This last year, I read Harold Speed’s: The Practice and Science of Drawing,” which was written close to 100 years ago. While there is an incredible amount of knowledge in this book, the main thing that really stood out was on how the greats (Rembrandt, Rubens, Sargent, Velazquez, etc.) exaggerates reality in their paintings. If you look at their paintings, the design was much more important than creating an exact copy of the subject. Harold used the analogy of a piston in an engine: if the connection is too tight, the piston will not move. Too loose, and it will be all over the place. A piston, like a good painting, works best when it is loose enough to be maluable yet secure.

Many artists that study realistic drawing today can make the mistake of focusing more on making exact copies of their subjects than on having a strong design. While learning how to draw what you see and learning anatomy are incredibly vital for any artist, the most important thing of a painting should always be the design if you want it to be successful.

If we take a look at John Singer Sargent for example, his paintings could be classified as realistic interpretations. But wait! Take a look again and you will see how exaggerated they really are. Is it because he as an unskilled craftsman? Not at all! John Singer Sargent was strongly influenced by Velazquez, El Greco, and Goya.

During a recent show in The National Gallery on John Singer Sargent: Spain, it was amazing to see how much Goya, El Greco and Velazquez had an impact on his artwork. I had always noticed the exaggerations in artists like El Greco (look at those long arms!), but it never hit me how overly exagerated Sargent's paintings really were.

The same can be said with Rembrandt and Rubens. As both artists got older (and better in my opinion) their line work loosened up and their forms were a lot more exaggerated.

But one thing always stay the same with all of these artists. Whether the painting was extremely exaggerated or exaggerated just a little, the design was always the most important aspect.