Julian Hindson has been painting and creating art since he was eleven years old. Julian is a full time artist and designer and can be found most days in his Auckland studio working on something that little bit special.
How to make an observational drawing.
Observational drawing is drawing what you see. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.
It can be a flower, a person, a still life, a landscape, whatever. But it’s drawing what you see in front of you as realistically and as true to life as possible.
Observational drawing is a great exercise in seeing.When we look at something with the intent of drawing it, we tend to look more carefully than usual. We see, truly see, the shapes, the patterns, the perspective, the colors, the shadows, the contours, and how all of the details interact.
INSTRUCTIONS
Set your paper and art materials down in front of the item you want to draw.
Sketch the overall form loosely, and as large as possible, on the paper, then go in and define the contours and shapes. (See my tips below for coaching beginners through the process of drawing what they see.) Look back and forth from the object to your paper, as you translate what you see to what you are drawing.
Once you have the big picture outlines of your drawing subject on paper, you can begin to add details, shading, patterns, and colors as desired.
It can be a flower, a person, a still life, a landscape, whatever. But it’s drawing what you see in front of you as realistically and as true to life as possible.
Observational drawing is a great exercise in seeing.When we look at something with the intent of drawing it, we tend to look more carefully than usual. We see, truly see, the shapes, the patterns, the perspective, the colors, the shadows, the contours, and how all of the details interact.
INSTRUCTIONS
Set your paper and art materials down in front of the item you want to draw.
Sketch the overall form loosely, and as large as possible, on the paper, then go in and define the contours and shapes. (See my tips below for coaching beginners through the process of drawing what they see.) Look back and forth from the object to your paper, as you translate what you see to what you are drawing.
Once you have the big picture outlines of your drawing subject on paper, you can begin to add details, shading, patterns, and colors as desired.
Look at some of these photos of native flora and fauna. Use your observational drawing skills to draw your own images of native flora and fauna from Aotearoa.