This is a little story on how and why I learned to Draw.
Yesterday, I talked about my reasons for ‘Learning to draw in the Age of AI’ so that we can establish ‘WHY’ we do something.
And today, It’s all about HOW I actually learned drawing. ✏️
The Beginning
My Drawing Story:
Ever since I was a wee little lad, I was obsessed with Cartoons. 😵💫
I remember waking up in the morning, running to turn on my TV, so that I can watch some ‘Cartoon Network’ 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. 🎥
And boy did I watch Lion King like a million times (I would then find out it was Lion King 2, still good nevertheless).
I was just ATTRACTED to this world of Magic and storytelling which had endless possibilities. 🤯
They lit a fire in me and made me want to tell stories with my own art.
I wanted to ‘make my drawings move’.
But here’s the problem – I had no idea how to actually draw. 😩
But that didn’t 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: I copied EVERYTHING ✍️
I copied everything I could find. Books, Movies, TV shows, my school teacher (they didn’t appreciate it)
If I can see it, it’s going in my sketchbook 😉
If I had a superhero name back then,
It would have been ‘Copyman’. 🦸♂️
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?) 🌎
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:
“Imitation is the best form of Flattery”
Just like a child learns how to speak by imitating the sounds of it’s parents,
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. 💪
I’ve 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. 🗣️
Francis Ford Coppola (the director of godfather) says;
“Don’t worry about whether it’s appropriate to borrow or to take or do something like someone you admire because that’s only the first step. And you have to take the first step”
(Btw, he’s not asking you to plagiarize or copy someone’s work to call it your own – He’s asking you to copy, so that you can learn)
So the first lesson: IMITATE
Imitate what you admire. 😌
Draw the thing that you like that others have but you can’t make on your own.
Study what you copy and understand it’s foundations. ✏️
That’s the first step.
But that’s 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:
“I was able to copy things, but if I wanted to draw something on my own, I couldn’t do it!”
I couldn’t draw from my imagination!!❗
Master at copying, zero at creating. 😟
You would think the guy who drew stuff like this would be able to draw whatever he wants 🤷♂️
Nope, my original drawings looked more like this…
“All these years of copying, for nothing”
I was just as far away from my goal of “making my drawings move” and telling stories with my art. 😩
This experience would make me give up on art right after Uni and take up a job that had nothing to do with drawing. 💼
And that’s the path that would eventually reveal the magic I was looking for..
The ‘Secrets of Drawing from my Imagination’…
Read it in the next blog…
Best,
Kesh.
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