Strategies and tips for Drawing based on our work in the
Hawkins Room for Messing About with Materials and Ideas…

• The width between your eyes is the same as the width of one of your eyes.
• The bottom of your ear lobes is on the same plane as the bottom of your nose.
• It is helpful to use shading when drawing a nose.
• Eyes are typically located halfway between the top of your head and the bottom of your chin.
• We tend to draw the face straight on. How is drawing the profile of the human face a different experience?
• The two sides of the face are not identical.

• It is important to have a reference (the object you are drawing or a photograph of the object you are drawing) when drawing. Drawing from memory is difficult.
• Pencils can make different types of marks depending on how sharp they are.
• It is important to have erasers available.
• Drawing on easels requires a different pencil grip.
• Draw first with pencil or black pen versus drawing with colored markers. This way you can focus on shape and then add color.

• Some find it easier to draw when using lots of little lines versus one continuous line.
• It helps to focus on lines and shapes and on positive and negative spaces when drawing versus focusing on the object you are drawing. It is easy to be distracted by what you think an object should look like.
• One line in a drawing can make a big difference in the quality or lack of quality in the drawing. If one line is off, it can affect the entire drawing.
• The side of the pencil makes a different mark than the tip.

• Why do adults think drawing (as well as singing and dancing) is embarrassing?
• Drawing the same thing over and over again leads to improvement.