Mastery of art requires training and years of practice.
When you’re first learning, there are exercises, techniques and procedures to help guide you.
Like training wheels on your first bike.
I’ve been working on an instructional book about drawing in perspective and have noticed a recurring theme while writing it.
The formulas and procedures for drawing in perspective only get you so far.
Knowing the rules of perspective is essential to conveying the illusion of dimensional space in a drawing, but can’t perfectly mimic the way the human eye perceives it.
The “correct” solution often doesn’t look right. Or it doesn’t work with the composition you have in mind.
That’s when you have to “eyeball” it.
Eyeballing it means drawing without a ruler.
It means using your intuition rather than relying on formulas and procedures.
It means making a choice that breaks the rules in a way that affirms your understanding of them.
Something cool happens when you’ve trained in a specific discipline for a long time. At first, you use structured practice to build your understanding, but after you’ve practiced to the point that it becomes instinctual, the training wheels fall away.
You see patterns beginners can’t. You move the pencil with a graceful confidence they don’t yet have. And it looks like magic to the average person.
But this doesn’t happen by practice alone.
It takes guts and a willingness to fail—like riding a bike without training wheels.
You have to be willing to mess up a drawing with one badly placed stroke of the pen. And do it again and again until the pen does what you want.
If you’re a digital artist, Ctrl-Z will undo your mistakes. It’s a life saver I use all the time. But if I stay away from pen and paper for too long, my ability to make graceful, spontaneous strokes with the pen suffers.
Some will find this a bit over the top, but I believe Ctrl-Z and other useful features like brush stroke smoothing rob you of artistic virtue.
Attaining physical prowess, like that of a skilled boxer or a master draftsman is virtuous. It hard to achieve, and that’s why it’s worth doing.
Don’t let technology steal this gift from you.
Use technology to help you when you really need it, but don’t rely on it. Knowing the latest software and memorizing hot keys isn’t what makes you a great artist.
Studying till you attain mastery.
Training your hand to draw with confidence and grace.
Using your intuition when following the rules doesn’t work.
Being I’m afraid to eyeball it.
That’s what’ll get you there.
Till next time,
Chris
P.S. As I said earlier, I’m in the middle of writing an instructional book on perspective drawing. It draws upon some of the best books and courses I’ve come across as well as my decades of experience as a background designer in the animation business. I aim to make it comprehensive, but also entertaining and easy to follow for beginners and professionals alike. Hoping to finish it in the next few months. If you have suggestions about what you’d find most useful in a book like this, please let me know! Feedback is much appreciated.
Chris, this is so true! I'm teaching background/layout and environment design in animation, here, at a University in Nashville. I've found it very interesting, after teaching them the fundamental foundations of perspective, scale, lighting, and framing, some are still not comprehending and achieving the illusion of 3D on a 2D platform and believable depth. Then I remind myself that this discipline takes time to achieve and offer grace. From the beginning, I've implemented layout sketchbook assignments, from life, with the intent to forcefully eliminate (command -Z). Great words, Chris!!
Your friend, Tim Allen
Background/layout and visdev designer in animation
timallendesigns.com