Figure Study (back), 24 x 18, graphite on paper, 1983. Artist's collection.

An older artist who I respected greatly once told me that learning to draw was simply a matter of producing one thousand drawings over a period of time. Great teachers "demystify" the subject that they are teaching. He was dead right about learning to draw. If one is not capable of producing one thousand drawings, then one is not genuinely interested in learning to draw.

This figure study is one of hundreds of figure studies that I produced at this time. Some studies worked out better than others. The better figure studies--as is this one--portray the elements of a form in space--line, light, shadow, mass, volume--logically and phenomenologically, both by a method of rendering wherein the eye perceives a visual poem and the hand translates the poem into a visual novel. Understanding this method fully involves making one thousand drawings.