as an artist, how do you learn to "see" better?

Question

by practice? meditation?

Answer 1

You can do it by practice. It is just a technique. My first art teacher taught us I believe left brain thinking it was called. She had us look at everything in terms of lines and curves shadow and light. People tend to create what they think an object looks like and not what they actually see. Looking at everything in the afore mentioned terms is a great practice.

Answer 2

The simple answer is the right one. Practice. Start off by setting up a very simple still life to copy... a box or a ball, something very simple. Place it next to a light source that is dramatic, so it casts interesting shadows, and then study how the light affects the subject. This is not as dull as it sounds! Look for refracted light on the object, deeper shadows amidst the general shadows, how the light might blur the lines of the object against the background, etc. Then sketch it (charcoal works better for this than pencil). And when you're done, set up a new arrangement and do it again, *slowly* creating more complex arrangements as you go. By this way you'll train your eye to see those variations in light and shadow, implied line, fuller form, and this training will go a long way to enabling you to "see" when you're ready for portraiture, landscape, even abstract creations (because often in abstraction you exaggerate certain features of the subject).

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Diana

Answer 3

It's become a cliche' answer, here, but I firmly believe that the "vision" you seek will come from practice.

The form of practice I ALWAYS recommend is sketching from real life. Visual artists of ALL types can benefit by continued pracice. Artists should spend a lot of time seeking out subjects of ALL kinds, from people, animals, houses, cars, planes, trees, flowers, clouds, hills, etc.

By practicing from real subjects, the artist can better "see" how things work and fit together. The arm connects to the shoulder, just so, and the movement is limited to this and that range. A tree of this kind will grow like THAT, and then branch and divide about here, here, and here. That row of windows is much smaller, because that is where the stairwell will, logically go. A horse's rear legs do NOT bend backwards, but are much like a humans, because THAT is the knee and it walks on it's "tiptoes!"

Plus, the artist can better understand how all of these things work in one, continuous environment. Clothes do not just cover up like paper doll clothes. Fabric will hang, drape, fold, warp, waft and twirl around the body parts. A car window is placed just so, because a HUMAN must be able to see. That pine tree does not look like THAT pine tree, because one is on a hillside and the other is not.

Object do not exist in a vacuum. They occupy space. How can an artist learn to visualize and create that illusion of occupied space in his medium? By practicing how objects do it in real life.

Answer 4

When we draw something we know, we often make assumptions about what it looks like, rather than actually looking. One way to get out of this habit is through practice. For example, you could try drawing just a small section of something. In order to make it interesting, you're forced to look more closely at the details of that section. Other techniques are:

- drawing with the left hand (if you are right-handed), or the right hand (if you are left-handed).
- contour drawing: drawing without looking down at the page at all.

Because you are nervous that the picture won't look like the original object, you trick yourself into looking more closely at it.