Gaokao Sketching: Ten People Discuss

Author: / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: [Excerpt:] 3. Problems with Exam Preparation Training Hard work and practice are important, but more importantly, using the right training method after putting in effort is effective. If the method is wrong, excessive hard work is like walking further down the wrong path. So, what is the correct method? It can be summarized as: the method of the master. Learning from masters will not lead you astray; masters are always the role models, standards, and shortcuts. Currently, inferior sketching guides are in the market, driven by economic motives at the expense of misleading students. It is unnecessary to enumerate their shortcomings—comparing them to the classics of masters makes it clear. Some students treat inferior guides as templates, rote memorizing them, or simply give up fundamental observation training for exam purposes. Without improving observation skills, it is impossible to draw anything well. Rote memorization and copying, which are inherently effective and should be highly promoted as learning methods, are essential for beginners. The key is: always choose the best role models, not the mediocre ones in the artwork. Even more alarming is the use of fixed formulas for sketching. As a result, how to draw a nose, eye, or clothing texture becomes standardized. Practicing these formulas as habitual movements forever limits them to two or three strokes, forming ingrained bad habits over time, completely the original goal of training artistic sensitivity and developing observation skills. 4. The correct learning approach and painting process are actually about rapid results. Traditional Chinese painting education emphasizes copying, making learning from predecessors the best means and. My personal experience also demonstrates that copying good paintings is a fast and effective way to learn from the past. The correct painting process: Beginners can first use long, "virtual" lines to outline the overall silhouette, and then proceed to "solid" lines from a specific point to complete the drawing. Both eyes should relentlessly pursue the edges of the subject, completing the drawing in one go. The long, virtual outlining step is a reference for grasping the whole and controlling the overall picture. A skilled sketcher can skip this step, always keeping the silhouette in mind while working on details. On a blank sheet of paper, an image seems to emerge, and the mind grasps the shape. The hand's pen does the detailed work, while the mind focuses on the overall image to be presented. This is the secret behind Leonardo da Vinci's egg painting. Painting an egg is essentially painting a "circle." We all have the experience of drawing a perfect circle in one stroke. During the process, the eyes should not only focus on the tip of the pen but also constantly pay attention to the already drawn part, imagining the next stroke to smoothly and accurately return to the starting point. 5. Overall awareness is like a bird's perspective. Shape is a two-dimensional flat issue, and it is precisely the outer contour formed by the edges that constitutes the shape of people and objects. The "silhouette" formed by the outer contour constitutes the whole of the shape. Through training, we must first be able to see any complex body as a silhouette, such as the silhouette cut by scissors from a plane. Below the large shape (silhouette), there are smaller shapes (silhouettes) that are interdependent and mutually complementary. This relationship is similar to a map, where we see the shapes of oceans and continents, as well as borders and territories. This observation method is very much like a bird, which can easily find its nest from above the sky. An ant or insect, however, finds its home very difficult if it gets lost. This observation approach starts with the large silhouette, first being grand and global, establishing a strong sense of the whole. Every shape has its own characteristics and personality, which are reflected in the contrast of size, length, curvature, and roundness. "The whole body is a face" means that when depicting all parts of a person, including those outside the face, one should observe the shape's personality, features, and expression, just as when painting a face. Only in this way can one train sensitivity. This training method directly points out the shape formed by the edges, being the most effective way to solve the problem of drawing "accurately" and "truthfully." It can be applied to all things and details, such as the eyes being the shape formed by the edges of the upper and lower eyelids, and the ears being the shape formed by the outer ear.