Art Korner - Learning to draw 1

The first drawing assignment I had to do as homework that I can remember now was given by my Science teacher at third standard... To draw three different birds in their three different kinds of nests! Though I still remember and like the teacher very much, at this instant I cannot help thinking how tortuous this must have been to an eight-year old child who had neither good training nor the inclination towards drawing! Well, as in other homes, the dad took over to help the kid complete the homework :)

More morose situations arose with similar and increasingly complex 'homework' being given as the kid advanced in age.. But with no special increment in the talent or the interest towards the art.. I remember taking enormous amounts of time to complete my record work. I'd simply do all the writing stuff quickly and proceed to the more painful part later.. Usually reserved to be done on Sunday evenings while watching the weekly movie :) My work just scraped through to make an average grading regards the drawings.

Who knew that more torture was in store in Engineering Drawing classes as the kid joined BE?! The teachers would come week after week and demonstrate on drawing different perspectives and those students without any clue of what was being talked about (there were many, I know) just had to follow and copy the same steps that the teacher did.. Again, assignments were given and completed after a lot of huffing, puffing and bending over the tools.. Somehow, my end products always seemed distorted.. like the strangled forms of the pretty ones my friends drew :) But I must say, it felt pretty good to carry that chart-holder and T-square around while travelling to and fro college.. It gave us a respectable recognition as Engineering students just like a white coat does to medical undergrads.. Imagine my chagrin when one day, a lady on the crowded bus asked me to remove the 'flask' I was carrying so she could have a li'l more space!

The first ever time somebody managed to kindle my interest towards drawing and painting was a Tibetan arts teacher at the Civil Services Training Academy. He'd simply let us play with our colours (well, with the basic framework of a picture of our choice to begin with) and would gently come towards the end, rescuing our 'paintings' with very simple strokes.. A flourish here, a dab of colour there, and a bit of rubbing out with the hand elsewhere.. And we'd watch awestruck as the basic tenets of shadow and light play was unveiled to us!

I took some spare canvas and paints with me to my places of posting and when boredom struck and I was in a mood to dabble with colour, I'd try to do what the teacher taught us to.. To play in abandon with hues, tints, shadows and light.. Well, I am very much a beginner even now but the initiation has definitely begun, I must say :)

To aid my art education (read, seeing my humble efforts to draw something decently good), V bought me a book titled 'How to Draw What You See' by Rudy De Reyna. The book is entirely in black and white and deals with the basic principles of drawing and more importantly, observation...

I'm currently learning about eye level, orientation and perspectives.. Also, breaking down a complex object into more manageable cubes, cones, spheres and cylinders. Wow, how simple to pick up! If somebody can teach ME how to draw just through their writing and illustration, the book must be really good indeed :)

Here's what I began to try out after the initial scribbling (read practice) :

Began with simple rectangular/cuboidal shapes like these:

Moving on to more complex daily objects like this bookshelf

And also, to draw our room (sticking to the title of the book :))

Well, The panels on the door do appear a bit funny but I like the outcome apart from that. I want to show you the actual room too, so u can believe me :)

 

Exciting, right? And that too when I have gone through and practised along with only the first couple of chapters... Am slowly learning more about the other three basic forms (sphere, cone and cylinder) and creating light and shadow effects to give a 3D look.. So, more of my pics coming soon...