Let's Get Ready to Rumble... Drawing vs Painting

Mar 23, 2022

So, I wanted to talk this morning on the differences between drawing and painting. Ok! What’s the…(laughter) I know what the difference is! (laughter), let me just talk to you about the different levels as you progress through your art career. Sometimes people will jump right into painting and will quickly become quite discouraged. Because painting is hard! Well, drawing is hard!  I’d l like to show you how much you are taking upon yourselves to learn, if you take on painting first.

If you start off with drawing, here are the things you are going to have to deal with. You’re gonna have to learn to use LINE to communicate the picture in your head. You will need to learn to use VALUE to communicate what you are drawing. Then you will have to deal with MATERIAL…maybe just a pencil and paper.

You’ve got 4 things to master in order to become very good at drawing. The paper will be easiest, then the pencil (learning how to press it down and when to pull it up…), then there is LINE and VALUE. It can take a very long time just to master those qualities.

If we incorporate COLOR into that, we just took on 3 more things, HUE (another word for color) take red, you have the COLOR red, the VALUE (because every color has a VALUE and then you have CHROMA (or brightness).  So, now you’ve added 3 more elements if you add COLOR to your drawing.

Now, just for fun, say you want to add the essence of painting watercolor. Or oil painting, you now have 8 things to master! You see where I’m going with this? The more methods you try to master in the early stages of your learning process, the harder it will be on you and your ability to master the basics. The basics are what will give you the skills to take your art career to whatever height you choose!

So here is my recommendation (why I have created this group and why I try to emphasize DRAWING as the very beginning) master those three things (Line, Value and Material), and you will find as you progress into color and as you progress into painting, it will go much easier for you. I have an old saying that I love, “A great drawing will save an awful painting, but a great painting will never save an awful drawing”. (laughter)

Anyhow, it’s a great place to start! Let me say I’m glad you’re here! Thanks for tuning in today…hello again, and we’ll see you in the studios!

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This is Kurt, and I’m a Dad Who Draws. Go Make Your Day Great!

Struggling and not sure what or how to draw...

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