Is Drawing Dead?

Do you teach basic drawing skills?  

In February 2012 the always creative and occasionally provocative Jayson Paterson started a thread on the OCC forum entitled “Is Drawing Dead?” Since then there have been 16 replies and more than 360 views.

Jayson explains “I want to emphasise again that I am not suggesting that drawing is dead in this discussion thread, but wanting to open up discussion as to what has been added to an artist’s basic toolbox in this 21st Century as necessary skills or a replacement to conventional drawing as either an end in itself, or a way to develop ideas for work in another form”.

Without wishing to state the obvious, here are three observations about DRAWING:

1. A drawing does not have to be made in pencil. My students all draw (and paint) with a range of iPad apps. In the last examination session one student uploaded her iPad paintings as part of the final examination/digital submission. (She achieved a grade 7). Drawing can occur in a variety of media. “Candidates should also be taught the techniques for a variety of traditional and contemporary art making tools and media”.

2. Drawing is also not just about working from observation and nor is it necessarily about a ‘final’ piece. The ability to draw (or paint) what you are looking at is one thing – and yes, great observational drawings and paintings are an obvious reflection of that ability – but drawing can be much more than that. It can be part of a learning and experimental process. It’s a way of critical thinking and it leaves a record – it documents that process of thinking. “In learning to draw, candidates develop confidence, inventiveness, and a way to think in visual terms, as well as a way to document experience and develop ideas”.

3. Drawing is just one tool in your (and your students’) creative and expressive tool box. “Too many candidates are still directing themselves and not being supported to reach their full potential or being encouraged to successfully develop skills and through experimentation and manipulation of a variety of art making forms. Exploring a wide range of media early in the course will allow candidates the opportunity to try different approaches to the work when they have more independence during their second year”.

All the quotes come from the latest Visual Arts Subject Report (May 2013). Read it!

“Teach the course: more time teaching basic drawing and compositional skills is needed as a foundation for creativity. In learning to draw, candidates develop confidence, inventiveness, and a way to think in visual terms, as well as a way to document experience and develop ideas. Candidates should also be taught the techniques for a variety of traditional and contemporary art making tools and media.

Too many candidates are still directing themselves and not being supported to reach their full potential or being encouraged to successfully develop skills and through experimentation and manipulation of a variety of art making forms.

Exploring a wide range of media early in the course will allow candidates the opportunity to try different approaches to the work when they have more independence during their second year.”

Images

Drawings are mine