Building a Drawing

I know lots of folks who say they can’t draw. I try to believe them, but, I’ve always drawn, so it’s hard to accept. To me, drawing isn’t really about making the marks as it is seeing and recognizing shapes. That said, I know chairs are notoriously tough to render because the various views differ so much. I’m not going to cover Orthographic projection, which is a drawing showing the front, side and plan (overhead) view. Making one of these is essential to creating plans, but for now, I’m talking about the gestural drawing useful for working through ideas. A stick figure works well to start, but adding in some detail can really bring things to life and make it easier to judge the efficacy of an idea. Here is a drawing from my book. It’s not a measured drawing, it’s a vibe check to get the gesture and details playing together.

I suspect that folks who “can’t draw” don’t know how these kind of images are made. First of all, they are made fast, which allows for all sorts of change to rapidly happen in front of my eyes so I can make choices before settling down to make plans. I am going to start with a simple detail, the bobbin leg. There isn’t too much going on in a bobbin, but getting the key details in place certainly help flesh out the image.