Memory Drawing & Still Life w/Toy Pony #51
Another exercise that I have done over the years is draw from memory. This is one of the exercises I learned from Kimone Nicolaides book, “The Natural Way to Draw”.
Try This:
- When you’re out and about, try to pay attention to what you see. When you come home, try to draw something that you noticed like a gesture, a movement. For example, someone walking down the street; hand on a car door; cat on a step.
- Look at items in a room or on a table. Turn your back on the arrangement, or go to a different room and draw what you just saw.
Pick a time when you can do either exercise for 15 to 20 minutes a day. If you’re able to, try it for a couple of weeks and see what you’ve learned.
Background.
I had just retired from my previous career and finally was going to do what I always wanted to do: draw and paint. But, how do I teach myself to do these things? What does an “artist” do all day long?
I turned to Kimone Nicolaides book and started working through some of the exercises. I think he is credited with developing the contour drawing exercise for his students at the Art Student’s League. Another of the exercises he had was drawing from memory.
I started doing the drawings from memory 20 minutes every morning. What I learned was how to ask myself better questions and to see the basic shapes of subjects. Better questions are like: “how does clothing move when someone is walking?” “How do I know a duck is a duck and not a goose or swan” etc., depending on the subject.
How I Use This Lesson Today.
To put memory drawing in context, most drawings we do from “life” are memory drawings. Blind contours are an exception because you are looking directly at the subject. Otherwise you look at the subject, at your paper, at your subject, at your paper…etc.
Many of my drawings for my series are essentially expressive memory drawings. I think about the subjects as I draw. Today’s posting is one such “memory drawing”. As I step back, I can look at the expressive qualities as well as how I have handled the form of the subjects.
Let me know what you think and your experiences with memory drawings.
Posted in 
Tags: 6 Responses to “Memory Drawing & Still Life w/Toy Pony #51”
Leave a Reply
I like the edges on this drawing. The somewhat chunkiness of the objects makes them more real somehow for me. I can imagine myself holding each of them. I could really use that cup of coffee too!
Great lesson, Peggy! Leonardo DaVinci used to advise young artists to leave their sketchpads at home, walk about the streets and observe, and then go back to the studio to draw from memory. Leonardo, himself, preferred this method. You’ll have to submit some more of those twenty minute drawings to the Challenge blog!
I love the round inside of the cups!
Hi Wendy, Thanks for the comments. I enjoy reading what a 3D artist has to say. I like your observation. I find it easier to give “form” to the cup, candlestick and vase than to the pony. They seem to be more of substance, perhaps because I find it easier to indicate plane change. Fresh coffee….yum!
Hi Kathy, Thank you! I love DaVinci drawings…he could draw! From him I get the message to draw…all the time!
I’ll have to see if I can find the sketches; I remember them and am sure I have the sketch book here….somewhere even handy!
Hi Rebecca, I used to make my ovals to pointed at the ends, like the pointed football shapes. So, I’ve worked on rounding them…perhaps too much. Notice how the objects have some funny tipping. Can’t tell I look at books on Cubism and Cezanne!
Thanks!