(Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook
#175 Dtp:204 Page:104001-144_41057 2.indd 104 24/4/14 7:20 pm (Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook
#175 Dtp:204 Page:105
001-144_41057.indd 105 4/24/14 8:03 PM104 The Drawing Club(Text)
Chapter 8: Mileage
I remember hearing it from teachers and established artists
as I was coming up. I admit that sometimes it felt like someone
saying you can climb Mount Everest simply by taking one simple
step after another. It always seems like a daunting task, but
anyone who has become good at anything knows that with time
and discipline, it can be done.
Take, for instance, my friend who used to live next door to a
retirement home when he was starting out as an artist. He made
friends with this one old fellow and enjoyed talking with him
every day. This old guy sat pretty still, so my friend asked if he
could paint him while they talked. He didn’t mind, so every day,
my friend did a painting of him.
After about a year, my friend showed me the paintings. The
first ones were pretty predictable and stiff. He was trying to
figure out things such as likeness and proportion.
He had some good days and bad days, but as time went on, I
could see change. My friend was no longer struggling with like-
ness and proportion. Instead, I began to see more subtle things.
I found myself staring at some of the paintings wondering whatPractice sketches in gouache on the back of a drawing
pad, watercolor on chit board, Will Martinez“When people tell you to hang in there, keep practicing, and
not give up, what they are referring to is ‘drawing mileage.’ ”
the old guy was thinking. Sometimes, he looked impatient or sad
or even angry.
It was then that I started to see the results of my friend’s
mileage. He wasn’t just doing paintings of a human head; he
was painting his old friend in a particular moment that the two
of them shared. In the best of those paintings, I felt the presence
of both of them.
Learning to draw can be intimidating, at first, but if you just
think one drawing at a time and keep it consistent, you might
just surprise yourself and take your drawings to a place far
beyond where you started.
In this chapter, we’ll explore different ways of approaching
drawing mileage. Included are creative ideas of how to make
practice fun as well as exercises that will give your mileage
structure and focus. You will see drawings by animators,
illustrators, designers, and storytellers whose accomplishments
in their work for major film studios, theme parks, and other
exciting places in the design world were helped by accumulat-
ing mileage.Learning to draw can be intimidating, at first, but if you just think one drawing at a
time and keep it consistent, you might just surprise yourself.
(Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook
#175 Dtp:204 Page:104001-144_41057 2.indd 104 24/4/14 7:33 pm
Practice sketches in gouache on the back of a drawing
pad, watercolor on chit board, Will Martinez“When people tell you to hang in there, keep practicing, and
not give up, what they are referring to is ‘drawing mileage.’ ”
the old guy was thinking. Sometimes, he looked impatient or sad
or even angry.
It was then that I started to see the results of my friend’s
mileage. He wasn’t just doing paintings of a human head; he
was painting his old friend in a particular moment that the two
of them shared. In the best of those paintings, I felt the presence
of both of them.
Learning to draw can be intimidating, at first, but if you just
think one drawing at a time and keep it consistent, you might
just surprise yourself and take your drawings to a place far
beyond where you started.
In this chapter, we’ll explore different ways of approaching
drawing mileage. Included are creative ideas of how to make
practice fun as well as exercises that will give your mileage
structure and focus. You will see drawings by animators,
illustrators, designers, and storytellers whose accomplishments
in their work for major film studios, theme parks, and other
exciting places in the design world were helped by accumulat-
ing mileage.Learning to draw can be intimidating, at first, but if you just think one drawing at a
time and keep it consistent, you might just surprise yourself.
(Text) (Fogra 29) Job:11-41057 Title:Drawing club Handbook #175 Dtp:204 Page:105
001-144_41057.indd 105 4/24/14 8:00 PM