Drawing has become not just a skill, but a meditation device for so many individuals this time and age. What it does is it clears the mind of the individual of what is going on around them and only focusing on what is in front of him or her. Drawing makes the individual focus on one simple task and can de-stress so many people in the process of creating the work. There are many benefits as to what it can do for one's mental health as well as the brain itself.
History of Drawing
The earliest known drawings can be traced back even before Jesus Christ was born. We have to go back as early as in between 30,000 B.C. to around 10,000 B.C. to find the earliest drawings as they were found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. Some other examples of the first drawings ever found and created were scratched as well as carvings or paintings on surfaces. For the Western culture, drawing can be traced back towards the 14th century. If its development was independent, however, it was not insular. Just as the greatest draftspeople have been for the most part also distinguished painters, illustrators, sculptors, or architects, so the centres and the high points of drawing have generally coincided with the leading localities and the major epochs of the other arts. Moreover, the same stylistic phenomena have been expressed in drawing as in other art forms. Drawing started to become an independent form in Italy at first within studio activity where hardly anything would be shown to the public. When the Renaissance era was going on in Italy, the diverging stylistic features of the various artistic regions were particularly evident. What they had in common was an overwhelming importance of the sketch as well as the study in contrast to the far rarer and finished drawings.
As we go into the 17th century however, we get an expansion of drawing from Italy to the Alps and now onto France where Jacques Callot was a true pioneer for how drawing came to be as he was gifted as a draftsman above all, he recorded with the pen his clever inventions and great picture stories, primarily in bold abbreviations. Hercules Seghers was one of the most fascinating artists at the time because of his creation and drawings of etched landscapes that he continued to rework while experimenting with printing processes. From the point of view of technique and form, he was important for the greatest artist of Holland. Seghers combined his work and put more thought into it with some Old Testament beliefs. In his studio, drawing was emphasized as a teaching aid and a means of formal experimentation. Francisco de Goya was one of the biggest drawers of his time in the 18th and 19th centuries where he formed an odd contrast to the court-painter’s pictures, his brush-and-sanguine drawings are rather more closely tied to his cycles of etchings. Also at the turn of the 19th century, Thomas Rowlandson was one of the more colorful drawers where he produced very distinctive watercolours.
Now as history shifts into the modern era, probably the most famous artist/drawer comes into play and that is none other than Pablo Picasso. Drawing occupies a considerable place in the work including all its variants of style and form of Picasso who knew how to make use of its manifold technical possibilities. One is surely justified in calling him one of the greatest drawers of the 20th century and one of the greatest in the history of drawing. Within the 20th century, drawing is represented as international as modern art itself. Since the turn of the 20th century, drawing is more than ever considered an autonomous work of art as well as independent of the other arts. Some schools and individual artists as well have concentrated on drawing and in very individualistic ways.
Strengths of Drawing
Improving Communication Skills
This is what this course is all about, Human Communication in a Technological Age. We are trying to communicate better by doing different projects such as the digital detox where we are without anything electronic for a certain amount of time. Drawing is hand-written and you can communicate very well with the person next to you who is also drawing. If you are just typing like I'm doing right now, then you lose that focus of the people around you.
2. Enhancing Creativity
The ideas we have in our minds only remain in the intangible world of imagination and it is that place where most ideas are in their best forms. By having the opportunity to put them out on a piece of paper, it gives us the chance to see in a clear path and to improve what we envision and to a point, be more creative.
3. Improving Memory
Our memories can depict what can happen in the present and future with communicating towards one another. With drawing, we depict what we see in our imagination and create it into reality. Our thoughts tend to revive themselves which is very healthy for the development of the human brain.
4. Problem Solving Skills
With this, it's not necessarily consisted of what should the next step be for drawing a certain thing or what color pencil should I use for this drawing. It mainly focuses on the entire plan itself to help create the best drawing you can. Painting or drawing may not always be easy every time especially when we plan to improve. However, the good news of this is the desire to solve any of the problems can somewhat be driven by our strong sense of motivation.
5. Reduces Stress
This might be the biggest one as I do deal with stress at times and would like to figure out more things to reduce my stress. Well, turns out that drawing can be a tool to reduce stress not just for me but for every individual. In the moment we are very driven in accomplishing our artistic goals, reasons to be unhappy may easily be forgotten.
Weaknesses of Drawing
Possible waste of time?
I totally understand why people would think of this because drawing is a process that could take a long time to complete and do it right. Drawing may not be for everyone and I totally get that, but when you get used to the process of it, it gets much easier for time and it does not become wasteful.
2. Accuracy
If you are not careful about drawing accurately, you may fall into the habit of drawing poorly. That is making the same drawing mistake over and over and thinking it’s your style or the way your subject is. With this, people will rush through the drawing and it will ultimately lose its value if one does this
3. Slower
While drawing may be fun for a select number of people, a big reason why it is not fun for some people is because of how slow the process can be. Drawing is generally slower than most other mediums. You can’t easily do a wash of value or color like you can with oils or watercolors.
Crawford and skill
So, going back to Matthew Crawford's "The World Beyond Your Head", he mentions in chapter three of his book about the important of skill. Catching a fly ball, hitting a slap shot and cornering a motorcycle are three perfect examples of skills that can achieve greater goals for an individual. With any sport, catching requires a lot hand-eye coordination and every single athlete wants to get better at it no matter what level rank they are at. With this drawing I did, I drew a hockey rink where I intentionally rushed it so that I could see the entire drawing lose its value. When you rush any drawing like I said earlier, you lose the value of it right then and there. A skill that I will admit to that I am not good at when it comes to drawing is drawing circles and how uneven they are compared to the next one. With drawing a hockey rink, there is a lot more to drawing it right than just drawing the center and offside lines as well as the faceoff circles. There is also the goal creases as well as the goal lines along with the hash marks in each attacking zone. Every little detail on that rink can depict of what goes on in a hockey game and when drawing it, if you miss a hash mark or make a line uneven, the value of the drawing decreases immediately.
As for the second drawing that I did of a hockey rink, I went to put in every little detail that I could to my knowledge of making sure every little circle was correct as well as how well done were the hash marks in each attacking zone. As I was drawing my second hockey rink, my goal was to become better at not just drawing the rink, but also drawing little details as possible. As Crawford says in chapter 5 there are many different goals in gambling as well but it more so requires luck than it does within in sports. When playing a slot machine, you are either going to win big or lose and there is no in between. We do not always get what we want, but when we do, we want more and we want to set bigger goals for ourselves. I used that for drawing and every single person can as well. As the term is used by athletes, "You gotta be good to be lucky" you can do this with a lot of different concepts in today's world as well. For drawers, if you get a circle correct on the first try then you feel really good about how the drawing is going to turn out. I did not feel rushed when drawing the rink for the second time as I actually reduced my stress which I talked about earlier as a strength of drawing. I felt very calm when doing this drawing because I had nothing else going on around me and I could just focus on doing the task in front of me.
The Bottom Line
Drawing is a long process by which is takes skill to master and to do well, you have to act well upon doing the task. It is a technique where you take a concept whether it is a person, thing or a place and you outline a sketch of what that object is. There are plenty of ways how you can draw as well. For example, the most classic way of drawing is just by simply using a pencil and paper and that is all you need at times. Drawing does not just take up a pencil and paper, there are many other factors to take in as well when sketching the object an individual is about to draw. For example, layering is a perfect example of how to make the drawing a big success. See, their is a concept of layering in drawing and it refers to the process of starting with a light sketch then slowly building in the dark areas to create shadow. Just like painting with multiple coats. Most artists will use this process to plan out where the elements fit before committing to dark lines which are more difficult to erase.
When drawing, what is not talked about enough are the different shadows that go into each drawing. Their are different types of shading techniques and they are hatching, stippling and tonal sketching. Within drawing and art in general, a value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. So by using these different shading techniques, you can create highlights, shadows and give your drawing depth and form.
Loose sketching for years has become very crucial in terms of creating a good drawing. When those who are drawers and do not know what to draw next, they will simply just free-draw just like what writers do when they think about what to write next. Loose Sketching is an approach to which will give the effect of a more relaxed and effortless style. It’s a useful technique to try, especially if you’re a beginner and only used to trying to achieve precise fine lines. Whether if it is only 5 minutes or an hour, loose sketching can help relieve stress as well and can clear up the mind.
Detail work is very crucial when coming up with a good drawing because like I mentioned earlier of my drawings of the hockey rinks, I wanted to get every little detail possible so that the meaning became clear. For this to work out successfully, you would need to hold your pencil in an odd angle for it to work. The drawer would need to hold the pencil fairly close to the tip for extra precision. Drawing highly detailed work requires careful consideration and it takes time. You’ll find that you get into the flow of drawing details pretty quickly as it’s an enjoyable process.
Being precise when drawing is no doubt a difficult but important task to master as you have to be sharp when drawing the lines and edges of the drawing or else, it will go bad. Drawing precise lines will make an artwork feel neat and precise. To create these lines, try drawing with a harder pencil first, as the lines are light and easy to erase. Then you can go over these lines with a softer pencil. Alternatively, you could create a sketchy appearance with going over a line several times.
So, did I tempt you into becoming not just a drawer in your free time? Go into your office at home or out to your local library even and start drawing! You will feel better!
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