There seems to be two ways to represent reality. The first is a photo-real representation of reality. I spend my time drawing a bird, exactly as my eyes see it. I focus on tone, and shape, and colour. If I spend long enough, I’m likely to be able to draw a bird so well that, at first glance, a viewer may perceive it to be a photo.
The second way is to represent how reality makes us feel, or what lies beneath the visual layer. To look beyond the feathers and the beak of a subject to its soul. Is it cute? Cuddly? Streamlined or sleek? Is it kind and gentle or is it a bully? Representing this unreality is harder to teach, and harder to learn, but it’s where the magic happens. At least for me.