3 rules from Kimon Nicolaides to learn making 1000 mistakes

1 Learning how to sketch is about making iteration.

We try, we do mistake, we adjust… we retry… and so on. That’s how we keep learning and get better at anything. If you want to learn violon, you have to try, explore and train your ears. So you will fine tune. Same for drawing.

I was reading an article from my friend Roy Pallas, blogger and illustrator from Blog-ledessin.com. He was talking about Kimon Nicolaides, author of “The natural way to draw”. The author recommends to do not look for perfection.

“The earlier you do the 1000 mistakes,
the earlier you get rid of them and reach your goal.”
– Kimon Nicolaides

---

2 You do not need any eraser to sketch.

Kimon Nicolaides also recommends to learn drawing without eraser (a method I totally share as well) – we shouldn’t erase our mistakes but correct them. We can better keep track of the mistakes.

---

3 Do not draw with contour, but gesture drawing.

I didn’t know much about Kimon Nicolaides, but he seams sharing a similar philosophy as mine – especially about gesture drawing. It’s about sketching with your feel, not by contour – so your lines are dynamic and convey emotion. And I like to import this technique for Industrial design sketching, fashion design, concept art, urban sketch… That’s actually what I tell my students from my course [Sketch like the Pros].

Put your pencil aside – make a try at sketching with a ball point pen only!
It’s pretty fun. The whole idea is to start any sketch with a light pen pressure. Soon you will gain a lot in accuracy.

Have fun! And let me know how things going in the comments below.

Take care.
Cheers,
Chou-Tac