DATA PROCESSING
Don’t draw like a camera. A camera merely records perceptual data. A camera records the surface data. Then at some distant point in time, the processing of that data occurs. Or is supposed to occur. The how or even the why of that data processing is never really taught or encouraged. Instead we are taught to turn ourselves into a camera; if your drawing is realistic, then you have done well. Yet there was no data processing.
Rather, we should be form-seeking and form-imposing. We should not rest until the data processing has produced a complete model. We should not be satisfied until we process beyond the surfaces. And this data processing needs to be done while you are drawing, not at some indeterminate point after.
Drawing in this manner yields an understanding of the demands of the object. No longer are you limited by what simply strikes the eye. Alas, you are no longer drawing like a camera. Instead, you are drawing as the problem solver you are.
My advice is to keep it in your mind for as long as possible. Do not commit to paper or any other medium. You will be seduced by the medium. You will invest effort and there is a great reluctance to withdraw. Keep it in your mind. Listen to John Martyn’s Glistening Glyndbourne. Stay away from the sketchbook or the temptations of a CAD model. Manipulate it in your head. Walk around it in your mind. Feel free to change wholesale. Keep it in your mind.