The Drawing Blog

Drawing: Drawing Is Memorization?

2009-08-18T12:00:00Z

When I first moved to New York City about a dozen years ago, I drew my father's face from memory quite a lot. It usually wasn't a good depiction at all, but occasionally it resulted in a decent drawing of a handsome man — which reminds me of a tip my friend Dan Gheno once gave me about painting or drawing your family. "Just say it's a drawing of a movie star," he laughed. Then, when they detect a slight resemblance, they feel flattered somehow. I was not using the drawings...(read more)

Drawing: Drawing People Using Perspective Lines

2009-08-11T11:00:00Z

While thumbing through Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy the other day, I came across an interesting section on foreshortening that I wanted to share ...

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Drawing: Does Mr. Ed Have an Advantage Over You?

2009-08-04T05:00:00Z

It's crazy to say that horses have a visual advantage over humans, but with eyes on opposite sides of their heads, they surely don't see in three-dimensional terms like we do. There are times especially for beginners when seeing less--seeing a scene as an utterly flat, two-dimensional plane--would benefit beginning artists as they try to render. Given our brain power, however, we would still get in our own way--often the problem is not what we see, but what we know or assume about a subject...(read more)

Drawing: The One Rule We Hear More Than Any Other From Art Teachers

2009-07-28T11:00:00Z

Very few rules are absolute in art. But one rule keeps popping up in our magazines, quoted by art instructors and artists of all types...

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Drawing: Densely Marked Drawings

2009-07-21T11:00:00Z

Last week we talked about sparsely marked drawings, so it only makes sense that today we consider drawings in which nearly every area is marked.

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Drawing: In Praise of Sparseness, When Drawing the Figure or Other Subjects

2009-07-14T12:00:00Z

I caught the Whistler exhibition at The Frick last week and was initially concerned about its size — it hangs in that smallish room in between the place where you pay admission and the hallway to the restrooms — but I suppose at some point during the 40 minutes I spent in there reading every bit of wall text and pondering the small etchings and pastels first one-by-one, then randomly, I realized that this is the kind of show that proves quality beats quantity every time. Fascinating aspects...(read more)

Drawing: Drawing People in Ink Frees You

2009-07-08T18:00:00Z

Drawing in ink can force an artist to either slow down and make very careful marks, or do the opposite--to ignore the permanence of the marks and make them freely. What does pen-and-ink do for you? Let us know by posting a comment.

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Drawing: Draw It 2 Times

2009-06-30T11:00:00Z

As Steve Doherty pointed out in a recent blog post, it's quite helpful to depict the same scene twice. I find this is very true in drawing, for several reasons ...

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Drawing: Draw Why You Love Your Home

2009-06-23T12:00:00Z

Drawing Day 2009 was such a popular event on the American Artist website that we decided to have regular, themed drawing days for our readers. The first one is scheduled for July 4. Draw something that represents why you love your house, your land, your state, your country, your world. Draw something that symbolizes your current roots.

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Drawing: Drawing on the iPhone

2009-06-16T15:30:00Z

Digital art isn't new. But when a friend told me that people are now creating art on their iPhones, I imagined that the art wouldn't be anything remarkable. Then David Kassan emailed me an example that he said he sketched very quickly from previous studies.

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Drawing: Drawing Day Results

2009-06-09T11:00:00Z

I can't speak for anyone else, but I sure enjoyed Drawing Day 2009 ! I went to Central Park with a friend, loaded down with drawing material, painting supplies, and Gatorade. Several scenes screamed out for depiction, but we kept walking through the crowd (evidently there was some kind of footrace at the park that morning) and found Bethesda Terrace, which features several intriguing architectural elements, a view of the Lake and the boathouse where folks rent rowboats, and a beautiful fountain...(read more)

Drawing: The Drawing Day Project Wants People to "Drop Everything and Draw"

2009-06-02T08:00:00Z

We're pretty passionate about drawing at the magazine, so it's nice to come across other people who are as dedicated to draftsmanship and expressive drawing as we are. The folks at the Drawing Day project certainly fall into this category.

For the second year, Mick Gow and his staff are urging everyone to execute a drawing on a given day—this year it's Saturday, June 6—and post it online somewhere. We think that's a fine idea. Here are a couple of ways you can participate ...

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Drawing: Whistler's Etchings of Venice on View This Summer

2009-05-19T11:00:00Z

It's always a good time to visit The Frick, especially this summer, when people in New York will get a chance to see the exhibition "Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in The Frick Collection," a gathering of the museum's Whistlers, spanning three media.

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Drawing: Anatomy Drawing Like No Other

2009-05-12T11:00:00Z

"Bodies ... The Exhibition," currently housed in New York City's South Street Seaport, offers draftsmen the chance to draw from human specimens after hours. It's an opportunity New York City area artists shouldn't miss.

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Drawing: 10 Favorite Articles from Drawing Magazine's Archives

2009-05-05T17:00:00Z

Sure, we have our favorites, even if we aren't supposed to. Here are 10 of the best articles published in Drawing magazine over the last seven years, in no particular order.

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