“How do you learn to stop looking to or copying photos for reference, especially when you are trying to draw something that you cannot see in real life that much, like a wild animal? Do you still use photos and just not copy them, but use them to gain a general idea of the subject?”
I’m going to begin by saying that Drawing Academy is awesome, and I’m really interested in taking the courses. Thank you so much for what you are doing. You guys are some of the best artists I have ever seen :) I’m so happy that I came across this website.
I was reading what Vladimir London said about how to get the most out of a life-drawing classes
https://drawingacademy.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-a-life-drawing-class
Draw what you know vs. draw what you see? It seems that if you are drawing a tree, you know there are leaves, but that is not what you see unless you are very close. So why would you draw what you know? As example, I know skull anatomy, but other than as general background help, I feel like I should draw the face I see. So why is the skull knowledge so critical to drawing that face?
Hello, my name is Angelos. I am interested to enroll in the Drawing Academy Course with the three monthly installments, but I have the following questions.
1. I have a day job (full time), and I would like to know if I can complete the course, even if it takes me more than three months.
2. As I understand it “Lifetime membership. Free after the 3rd month” means that I can review the lessons as often as I need to complete them.
3. “Personal coaching by Drawing Academy Tutors” – does it mean that I will have it until I finish the course, even if it takes me more than three months?
4. With the completion of the course, will I get my diploma even if it takes me more than three months to finish it?
I look forward to hearing from you soon,
Angelos T. Zois.
Please, I need your guidance on how and what to start doing (exercises and steps) to train myself to develop a photographic memory over time as an artist just starting out on the journey – visualizing images and memories and drawing them when I have no model or life reference.
Hi Vladimir,
I have been working with portrait drawing. I can end up with a decent drawing, but I am having a very difficult time with measuring the proportions at the beginning. I follow the steps and the basic 1/2, 1/3 measurements, etc., as outlined and shown in the Drawing Academy videos, but somewhere along the way, something goes awry.
I seem to get lost in the process, and proportions get a bit off. One eye might be farther over than it should be, or the side of the head on a slightly turned head isn’t wide enough, etc. I took me about two hours for a head size of about five inches. It’s rather frustrating.
How can I measure out a model’s features and proportions more accurately and with greater ease?
What can I do to make this process easier and more accurate right from the beginning?
Thanks,
Marianne
I am having difficulty with a life-drawing portrait. If it is a picture, I can draw, but if it is life, I am having problems. It is not working well. Please advise me what to do to enhance my skills in life-drawing portraits.
Hi,
I’m planning to attend a figure-drawing class locally. Do you have any advice on how to get the most out of it, how to maximize my learning? I’m going to study anatomy – again. I have studied it twice but never put it to practice and forgot most of it. I was thinking of tackling human body parts separately, studying the anatomy of the hand and/or arm, for instance, by reading on it and doing drawings of the bones and muscles, and then concentrating on drawing just that for maybe a couple of lessons. (There are about 30 lessons total.) Is that a good idea? What would you recommend? Should I concentrate on proportion first?
I’m a young, eager male, seeking knowledge of art to become a good artist, I’m a perfectionist. So I have a motto in my life – Do it right or don’t do it.
Here’s my question:
“How to make a drawing epic and appealing?“
Question from David “I can’t seem to be able to draw accurately from memory or life. I can copy a picture, though. Is it a mental block, or have I taught myself the wrong way by copying photos?” Feedback from Vladimir London, Drawing Academy tutor Dear David, Many thanks for your question. Copying a picture requires very different skills than those needed when drawing from life or imagination. When copying, the following skills are not needed and are therefore not developed: choosing a type of perspective that suits the best for a particular case to minimize distortions using linear perspective to establish the spatial relationship between objects using aerial perspective to give depth using rules of foreshortening to depict planes that are parallel or oblique to viewer’s line of sight constructing objects in drawing as if they were transparent to…