Realistic Drawing

Intro to Realistic Drawing

Drawing has been a pretty staple hobby that I found myself to always enjoy and find time for when I really wanted to. However, recently I've been having less and less time for, so now I'm taking the opportunity to further my passion that really enjoy. I in no way see myself as a professional but I do think drawing is an easy way to pass time and create some creative pieces for yourself to enjoy.

Now the kind of drawing I'm focusing on is realistic drawing of both people and animals. This in my opinion is the most difficult form of drawing simply because it's quite easy to tell with the human eye when something is off about a piece of art trying to look real, regardless of whether we know what exactly makes it look so off. However, I am always up for a challenge and hope that as time progresses I will be able to get better at it.

When a realistic drawing is done really well it can almost exactly resemble what it's trying to represent, but to look at this type of drawing as one large and tedious creation is the wrong approach. As I learned reading through "Lee Hammond's Big Book of Drawing" by Lee Hammond "The key is seeing everything you draw as nothing but large and small shapes, all connected together, much like those of a puzzle." (Hammond 5). It was messages like those throughout the book that allowed me to grasp  better understanding of the craft.

Shading

For now I am working with black and white which makes a crucial element in realistic drawing very important. That element is known as shading and it allows the art to have the appearance of dimension as if it wasn't drawn on a two dimensional surface. In my book it emphasizes that it's necessary to be able to understand how the balance of lighting and shadows affect the drawing.

Towards the left you can see an excerpt from the book showing how to apply shading to an object making it appear three dimensional using the bar that represents the five elements of shading. The book states "With any of these elements missing, your work will appear flat." (Hammond 13). On the right is my own drawing trying to resemble that technique.  My depiction of the sphere isn't exact seeing as it isn't a perfect circle and the shading doesn't make the sphere appear exactly three dimensional , but applying the five elements of shading transforms my drawing from looking like a 2-D cartoon to a 3-D illustration.

Practice Makes Perfect

Realistic drawing is a process and takes time to fully understand and develop. What's important is to keep in mind all of the steps and tools to apply to your drawing to make it appear real. What aspects of drawing do you feel truly makes a artistic piece come alive, making the drawing itself pop out at you? What do you think I could apply to my artwork to make it look more realistic? Leave your thoughts and opinions down in the comments below and thanks for reading. :)