Dale Peterson

Drawing Blind This is the Third Edition of this book. I have heavily revised both the text, many of the illustrations and, especially, the layout. This book has been a labor of love since 2012, when I was pulled out of retirement to teach, for the second time. And, since the original text was composed, my research into the subject of how drawing as a human activity has expanded. So I have added more reference to that part. Plus I have added a whole new Chapter at the end.What I am presenting in this volume are my own approaches and methods of enjoying the medium we call sketching and drawing with graphite pencils. And, I am presenting it through my own belief that anybody can learn to draw well. Anybody! Visual creativity is a simple matter of personal desire and conviction.You can learn to draw!(?) Every living human being draws, every day. You may not think of it as such, but you are! When you write yourself a note, sign your name, do any kind of doodle, you are drawing. You are moving a pencil or a pen around on a piece of paper, or a napkin, or even the palm of your hand (if that's all that's available) and you are drawing. Written language is nothing more than a visual representation of a spoken language. When performed by the human hand, this is a hand-drawing of that communication. So you are drawing, all the time, every day. Just admit it. Even if you don't want to admit it - if you use a pen or a pencil, you are an artist."I can't draw. I'm no good at Art." Just silly. But, if you're convinced of that, I can't really change your mind. What I can do is show you some things that can allow you to have some fun. Is there anything wrong with just having some fun? I like having fun and that's really why I got started drawing and painting in the first place ... when I was, like, four.To see with your mind, often you must close your eyes.Effective drawing is about what is important about what you see, not trying to make what you see important. If it wasn't important enough to remember, then it is not important enough to include in your drawing.I am paraphrasing from hundreds of books about philosophy and spirituality, but not too many about how to draw or create Art; "Look within the mind, within the soul, if you really want to see." I believe Michelangelo is the original source of this concept. And from my own brain, "The eyes can only see what is just in front of them. The imagination can see to the end of the universe."I believe there is a hard concept to accept, for a lot of people, about Art and drawing. Talent is as much simple belief in personal validity as it is some special genetic ingredient.What I want when I draw is a nice drawing - a fun drawing. I think of them as illustrations of life, maybe drawings per se (as it were). All day, every day, we're surrounded by cool stuff. Is there some rule that says it has to be arranged or set up in some special way, to be worthy of recording, or the subject of an artist? I hate rules like that. These are the kind of rules that begin to put up the sides of boxes that you later have to "get out of." I believe, the only difference between those people who are doing what they love to do and those who do not, is that the people who are doing what they love, believe they can do it. Those people also don't care if anyone else accepts their efforts or not, they just keep doing what they love.

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