Accurate drawings
For many of us (me included), making accurate drawings or sketches is a real challenge. If you're lucky, it comes naturally, you see it and are able, somehow, to sketch it right on the spot, to near-perfect proportion. It may not matter much for a pure landscape, but it matters a LOT when there's a prominent building, bridge, barn, animal, etc. involved. I've used carbon paper to trace, a light box, and the grid method, and a cheap Project-O-Scope, all with some minor success. I hate carbon paper, tracing doesn't allow for scaling up or down. the grid method seems "clunky" and you have all the grid lines to erase. Projecting seems to yield the best results, but the cheap projectors are way too dim to be really useful. Do I need to invest in a better one or does someone out there have another method that works well? I'm usually taking a reference photo with my phone and not being able to draw accurately convert it to a reference drawing is discouraging. Do I just have to practice more? Is there a book or video anyone can recommend for learning to draw better??? Thx!
Hello,
I guess most people cannot draw without practice. The brain does a lot of calculations, so that perceive contains interpretation. You need to learn how to disable it and make it a 2D image.
Think where the vanishing points are. It might help to draw them on the photo. If you some painting program, you can paint them on the screen.
For animals and persons, there are two approaches which I am aware of. Think where the bones and muscles are, and how the animal / persone can move them. The second one: pick three (five) tones, mid, light and dark. If you use toned paper draw the light and the dark. That workes fine with cole, where you can remove darks. I sometimes paint just the outline with a very light wash, than the mid tones and after a darker one.
Good luck and practice practice practice