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Comment by Fricken | Hacker News Reader

Sketching phptorealistically mostly just requires patience. Just sit down and do it. It's a methodical, technical process. If you sit down and do a different drawing every night for a couple weeks you should be pretty close to photorealistic by the end. That's middle school art class stuff. They'll start with simple shapes like cubes and balls, then move on to plants, or old shoes. You can draw your hand, and then maybe try a portrait.

Now to really learn how to draw, with style and sensibility takes a little longer. There's a book called 'the Natural Way to Draw', which is broadly recommended and is an excellent guide for getting off on the right foot, with the right mindset.

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Hello. Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll look into that book.

I was also recommended Charles Bargue's "Drawing Course" and Harold Speed's "The Practice & Science of Drawing". Do you have any particular thoughts on those?

Are there anyways to optimize that methodical, technical process? I would ideally like to practice in a "structured" way in regards to building up skills as opposed to the more organic way of practicing everything until it looks nicer.

Are there any particular recommendations as well regarding equipment? There's a lot of stuff out there, and I'm willing to invest in better quality products.

Also, if I want to take advantage of my iPad and Apple Pencil, with an app like Procreate or something similar, do I focus on digital drawing, or is pen and paper still far better to build fundamentals from?

Thanks.

If you look at art history, you will discover the artists constantly experimented with new technologies, chemistries, methods, etc. I think that iPad + Apple Pencil is one of the latest additions to the artist's collection of tools. Personally I find that taking a photo and then using it as a layer to draw on top of is very helpful for some exercises, especially when beginning to learn cartooning / caricature drawing.

Personally I use a Lenovo (Android) tablet with AutoDesk SketchBook and an Adonit Dash 3 stylus. A good, cheaper alternative to Apple products. The biggest drawback being that there is no palm rejection with this approach and that can be an annoyance at times.

Hello.

Do you have any particular recommendations for learning digital tools and technologies?

I'd like to know if there are some specifics native to stylus and tablet that differ from pen and paper.

I don't recommend taking a structured approach from the start. That's akin to picking up a violin for the first time and sitting down with the sheet music to Mozart's violin Concerto #4, and expecting to learn it note by note. It just leads to tears and frustration, and you'll likely give up before you've achieved your goals. Your work will be awkward, fussy and uptight. I run into a great deal of beginner drawers learning this lesson the hard way.

All formal university level drawing courses take an organic approach, because you're organic, you need reinforce the neural pathways between your eye, your mind's eye, and your hand, until the whole chain is connected and intuitive. You learn best through rapid iteration, and failing fast, over and over until all the fail has been worked out of your system, the same way a child learns how to do pretty much anything.You'll get to proficiency faster this way, I promise. Formal observed drawing courses haven't changed much at all in centuries, it's a refined and well understood process.

And do start with a pencil and paper. Bigger is better, feel free to blow money at the art store, but an HB pencil and photocopy paper will do at least for a while. Don't go to the iPad until you're confident you know what marks need to go where on a page to make an image.

I could go on about this at length, but that's why I recommended the book. Harold Speed's book is alright, but I've only parsed it, so I don't really know.

Hello.

Thanks for that insight.

Do you know of any syllabuses that would be good to look at for the "organic" approach idea? I'd like to understand more what progression would look like even with a more free-flowing approach to learning.

I highly recommend using pen or pencil on paper and not using anything digital. The paper will last for decades, just roll your finished drawings into a tube and put them away for ten years, then revisit them or frame them and send to friends.

Hello.

Ideally, digital drawings will last for just as long too!

But I'd like to do that. I bought a binder and some paper protectors. It might be ego and vanity here, but I'd like to record my entire progression if possible.

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