Sketch, in short, is monochrome painting. However, this is not entirely correct. After all, sketch covers too many things and solves too many problems. Sketching process is a comprehensive thinking activity that considers many problems at the same time. At present, all majors in art colleges take it as a basic course, although each major has different emphasis, such as oil painting emphasizing volume and tone, Chinese painting emphasizing lines, printmaking and design emphasizing structure. But the sketches are similar. At the same time, sketch, as an independent art category, has its unique artistic value. Of course, there are not many specialized sketch artists, most of whom are part-time. For example, masters, their drafts are already very valuable, so you don't have to distinguish between basic sketches and independent works of art, even if these sketches seem to be several strokes, the skill behind them is very good. Sometimes a random undulating line reflects the artist's profound understanding and mastery of modeling, structure, characteristics, rhythm, charm and art history, and the hardships behind it are naturally self-evident.
Let me talk about my understanding of sketch, or my experience in teaching and learning for more than ten years. The following parts overlap, which is determined by the comprehensiveness of the sketch. Each part is only one aspect of the sketch complex, and the relationship between them is decomposition and reorganization.
1. Show as much as you can understand.
Generally speaking, sketch is very rational, and the process of sketch is an activity that people combine their brains, eyes and hands highly. The brain is the commander-in-chief, and substantial rationality is particularly important; Eyes are sensitive and lively, but they are often one-sided and wrong; Hands are just tools to achieve the results of brain-eye consultation, as long as they are obedient, which belongs to the technical category (of course, there are other tools). Therefore, the brain should keep learning and thinking. Only thinking can bring innovation, and thinking is the biggest feature that distinguishes people from animals. First of all, we should learn the history of art, understand the development process of art, and understand the unique growth process, artistic concept, style difference and skill expression of masters. Only by constant evaluation and thinking can we correctly position ourselves, promote our better development and avoid confusion and repeated waste. Can't you learn to sketch without learning to reach out? Finch, Michelangelo, Raphael, Diu Lei, Rubens, Kumfer, it is not enough to know about Che Shakov. The birth of anatomy and perspective has injected more scientific and rational factors into sketch, which takes time and energy to learn and master. For example, without understanding the underlying bone structure, muscle movement and visual perspective deformation, it is impossible to express a person only by understanding the contour fluctuation of the surface; Every line and every ups and downs should reflect the knowledge of anatomy and perspective, which can make the sketch more profound and complete. The knowledge of composition makes sketch works more perfect and personalized, more visual and more artistic. The clever use and control of structure, characteristics, proportion, shape, orientation, rhythm, contrast, points, lines and planes undoubtedly play a key role in the full expression of sketch, while the mastery of geometric concepts and in-depth shaping skills will also play a macro and micro control role in the picture. The invention of the camera and the arrival of the Internet era liberated sketch from the objective world, thus paying more attention to the infinite space of people's thoughts and feelings in the post-industrial era, and sketch showed more diverse styles.
Obviously, with such a rich knowledge reserve, you have to be an excellent conductor to express yourself artistically with intuition and passion.
2. Foundation, ability and quality
Sketch is the foundation of plastic arts, and the purpose of sketch learning and training is to cultivate learners' correct cognitive ability, observation ability, modeling ability, expression ability and aesthetic ability. A generous and solid foundation has become a necessary quality to enter the art palace, just like the foundation of a high-rise building, which is thick, hidden and unpretentious. It's like standing in a pile in the martial arts. You can't stand still, "Kung Fu" is just a flower shelf. Beginners must hold their horses, endure loneliness, endure hardship and have a sense of difficulty. Rome was not built in a day, nor was it built in a day by the ancients. However, it is not enough to rely on the head work alone. We should consciously cultivate our correct observation ability and expression ability. Observation methods usually refer to the whole and comparison, such as squinting at the whole and comparing in the whole. Details, especially wonderful details, should be carefully observed. If describing the front, it is best to observe the object from the side or top. Such a multi-angle three-dimensional investigation is helpful to show the structure, ups and downs, characteristics and turning points of the object. We should be able to keenly judge and perceive the unique image characteristics and spiritual temperament of the performance object, discover the form and charm of beauty from the ordinary, and quickly choose our own methods to express and deal with it. As a form of painting, sketch has its own artistic vitality, and the word "foundation" alone can no longer accommodate the full meaning of sketch, not just laying the foundation. Sometimes, cultivating good aesthetic quality can lay the foundation for a lifetime of artistic activities.
3. Basic skills and creativity
Good basic skills, creative? Not necessarily. In fact, the basic skills of many excellent artists are not very "solid", especially in today's era when this art has stepped out of modernism and entered postmodernism, and innovative ideas have become the mainstream. In China, there are still many purely technical "talents" who only bury their heads in pulling carts and don't look up at the road, which can also be said to be a common problem in our basic education. The reason why we want to implement quality education and now push forward the curriculum reform of basic education is mainly aimed at the fatal problem of low creativity of talents in China. We are not short of solid basic skills and can be said to be leading the world. What we lack is the originality to lead the world. Therefore, it is very important to deal with the relationship between basic teaching and the cultivation of creative thinking. Now, to update our basic concepts, laying the foundation is not only rote memorization and mechanical repetitive training, but also extensive reading, appreciation, knowledge, communication, cooperation, discussion, investigation, synthesis, comparison, doubt, exploration, imagination, creation, reverse thinking, divergent thinking, breaking the routine and so on. Gradually cultivate creativity in daily study and life. The basic skills of sketch and the cultivation of creativity should be synchronized, because sketch carries all valuable artistic information and creativity, and the essence of art is "innovation". Looking back at art history, it is obvious that only artists with innovative value can be recorded. Therefore, you should be a person who studies art seriously.
4. About initiative
The initiative of learning sketch refers to active practice in action and diligent exploration in thinking. The two are combined into one, and it is impossible to talk without practice, and it is impossible to practice without thinking. We often say that someone is active in learning and his works are thoughtful. That's what we mean. Even a beginner's sketch can't be reproduced purely and objectively, so we must add our own subjective feelings, rational understanding and subjective treatment. In order to feel life and know art by learning sketch. Think with your own brain and see the world with your own eyes. Initiative is a learning state, a way to consciously seek various ways to acquire knowledge and ability. We should cherish the use of learning resources such as bookstores, libraries, networks, art galleries and museums. Don't rely too much on teachers, take the initiative to study by yourself, be diligent in thinking, look around the world and actively classify, summarize, criticize and choose all kinds of information. Don't lose yourself in diversity, but keep learning in progress.
Step 5 get in position and open it
The content of "in place" includes composition, structure, characteristics, shape, proportion, orientation, rhythm, strength and so on. Being in place is a basic skill and an ability, which is not exactly the same as the "accuracy" and "trust" we usually hear. "Being in place" refers more to the subjective feeling and artistic being in place, with a higher level and greater subjective development space, and even "truth" is only artistic truth. "Openness" is a humanistic quality and a subjective means. The content of "Kai" includes artistic language, physical characteristics, black and white gray, primary and secondary, virtual reality, strength, rigidity, shade, straightness, front and back, density and so on. It is a simplification and induction in a higher sense, more subjective and free than "in place", and it is the spiritual expression of the artist's personal subjective initiative.
"Being in place" and "being apart" are equivalent to the relationship between objectivity and subjectivity, description and expression, richness and conciseness; They are unity of opposites and interrelated; Excessive "in place" is plain and mediocre, and it needs "openness" to inject vitality and vitality; Excessive "pulling away" is gorgeous, broken and simple, and needs to be integrated in place. The difficulty lies in how to master this "degree", or "just right", and it doesn't hurt to go too far. Qi Baishi's theory of "between similarity and dissimilarity" also means this.
6. The importance of "black, white and gray"
The importance of emphasizing the concept of "black, white and gray" here is entirely based on years of experience, because it has really brought many benefits to me and many students. Introducing the generalization of "black, white and gray" into the study, design and creation of sketches or all colors will get twice the result with half the effort, especially for beginners. The specific operation is as follows: the complex and disorderly objects are summarized as black, white and gray in brightness, which is a subjective grasp and orderly organization of the macro whole. Any piece contains many levels (tone and decency), but it must be under the absolute rules of "black", "white" or "gray"; Generally, "grey" blocks are rich in hierarchy, while "black" blocks are simple in hierarchy. The areas of the three blocks are specific, but they must be available. In this way, we can easily overcome the common problems of beginners such as "gray", "chaos" and "dirty" in the picture, thus making the picture structure of the work more powerful, vivid and orderly.
"Black, white and gray" is an active overall grasp and control of the picture, which may have more significance.
7. The meaning of lines
There are no pure lines in the world, and the Su school only recognizes the continuous arrangement of points (faces). However, art is art and the product of human spirit. Although it is scientific, it can never be equated with scientific "truth". One plus one is not equal to two, art has no standard answer, and line is the product of the subjective and objective world reflecting to the artist's spiritual world. Line is the most basic language of visual art, and it is a kind of generalization and "abstraction". It is both ancient and modern, and will never be out of date. Therefore, in the world of sketch, artists and lines are inseparable, and the first hand is the line, which can be fully utilized according to subjective and objective needs. The artistic expression of lines is very strong. Up to now, we are all impressed by the flying and elegant lines in Dunhuang murals and the magnificent lines in Yongle Palace murals thousands of years ago. Lines not only express contours, regions, structures, features, turning points (between forms and two colors), rhythms, etc. An object, but also expresses the artist's subjective feelings. Impulse and passion at that time is a subjective refinement, which sometimes becomes the soul of the work, so there are tough and powerful lines, flowing lines, line movements and line melodies. In fact, the use of lines is very particular, both rational and emotional, not as simple as "outline". Lines should pay attention to expressing the ins and outs of objects: where should the front and back sides of lines and the strength of lines be used? Where should I not use it? How to penetrate the air and how to compare the density? Everyone is learned. Only one sideline embodies the connotation of modeling, characteristics, space, reality, strength and so on. Line should be higher than tone (plane), because it is the subjective product of the artist and a kind of "spiritual expression".
8. The tune is the server
We should have a correct understanding: don't tune for the sake of tuning, tuning is just a physical server. In other words, the use of tones should reflect the internal structure and ups and downs, and should focus on the physical structure, and oppose the use of specious, ambiguous or useless tones; Tone is best used in conjunction with lines, which are the masters of external contours, and tone is a strong manifestation of internal volume, texture and hierarchy; If the line is the basic framework in the building, then the keynote is the interior and exterior decoration, which complement each other and promote each other. The popular Supai sketches pushed the tune to the highest position. Draw everything except one bright spot. What doesn't actually exist is the invisible surface. This too physical and rigid teaching theory system made China gloomy, weak and powerless at that time. In art, people who pursue science excessively will lose many unique advantages that they should have.
However, hue has another function: it can render the background atmosphere, adjust the rhythm of the picture, and make the picture seamless and more beautiful.
9. Emphasize the significance of "characteristics"
Introducing the concept of "characteristics" when beginners sketch will give people a feeling of taking shortcuts. "Features" are included in both the expressed images and the artistic language and style expressed by the author. First of all, the combination of body structure and characteristics can produce the first impression of "what it looks like", such as someone looks like an apple, wax gourd and scissors, and the idiom "as thin as a bone", as well as the commonly known "moon eyebrows", "triangular eyes", "garlic nose" and "cherry mouth". It can also be described by "external characteristics" and "internal characteristics"; "Appearance characteristics" can draw lessons from some skills of paper-cutting art; Others, such as shadow, blank, beard, collar, cloth pattern, etc. In a word, you can dig out the objects and details that you think are worth describing. Grasping the beauty of features means that people subjectively highlight some distinctive features of objects, or attach importance to the visible shapes of some pictures, so as to treat them "seriously" and make the pictures "shaped" from a distance, so that the whole and small parts will appear attractive and weighty. The concept of "characteristics" should be carried out throughout the sketch performance.
10. Pay attention to "modification"
The "modification" here is similar to the adjustment in the general sense, but the difference is that the adjustment is mostly based on the routine step by step, while the "modification" is based on the courage and directness in positive performance; Because you dare to draw and make mistakes, you should "modify"; And every "modification" is a process of thinking and progress, and sometimes drastic "modification" is actually a sublimation or resurrection. Therefore, don't be afraid of being dirty, don't be overly cautious, and dare to do it; Don't worry about leaving traces of change, this trace should be the footprint of progress.
"Review" is a down-to-earth learning attitude and a self-confident and enterprising learning exploration. Beginners often make a mistake and start over. They always want to make a quick decision, make a blockbuster, but they don't know that this is an impetuous performance.
Although I have tried many times and tried many times, the above statement is only one-sided and inaccurate. However, it is also from the bottom of my heart that there should still be its place today when pluralism can coexist, because the discussion on sketch teaching will never end.