Drawing Theory   Keith  O'Connor   My Writings on Art .

last update  Jan  16  2000

Topics discussed in this drawing section:
    Objective of this section
    Concepts of drawing
    ways of seeing
    photography and drawing
 
 

The idea for this essay grew out of my attendance, in life drawing classes, given at the Ottawa School of Art. My drawing instructor informed me that I was the only art student in the class who could draw, but, he could not explain to me in words that I could understand how I could understand  when I was drawing and when I was not. I, with my untrained eye, could not see a significant difference between my drawing and those of the other students in the class.

I took his comments seriously and decided that some day I would be able to say, " I can draw because drawing is defined as this, this, and this. This essay is the result of my fellow artists request that I put into words what I have learned.
 

1)  Concepts of Drawing:

Classical drawing is an interpretative type of form drawing  that  uses a set of standard form units derived from the: cone;  cylinder;  sphere and cube which are used very much like words, to construct a three dimensional re-presentation of  a figure or object on a two dimensional surface. It is interpretative in the sense that the object that is the subject of the drawing is translated into the standard form unit language.

As an example:  Let us think for a moment about how we would proceed to draw a simple object like  egg and let us further assume that we have studied how light and shadow appear on the basic geometrical forms such as the:  cylinder;  cube;   sphere and cone.

When we look at our egg,  we  use our eyes to see  and then our mind to conceptualize that egg in terms of  those geometrical forms we have memorized into the shape of our egg which we construct on our drawing paper.  Thus the objective of classical drawing is to   "re  present"   the viewed object using a previously learned form alphabet.

In other words you don't draw the egg that you see, you construct using your eyes, your mind, and your medium, something that looks like an egg from the graphic elements in your alphabet.

One further complexity: the mind cannot hold and predict the interaction of all the shapes tones etc., that composes an image so the mind  keeps the general forms and uses the artists medium (paper for example) as an extension of the mind's eye. The artist interacts with the lines on the paper in the same way the mind creates it's images in the mind's eye. What we see in a dream in an example of the mind's eye.  This then is the basis upon which traditional master drawing are conceived.

This merging of the mind's eye and the artists medium is the major objective of the developing artist.

jan16 2000
end of developed section

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start of ideas section
Idea to be developed:

Relate the primative way of seeing (active viewing) and the modern way of seeing (passive viewing) to the act of classical drawing.
End of idea

Not sure if I should include this:

Note:  I will take this opportunity to relate philosophy and drawing as follows: Form language represents the constraint element of limited possibilities, the manipulation of form language to represent an infinite number of shape combinations represents the element of unlimited possibilities. Their interaction forms a dialectic that produces a uniqueness. It is from this concept the the first and last rule of art - never give up - is derived.

Every drawn object object is conceptualized in the mind and composed as a set of major and  minor forms selected from  the artists form alphabet and overlayed on a gestural structure. The minor forms are never allowed to dominate the major gestural structure otherwise the overall form and gestural unity is destroyed.

Let us for a momemt omit gesture from our thinking and focus on structure.
 
 

I will digress for a moment and say that many artists find african art interesting because it uses a different non westernized form alphabet in it s conceptualizations.

Since the form alphabet is the basis of art we will spend a little more time on it.

Photographs for the most part destroy form because they are non interpretative. The photograph does not create a hierarchy of subordinate forms overlayed on a gestural structure. In other words artistic form is an invented bio-morphic process;  that's why no one can teach you how to draw. You must learn to translate what you see using a form language which for the most part you may construct yourself, into an image such that you must become aware when you are drawing in the classical sense and when you are copying  like a camera.

A professional portrait photographer will use various levels of bounce lighting from a varity of directions  in order to illuminate the form of the sitter to prevent the natural forms from flatening out when the photograph is taken. Motion picture lighting experts use bounce lighting from various directions to illuminate form and prevent the natural forms from flatening out when the image is captured on a flat surface..

Artists create form and shape and thus have much more controle over the lighting environment. They  use light to present form and or simulate form under natural lighting conditions. This is the key element that allows you to become aware of when you are drawing in the classical sense  and when you are copying in the camera sense.
 
 
 
 

The book I would recommend to tide you over until I complete the refinements of this essay is titled:

Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters
Robert Beverly Hale
Watson Guptill Publications    New York
It is currently available in some book stores.

Don't focus on the anatomy section - you don't need it, you want to understand how form is created not become a doctor. There has been too much made of anatomical knowledge to the detrement of form.  Blake was considered in his time, to have little anatomical knowledge but that did not hurt his paintings. Remember we are looking for form not science.

Pay particular attention to the idea that you should not mottle your shadows, break them up with dark and light thus destroy the form.

I have added a commented master drawing to illustrate how the artist conceives the form structure.
 
 
 

This idea needs more development: it is attempting to show the difficulty in explaining the principles of drawing.
 

After having attended, in the 70's, a number of life drawing classes, at a local art school, the instructor informed me that I was the only art student in the class who could draw, but, he could not explain to me in words that I could understand how I could tell when I was drawing and when I was not. I, with my untrained eye, could not see a significant difference between my drawing and those of the other students in the class. I took his comments seriously and decided that some day I would be able to say, " I can draw because drawing is defined as this, this, and this.
 

My work life as a management consultant provided me with investigative skills to  articulating the intent of my drawing instructor.

My objective is not to teach you how to draw, it has been said many times that each drawing student must invent his or her own way of drawing, but my objective is to give you self evaluation tools so that you will understand when you are drawing and when you are copying.

Like many a well trained consultant I am interested in locating the very beginning regardless of how many people tell me it's not important, a waist of time etc., that's where I begin.
 

What we do can be very simple. How we do it can be immensely complex. Having said that we begin. For the purpose of this discussion drawing the smallest element of drawing is defined as a "mark" on a flat surface. The physical interaction between the drawing instrument and the drawing surface can display a wide range of marks by  pressing and pulling the drawing instrument with force against the drawing surface, or pressing gently will produce marks that communicate the strength or delicacy used in their making. This is similar to the tone of voice which revels aspects of the speaker's emotive intent.
 

Drawing then can be defined as: (1) a physical mechanism that can be used to communicate emotion directly through the viewers visual perceptual system, much  as the human voice can communicate emotion directly through the listeners auditory perceptual system: (2) making use of the mark as the most basic element of drawing to facilitate the minds interpretation of  the relationship between marks as images.
 

If I draw a cutting line with strength then the resulting shape is interpreted by the viewers mind, which will then evaluate the line in terms of characteristics which map to previous memories of emotion which would be attached to the line.
 

What we have said in the previous two paragraphs sounds reasonable, but there is an omitted subtly that leads us to the question - how much previous life experiencing of emotion do we need before we can interpret the emotive power used in the drawing of a line?

I will  jump ahead for a moment and raise this question: can we obtain computer based tools that will be as responsive as say willow-charcoal is in generating an emotive line?

Drawing notes
 

visual representation of ideas /objects

relationship to thinking

as illustration for science literature, propaganda, politics, history, emotion religion falsity truth

as language expressive descriptive form shape

as a logic system

perceptual system visual

audio, music, taste for food, touch for sculpture
 

alphabetic shapes to show harmony
 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMZ. 1234567890=-\][POIU`1

make sure that pure thought and drawing are subordinated to the expression of mood.

consider the poetic metaphor as parallel to pictorial metaphor

don't forget varity within unity and unity within varity.

flat approach--edge shading, historical
plastic approach--sculpture

act as a logic system in terms of shape color texture balance etc.