The eye must be trained before the hand
Three hours of study precede every hour of drawing. Observation is not passive — it is the first and deepest work.
Proportion is conversation, not calculation
Six comparative measurements across the figure, each refining the whole until balance emerges of its own accord.
Light is born from the weight of shadow
The toned ground holds the middle value. White chalk lifts the highlights; bistre ink drives the depths.
Every layer must earn the next
Seven passes of hatching, each set only when the previous has settled. The grain of the paper remembers haste.