LEARNING OBJECTIVES
■ Practise drawing techniques
■ Try different measuring methods
■ How to create form in your work
Representational artists, such as Walter Sickert, believed that drawing should be mastered before moving on to paint, and once said: ‘Any fool can paint, but drawing is the thing, drawing is the test’.
Betty Edwards, in her excellent book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, believes this, too. She thinks developing our perceptual skills is what makes for better drawing. The perception of edges, spaces, relationships, and light and shadow will vastly improve the way we see, and this in turn will improve our drawing.
In theory, I expect these perceptual skills could be learned through painting, but the addition of colour handling and techniques requires attention that could distract us from the basics, which are easily transcribed with no more than pencil and paper. I also suspect we may be seduced by the colour or appearance of a painting, and neglect the scaffold upon which it’s built.