The Understanding that Transformed my Drawing Experience and Outcomes

[@LamberiusLionel]

This is was my first video about drawing that so make my self fell more good. Thanks

[@stephentraversart]

That’s so great to hear Lionel. I hope I have more that can make you feel this way😀

[@LamberiusLionel]

Thank you :)

[@nianzhang3405]

What a beginning!

[@stephentraversart]

Hope the ending works as well!😀

[@Hugglebuns]

As a video gamer, one of the resources that I found worked to let me play at a high level was watching recorded streams where they play the game at a high level and talk aloud about why they are doing what they are doing. I always wondered why that worked so well when my book reading wasn't doing the job. I went into a wikipedia rabbit hole and its actually really interesting >At 2:40, Bandura's social learning theory does suggest that watching & imitating is rather important to learning. The idea of modelling is a key tool teachers use where they might name what they are doing while they do it. In my experience, I've found that watching a live model helps avoid overthink and overcomplicating. You see how little you really need to succeed. (Also weird point, but being repetitive with naming across videos helps because it reinforces how important it is) >At 8:40, you mention the Feynman technique, people learn when they teach >Krashen also has some cool ideas; one is learning vs acquiring. There is a learning in the conscious, deliberate sense (like with theory and philosophy), and there is acquiring in the not-so-conscious, felt sense (like with imitation). Theory unmoored from examples leads to overthink, examples unmoored from theory leads to rigidity. Tricky tricky >Vygotsky also has some interesting ideas with scaffolding ie making it as easy for a student to succeed, then drop out the crutches. Then go to the next topic, crutch, ween, next topic, crutch, ween. You might have multiple crutches and they get reused often vs just as one-off "training wheels". But in this sense, there is no "cheating", let the student get the 'reward', but carrot and stick it just outside their grasp, but not too far. A scaffold can be repeating, copying, imitating, mechanical aids, a mentor, peer support, hints, etc. I guess I think of my dad giving me orders when I was learning to drive. But its not the 'deep ending' sink or swim approach some people have. >At this point, I've begun to start questioning step-by-step tutorials. They are rather artificial. Hacks & tricks are also neat, but usually too individually small and without context fall apart (unless they are common, or huge misassumption debunkers/easers like value compression, suggesting, and the squint method). But its the real-time demonstrations with method, technique, and concept naming that I find that helps more consistently. Ideally real-time (not necessarily live), but 10m-1hr (otherwise my eyes gloss over unless its entertaining), also somewhat repetitive of a particular schtick like Bob Ross(?). Not talking about gear, not talking about paints used, not overly formulating the task, just 'okay what am I doing here, oh yeah I should squint and value compress to start, hmm okay maybe this needs some sighting & construction to get the proportions right...' Sorry for the wall of text. I glue onto theory like a magnet, but its usually 'the doing' I have a harder time with. I glue onto systems and rulesets when I really need to see demonstrations and copy. Maybe because I come from more of an engineering background. Heck, this entire textwall is me theorizing about learning as a whole.

[@jomen112]

Drawing is like bicycling, you have to do it to learn it. How you do it does not matter. What matters is that you try.

[@Hugglebuns]

​@@jomen112 Well, it does pay to know to not bike alone on the highway XDDD. Maybe doing something more vanilla like biking in a park with friends to encourage you. Esp with art, unlike biking, there are a lot of misconceptions that can ruin the fun and make things unduely harder for incorrect reasons. Esp when it is bad or counterproductive for learning

[@aroset]

I hear this a lot, the process of copy vs original creation. I'm studying art specifically to be able to draw comics and graphic novels, which means I'm pushing myself on self-creation, to be able to bring out what I see in my mind. But I see this process just like learning a language. Right now, if I were learning something like French, I'm at a stage where I can string a few sentences together quite confidently, though they may sound a bit off they're still understandable. And they're sentences that everyone uses, so I'm copying the basics. I'm right on the verge of being able to begin speaking French fluently, and to create paragraphs of my own total making, the cusp of going from conscious incompetence to conscious competence. So when I'm struggling to put something down, you're right. It feels like I'm still lacking on those pieces of knowledge that pushes me over that line into conscious competence and making the way I speak in art, fluent.

[@stephentraversart]

Sounds like you’re well on the way. Thanks for sharing and All the best with it. 😀

[@FernandoKoboldt]

It's always great to hear wise words like that. Although I don't understand exactly everything because I'm not fluent in English, I understood exactly what you meant and I completely agree. In September I participated in a workshop with Prof. Zbukvic in Girona and he said the same things. Self-knowledge always has the answers. Thanks.

[@barblallier9413]

Thanks fof all this helpful information!

[@stephentraversart]

Glad it helps. 😀

[@karincarter4962]

Such valuable perspective thank you ! (Now if I can just get that initial wanne-be-comic picture of you in the blue intro banner out of my head.... Sorry! Just could not see how that represents your greatness !?😅)

[@stephentraversart]

I would think it captures my ‘greatness’(?!) perfectly!🤣😆🤣😆🤣😆🫣

[@karincarter4962]

Ah! So it's a Perspective exercise !? 😂 I'll adjust my angle ! 😁 Have a GREAT day 😊​@@stephentraversart

[@jomen112]

_"Before you make a line you must have a clear conception of what you want to draw."_ - George Bridgman While this is not true in general, I think this quote summarize the message in your teaching.

[@XD-rd8zd]

Recently sb was talking about their drawing habit, and I said: "You sound like stephen travers", and he's like: "Well, yeah, I watch him!".

[@stephentraversart]

Haha, that's great to hear. Thanks😀

[@LisaSpencer-d2h]

I love what you’re saying…I can paint and draw anything…if I’m copying🤷‍♀️ I have a million ideas…I can ‘feel’ the idea, the colour, the mood, the atmosphere, but suspect I have aphantasia because I just can’t put them on paper due to not being able to ‘see’ them😕 if you ask me to draw something…I will sit and have no point of mental image to start…give me an image to copy and I will reproduce better than a photocopier😕🤷‍♀️

[@jomen112]

Do you know constructive drawing? It teach how drawing is done by building from more simpler, basic, forms to complex. It's a little bit like sculpting. The emphasis is put on form. The point is; for me this is a super helpful method when drawing from imagination. Construction helps me (literally) see with my inner eye what I want to draw.

[@jomen112]

If construction does not fit your mode of drawing, you may instead look carefully into Stephen's teaching about drawing the effects of the details instead of drawing the details. I say this because it seems like one of the reason that prevents you to draw from imagination is that you try to draw a way to complex painting with far more details than is possible to keep track of in the mind. To overcome this obstacle you need to learn to simplify the things you draw, and part of this is to draw "the effects of the details" rather than the detail itself.

[@jomen112]

Another method to overcome your obstacle is to draw the same type of thing over and over again, hundreds, if not thousand, of times. This will eventually creates a visual memory which you then can use when drawing from imagination. These drawings is called "studies", and are not meant to be finished drawings but the purpose is to familiarise yourself with the subject until you know it inside out.

[@Hugglebuns]

It helps to learn improvisational methodologies. While Bob Ross is kind of a meme, his style can be done entirely from the head. You don't 'need' a vision Using the analogy of speech, I do not conjure an entire script in my head and read it off. That would be wildly difficult. Instead I riff some words, catch a train of thought, and follow it until its done. Sometimes I lose the train of thought or its not good, in which I go riff some different words until I catch it. In this sense, its not about asserting a vision, but picking up on how people work from the head. Jazz musicians contrafact and collage. Ie they alter and riff on standards and mash them up a bit. Improv comedians make odd strong choices, look at what they have, and continue that train of thought Some painterly methods are formulaic, ie Pollocks drip painting is fairly straight forward to understand. Some methods are dressing up a constructed base (ie Loomis method). There's a lot of methods. Just don't feel obligated to require a vision to make works from the head. You have options *PS it also goes to say Renaissance artists copied and altered from reference a lot. That's a valid means of art making too

[@OscarRios]

I think there’s a rattle snake 🐍 nearby. Be careful.

[@stephentraversart]

We have the world’s second deadliest snake in our yard, the eastern brown, but no rattlers at least. 😀