Benefits of drawing from life.
The sphere still-life exercise below is designed to aid artists to understand how light interacts with the geometrical solid to create form. My task, therefore, was to visually represent the form by drawing from life.
What are the benefits of drawing from life?
Here are a few takeaways/lessons from my experience:
1. The ability to draw without depending on your reference
I believe most artists started their artistic journey using references to drawing their favourite cartoon character, this was particularly the case for me. While this is fine in the beginning, we seldom deviate from the framework of using references as our art career develops. Eventually, you find yourself starting to match values, making marks haphazardly, and even in some cases replicating errors within the reference, taking away the thought and decision-making process throughout the creation of the artwork.
While there are benefits to utilising references, I am aware that being overly dependent on a reference can lead to negative habits. The artist, therefore, should aim to find a balance between working with references and drawing from life.
2. Problem-Solving
Every masterpiece began with a simple stroke or gesture. Similarly, most complex compositions and subject matters can be simplified into basic or simple geometric forms. One of the major challenges of creating art is creating a three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional surface. Having the physical subject in front of you during s still-life affords the artist the opportunity to see the volume of the form, and how the light effect changes as the form turns in space. It’s not always easy to interpret what you are seeing when drawing from life. Which value is darker? why is that value darker, how can I make the subject the focus? These are questions that arose and had to be answered.
3. Improved Observation skills
Looking is easy, however, seeing is much more difficult. When initially viewing the subject, in this case, a sphere, we see a three-dimensional geometric form. In order to replicate what you are viewing; it is important to understand what you’re seeing and why it appears the way it does. Drawing from life aids in this regard, as it improves the artist’s observation skills, forcing them to think about the underlying structure of the form, the shadow and light shapes, and other elements, such as form shadows, attached shadow accents, angles and proportion. Understanding what you are seeing ultimately allows for more confident mark-making and execution.
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