at this point? This is the state of looking carefully and drawing.
（４）Draw the palm
This time, while looking at the picture from time to time, draw your own hand in the same way. This time, draw a realistic hand, paying attention to correctly copying the overall shape, but be careful to have the same mental state as when you drew the outline in (3). From now on, whenever you draw a realistic sketch, you should draw it with this mental state in mind.
（５） Draw the negative space
It may be difficult to understand what negative space is, but you may have done this method unconsciously. Choose a subject and sketch it according to the following explanation.
When you can say the name of the thing you are sketching, you tend to have a bad habit of trying to draw it by bringing in a symbol that comes to mind from the name. For example, if you are drawing glasses, you might try to draw the symbol of glasses, two circles lined up like lenses seen from the front, but the glasses you actually see are an oval seen from an angle or a line seen from the side, so if you draw a symbol, it will fail as a realistic sketch. In order to avoid having to remember the symbol in your head, instead of looking at the outline of the glasses, look at the shape of the space without the glasses (negative space, A-D in the diagram on the right) and draw. The negative space cannot be named or symbolized, so conceptual drawing does not work well. Therefore, you must look closely and draw faithfully to the shape you see.
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An example of drawing a grove of trees in a negative space |
（６）Drawing with the help of a grid frame
Look at the object you want to draw through a grid frame, draw the same grid on paper, and draw while paying attention to the relationship between the outline of the object and the lines of the grid. The way you look at it in the negative space will also come into play. With the help of the grid in this way, you can accurately copy the shape of the object. This is the same method you use when enlarging or reducing a map and drawing it on a separate piece of paper.
（７）Use a pencil as a ruler to estimate by eye/B>
Read this section and the next section (8) before drawing a portrait from the neck up.
One of the reasons why a sketch may not be realistic is when the proportions of each part are not properly reproduced. Use a pencil as a ruler to estimate and draw with the correct proportions.
（８）Draw a portrait by estimating with a few points in mind
Everyone's face has roughly the same proportions. The position of the eyes is exactly in the middle from the top of the head to the tip of the chin, and the length from the inner corner of the eye to the outer corner of the eye is roughly the same as the distance between the inner corners of the eyes. When looking at the face from the side, the length from the eye to the tip of the chin and the length from the outer corner of the eye to the back of the earlobe are also roughly the same. If you keep these points in mind, you can avoid mistakes that make a sketch of a person's face unrealistic. Of course, the premise is that you draw it as realistically as you see it. If you can draw a person's face realistically in this way, you will have a lot of confidence in your ability to draw realistic pictures.
A little extra...the relationship between being able to draw realistic pictures and artists
Anyone can learn to write simple sentences and letters through school education, but it is obvious that only a very small number of them can become novelists. Similarly, anyone can learn to draw realistic pictures, but not everyone can become a painter. Are you disappointed by this obvious conclusion? If so, isn't it because of the mistaken belief that "the ability to draw is a special talent that you are born with"? With the exception of those who have accidentally experienced the state of drawing by looking closely, without being properly taught how to draw realistically as explained here, everyone seems to think that "I have no talent."
I think that everyone who has read this article now understands that you don't need special talent to just draw realistically. However, as for whether you can succeed as a painter beyond that, there are many other issues and it is not easy. Just like with novelists and other artists, it is not easy to say whether you have "talent" or not. But if you realize that you too can draw realistically, you will gain confidence, find joy in drawing, and your life will become much more enjoyable.
*>At the beginning of my "Introduction to Botanical Illustration," I wrote that it is important to "draw what you see, not what you imagine." Some people have said, "I tried to draw what I see, but it wasn't realistic. Why?" In fact, the key is "how you see." However, the content would be too long to add to the resume of "Introduction to Botanical Illustration," and it is not an issue that is limited to botanical illustration. For these reasons, I have written this article as a separate text.
In addition, while writing this article, I read "Drawing with the Right Side of Your Brain" by B. Edwards, published by Marl, which helped me organize and clearly recognize the things I had been vaguely thinking about and doing unconsciously. I have tried to write about these things concisely in my own words.