“A man paints with his brains, not with his hands.”, Michaelangelo
People often call Michelangelo a genius.
Yet he humbly remarked, “A man paints with his brain, not with his hands.”
His art was so remarkable because his creative process was grounded in science and observation as much as imagination.
To truly learn how to draw, it helps to look at Michelangelo’s approach. He was deeply fascinated by human anatomy: when drawing the body, he didn’t just capture the visible muscles; he studied every layer beneath the skin, exploring how each muscle connected and moved. His aim was to understand the invisible to master the visible.
These analytical qualities carried through to his sculptures and architectural works. The more he refined this method, the more his artistic potential seemed to have no limits.
*To this end, he was making human dissections by the age of 18.
Artists are often told that to make progress they must practice constantly.
True, BUT “practice for practice’s sake” doesn’t suffice.
By drawing with the sole goal of having practiced and getting it done with, you won’t notice any mistakes or repeating errors you’re making.
Additionally, you risk not progressing at all, or only doing so very slightly. This is a step that causes some people to abandon art, claiming a lack of talent.
Try to always ANALYZE*, not simply copy what you see.
In doing so you can make great strides in a short time.
*Sure, but analyze what? I’ll list the types of things you’ll be looking for one by one in an upcoming tutorial, and you’ll see that each element, once isolated, isn’t that complicated at all. It’s often a matter of geometry and a sense of space.
Assimilate the fundamentals so that they become a part of you, and become such an ingrained reflex that you don’t have to worry about them. You’ll develop a sort of 6th sense, a reliable intuition.
As in chess, you naturally develop strategies faster over time, gradually thinking more and more moves ahead in order to reach your goals.
With proper practice, your drawings will become lighter and less clogged with the need for lots of construction lines. You’ll spend less time considering your artistic plan of attack, and gain more clarity from less planning.
The brain has the capacity to analyze information extremely quickly. Your hand cannot physically keep up with the brain’s thoughts. Even before you’ve finished drawing one line, or even put your pen tip to paper, your brain already knows how to finish that line and move on to the next.
Try not to draw like this:
Make a line > (pause to think) > line > (pause to think) > line > (pause to think)….
Unless you’re already drawing with a specific strategy in mind, try it like this:
(Pause and think) > line > line > line > line > (pause to think) > line > line > line > line…
Eventually, your technique for thinking while drawing will be practically effortless. Your brainpower will be available instead to focus on your creativity.
You may take some liberties in your drawings. You’ll make errors both consciously and unconsciously, and maybe the drawing won’t be perfect. But you’ll get a result that you can work with.
That’s when you can congratulate yourself on your progress!
And, as a bonus, you’ll also feel stronger artistically, and ready to take on new challenges.
If you too find it incredibly fun to analyze and create art, tell me about it in the comments!
Learn more about how to draw like artists
Great article, very interesting and motivational. Thanks for the tips, will surely analyze what´s wrong in my sketches, isolate those mistakes, try to not repeat them, practice, analyze again, practice, in order to progress.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Roger Santos
My pleasure Roger :)
Interesting, looking forward for the tutorial. Really curious to know more. And thanks for starting this blog.
Thanks Brian ! If there is anything specific you want to know. Tell me, I’ll be pleased to answer you if I can.
Hi Chou,
That was really awesome and helpful… keep rocking!
Regards,
Rohan
Alright Rohan. Let’s rock !
Hi Chou,
Thanks for the great post, I have only just discovered this awesome site, thanks for putting the time and effort in sharing your knowledge and works :)
I have been a designer for the past few years, and I think I have gradually let my hand take over my head. I have been applying the ideas from this post into my work over the past couple of days and I am already beginning to notice a good difference.
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt,
In 2 days, you already get positive results.
That’s great, and for me a real pleasure to know.
The blog was launched a month ago only. Let’s see how we guys improve along the journey.
Thanks Matt for your feedback.
Cheers,
Chou-Tac