The practice of drawing is exemplary to observe directly three different stages of our visual perception:
- first, what do you think you see,
- second, what do you see, and
- third, what do you really understand of what you see.
Most of the people enroll in a class of drawing being at the first stage, the one in which you are aware of what you think you see, even though some of them are apparently more talented than others. But the truth is that everyone is at the first stage before a class in a Fine Art Academy. Clearly, this is not a problem for most of the people. If they can manage a nice result it is quite O.K. But the struggle begins when you are not that convinced of your results even though they are nice and your mom considers you the artist of the family. Each time you want to make a progress in getting better in ‘how reality is’ you are in a huge struggle guessing how to do it. You feel you are blocked somehow within a kind of mindset that starts to be an impossible maze while the question of the gaze of the Big Masters increases your desire. This is the point at which the magic of drawing starts to take place in your life as a challenge to be resolved. But, how to do it?
I suggest that the first step to resolving it is to understand better what this first stage is about and to realize what we do unconsciously wrong in order to stay within it. So, let's first understand it. From my view, the first stage can also be called “the conceptual” one, basically because you can name one by one the things you draw. If it is a face you may say: “I have to make the eyes, the mouth, the nose”, etc. And you can even complain: “OMG! I cannot make his eyes!” So, it is simple, if when you draw you are thinking of a noun, then you are at the first stage. Probably you are wondering now: what do you draw when you are at other stages? Well, it depends on the stage. At the second one, you draw transversal things such as the light, the texture, the atmosphere, the temperature of the scene, etc., so I call it "The sensual" one. At the third one, you also draw transversal things but more rational, such as all kind of patterns, relations, structures, possibilities of all kind like potential movements, which I call it "The structural" one.
The problems do not delay in appearing at the first stage. If so, probably you will search eagerly for solutions like “I need to know how to make an eye”. And, seriously, drawing is not a question of ‘make-up’. By watching videos about how to make an eye with a convincing tear won’t satisfy you for too long. And if anyway you do so, you are missing the chance to get into the real level of understanding. There is a huge qualitative difference between one stage and the others.
It may also happen that you have seen people stretching their arms with the pencil in their hand measuring bi-dimensionally (!!!!) whatever they are drawing; the landscape, the still life, the life model. Probably, you thought that this is part of the professional performance of a real artist. Really? If you think so, I must tell you that it is not. It shows a dramatic lack of understanding and confidence, and you don’t want that, right? You want to feel free while drawing, and even express yourself through it. You want to use the instance of drawing to enjoy the beauty of your perception and the world around you as a creative meditation. So, let’s do it! It has no sense to avoid the real experience of art just because you are afraid to lose control of the result. Forget about the result for a while, and go for the real experience.
It can happen as well that you decide to take classes to make the big progress. But within the course, you resist of making some “strange” exercises that are not fancy at all because you want to go directly to make a masterpiece. “Why should I make these weird lines or even draw boxes in perspective if this is a class of Portrait?” – You might think – “This teacher takes me as fool”. But you teacher is not fool at all, and saw in your work a problem that belongs to the fundamentals of your visual understanding. However, the teacher is nice so you try to be flexible and accept some of them, at least. Unfortunately, you are half way for a true progress, so when you work alone on some exercise at some point you have to stop in order to wait for the teacher to resolve the challenging parts. Then you start to admire your teacher meanwhile you say to yourself “I’m never gonna get there. I need to have the talent for it. I wasn’t born with it”. False! You will get there only after you have thrown away all your conceptual beliefs pertaining to what you think you see.
But not all is bad. Certainly, even though you are still within the first stage, you have gotten better results than the former ones. However, you are still attached to the first stage of what you think you see, locked in the impossible for escaping maze, in such a way that drawing is no longer a joy for you but rather it has become a stressful job that demands resolving a crazy puzzle of techniques of making-ups, bi-dimensional measuring stretching the arm, and a constant supervision of your teacher.
How to get into the heaven of drawing? That is the question. The answer comes jumping into the third stage – not the second one – by drawing what you do understand. Did you try that? Close your eyes, breath, and observe in your imagination what you understand of the model at which you were looking. Pay attention to all that you can understand and draw it. If you cannot make any retention of the model try again and again until you can. Don't rush. Do it millions of times if you need it. Wake up your imagination!
To succeed, it is clear that you have to know Linear Perspective, at least in regard to one and two vanishing points. By using Linear Perspective you will get into the code of the space and volumes, from a box to a portrait, and this code will help you in understanding the shape of everything, starting from the most obvious lines of the position of the objects to the invisible lines within the objects as if you were able to see through them. Can you perceive as Superman or Neo? Can you see all as if it were transparent? Give it a try! A huge freedom opens up for an infinite analysis of all possible objects and compositions when you play that way.
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