WHEN one studies drawing he usually does so because of his personal inclination, – hence when the necessary materials have been selected and prepared he is anxious for his first instruction, and if his early problems prove interesting he is quite sure to become so enthusiastic as to make rapid progress. But this is an age of rush and hurry; perseverance and thoroughness seem to have been almost superseded by impatience and superficiality. Therefore progress, however rapid in reality, often seems painfully slow to the beginner, who is all too frequently so blinded by his desire to hasten on to the sort of thing which is way beyond him that it is hard for him to realize the importance of thorough mastery of the elements. If he is given problems which he considers beneath him he becomes resentful but if he is allowed to attempt difficult subjects of his own choosing and then fails to get the results hoped for he is apt to give up the whole matter in disgust, – blaming the instructor oftimes for his lack of success. Is it not, then, part of the duty of the teacher to point out the reasons why it is necessary for one to advance slowly enough to permit thorough mastery of each fundamental as he goes along? For if the student can be made to see the need for first learning to draw simple things well, – if he can be brought to realize that his progress will be all the more rapid in the end for having done so, problems which might otherwise prove irksome will be approached, if not with enthusiasm, at least with patience born of understanding.

Even cubes and cylinders and pyramids are interesting to draw if one takes the proper attitude towards them, and there is often no better starting point for the beginner than just this class of subjects. If we select a wooden cube, for instance, stripped bare of everything which might detract attention from its simple geometric form, and study it from various angles and make many sketches of it (as will be explained more at length later on) its appearance will be fixed forever in the memory so that one can recall it at any time and represent it on paper. “But,” the student may ask, “what is the advantage of spending so long on a simple block of wood? I want to draw ships and street scenes and buildings and not blocks such as children use for toys.” The advantage is clear if we pause to consider that most large objects like buildings and trolley cars and chairs and tables are based, so far as their general form is concerned, on just such elementary shapes as cubes, prisms, cones and pyramids. Once skill is acquired in drawing these, a big step has been taken towards learning to do larger and more complex subjects. If one starts with a cylinder and masters that and then tries pails, barrels, logs, tree trunks, smoke stacks, reservoirs and the like, as well as such architectural features as round buildings, circular towers, columns and archways, he will be surprised at the ease with which all these last may be proportioned, for these things differ little in basic form from the simple cylinder. If one can draw in addition triangular and hexagonal prisms and pyramids and cones, he can do all sorts of roofs and dormers and things of that kind, as well as innumerable small objects.

It is often advisable, then, for the beginner to start with such simple objects, drawing each one over and over again, attempting as has been pointed out above to memorize its shape so that it may be sketched at any time without reference to the object itself.