THE REALLY HARD THING about drawing is that you have to think of so many things at once. But this is true of many skills, such as playing a musical instrument, speaking a language, or designing a building. It is evident that we humans are so organized that we can cope with these tasks, provided that we take the time and trouble.
In the previous chapters, I have dealt separately with the subjects of line, light, planes, mass, direction, and anatomy. These are but six of the elements that form the basis of good draftsmanship. There is not an artist in this book who had not thought deeply about all of these elements and mastered all of them. There is not a picture in this book in which any one of these elements is missing.
You must understand, too, that these elements are interrelated and dependent upon one another. You cannot make a drawing in line without understanding all the other elements. You cannot express your anatomical knowledge without understanding line, lighting, planes, mass, etc. In fact, anatomy as a science did not exist until these elements were mastered by artists. In other words, good drawing is something like driving a big team of horses, controlling them all simultaneously.
There are, of course, other elements besides those I have mentioned. Composition is one of them; perspective is another; rendering texture is still another. And then there are certain ghost horses, hard to define and therefore hard to control, whose presence the artist senses as he develops.
Beware of neat theories of composition. The artist’s feeling for composition, like the artist’s feeling for proportion, is a highly personal thing. However, certain principles of composition may be learned by studying the masters. Goya’s mastery of the balance of blacks, grays, and whites is a case in point.
And related to the artist’s style, there is a kind of personal geometry that each artist develops and uses. As you study the masters, look for vertical, horizontal, and oblique lines that dominate the forms, appearing and disappearing (Veronese). Look for simple, geometric forms like triangles and circles that contain an assemblage of forms (Raphael). Look for lines that converge at a given point which is either inside or outside the picture (Degas). Sometimes these lines touch the outsides of forms or run through the axes of forms. Look for spirals. Look for related and controlling curved lines.
It is difficult to study composition from drawings alone. The larger works of the masters — paintings and sculpture — must be consulted. I shall, however, point out a variety of compositional devices in the gallery of drawings that concludes this volume.
As for perspective, all the artists in this book have mastered it. You can do the same if you wish. You can find a book on perspective in your nearest library and in most art supply stores. There will be short articles on perspective in your encyclopedia. Like the other elements of drawing, the influence of perspective is apparent in every line of every drawing in this book.
Perspective and composition, of course, are closely associated. It takes great skill to control the perspective so that it does not overwhelm the composition.
There is a matter, related to composition and perspective, that has not been sufficiently noticed. To master perspective, an artist must form the habit of driving lines to a perspective point, either inside or outside the picture. Through the tradition of Western art, this habit became so automatic that it entered into composition. By this, I mean that artists frequently drive lines, relating to their composition, to points inside and outside the picture, to points which are not perspective points at all.
If you have decided to be an artist, you should make a great effort to learn all you can about the history of art. Not just the history of Western European art, but the history of all art, from prehistoric times to the present.
All this is easy to learn nowadays; technological developments in art reproduction have made great works of art — from every culture that ever existed — yours for the asking.
I also believe that you should become supremely aware of the art tradition of your own country, and strive for your proper place within this tradition. Due to the rapidity of mass communications, it is true that art is becoming international in style. But the flavor of the country of an artist’s origin seems always to persist, and adds strength to his work.
Ignorance of the past history of art has led many artists into disaster, for they persist in outworn styles, or waste their strength on problems that have been fully solved. You should strive, too, to learn all you can about contemporary art, the art of your own time, and strive to understand, in full, the forces that have brought this art about. Otherwise, like almost all students, you will grasp at some shopworn cliché and persuade yourself that this fragment is the creation of your own imagination.
Remember that no book can take the place of study under an accomplished artist. In drawing and painting there are many things that can only be communicated by a turn of your teacher’s pencil or a flourish of his brush. Western artists partake of a long tradition, well formed before the time of Leonardo. In an unbroken line, studio techniques have been handed down from master to pupil. Many of these numerous techniques and devices are so subtle that they have never appeared in print and never will.
Your style will develop through the decisions you make as you draw or paint from day to day. These decisions will all be influenced by the qualities of your mind; by your selflessness or selfishness; by your curiosity or lethargy; by your dignity or vulgarity; by your honesty or insincerity. Never forget that the really good critics — and there are quite a few — can look right through a canvas into the eyes of the artist beyond.
And finally remember that you are forsaking the world of words and entering a world of visions.
The best of luck to you all!