The Secret Of Loosening Up Your Drawing

Artistic Liberation: How to Free Your Artwork by Ignoring Details and Nurturing Creative Vision

In this blog, I would like to talk about how to loosen up your artwork, the idea could apply to any type of art medium,

I never thought about it when I was drawing, however, thanks to my Domestika students, your questions made me think deeper...
many students asked me how to loosen up their drawing/painting, the trick is not about your drawing/painting skill, it's all about how you see the subject,
however, how you see the subject can make a massive difference to your artwork.

The REAL secret…

If you wear glasses, remove your glasses first, at the beginning of the creation, sometimes more clear isn't a good idea,
As this will force you to ignore the details of the subject, I know many subjects have very attractive details, but ignoring them, in the beginning, can really help you to loosen up the general shape.
Learning to ignore the details and only see the "general big shape" is the key.
If you have sharp eyes and never need glasses, try to close your eyes about 50%, until the point you see everything is getting a bit blurry, that's the perfect moment.
Seeing less is the real secret here.

The Mindset

A photographer told me, to take a wonderful photo has not much to do with expensive cameras or lenses, it is the one inch behind the camera, the photographer's brain, I can't agree more, and the same concept does apply to any type of creation.

Remember, you are the creator, you do not copy what you see, and you have total control of the artwork you are creating. Copying the subject you see / or from a reference photo is way easier than 'designing' the artwork with your own idea.

How do you composite the subject? What would I like my audience to see? What is the focal point of my drawing? Will this be too tight? Is the general composition still balanced?... and many more questions, asking those questions to yourself during the whole working process.

Never stop thinking, and never copy the reference photo or the subject you draw/paint from life, smartphone cameras are superb nowadays if you would like to record what you see, they are much more user-friendly :) To me, the beauty of original artwork came from the humanity and idea of the creator. This is not a camera or AI that could ever be replaced.

So, learn to ignore the details at the beginning, clear your mindset/keep questioning yourself during the process. Those are the tips from me, and also from my Domestika students. Your quality questions made me think more, thank you very much!

"I'm leaving you some images to practice what I mentioned. If you want to learn more about my working methodology, I invite you to visit my course: "Expressive Drawing with Charcoal".