Comments on: “How Long Did That Take You?” – And Other Questions About Learning to Draw

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:48:05 +0000

It is normal when there is a new student in the atelier, to ask how long it will take. In my atelier, it took me less than to years to start from how to paint a circle to anatomy drawing of a human and still life with oils, keeping strictly to the so called classical tradition. I think that a very, very good technical competence can be achieved infour years. But that does not make you a painter, of course. When you get free your thought from technical competence, then you can focus on creativity.

By: frances gaddini-boord

frances gaddini-boord — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:30:58 +0000

Great article! Thanks David!

By: David Jamieson

David Jamieson — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:39:17 +0000

In reply to Bart Snell. Now that's really upping the ante, Bart. 10,000 hours? Please... Try 10,000 years!

By: David Jamieson

David Jamieson — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:38:18 +0000

In reply to Guilherme. That's a good one, Guilherme! I hope Braga charged accordingly! ;)

By: David Jamieson

David Jamieson — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:36:37 +0000

In reply to Lauren Peterson. Another good variation, Lauren :)

By: David Jamieson

David Jamieson — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 15:51:32 +0000

In reply to Michael L Strickland. That's a good point, Michael. Much of my "drawing time" is spent just staring at the page, apparently doing nothing (in reality, I'm trying to figure out why I don't like it). Does that time count? I would have to use a stopwatch if I was to try separating actual drawing time from general ruminating, and who's going to bother with that?

By: Bart Snell

Bart Snell — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 18:25:23 +0000

Some ancient Chinese guy is once supposed to have said something like, “Draw as if you have 10,000 years to finish.” Being retired, I pretty much do now. Great article, thanks for sharing your wisdom as well as your talents

By: Guilherme

Guilherme — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 18:03:22 +0000

I once heard a story similar to one that about Whistler. It featured a well-known Brazilian writer named Rubem Braga. The story goes that the editor of a newspaper found himself in sudden need of material for the following day’s paper because someone had failed to deliver him stuff that was due that afternoon; so he rang up Braga and asked him for some light short story, the kind of thing Braga was famous for. Braga had nothing ready but asked the man how long he had before someone would come over to his place to collect the story, and the guy said half an hour; so Braga went and wrote a story in that time. Later, the editor asked him how the heck he had managed to write a decent story in 30 minutes, and Braga is supposed to have said: “I didn’t do it in 30 minutes, I did in 60 years and 30 minutes.” Unfortunately I don’t have the source for that, I heard it in college about 20 years ago.

By: Lauren Peterson

Lauren Peterson — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 17:48:43 +0000

Good article. It reminds me of the story I’ve heard several times (not sure if it’s true) of a woman who was aghast at the price Picasso was charging her for a portrait. She said, “ But it took only 5 minutes,” to which he replied, “No, Madame, it took me my entire life.”

By: Michael L Strickland

Michael L Strickland — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:29:31 +0000

My answer is usually something similar to, “I don’t really track the total amount of time I spend because I spend more time thinking and planning the painting than I do actually painting.” Which is true. I also spend a lot of time at the end analyzing it to decide if it is finished.

If they are really interested in the process, that response will usually lead to more discussion.

Mike