In my last post I talked about my path to becoming an illustrator and how learning art fundamentals was something that I needed to implement to improve my drawing skills; nonetheless, the question is: Where to start? There are so many facets to art fundamentals that it can get very confusing.
This is when drawing proficiency levels come in handy. Each level represents a drawing ability required to develop a more complex illustration. These levels are a useful guide to figure out what fundamentals you’re lacking to draw what you want.
I found two resources that helped me the most to understand them:
The first one is the post 10 Drawing Myths that Block Your Progress by Monika Zagrobelna in which she describes drawing myths that you can easily find in every artist’s mind. In the first myth, “Drawing is a simple, single skill,” she mentions 10 drawing proficiency levels that she found by herself during her drawing path. They are the following:
Level 1. Making simple marks with a pencil.
Level 2. Tracing lines from another picture.
Level 3. Drawing geometrical shapes intentionally (Drawabox is an excellent resource for this)
Level 4. Representing outlines and shading.
Level 5. Owning a visual library (this is what Kim Jung Gi masters and recommends in the video below).
Level 6. Capable of observe and capture reality.
Level 7. Utilizing a more complex range of drawing techniques.
Level 8. Drawing images not drawn from reality that are still 100% recognizable (like what is done by concept artists)
Level 9. Drawing from imagination.
Level 10. Drawing everything.
The second resource is a video by Wired Magazine where you can see these levels from the hand of a professional painter:
Down below I added screenshots from the video to show these levels in detail.
Pencil Sketches
Skill Level
Level 1. The Solar Head
Level 2. Identifying Features
Level 3. Volumes and Proportions
Level 4. Planes of the Head
Level 5. The Block-In.
Level 6. Contour
Level 8. Highlights and Accents
Level 9. Gradients and Value
Level 10. Establishing a Flesh Tone
Examples
Painting
Skills Level
Level 5. The Block-In
Level 6. Contour
Level 7. Light and Shadow
Level 8. Highlights and Accents
Level 10. Establishing a Flesh Tone
Level 11. Color as Value
Example
Regarding my own abilities I am at level 5, “Building a visual library,” from Monika’s post and from the Wired video I’m learning about all topics from levels 6 to 11.
I hope this helps you to create a more structured path to follow if you don’t know where to start when it comes to improve your drawing skills.
What about you? Where are you in regards to these levels?
Paola
couragepassion 