Observe > Draw

I took an art class this week: Foundations of Face Drawing. We learned the steps of creating a realistic portrait.

It was both an interesting (and humbling!) experience to bring a likeness to life. A big takeaway from the class was that many can learn to draw, but few take the time to observe.

And when drawing faces, observation is the first step to getting better. Before the first stroke, it’s beneficial to understand spacing, shapes, and shadows. (Even squinting helps beginners like us understand the structure better!) And over a few hours, our portraits markedly improved.

There’s a lesson in there — noticing first and acting next may be a good path forward for many things in life.