Observational Drawing

Learn How to Draw Your Way

Did you know that by learning observational drawing, you can discover that it is relatively easy to draw pictures of almost anything?  Learning observational drawing involves three steps.  First you have to understand what observational drawing is, then you have to develop your drawing skills, and then you have to put these skills into daily use.  The great news is that all this can be done in about an hour.

What is observational drawing?  According to Dr. Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, observational drawing is the art of drawing what you see and not what you think you see. You see, when we first start to draw, the critical side of our brain attempts to make things as easy as possible.  If you want to draw a tire your brain says, "aw, just draw a circle; that'll be good enough".  But if you really want to draw a real tire you have to shut that part of the brain off long enough to let the creative side of your brain guide you effortlessly through the process.

How can you develop your drawing skills?  For starters, I recommend that you can go to the library and check out Dr. Edward's book. It is quite long but I recommend that you read the chapter on upside down drawing and, at least for now, ignore the rest. The result, I promise, is that you will become a much better artist after having read just that one chapter alone.  Imagine, going from believing that you can't draw anything to drawing one of Pablo Picasso's most famous sketches.  And then, when you have the time, you can explore the remaining chapters of the book and watch in amazement as your drawing skills grow to new heights.

How can you easily put these skills into daily use?  You really have a lot of options here.  You can start a blog like I did and make regular posts of the pictures you've drawn. Or you can post them on Twitter or Facebook or any of the social media sites. You can even make money with your drawings by creating a comic book, a calendar, greeting cards, T shirts, hats, buttons, etc.  I will talk about this in greater detail in future posts.

That's all there really is to it; know what it is, develop your skills through practice, and get out there and show off your new skills.  You'll be very proud of yourself and you will look at the world very differently once you've been able to develop your observational drawing skills.

About the Author  

RC Bonay is an engineer with a passion for writing and drawing. He started reading comic books at an early age and soon discovered he had a flair for telling stories of his own. As he grew, he dreamed of following in the footsteps of comic book legend, Stan Lee. His passion ebbed and his dream faded as it became necessary to pursue a more traditional lifestyle in order to raise his growing family. The dream was rekindled as the youngest of his four children blossomed into young adulthood. 

RC’s vision is best summed up by his mottos; 

“The world would be a better place if we all just learned to draw.” 

“Learn from the best, forget it all, and just write.”