Learning to Watch before Learning to Draw

Most people think drawing has to do with hand control, but the real challenge is perception. The hand follows the eye, and it cannot release its burden on paper until the charging eye has learned to look. No talent, however skilled to the eye, will escape this vicious visual criticism unless completely trained in Observation.

To learn to see is to understand what is in front of us, not simply what we expect to be there. Novices usually lean on icons and recall instead of observation, and this turns images into two-dimension or deformed pictures. Growing visual awareness is the cure for this, it breaks this habit and replaces it with a conscious consideration of form, proportion and spacial relationships.

It takes time and patience for this shift in perception to become possible. Such exercises teach the brain to take in visual information more slowly and objectively, by targeting slow observation overall and simplified forms as well as comparison. It may not seem like much at first, but these miniscule changes eventually add up to a HUGE difference in accuracy and confidence.

As observation gets better, drawing becomes faster. And we fall into correct mistakes instead of making structures by intention. Every line is there for a reason, and every decision falls on the side of letting you know what you’re seeing, not relying on what you remember.

Artists train that innate sense before they worry about technique. This flexibility gives them an ability to study every subject matter and topic with clear direction, ease of adapting and the greater comprehension of visual reality.