Barrington Barber

“Learning to draw is not difficult – everybody learns to walk, talk, read and write at an early age, and discovering how to draw is easier than any of those processes! Drawing is merely making marks on paper which represent some visual experience. All it takes to draw effectively is the desire to do it, a little persistence, the ability to observe and a willingness to take time to correct any mistakes. This last point is very important as mistakes are not in themselves bad – they are opportunities for improvement, as long as you always put them right so that you will know what to do the next time.”



In “6-Week Drawing Course” by Barrington Barber



Drawing is the foundation of all visual art forms. There is a situation of the lack of visual literacy today as a result of the passive stance taken by those who have images produced with no effort with the pressing of a button or key. They take a passive stance rather than a participatory stance with their surroundings and they rarely get a grasp of how to make tangible ideas with a pencil and paper ... I'm all for drawing it is what I teach and do. Getting students who never spent more than 5 minutes with a drawing medium in their hands is a challenge considering how easy it is for them to appropriate imagery from the internet and use Photoshop as a tool that basically figures it all out for them.

The beauty about being a creative is that one does not see all the culminations of errors, frustrations, and emotional setbacks as critical factors that influence great works of art, which we all are capable of. So we rely on perfection which is just a delusion and another setback to making another piece. The culmination of imperfect and fragile or better yet incomplete thoughts come rushing from the past experiences as bulks of gold that structure one or a few pieces of art that may move others. I think that is hyper special. Then you may walk away from one chapter to the next. I say disconnect and bring your inner treasures to share with the world, you never know how may cry, smile, or shiver before your work of art.

If you're interested in learning to draw, it's a very good idea to start off with some very basic fundamentals. Having a more well-rounded understanding of form, shape, values, texture, etc. will help tremendously when practicing along drawing tutorials such as this one. Doing some simple exercises with more simplified objects will also give your hand some confidence. Making smoother, quicker and more confident marks is the key to making a more convincing drawing.

This is a great book - very helpful. For those that consider drawing the stuff here as to difficult, remember, without practice you will never achieve your goals. Don't be so hard on yourselves! Keep at it. You have to train your mind and hands together so they will work together. The only way we can improve is by practice - learn what isn't right by comparing what you draw with these kind of books. Take a day or so off to rest your mind or draw something else, then go back to it. I promise your drawings will improve. That is how I do it and it works well. Oh, to see your progress, keep your work so you can later lay them side by side to see how you are coming along. You CAN do this if you stick with it, practice, objectively observe, and study! Don't give up now!

It's really sad when you think about how much you grow away from creativity and alternative forms of expression when you're being gorilla-gripped by life and forced to function like a machine for what feels like forever just to realize one day how much you've lost yourself and things that were a part of you.

Some of my stuff:

https://manuelaantao.blogspot.com/2020/02/imperfect-and-fragile-6-week-drawing.h...… (més)