"Drawing, properly taught, is the best way of developing intelligence and forming judgement, for one learns to see, and seeing is knowledge." (Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc 1883: p.305)
Observational drawing simply means drawing what you see. The job of Natural History Illustrators is to draw and represent objects as accurately as possible using observational drawing skills.
When studying an object, think. Think about the overall shape, and the shape of the individual components. Think about the size and proportion. Think about the texture of the surface, the tones and the markings. Think about how it was formed, and try to identify the key characteristics that need to be depicted. Slow down and contemplate the object, become familiar with all of its intricate details before even picking up the pencil.
It's also vital to measure subjects to ensure that they are being depicted accurately in terms of scale.
Transcribing from three dimensions to two is tricky, and you should always consider the structure and form of the object you are depicting. This is particularly important when drawing the edges of your object. Let them curve away from you rather than coming to an abrupt end. Look at where the light hits the surface and where the shadows are placed and mark these areas onto your sketch.
Keep in mind the surface form and the underlying structure of the object you are drawing.
It's also important to record context notes that can be used later when refining a sketch.
Overlapping – The placement in a composition of one object in front of another in order to create the illusion of depth
Relative size – The size of one object in relation to another. For example, a tree in the foreground would be painted much larger than a tree in the background
Graduating tone – Tones weaken the further away they are therefore lighter tones should be used in the background and stronger tones in the foreground
Line weight – Heavier lines should be used for the objects closer to the viewer and softer lines for the elements that are further away
Colour – The value and intensity of colours change depending on the distance of the object from the viewer. Objects that are close to the viewer should be strong and vibrant while objects that are further away should be softer and bluer
Details – Objects that are closer to the viewer should have more details than those that are further away
Directing the eye flow – Use minor objects (the support characters) to direct the viewer’s eyes towards the focal point. In the example below, the higher monkey is the focal point and the lower monkey and the branch it is sitting on are leading the viewers eyes to the focal point.
It is totally blank from my end. :(
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