A Great Big 10 Minute Drawing Lesson

Good prepwork makes good art. Taking 20 seconds to do a value sketch before you do an actual sketch or drawing can tell you which shapes are going to be hard for you, demonstrate if there are problem areas with your reference, help you decide how to change things, and help you figure out how you’re going to place the final object on the page.

1. Break your reference image (from life or photo) into three values. Dark, midtone, light. No more! Only 3!* Squint to see them.

2. Put the darks down. Not sure if it’s dark or not? Round everything to the closest value. ONLY 3, PEOPLE.

3. Add the midtones.

4. Leave the lights (or introduce them if you’re working on colored paper).

5. Remember that your background choices shape your foreground and are as important a decision as the subject.

6. Draw what you see, not what you know is there. (i.e. artists often find noses difficult, because they draw a nose. Draw the three values, and a nose will appear)

7. Be Rembrandt.

A value study can be done with a Sharpie on a receipt or the back of your hand. 20 seconds. It’s only  your worksheet, so it doesn’t matter how ugly or wrong it is — no one’s gonna see it unless you post it on your tumblr with numbers photoshopped over it.

20 seconds. I swear I’m giving you the keys to the universe here. Don’t crash it.

20 second value study –> 30 second line study —> 20 minute drawing****

* If it doesn’t make sense in three values, it’s not the greatest composition/ reference. FIND A NEW REFERENCE**

**grossly oversimplified***

***we only have 10 minutes here

****the more involved my final work is going to be, the more prep work I’m going to do. It’ll save me time in the long run and keep me from doing stupid things in the final

GO FORTH AND FILL TUMBLR WITH ART FAREWELL FAREWELL