Publisher’s Note
“WHEN Kimon Nicolaïdes died in the summer of 1938, the first draft of this
book had been complete for two years. It could, perhaps, never have been
published other than posthumously, for the author was reluctant to put into
final form his constantly developing methods of art teaching.”

Introduction

The Only Way to Learn to Draw Is by Observation

“There is only one right way to learn to draw and that is a perfectly natural
way. It has nothing to do with artifice or technique. It has nothing to do
with aesthetics or conception. It has only to do with the act of correct observation, and by that I mean a physical contact with all sorts of objects
through all the senses. If a student misses this step and does not practice it
for at least his first five years, he has wasted most of his time and must necessarily go back and begin all over again.

The Art Teacher’s Job Is Not to Teach the Student How to Draw but How to Learn to Draw for Himself

“The job of the teacher, as I see it, is to teach students, not how to draw, but how to learn to draw. They must acquire some real method of finding out facts for themselves lest they be limited for the rest of their lives to
facts the instructor relates. They must discover something of the truennature of artistic creation – of the hidden processes by which inspiration works.

“The knowledge – what is to be known about art – is common property. It is in many books. What the teacher can do is to point out the road that leads to accomplishment and try to persuade his students to take that road.
This cannot be a matter of mere formula.

“My whole method consists of enabling students to have an experience. I try to plan for them things to do, things to think about, contacts to make. When they have had that experience well and deeply, it is possible to point
out what it is and why it has brought these results.

‘The supreme misfortune is when
theory outstrips performance.’
Leonardo da Vinci

“Don’t worry if for the first three months your studies do not look like anything else called a drawing that you have ever seen. You should not care what your work looks like as long as you spend your time trying.

The effort you make is not for one particular drawing, but for the experience you are having – and that will be true even when you are eighty years old.

I believe that entirely too much emphasis is placed upon the paintings and drawings that are made in art schools. If you go to a singing teacher, he will first give you breathing exercises, not a song. No one will expect
you to sing those exercises before an audience. Neither should you be expected to show off pictures as a result of your first exercises in drawing….

Your progress In learning art is charted… in the increased knowledge with which you look at life around you

“Unfortunately most students, whether through their own fault or thefault of their instructors, seem to be dreadfully afraid of making technical mistakes. You should understand that these mistakes are unavoidable.

THE SOONER YOU MAKE YOUR FIRST FIVE THOUSAND MISTAKES, THE SOONERYOU WILL BE ABLE TO CORRECT THEM.

https://oscarcerrato.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/the-natural-way-to-draw.pdf