Dave Gray of XPLane kicked off VizThink 2008 with a quick session on the basics of drawing. The message underlying his brief tutorial was “anyone can draw”:
- We are taught to think that drawing is about making things look realistic.
- But drawing is really about getting ideas down on a page. Think of it as another vocabulary that enables discussion.
- Basic primitives (circle, square, triangle, line, point, cube, cone, pyramid, sphere, etc.) are the building blocks of drawing. If you can draw these basic shapes you can draw anything.
- Don’t worry if the perspective in your drawings is right, focus instead on communicating. Use “Egyptian (flat) perspective) to get ideas across.
- Children use drawing to explore the world, not to replicate it. This basic principle is immensely powerful when you begin to consider how to apply drawing in your work.