If you’re learning to draw (or paint, sculpt, etc), one of the most powerful things you can do to learn is to watch a skilled artist do it, and try out the stuff you see them doing. This will drastically accelerate your learning curve well beyond what you will learn just from understanding principles and practicing on your own with trial and error.
Ok, learning to draw is ALL trial and error. But watching people do it accelerates what you can do with your trial and error learning process.
Disney+ has a series called Sketchbook and I've started assigning my students to study this series. Each episode is 20 minutes long, featuring a different Disney animator telling their story of how they got into animation while demonstrating how to draw a specific character.
If you have access to this channel, You can do the same homework I've just started assigning:
Homework:
Watch 3 or more episodes and follow the drawing lesson given by each animator. The most important one I’d like you to watch is Episode 5, Mirabel. Other than that, you choose which ones you’d like to learn from. Follow along with the lesson and draw the same character doing the same thing that they are demonstrating.
Here’s the trailer for the series: https://youtu.be/P8stiIE-8oI
The purpose of this homework is twofold. One is to help you learn how they structure their work, how they hold their pencil, how they move their bodies while they draw, how they plan out what they are going to do. The second purpose is for you to hear their stories on how they made their way to this career. Each one has a different approach.
Drawing is more than a visual thing. It’s physical. Whole body movement, breathing, and even varying degrees of mimicking the character’s body language, facial expressions, and their feelings while you’re drawing them. Tuning into the energy of the scene.
I'd love to know how that lesson went for you. Feel free to send me your thoughts and drawings in the comments. And check out my YouTube channel or follow me on insta, FB or Linkedin to see speed paintings and the various ways that illustration gets created and used as powerful communication and education tools.
See more on my site at www.moon-man.com.
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