The Natural Way to Draw

Kimon Nicolaïdes

Description

The Natural Way to Draw - A Working Plan for Art Study contains a classic guide to drawing people, offering instructions and tips for drawing different poses and body types.

It is split into sixty-four easy exercises covering such subjects as:

- Contour and Gesture

- The Study of Drapery

- Light and Shade

- Studies of Structure

- Analysis through Design

- Exercises in Black and White Oil Colour

With simple, step-by-step instructions and many helpful diagrams, this is a book that will be of considerable utility to anyone wishing to learn how to draw.

Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on illustration.

How to Use this Book

Section 1. Contour and Gesture

Section 2. The Comprehension of Gesture

Section 3. Weight and the Modelled Drawing

Section 4. Memory and Other Quick Studies

Section 5. The Modelled Drawing in Ink - The Daily Composition

Section 6. The Modelled Drawing in Water Color - Right-Angle Study

Section 7. Emphasis on Contour - The Head

Section 8. Special Form Studies

Section 9. An Approach to the Subject of Technique

Section 10. The Simple Proportions - Effort

Section 11. The Study of Drapery

Section 12. The Figure with Drapery - The Subjective Impulse

Section 13. The Sustained Study

Section 14. Light and Shade

Section 15. An Approach to the Study of Anatomy

Section 16. The Long Composition

Section 17. Exercises in Black and White Crayon

Section 18. Studies of Structure

Section 19. Analysis through Design

Section 20. Study from Reproductions

Section 21. The Muscles

Section 22. Exercises in Black and White Oil Color

Section 23. Analysis Through Design - Continued

Section 24. The Subjective Element

Section 25. An Approach to the Use of Color

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Dessin
• Art Plastique
• Arts plastiques
• Techniques
• Drawing
• Art

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781473387393
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

The Natural Way
to Draw
A WORKING PLAN FOR ART STUDY
BY
Kimon Nicola des
Kimon Nicola des
Contents
How to Use This Book
Section 1. Contour and Gesture
EXERCISE 1: CONTOUR DRAWING
EXERCISE 2: GESTURE DRAWING
EXERCISE 3: CROSS CONTOURS
Section 2. The Comprehension of Gesture
EXERCISE 4: POTENTIAL GESTURE
EXERCISE 5: THE FLASH POSE
Section 3. Weight and the Modelled Drawing
EXERCISE 6: WEIGHT
EXERCISE 7: THE MODELLED DRAWING
Section 4. Memory and Other Quick Studies
EXERCISE 8: MEMORY DRAWING
EXERCISE 9: MOVING ACTION
EXERCISE 10: DESCRIPTIVE POSES
EXERCISE 11: REVERSE POSES
EXERCISE 12: GROUP POSES
Section 5. The Modelled Drawing in Ink - The Daily Composition
EXERCISE 13: THE MODELLED DRAWING IN INK
EXERCISE 14: THE DAILY COMPOSITION
Section 6. The Modelled Drawing in Water Color - Right-Angle Study
EXERCISE 15: THE MODELLED DRAWING IN WATER COLOR
EXERCISE 16: RIGHT-ANGLE STUDY
Section 7. Emphasis on Contour - The Head
EXERCISE 17: THE FIVE-HOUR CONTOUR
EXERCISE 18: QUICK CONTOUR
EXERCISE 19: THE HEAD
EXERCISE 20: THE GESTURE OF THE FEATURES
EXERCISE 21: RIGHT-ANGLE CONTOURS
Section 8. Special Form Studies
EXERCISE 22: PART OF THE FORM
EXERCISE 23: TEN-MINUTE FORM STUDIES
Section 9. An Approach to the Subject of Technique
EXERCISE 24: THE MODELLED DRAWING IN INK - continued
EXERCISE 25: BACK TO THE MODEL
Section 10. The Simple Proportions - Effort
EXERCISE 26: THE MODELLED DRAWING IN WATER COLOR - continued
Section 11. The Study of Drapery
EXERCISE 27: QUICK STUDIES OF DRAPERY
EXERCISE 28: LONG STUDY OF DRAPERY
Section 12. The Figure with Drapery - The Subjective Impulse
EXERCISE 29: THE FIGURE WITH DRAPERY
EXERCISE 30: THE DAILY COMPOSITION - continued
Section 13. The Sustained Study
EXERCISE 31: THE EXTENDED GESTURE STUDY
EXERCISE 32: THE SUSTAINED STUDY
Section 14. Light and Shade
Section 15. An Approach to the Study of Anatomy
EXERCISE 33: STUDY OF THE BONES
Section 16. The Long Composition
EXERCISE 34: THE LONG COMPOSITION
Section 17. Exercises in Black and White Crayon
EXERCISE 35: THE SUSTAINED STUDY IN CRAYON
EXERCISE 36: GESTURE IN BLACK AND WHITE
EXERCISE 37: DRAPERY IN BLACK AND WHITE
Section 18. Studies of Structure
EXERCISE 38: GESTURE STUDIES OF ANATOMY
EXERCISE 39: HAND AND ARM
EXERCISE 40: THE SHOULDER GIRDLE
EXERCISE 41: LEG AND KNEE
EXERCISE 42: THE FOOT
EXERCISE 43: THE EYE
EXERCISE 44: THE EAR
Section 19. Analysis Through Design
EXERCISE 45: CONTRASTING LINES
EXERCISE 46: STRAIGHT AND CURVED LINES
Section 20. Study from Reproductions
EXERCISE 47: COMPOSITION FROM REPRODUCTIONS
EXERCISE 48: ANATOMY FROM REPRODUCTIONS
EXERCISE 49: ANALYSIS OF REPRODUCTIONS
Section 21. The Muscles
EXERCISE 50: STUDY OF THE MUSCLES
Section 22. Exercises in Black and White Oil Color
EXERCISE 51: SUSTAINED STUDY IN OIL COLOR
EXERCISE 52: GESTURE DRAWING IN OIL
EXERCISE 53: HALF-HOUR STUDY IN OIL
Section 23. Analysis Through Design - continued
EXERCISE 54: THE PREDOMINATING SHAPE
EXERCISE 55: MODELLING THE STRAIGHT AND CURVE
EXERCISE 56: STRAIGHT AND CURVE IN FRAMES
Section 24. The Subjective Element
EXERCISE 57: THE SUBJECTIVE STUDY
Section 25. An Approach to the Use of Color
EXERCISE 58: GESTURE ON COLORED PAPER
EXERCISE 59: STRAIGHT AND CURVE IN COLOR
EXERCISE 60: THE SUBJECTIVE STUDY - continued
EXERCISE 61: THE SUSTAINED STUDY IN OIL (VARIATIONS)
EXERCISE 62: THE SUSTAINED STUDY IN OIL - continued
EXERCISE 63: FULL COLOR
EXERCISE 64: ARBITRARY COLOR
Introduction
T HE impulse to draw is as natural as the impulse to talk. As a rule, we learn to talk through a simple process of practice, making plenty of mistakes when we are two and three and four years old - but without this first effort at understanding and talking it would be foolish to attempt to study grammar or composition. It is this vital preparation, this first mouthing of the words which mean actual things, that parallels the effort a student should make during the first years of his art study.
There is only one right way to learn to draw and that is a perfectly natural way. It has nothing to do with artifice or technique. It has nothing to do with aesthetics or conception. It has only to do with the act of correct observation, and by that I mean a physical contact with all sorts of objects through all the senses. If a student misses this step and does not practice it for at least his first five years, he has wasted most of his time and must necessarily go back and begin all over again.
The job of the teacher, as I see it, is to teach students, not how to draw, but how to learn to draw. They must acquire some real method of finding out facts for themselves lest they be limited for the rest of their lives to facts the instructor relates. They must discover something of the true nature of artistic creation - of the hidden processes by which inspiration works.
The knowledge - what is to be known about art - is common property. It is in many books. What the teacher can do is to point out the road that leads to accomplishment and try to persuade his students to take that road. This cannot be a matter of mere formula.
My whole method consists of enabling students to have an experience. I try to plan for them things to do, things to think about, contacts to make. When they have had that experience well and deeply, it is possible to point out what it is and why it has brought these results.
The real laws of art, the basic laws, are few. These basic laws are the laws of nature. They existed even before the first drawing was made.
Through constant effort, patient groping, bit by bit, certain rules have been established relating to the technique of picture making. These rules are the result of man s ability to relate the laws of balance, which he has found in nature, to the business of making a picture. But in the beginning it is not necessary to worry about them. In the beginning these rules and their application will remain a mystery no matter what one does about it.
Man can make only the rules. He cannot make the laws, which are the laws of nature. It is an understanding of these laws that enables a student to draw. His difficulty will never be a lack of ability to draw, but lack of understanding.
Art should be concerned more with life than with art. When we use numbers we are using symbols, and it is only when we transfer them to life that they become actualities. The same is true with rules of drawing and painting. They are to be learned, not as rules, but as actualities. Then the rules become appropriate.
To understand theories is not enough. Much practice is necessary, and the exercises in this book have been designed to give that practice.
K IMON N ICOLA DES
The Natural Way to Draw
A WORKING PLAN FOR ART STUDY
How to Use This Book
T HIS book was written to be used. It is not meant simply to be read any more than you would sit down to read through an arithmetic book without any attempt to work out the problems it describes.
I assume that you are about to embark on a year of art study, and I plan to teach you as nearly as possible just what you would have learned if you had spent a year in one of my classes at the Art Students League. I do not care who you are, what you can do, or where you have studied if you have studied at all. I am concerned only with showing you some things which I believe will help you to draw. My interest in this subject is a practical one, for my efforts consist in trying to develop artists.
The students who have come to my actual classes have been people of vastly differing experience, taste, background, and accomplishments. Some had studied a great deal, some not at all. Many were teachers themselves. I always ask them, as I am going to ask you, to approach these exercises from the beginning, exactly as if you were a beginner, whatever your preparation may have been. I believe that the reason for this will become apparent as you work. Each exercise develops from preceding ones, and it is conceivable that if you opened this book anywhere other than at the beginning you would be misdirected rather than helped.
The arrangement of the text has been determined, not by subject matter, but by schedules for work, because the work is the important thing. Each section of reading matter is accompanied by a schedule representing fifteen hours of actual drawing. Begin your first day s work by reading the first section until you come to the direction that you are to draw for three hours according to Schedule 1A. T HEN STOP AND DRAW .
I ask that you follow the schedules explicitly because each one has been planned with care and for a definite purpose. You should not even read the succeeding paragraphs until you have spent the time drawing as directed. And that is true of the entire book, for the basic idea of its instruction is to have you arrive at the necessary relationship between thought and action. Each exercise has its place and earries a certain momentum. If you fail to do it at the time and for as long a time as you are instructed to, you disrupt that momentum. If you feel that you fail with some exercise, that you do not understand it at all, simply practice it as best you can for the required time and then try the next. There are other exercises that will take up the slack provided the effort has been made.
In most courses of study of any sort the general idea prevails that it is to your credit to get through the work quickly. That is definitely not true in this study. If you are particularly apt, your advantage will lie, not in how much sooner you can get the idea and finish, but in how much more you will be able to do at the end of a year s work than someone less gifted. What you are trying to learn is not the exercise - that should be easy, for I have tried to make each one as simple as possible. You are trying to learn to draw .