This message is spot on. The foundation of drawing is observing proportions. I can’t even fathom why someone would bother learning any kind of fancy rendering techniques until he or she has a good grasp of getting proportions right by eye. It’s like decorating a house before the foundation is even built.

I was too lazy to draw the grids when i did portraits when i started learning on my own, i just kept eyeballing it. At first the proportions were always off and wonky, but eventually in time, i got used to the relationships of certain body/facial parts and it only got better from there. I'm glad being lazy helped me in a way I didn't expect.

I was taught to draw completely freehand. When I saw the concept of using a grid in an art book, I loved how precise it was! And then I was taught tracing and projectors in another class. Although all have had their place in my art, there's nothing like picking up a pencil and just sketching! Thanks for the thoughts, very good advice.

Got back into drawing 8 months ago after getting burned out some 4 years ago as I was just focused on studying "perfect" proportions on youtube videos (the easy, surgarcoated ones). Mind you, at that time I was drawing with a graphic tablet, and the stress of getting it right, creating something nice to look at was just too much for me. I got back into drawing with just some paper and a ballpoint pen, not caring about mistakes, making them permanent and still drawing over them, and as I got back, I found myself just wanting to "know" about some methods to get proportions down and completely disregard them most of the times, trusting my eyes first, which is actually extremely hard, but so much rewarding when it looks just "right. Something I noticed helped me is to look way more at the reference than I do at the paper, it takes time to get used to it but it's a game changer. I've been enjoying drawing ever since, and I'm now drawing at least once a month for the past 3 months, and I've just become so much better, each time I finish a sketch, I just notice how I'm getting better at something, little by little. Consistence is key. If you feel let down by drawings of yours just look at them, and look at much less recent ones, and you'll see just how much better you are, so keep going! Those are just some thoughts from a beginner artist, hope that can help someone out - or if it doesn't, it just felt nice to share. Wish everyone here a lovely life, and a great drawing time!

*Don't take shortcuts. I started drawing during the lockdown and worked through Alphonso's Pen & Ink Drawing workbook and textbook* . I did all of the exercises including the 30+ final drawings at the end of the workbook. My thoughts? Fabulous. Even if you draw or paint, ink is not only an unforgiving medium but forces you to be confident. Not going to lie: I made plenty of mistakes and had to redo a number of pages, but by the end of the workbook I didn't. *Figure Drawing Tips* I've worked on portraits and figure drawings since then, and I've posted some examples in the original comment, but YT keeps taking them down. In any case, what you take from these exercises will help the integration of your mind and body and help you see proportions and shapes better. As for figure drawing, I started with construction lines but no longer use them and draw interlocking shapes (Bridgman calls it wedging) directly and figure out the proportion with my eye. Why not use construction lines? Because people have different proportions from the Loomis and other construction techniques. Great way to learn and that's what I did, but you understand its limitations the more you draw figures. How long did that take? Oh, about a 1000 figure drawings.

😍😍😍 love watching your sketches come together! I am nearly 70 and have spent 55 of those years as a commercial artist and illustrator, after being thrown out of school for doing nothing but doodle. When it comes to drawing figures from the imagination, the SPINE HAS IT ALL! The weight of the attitude, how the head is angled, how the pelvis and shoulders turn and tilt... All of this depends on the spine.

Such a great well structured video. I think a lot of the time students get too focused on the specifics of “perfect proportions” and matching their study to look exactly like the reference that they forget to look to see if the study actually looks right. Just because a study doesn’t mimic the ref exactly, doesn’t mean it’s a bad drawing 😤

Fear of failure is HUGE for me. I am ok during sketching, for the most part, but I can freeze up when it comes to inking or painting.

Having just gone through a year of training up my proportions, I have this to say: every tool can be used as either a shortcut, or an error correction method. At the start of the process, I did some tracing in digital, using my phone and a capacitive stylus(the cheapest way to draw on a screen), and made the source material progressively more blurry so that I had to interpret more of the shape. This trained a lot of awareness of what proportions were, because I could see that every time I did this with a figure, I could maintain accuracy of the larger shapes but started to guess with the small ones and flatten out hands and heads. So I observed whole shapes, rather than lines. Later, I did some gesture drawing, using my desktop and a non-screen tablet. Here, I made a quadrant grid to start the sketch and give me a reference point for where my center is relative to the reference's center. This helped a little, but I was still working in digital, and what I noticed with digital was that the latency, aliasing, smoothing, scaling, and disconnected feel of a desktop tablet all made things more confusing and inconsistent: If I'm watching a cursor on a 60hz screen, the cursor is always at least 16 milliseconds behind what I'm doing, which means I can't easily adjust a line while I make it. This thought led me to compare screen vs not more closely and see what other people on KZfaq were using: my conclusion was that if you're really drawing for accuracy, you're probably going to gravitate towards traditional or a screen tablet. All the animators, in particular, seem to use large displays - and you know they're drawing a ton. But if you're rough sketching, painting, making edits, the difference matters a lot less, because you can go back and sculpt the shape. Finally, I moved towards ink sketching, and my main study project became to copy every page of Morpho. Here, I started applying sight-size and comparative measurement. I didn't pressure myself to get things perfect, just to make one attempt at each image. The first few pages looked like my gestures: I used a quadrant and rushed through each one. Gradually I introduced more use of sight-size, picking up the sketchbook to line it up with the source. By around page 100, I had had some breakthroughs, became increasingly fastidious, and could start using just my eye and my pen more and more. After another 100 pages I became more interested in comparative measurement just so that I wasn't constantly picking up the book. I had also learned some ways of disguising my prospecting marks. I've finished the book now and have started the same project with Ken Hultgren: Art of Animal Drawing, and I found that it taught me some new things about proportion because the style of drawing is different, not because the text had any advice on proportions. So my conclusion is that actually, it's not about whether these techniques are shortcuts, it's about "isolation practice": study of each of the techniques deeply, like Bruce Lee's "one kick 10,000 times", and you get more comfortable at accessing an overall sense of proportion; copying a book full of similar drawings builds up familiarity for that material. And at the very beginning, it's less frustrating to use techniques with very strong error correction, which tracing and grids do: you just have to also progress to other forms of training. I actually have a grid drawing book I'm planning to go through, because I'm pretty sure a more intensive use of grids will show me some new things.

This is such a good video. I definitely avoid shortcuts when practicing and daily sketching, but if all I care about is getting a pretty looking result, I'll do whatever it takes to get there. I'm really glad you addressed that shortcuts have a place!! Occasionally making something that just looks good without putting a million hours into it really helps motivate me and then I practice more so maybe one day I can do it without needing any help from tracing or grids at all haha.

Many years ago trying to draw a portrait for a commission, and drawing draft after draft, using various methods and even trying to just draw it. In the end what was holding me back was something I learned in a sculpting class I had taken many years prior to that in which I learned that a nose was two eyeballs long. When I really looked at my reference images of the individual, I realized that the nose was almost three eyeballs long. Since then, I have strived to always see what is there, then draw what I see, not rely on perfect world models.

My favorite tool has been a proportional divider. I try not to depend on it too heavily but I find it’s a great way to check my work when things seem a little off.

I always thought I was being lazy by not measuring out everything perfectly and just eyeing it. 😅Thank you so much for giving me a boost in confidence!

Literally was tracing 3d models as you posted this. Thanks for the mentorship!

My mother was an artist, but when I became interested in learning to draw and asked her to teach me, she was no help to me at all. She would take the pencil away from me, say "You go like this", and draw something. I would say, "Yes, I can see that "you go like that" but how do you KNOW to "go like that"? How do you know which way to turn the pencil and how far, etc.? This was back in the day before computers and KZfaq; I couldn't afford time or money for classes; so I resorted to the library and eventually came across a book called "The Natural Way to Draw" by Kimon Nicolaides, where I learned about blind contour drawing. Betty Edwards' book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" is more comprehensive but actually I think his instructions on how to do blind contour are better than hers. There are many other good books which concern other aspects of drawing, but for me, doing blind contour studies was the foundational lesson. Anyway, I do admire your videos --- thanks for the good advice!

Thank you for this encouragement to use our hands and eyes and senses, it is very motivating! Had a portrait class which was amazing in most ways but the teacher would nitpick at the imperfections in our drawings, like being a tiny bit off on the precise line of the chin, or the exact width between the eyes, etc. We were told that if we wanted to trace instead of draw on our own, it was totally legit. Didn’t love this idea myself bc I can trace a photo in like 10 minutes and get very little satisfaction from it, and did not need to take a class to learn to trace. On the other hand, I was frustrated when a from-scratch drawing would turn out a little wonky. Then I just didn’t feel like doing much drawing after that, which I’m sure was my bad. Drawing is such a nice sensory experience though, plus I’m sure there are neurological benefits, umm like hand eye coordination or whatever, so thank you for this pep talk! 🤩 Oh here is a good article about the neurological benefits of sketching: www.invaluable.com/blog/sketch-drawing/

You are absolutely right. Sometimes I use a projector to create the underdrawing for a painting, but I'm so glad I learned how to draw in the classic way.

This makes me feel so much better. I am a beginner and was feeling that I should be drawing a grid etc. That just seems so boring and 'rigid', but I am struggling to do it freehand. I have tried using my pencil to try and work out proportions and I'm just going to keep practising! I love these short sweet videos, thank you. I've actually come here to try and find your books as I'm just re-starting and this time I plan to keep at it!

The way you speak when you teach s so relaxing. It matches the way you draw. I also feel in the way you describe things that I can do it. You are a gifted and natural teacher. Thank you so much, I excited to practice. People keep telling me to make shapes but I have always drawn more through my own vision so I appreciate the realxed way you decribe drawing.

Always love checking out your videos! (They're short and concise, easy to digest.)

Excellent advice. I prefer working out proportions by eye rather than relying on shortcuts. It may not always come out right but it's all part of learning and improving ones skill.

I like the mirror test, Love your work!! Thank you 🙋🏼‍♀️

I like the message here and it brings attention to the ways I see my art and realize things are off when I draw without close reference, recently, I found a habit of measuring things in heads after I set the base outline with the basic anatomy, and I usually draw at an almost exact 6 head/5 head tall person at most times. This led to me trying out drawing children that had a noticeably different 4 head tall anatomy and it's been a fun challenge!

Thanks for the tip, I’ve recently got back into working on improving my drawing skills again.

Such a good video, I have also been struggling with this for some time, until I started going to drawing lessons where the teacher opened my eyes. There are too many tracers on the internet who call themselves artists, and the young people who look up at them become skeptic about how their work needs to be perfect. The point of art is to be free, learn from your mistakes and explore as much as you can.

Couldn't agree more. Never used grids or trace. I also find drawing without such shortcuts is the most satisfying, a very important aspect as I just make art for fun!

Mr Alphonso your videos are really one of a kind! 🙏🏽🥰

Hey Alphonso I started drawing at 12 and 13 and I'm proud to say I'm a free hand drawer I refuse to trace and use lightbox and I'm proud of it!!!!!

And drawing things in different styles can help you experiment with proportions as well. Specially if you’re going for a more stylized or cartoonish look.

Love the focus on the idea of relationships. Thanks for stressing these foundational skills that are so important.

totally agree and I always struggled to articulate the same ideas myself when talking to people about it 👌

I agree with the getting a feel for proportions as you do it more. You start to get an intuition for how the layout of a composition and line placement works without having to erase, but remaining loose and flexible is always important

Wonderful. I especially appreciated the observation that relying on shortcuts trains your mind to be passive. Maybe that is stronger than you said, but I think that is what happens.

This is the only way I draw. Listening to you today confirmed what I am doing in my work and that I am doing the right thing. Thank you very much.

Excellent video for a decent but stiff and frustrated draftsman! Thank you

So true! Your books have really inspired me and also helped me to let go of perfection and trust the process! Thank you Alfonso! 😊

Our art teacher used to always tell us to draw what our see. Not what our brain sees. As in, we have to draw however the subject is seen, not how you know it's supposed to be. And it truly helped me so much more than using grids.

While I agree that it's important as a foundational skill in art, for professional work (I make character illustrations) I always rely on measurements to have a very consistent looking output. I draw a lot freehand to improve and it does show up more and more when I use references since I know what to exaggerate better when comparing it to the freehand sketch.

The first part is pretty much how I do figure drawing. One piece of advice I got that always stayed with me was "draw what you see, not what it is." I feel like it's a little hard to explain without visuals, but basically instead of trying to draw a leg, I draw a serious of lines that resemble a leg. And these are drawn using reference points and measurements made through observation. This approach has helped me with foreshortening and perspective

At 68 all my art has been out of my imagination. I’ve recently desired to learn how to draw what I see, even if just to enhance my imaginative pieces. Gosh it’s hard! I have to believe I can learn though. Off to buy your books!

I have both your books which I ordered from Amazon about a year ago. Great books! Then, today I saw your video, didn’t know you were here on KZfaq, and of course I’m subscribed. I do like going out to different parts of town and filling a few pages with gesture drawings. You are forced to lean into the process and be fast, because no one is posing for you. You also have to pay attention to what you see, retain it and capture as much information as possible before the subject moves (which could be at any second). I haven’t done it in a while, been thinking about it, and watching your video has encouraged me to get out there again.

A great teacher of art.

Great video. Thank you!

This was a great video and at the perfect time. Having just sat down and knocked out a page of heads, then sitting back to review them, I'm seeing some decent proportions and perspective with some of the heads but also some proportions and perspective that are askew. It can be very aggravating to not have everything perfect but your video reaffirms the idea that I try to remember (but sometimes forget) that: it's not about perfection right now but a gradual path towards long term improvement. I love your work and the encouraging way you talk about drawing. Thanks.

Sound advice, thank you.

this is an extremely important subject. and you handled it very well. nice work! thank you

Drawing from life and not from flat 2d images is necessary for developing the eye. Cheers

Thanks-this lesson will make us stronger artists.

your videos have helped me out a lot thank you for making them

great video. great advice. i taught painting and drawing for many years. So many students look for shortcuts and miss out on the beauty of eye-hand coordination, the sensualness of a beautiful line (like the sketch you were doing), the depth and breadth of color. Art makes a person who is interested search for answers to questions many people don't know to ask. So thanks. great video..

wow! I REALLY needed this! I was recently get stuck in this rut of just drawing blanks while I stared at this clean, perfect outlining I'd set up but by taking your advice and try to not rely so much on outlines and worrying about mistakes, I've really let my imagination take the reins and as a result I've drawn some really neat stuff! THANK YOU!!!

Beautiful drawings!

Your teaching is so good thank you

God bless! Thank you for this! Also prayer here when wanted!

I think the best thing is to learn how to identify where a line should start and end by using the proportions u have already laid out. I used to struggle with figure drawing because I would draw the legs way too long or maybe too short, or things like that. But then i learned basic proportions of the subject. I learned that if I block in the head, ribcage and hips with boxes, bridgman style, I could then use that to find where the feet should be. I did this by measuring the distance between the head and the crotch area and then doubling it and that's roughly where the feet should end up. But I think this could be applied in other areas too. The idea of identifying proper proportions by using what you have already sketched in. Looking at the subject, maybe an angle leads straight to a part you haven't gotten to yet, and by following that angle, you can find where that part should be placed. Like following the angle from the elbow to the knee or something, and then matching that angle to the drawing to properly place the knee.

Ive always been the type to struggle to rely on grids and things like that so seeing this is so reassuring. I still have a long way to go with my anatomy but I work so much better by eye. Thank you for this explanation ❤

I'm a self-taught beginner. I learned so many things from your videos. I binged watch it. Thank you so much sir.

Drawing what I love helps me get into the heavy task of layering the proportions/anatomy correctly pushing me to improve likeness and observation skills. This has motivated me enough to study form under the skin level, there is A LOT going on in the face region, it is valuable to have that knowledge in mind since it can always be ported on ANY refs. There is region of the face where the bones are dominant others where the muscles are overlapping in specific directions to guide the shading. Also drawing still life accurately require more observation, discipline and organisation sometimes and share similarity on how to draw hair since it can have complex shapes.

Thank you! Now I know I'm not wasting my time just drawing! I've been banging away at it with no Loomis method, no nothing, just hours of work!

So nice to see the progress,

Recently I started uploading some of my drawings on KZfaq and I'm running out of material, so I've been tempted to star tracing or even buy a tracing protector. This video reassured me that I'm doing the right thing by not using "short cuts" and keep training my brain of how to draw the right proportions. Thank you!

Thank you so much for this! As someone new to drawing, I wasn't sure I was going about learning the "right" way for me. I have never traced or used a grid. I am thinking of getting a tool to help me trace, but I like some of the things I'm doing by eye alone. I have a process of 3 steps. 1. I try to draw something from memory. 2. I watch and follow along with a tutorial. 3. I use a reference to look at. I found that using a reference works best for me, but I'm erasing a lot. I want to be able to confidently paint on canvas, but I don't think I'm there yet. Anyway, sorry for rambling. 🙄 Thank you for all the videos you post, they really do help!

another great vid. Thanks Alphonso.

Oh my God, I have your book! Didn't know that you had a channel! Instant subscriber!

Your drawing videos have been the most valuable in helping work on proportions and developing line drawing techniques. Thanks for the good work.

I am learning that this video is true from the first words. Thank you Alphonso.

Thank you!!!

Thats very true ! Thanks very much for all the info.

I've been burned out on making original pieces for commissions. i had to step back to just draw straight from one reference for practice. this helps

love your art style

Good tutorial, thanks

Excelente trazo y soltura en el dibujo, me parecio muy bueno, el video y sobre todo didactico, mis felicitaciones al buen artista!!.

I've always enjoyed drawing freehand and when i learned about the grid method i thought it was like cheating. And I still kept drawing freehand . Now I know that this was the best choice . I might not be as good at rendering but i get the proportions and perspective right

This is spot on, just yesterday I drew without any grids and I'm so surprised the proportions looked really good and also I noticed some mistakes when it came to eyes and hands which I corrected later.

Another fantastic video. It reminds that I'm doing the right thing, even if it is difficult.

legitimately, i have never used grids or anything, except for the times i was told to use them while in uni also, when practicing drawing people doing things, i usually just eyeball it unless the image really does stump me. then i trace it even then i'd probably retry the sketch without tracing

Good stuff man, thanks!

Thank you very much for the video

KZfaq has recommended me your channel recently, I'm so happy I've clicked on that thumbnail! Subscribed :)

THANK YOU

Brilliant wisdom

Awesome video! Being self-taught, I have only learned to draw by seeing. I have developed an uncanny ability to measure proportions, distances, relationships by eye. Then I took a course in measuring and proportion - and realized I concentrated more on doing measurements than looking, seeing and drawing! Thank you for this video.

Great explanation and mannn you have a golden voice, could listen to an audiobook of War And Peace read by you on a long road trip

Thanks, I am thinking of drawing again. My style is draw a bunch of lines and erase what doesn't fit. I used to use fingers to blend, but I am investigating using more than just pencils and coloured pencils. I have never learned grid, I think I would hate it.

We are faced with the same dilemma: doing maths by mind versus with a calculator/computer, driving a manual car versus an automatic one (and soon completely autonomous ones), drawing everything with pencil and paper versus drawing on a tablet. From this also arises the idea that those who do things with the help of technology are not so real. My stand on this is that, without a doubt, starting learning the manual mode and then the digital one is much more advantageous than just learning from the beginning only the digital ways, but if one focuses on the final result (a math operation result, getting to be at a place we need to be, having the illustration we need to show/explain/ something, etc.), the way it was done becomes, in a way, irrelevant, that is, the method used to achieve the result, doesn't, in a way, matter that much anymore. The good thing about technology is that, if nothing out of the ordinary happens in the world, we won't lose it. And as for the skills that we stop teaching the brain because technology gives us shortcuts, we have to give it new challenges.

Thank you. I'm a beginner and I totally agree with you. Nevertheless, using some shortcuts has helped me getting a better look at the reference photo and finding out where my eyes (or my brain?) were getting me wrong. So it helped me drawing freehand too.

I agree 100%. I see too many people copying photos trying to do portraits without learning to draw first.

Thank you soo much

This is so helpful, and I wish I'd had this instruction seven years ago when I started to learn. I was so dreadful at proportions that I just gave up and resigned myself to tracing the outlines and general positions or using grids because I'm so much better at the finer details. (Partly due to my constant quest for perfection and the fact I'd lose interest if I couldn't get it right from the start.) It's really held me back and I'm only now gaining confidence and starting to truly enjoy working out proportions, even if they're still far from perfect. I always felt like a cheat when I was complimented on a finished product and felt compelled to explain each time that I could only claim credit for the details and not the layout. Now I truly feel like I've accomplished something worthy when I finish a piece on my own. I've enjoyed your videos for some time now and you continue to inspire me. Greetings from the Caribbean. Keep up the great work!. -bg

I am drawing by intuition and trying to keep in mind shapes and curves, but sometimes an ear or en eye "fall" to low och get to close to eachother. Then I find it usefull to correct my drawing with measurementsteakniks (as I sholuld with my spelling now🙈 I'm from Sweden)😊 Before I've gone to far with the painting and the endresult would become a disappointment. But I'm happy to listen to your teaching that I'm on the right track though I'm spontanius in my 'art', and having fun doing it. 🌞

Thanks..

Ever since the pandemic, I was isolated on my home so I decided to just draw everyday, I was only learning for 2 years and my art was anatomically terrible and was inconsistent, and as a self taught artist, I eventually learned how to improve my art through redrawing them as well and also looking at them time to time to keep track of the mistake before moving into another, doing this from time to time eventually also developed my artstyle which 2 years later I have 3 artstyles for when doing doodles, portraits or big projects I also learned to study and decipher how to draw a certain part of the body by observing an artist draw online with real time speed and also reference with myself (even went far as looking in the mirror for few minutes buck naked in the bathroom just looking how muscles are formed) and also learned that trying out trying beyond your comfort zone will be a way to improve as you do them in the long run you'll have easier way to draw them as you know how to do it

thank you

the funny thing to me is, I never actually traced as a kid, I just visually broke down shapes and drew what I saw, I would call it tracing cause I copied another person's art style, though I do wish my first art style wasn't fairy odd parents, been trying to get big head mode out of my art style for years. basically though, all I did is stuff like "Timmy has a head shaped like a D" then draw that letter D, then put the circle ear, and so on, sorta like building a skeleton in my head before I touched the paper then I drew over that skeleton when it was ""on"" the paper, I couldn't afford stuff like projections and tracing was too hard to do since I could really only do it by putting paper on the tv or computer screen and it was very uncomfortable, so I just ended up having to wing it most of the time

This is wisdom that can be applied in all aspects of life. Shortcuts cut you short!

Your videos are always great.

Good video, and I love that sketch of the old dude

Perfectly articulated

ngl you deserve more attention.

Why is this the first time I've ever heard anyone say this? Makes perfect sense