Getting Back Into Drawing
I'm starting this blog with an 'accountability' post about my recent efforts to pick up some drawing skills. Up until my teens I considered my self 'good' at art, without really had any serious training past GCSE art lessons and the fact that I drew a lot when I was young. 30 or so years on and I realised that while I find drawing intuitive, I am not good at it. And that's not me looking for a 'noooo you're good'. I know that I'm not really a good drawer compared to anybody that continued to study passed their mid-teens.
So I'm starting again, determined that I can catch up, or at least get good enough that I won't be embarrased taking a sketch book out in public.
Proko (Courses)
I'm working through the Proko (https://www.proko.com) 'Drawing Basics' course. So far so good, and I think if I can stick with this then I'll see a significant improvement in skill, because the course content seems great so far and there's a lot of lessons in there.
Seeing Where I Am
Ahead of starting the course, having seen a couple of the Proko Youtube videos, I had a go at drawing from this reference photograph, with an emphasis on values.
Drawing (Graphite Pencil):
Reference Drawing (From Pinterest):
Proko Projects
The first practical project in the Proko Drawing Basics course had me 'simplifying' values from reference photographs:
Simplifying Values - Pears
Drawings:
Reference:
Simplifying Values - Portrait
Drawings:
Reference:
In Summary
So that's where I am. These relatively simple projects were much more challenging that expected, and it shows in the results, though I can see many of the issues I think, and repeat attempts showed improvement. Importantly, I have enjoyed the process so far and intend to keep going.