Take-away: We see concepts (for example, we see a “car”) not a combination of shapes and values in space. To draw well, we first have to learn to see the world objectively.
If you’re new to drawing, you got a huge challenge in front of you. It’s one that you haven’t noticed yet: nothing looks like what you think it looks like!
When we see a human face, our brain processes it quickly. We pick up the most subtle changes and tell apart the hundreds of people we see in our daily life. While we can tell them apart and recognize them by all their differences, we can’t draw them just like that. Why not? We know them. We remember them. Otherwise we couldn’t tell who’s John and who’s Josh!
The problem has to do with brain processing. In art, beginners draw what they think an eye looks like, instead of the eye they see in front of them. There is so much visual information around us at any given time, that it would be impossible for our brains to process it all. Instead, our brains simplify all that input.
A beginner typically gets stuck on symbol drawing. That’s when you draw what you know instead of drawing the objective shapes and angles that you actually see. You think you recognize a nose by all its little shapes, but your brain just takes it as a whole, labels it “nose” and tells you not to worry about the little details. Heck, your brain doesn’t only do that with little parts like a nose, but with anything!
For example, did you know that you read words, you don’t read letters?
Case in point: the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh?
(Example by Proven Strategies to Succeed at School)
Optical illusions exploit that:
In that classic optical illusion, the black square (A) in the light looks darker than the white square (B) in the shadow. Why? Because we already divided what we see into “dark squares” and “light”. The light square looks light and the dark square looks dark, because our brain decided that.
Seeing the world in context means we don’t see the physical world exactly as it is.
If we could see the world objectively, we wouldn’t fall for optical illusions. But we’d also need a lot of brain power to figure out anything. Imagine suffering in the hot sun at a bus stop. You want to stand in the shade. But since you see everything objectively without context, now you have to observe the pavement you’re standing on right now, calculate the brightness of 200 color specks and then compare that to the average color brightness of a spot of pavement a few feet further, before you decide whether there’s shade over there. Oh, and before doing that, do a quick calculation to determine where your own shadow falls on the pavement, so you don’t mistake that color gradient change for some shade.
Our brain simplifies the world, or it would be too difficult to make decisions and take action.
That’s why we can immediately tell when a face is mangled. Yet to draw a face… For that, we first have to study the proportions of a face – an ear is 1/3 of a face, the eyes are approximately halfway, etc. There’s a gap between subconscious and conscious knowledge that our brain uses for survival. We have to close that gap to become better artists. We don’t see the world as it is. We see symbols and concepts.
Another example where symbol drawing shows up is Foreshortening. Foreshortening is such a challenge. Foreshortening is when the perspective compresses something long into a small space.
Usually we blunder with foreshortened limbs. We know arms are long. We know legs are long. So we draw them long instead of drawing them accurately.
While symbol drawing can reduce the accuracy of your art, it can be used as a helpful trick too: Symbol drawing on youtube
That video gives you a fun party trick, but it doesn’t teach professional drawing skill. What is your personal goal? If you want to draw backgrounds and action scenes, that trick might not be enough. Even if you only want to draw your Dungeons & Dragons party character headshots, it might not be enough.
Knowing your drawing goals can help you decide what tools to add to your toolbox. Learning to see shapes and angles is a good tool for almost any goal. Symbol drawing keeps you limited to the symbols your brain can recall.
I just found your blog a week ago and I just wanted to say that it’s been really helpful so far! I always thought drawing would be a fun skill to improve but I could never figure out how to start. This site has pointed me in the right direction without any confusion, so thank you! Keep up the great work
That’s wonderful to hear. Have fun with the new endeavor!