This is a little story on how and why I learned to Draw.
Yesterday, I talked about my reasons for âLearning to draw in the Age of AIâ so that we can establish âWHYâ we do something.
And today, It’s all about HOW I actually learned drawing. âïž
The Beginning
My Drawing Story:
Ever since I was a wee little lad, I was obsessed with Cartoons. đ”âđ«
I remember waking up in the morning, running to turn on my TV, so that I can watch some âCartoon Networkâ before getting ready for the torture that was kindergarten.
My dad used to buy these DVDs of old Mickey Mouse Disney Cartoons and classic animated films like Aladdin, Little mermaid and lion king. đ„
And boy did I watch Lion King like a million times (I would then find out it was Lion King 2, still good nevertheless).Â
I was just ATTRACTED to this world of Magic and storytelling which had endless possibilities. đ€Ż
They lit a fire in me and made me want to tell stories with my own art.
I wanted to âmake my drawings moveâ.
But hereâs the problem –Â I had no idea how to actually draw. đ©
But that didnât stop me.
Becoming "Copyman":
As a broke kid in India, with zero access to teachers or proper courses (and a lot of the society screaming that I need to be an engineer or a doctor)
I did the only thing I knew:Â I copied EVERYTHING âïž
I copied everything I could find. Books, Movies, TV shows, my school teacher (they didn’t appreciate it)
If I can see it, itâs going in my sketchbook đ
If I had a superhero name back then,
It would have been âCopymanâ. đŠžââïž
And this went on for years till University.
No mentors, no art school – just a whole lot of copying.
Eventually, the Internet came along and I had million of images to copy (damn, am I that old?) đ
This formed the Foundation of my Art Education (and later would turn out to be my main problem, more on that later)
Copying to Learn:
âImitation is the best form of Flatteryâ
Just like a child learns how to speak by imitating the sounds of itâs parents,Â
Imitating (or copying) some of your favourite pieces of art and artists can be one of the best things one can do to start drawing. đȘ
Iâve heard stories of 100s of artists and they have all started to draw in someway, by starting to copy.
It can be a fantastic route to eventually finding your own voice. đŁïž
Francis Ford Coppola (the director of godfather) says;
âDonât worry about whether itâs appropriate to borrow or to take or do something like someone you admire because thatâs only the first step. And you have to take the first stepâ
(Btw, heâs not asking you to plagiarize or copy someoneâs work to call it your own – Heâs asking you to copy, so that you can learn)
So the first lesson:Â IMITATEÂ
Imitate what you admire. đÂ
Draw the thing that you like that others have but you canât make on your own.
Study what you copy and understand itâs foundations. âïž
Thatâs the first step.Â
But thatâs not where you end things..
The Time I Noticed something weird:
After years of copying, I got really good at copying (duh)
But I noticed something odd:
âI was able to copy things, but if I wanted to draw something on my own, I couldnât do it!â
I couldnât draw from my imagination!!â
Master at copying, zero at creating. đ
You would think the guy who drew stuff like this would be able to draw whatever he wants đ€·ââïž
Nope, my original drawings looked more like thisâŠ
âAll these years of copying, for nothingâ
I was just as far away from my goal of âmaking my drawings moveâ and telling stories with my art. đ©
This experience would make me give up on art right after Uni and take up a job that had nothing to do with drawing. đŒ
And thatâs the path that would eventually reveal the magic I was looking for..
The âSecrets of Drawing from my ImaginationââŠ
Read it in the next blogâŠ
Best,
Kesh.
