Art Atelier: teacher told me no tools should be used. how true?

[Gamevizier]

Hey there.

I've been attending an art atelier for about 1 and half months now. I'm a beginner, and I used to draw only when I -felt- like it, but I made up my mind to become an artist. perhaps a concept artist for video game industry, anyway.

people told me that I should go to an art school and learn realism, meaning that i should be able to draw anything that i see... and i should be able to draw portraits with no problem. then after I mastered that I should choose the drawing style I like.

with that in mind i chose to attend to an art atelier, the guy that teaches there is very well known in the art community (of my city at least) and I kinda like his personality. but he is very strict about some drawing rules, one of which is that no tools should be used for drawing. and a good artist, in his words, should be able to draw perfectly with just a pencil and a paper. no rulers, no different types of pencils, no nothing. some of his older students told me that he used to be strict about erasers too, and forbid students from using them.

I'm now at scaling, the teacher gives us pictures of various lines and i have to draw them in different scales, this is very important in drawing as weak scaling can cause the drawing to not look like the reference picture.

that being said, I'm asking drawing artists (I know there are a few in here.) is this the good way to learn drawing? I just want to know if im on the right track.

[Deleted]

Editting my text, posted too soon

[Conspicuous Cultist]

I'm not a professional artist or anything, mind you, I took an art class in high school but didn't like that because I was forced to draw what the teacher wanted to draw. Sometimes I just couldn't get myself arsed to draw anything after waking up six A.M. in the morning and doing it as one of my first classes so I just learned by myself... Plus he was really just annoying and it'd agitate me for some reason watching that guy just coming into school at 7 when I had to wake up earlier. Bleh.

While some people's drawing styles may be different and you may find out you may need your tools, it's absolutely great to learn how now to rely without an eraser because those make nasty smudges/hard to erase small details/etc. I find myself using rulers a lot because I have extremely shaky hands either due to one reason or another but being able to keep your hand straight and not screw up straight lines without a ruler is a lot better.

If you can learn off of the way this guy is teaching you and you can get along with how his personality is, all the more power to you and you should totally undergo that route. It'll be better for you in the long term imo.

[Adam Jensen]

A good artist uses whatever tools he goddamn wants to.

[Viscoe]

Just do it however you feel is comfortable and quick while retaining quality. All that matters is the end product and that you didn't steal anything. Who gives a shit if you can draw a straight line with or without a ruler?

I don't use any tools outside of a generic 0.7 lead mechanical pencil when doodling on paper, though I do use a lot of "tools" when drawing in Photoshop.

[Milchshake]

As a art design instructor i agree with him. Beginners should avoid using rulers/straightedges.

First, they slow you down. Until you learn to manage your creativity, you want to be able to transfer your ideas to paper as quick as possible. Get the idea down, then develop/perfect it later.

A beginning artist needs to learn hand-eye coordination and muscle control. Relying on rulers retards these abilities.

Erasers slow you down too. I've always felt its more valuable to just start over (practice), or just move on. Each drawing isnt a super valuable snowflake. Learn to let go and move onto newer ideas. I had instructors make us tear up our drawings after sessions. Makes you appreciate the process of art, more than the end result.

[Axi]

I really hate when people use the term artist to infer technical skill or ability in drawing/painting etc. But anyway, learning to rapidly draw from life really assists with the co-ordination that most draughtsmen, even those whose chosen style of work is very conceptual or abstract, will want to develop.

Slacker76's post is pretty bang-on. It is a valuable approach for most people who use their hands to create something even if you have no respect for drawing something in as realistic a fashion as possible, it is just a process.

I found looking really closely at lights shadows to be a valuable part of this stage too. I do disagree regarding only using a pencil, I would encourage people to move to charcoal quite soon if they really want to get used to seeing drawing as an 'analogue map of lights and shadows' as opposed to a series of 'digital lines'. With 15hrs a week of fast-paced drawing from life I went from barely being able to draw stick men to being a fairly well accomplished draughtsman in a year.

Another way to think of it: imagine this method of cross-training for your 'real' sport. If you are a competitive swimmer and you find that splitting your time equally swimming and running really helps you get into better shape than only practicing swimming. You might hate the running, but in the end you are doing it for the benefit of your swimming.

[Gamevizier]

I do disagree regarding only using a pencil, I would encourage people to move to charcoal quite soon if they really want to get used to seeing drawing as an 'analogue map of lights and shadows' as opposed to a series of 'digital lines'. With 15hrs a week of fast-paced drawing from life I went from barely being able to draw stick men to being a fairly well accomplished draughtsman in a year.
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what i meant by "only one pencil" was that no pencils of different types should be used. (either a BH or 2B) I've heard from many people that they use different pencils for different stuff (for example B for shading) he dismissed that idea and told me it's all extra work. he does, however, approve other methods like charcoal or oil painting, but he wants beginners to practice on basics first before moving to those. :P

[Sylreick]

It's always good for a beginner to start without using tools. Tools are a crutch. What you are attempting to do by drawing every day (at least when beginning) is to build the muscles in the arm and fingers, familiarizing yourself with the motions, patterns and shapes. It takes some time, but this is how you better connect what you see in your mind and what you are putting down on paper.

I'm not saying to NEVER use tools, because of course they can and are useful, but when practicing and developing the basic skills you're not going for perfection or professional quality art.

This is what I've learn from my art lessons.

[Flutterguy]

For beginning it's usually better to remain as limited as possible just to avoid the massive amount of choice when it comes to the tools. It's better to learn the very basics first, then start experimenting with whatever.

[Milchshake]

what i meant by "only one pencil" was that no pencils of different types should be used. (either a BH or 2B) I've heard from many people that they use different pencils for different stuff (for example B for shading) he dismissed that idea and told me it's all extra work. he does, however, approve other methods like charcoal or oil painting, but he wants beginners to practice on basics first before moving to those. :P

I'd agree with him, a 2B or HB will cover most pencil work and shading. Good shading will come down to pressure control. Simply dropping to softer pencils will not make for better shading, or even teach you to improve shading. Teach yourself to shade with a 2B, and i guarantee you can shade with anything after that.

Sure 4B and 6B have their uses, mostly for drawing on very rough or "toothy" surfaces. Hard pencils are great for when you need very feint construction lines, like hand drawn Architectural Renderings.

I get that seeing all those different pencils or markers is like being a kid in a candy store. But as a beginner you just need to filter that out and focus on the basics.
Ahh i remember Art School well, blowing 200-300 a month on pencils, prismacolors, etc.

[Axi]

what i meant by "only one pencil" was that no pencils of different types should be used. (either a BH or 2B) I've heard from many people that they use different pencils for different stuff (for example B for shading) he dismissed that idea and told me it's all extra work. he does, however, approve other methods like charcoal or oil painting, but he wants beginners to practice on basics first before moving to those. :P

Okay, that sounds good. Only other thing I'd really recommend is to try, whenever possible, to draw directly from life. It sounds pedantic but it really really beats using printed reference material whenever possible. Need not be anything too complicated. If he doesn't let you do this for any reason, make sure to set aside some time to draw simple household objects from life, particularly when you progress past simple linework. Another good technique to practice is shading by cross-hatching, even quite coarse cross-hatching forces you to think about light and shadow in quite a challenging way.

Bear in mind also that the formal work you do with him is just a tiny part of what you should be doing overall. Hopefully if you want to do this as a career you spend a good deal of your free time painting/drawing/making something cool already.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

As a art design instructor i agree with him. Beginners should avoid using rulers/straightedges.

First, they slow you down. Until you learn to manage your creativity, you want to be able to transfer your ideas to paper as quick as possible. Get the idea down, then develop/perfect it later.

A beginning artist needs to learn hand-eye coordination and muscle control. Relying on rulers retards these abilities.

Erasers slow you down too. I've always felt its more valuable to just start over (practice), or just move on. Each drawing isnt a super valuable snowflake. Learn to let go and move onto newer ideas. I had instructors make us tear up our drawings after sessions. Makes you appreciate the process of art, more than the end result.

I feel like it's a moot point. If you're art product, you're probably using a computer anyway, and if you're not, you're probably going to be bottlenecked on creativity more than actually drawing.

Also, people with shaky hands should be able to be artists too!

[Milchshake]

I totally didn't know it was Raymond Loewy's birthday, thanks Google! Always loved his drawings.

[Deleted]

I totally didn't know it was Raymond Loewy's birthday, thanks Google! Always loved his drawings.

Remotecontrolled-racecar-flashlight-dildo, how do people come up with these things..

[shamantime]

Like someone said above, an artist should be able to make art with whatever tools they have. Being able to be versatile with using tools like rulers, charcoal, paint, goes to show that you are that much more fluid in adapting to what suits that style.