How to draw like Matisse

The CHOREOGRAPHY of DRAWING: Part #2

If you didn’t read last week’s post on the choreography of drawing, check it out to learn about how to draw with your whole ARM CREW: Shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand.

All hail the ARM CREW

When people say to me, “Josh you draw well,” I say, “It’s not me that draws. It’s my arm.” And it’s the same for Matisse, Picasso or any other artist including you.

Don’t believe me? Try this DIY experiment: Grab a piece of loose paper or open up a sketchbook. Draw one of the two faces below—or if you prefer just draw something in front of you. Do it fast—in about 60 seconds. Set a timer and don’t overthink it and don’t judge it. (A prize for whoever guesses who the two people are.)

Here’s me doing it below. Remember just draw. Don’t judge.

Now grab another piece of paper or turn to a new sketchbook page and draw that same face (or whatever else you drew) with your non-drawing hand, in 60 seconds, like I’m doing below.

Look! There’s the proof! The difference between the two drawings shows just how much knowledge is embedded in your good hand and arm—without you even knowing how your hand did it!

The knowledge embedded in your hand and arm isn’t about math or literature or history. It’s movement knowledge, it’s muscle memory, the same kind of physical intelligence possessed by an athlete—like Shohei Ohtani or Caitlin Clark—who do extraordinary things on the field without having to consciously think about it.

Are you part of the PROBLEM or part of the SOLUTION?

If your arm is the one who draws, then who are YOU?

You are your arm’s COACH.

Give yourself credit, your arm doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night and say, “Hey let’s draw.” It’s you who directs your arm to draw, and keep drawing so you get better and gain all that muscle memory for drawing. And by the way, your arm listens to you because like any good athlete it likes to be coached.

But in the moment of drawing, what kind of coach do you want to be?

Do you want to be the obnoxious screamy coach who tries to control and micromanage your hand—nitpicking it, criticizing it and hollering, “You’re doing it all wrong,” which disrupts its natural flow, robs it of its confidence and kills the dance before it even begins, leaving your drawings so stiff, staid and boring that you feel like you’re on a last place team.

Or do you want to be the championship coach who trusts in the athleticism of your arm and hand and encourages it to enjoy itself, to improvise and seek the peak of its skills so that it can DANCE and make the greatest drawings possible.

How to be a GOOD COACH

Here’s a quick exercise to help you become a championship coach so that you will get the very best drawing out of your arm.

The DRAWING meet DANCE exercise.

Pick up a pen or a pencil and hold it out in the air in front of you. It’s probably best if you’re standing. Without thinking about it let your arm and hand dance—moving your shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand and of course the pen, paying attention to the movement of the point. Be loose and free, uninhibited and syncopated with wild loops, swaying moves and seductive undulations. Have fun! Do it for one minute.

Now comes the insight part.

While still keeping up that dance movement, redraw that same face. Do it quickly like an elite athlete without thinking too much and be as free and spontaneous and flourishy with your lines as possible. Don’t even think about trying capture the likeness. You’re just trying to set your line free like I’m doing below.

Now take a look. Do you see how free your drawing was? Your hand really did dance, didn’t it? The more you encourage your arm and hand to dance, the more fluid and free it will become.

The future of YOUR DRAWING

Of course, you still have to take time to train your hand to develop skills, bearing down to learn how to draw back muscles or a sunset or whatever. But when you’re actually drawing for fun or for a finish, be a good coach who trusts and encourages your arm to be free and loose so you can be the greatest artist you can possibly be.

I haven’t really talked much about Matisse in this post and there’s a good reason why. All great artists know how to make their pen dance and Matisse was one of the freest and most fluid drawers. But the point isn’t to copy Matisse’s dance but to develop your own unique dance that might swoop like a bird, curl like a wave or slice through the air like a conductor's wand.

Your art will thank you.

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Know anyone who wants to free their line? Share this post with them.

THANKS for reading YOU and ART. Leave a comment if you’ve got techniques, tricks or trades secrets to keep your drawing free or if you have any questions.

Or reach right out to me.

And one more word about drawing from our friend and hero Henri Matisse, “Drawing is like making an expressive gesture… with the advantage of permanence.”

Touché Henri!

See you next week,

Josh