Explained: Drawing versus Painting

Introduction: Drawing versus Painting

At the top of our list of the different types of contemporary art, we encounter two of the best-known art forms: painting and drawing. Both consist of a visual artistic practice on a two-dimensional surface and have been around for thousands of years.

However, with various techniques and recent developments in contemporary art, the distinction between both categories seems unclear at times, so what are the key differences? Furthermore, which is the ‘better’ one? Which one is more valuable? Or which one is more complicated? Should you first learn to draw before you can learn how to paint?

For this article, we tackle these basic yet often confusing questions. So without any further ado, let’s dive into the first question of our article.

What is the Difference between Drawing and Painting?

As we have pointed out in the introduction of our article, both drawing and painting is an artistic visual practice on a two-dimensional surface. So, what is the critical difference between drawing and painting?

The difference between drawing and painting consists of the selected medium and surface. Whereas drawing is predominately practiced with dry media such as pencil, charcoal, or chalk on a paper surface, painting implements wet media such as acrylic paint or oil paint on canvas, wood, or a copper surface.

There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. For instance, wet media such as ink, sepia, bister, or watercolor are generally seen as drawings as they are most often practiced on paper. However, not all works on paper are drawings, as it is perfectly possible to paint on paper with acrylic or oil paint, making it a painting on paper. This notion works vice-versa. If we would make a drawing on canvas, it remains a drawing.

As a result of the difference in the media used, painting and drawing have different qualities. For instance, a painting is most likely to have color, whereas a drawing rarely has color with the exceptional use of colored pencils or watercolor. The same is true regarding the different textures of the surface. A painting can have juicy blobs of impasto paint or thin and transparent layers of glazing, whereas a drawing is much more basic and often consists of a more smooth surface. Then there are the opportunities when it comes to the artwork’s dimensions. As a painting is usually produced on canvas, wood, or a copper plate, the sizes can be much larger, whereas a drawing is often made on paper. It is, however, possible to create a very large drawing too. Still, it is a relatively rare and expensive practice to work on monumental pieces of paper and afterward frame them in costly and enormous glass frames.

Most often, a drawing can function as a guideline for a painting. In this case, the artist first draws their image with a dry medium on the selected surface before painting it. As a result, the artwork is a painting based upon a drawing. This process does not work the other way around. However, things get tricky when there is a combination of techniques. For instance, this artwork from the artist duo Muntean & Rosenblum (see image above) is made with oil and chalk on canvas. It has a drawing-like black and white feel but has enormous dimensions. Here, one can determine this artwork is a painting due to the use of oil, dimensions, and canvas as the selected surface. However, there is also a good claim for it to be a drawing. In these cases, one could say the artwork is both a drawing and a painting.

To conclude this chapter, we use the following table to categorize two-dimensional art forms as a drawing or a painting. Only in sporadic cases, the table does not apply.

Which one is ‘Better’: Drawing or Painting?

One of the most common questions when comparing drawing versus painting is the question of which one is better. Drawing or painting? Many people will answer that there is no such thing as a specific medium or art form being ‘better’ than the other. However, I can’t entirely agree as we can tell which one is or has been more dominant in art history and a contemporary context.

From an art historical perspective, painting is seen as a higher art form in comparison to drawing. However, in a contemporary context, both media are seen as equal, although painting remains the more pertinent and dominant medium in the industry.

But why and how can we make such as statement? Even more, in a different context, it is a common saying that art starts with drawing as it is the foundation of the artist’s craftsmanship.

Throughout art history, both painting and drawing were seen as genuine crafts. However, with painting around 1300 AD, the craftsman starts to become not merely a craftsman but also an artist. In a nutshell, painting was a costly practice. Pigments needed to be crushed manually, and it took a large studio with many employees to produce paintings in a high-end manner. Only the rich could afford to buy a painting, and only the best artists were able to create paintings.

On the other hand, everyone with a piece of parchment and a pencil was able to make a drawing. Further, drawing was seen as a stepping stone to becoming a painter. It was essential to the artist’s education, but the highest goal was to create paintings. Drawings were very often studies or sketches for a painting or sculpture, but they were not considered an art form as such.

However, since Modernism, the relationship between drawing and painting has shifted. As the academic conventions (of drawing) were thrown out of the window, the medium of drawing conquered its place among the art forms, becoming an art form an sich equal to painting. Nevertheless, we must add to this tendency that painting is still much more pertinent in the art world as there are far more artists who only paint than there are artists who only draw. This is reflected in the galleries as painters are still more dominant than draughtsmen, as well as in the institutions of modern and contemporary art, where there still seems to be a lingering notion of painting being the superior art practice. However, modernism and postmodernism have claimed multiple times there is no such thing anymore in art.

Which one is more Valuable: Drawing or Painting?

As you might have expected, a similar tendency occurs as with our previous question (which one is ‘better’) when comparing the value of drawing versus painting.

From an art historical perspective, painting is more valuable than drawing due to the high production costs, limited access, and exclusive character, as painting was the higher art form. However, in contemporary art, drawing and painting are equally valuable.

As we can still see with auctions of old master paintings and old master drawings, a painting is much more valuable than a drawing. The reason why can be found in the superiority of painting as an art form throughout art history (cf. supra). However, today, the value of an artwork is not decided based on the formal qualities of the medium, as all media are equal art forms. As a result, the value of a drawing or a painting is decided by the value and career of the artist. For instance, an artist who only produces drawings and an artist who only creates paintings have a similar level, career-wise. Then, a drawing of artist number one will be as expensive as a similar size painting from artist number two. Or, if a specific artist produces paintings and drawings, then their drawings will be as expensive as the paintings.

Which one is Harder: Drawing or Painting?

To determine which one is harder, painting or drawing, we arrive at a debate that is somewhat a slippery slope.

Generally speaking, painting is judged as a medium harder to learn than drawing due to the more complex process of combining elements such as pigment/paint, painting medium, and all its variants, whereas drawing, is more direct and straightforward using one ‘tool’ directly onto the surface.

Even though this is the main reason painting might have a more significant learning curve than drawing or is a bit more intimidating to start with, one could also say drawing is not more complicated than painting, nor is painting harder than drawing. They are two different media with different techniques within those media. Especially, as we live in a day and age in which ‘good’ art is no longer determined by the difficulty of the technique, for instance, the amount of detail or virtuosity of the artist, how can one state one is ‘more difficult’ than the other?

Further, it depends from person to person. One might find painting overwhelming and intimidating, whereas another person thinks it’s straightforward and clear. Sometimes drawing can come naturally to a person, while others must work hard to get somewhere. Our talent differs. One person thinks with lines, which is arguably more suited for drawing, while the others think in shapes or planes, tones, and hues.

Should I Learn to Draw before I Learn To Paint?

Whether you should or should not learn to draw before you learn to paint is a very common and, in fact, a good and practical question.

If you aim to paint in a representational manner, it is advised first to learn how to draw before you start to paint. However, if you desire to become an abstract painter, it is recommended to directly begin to paint without learning how to draw.

This rule is based upon a straightforward reason. If you wish to paint in a representational or figurative manner, then yes, you should learn to draw first, as this will be the foundation of your painterly oeuvre. By working with a pencil on paper, you will be able to learn and make mistakes without the costs of those ‘bad’ first results being too high. If you start to paint directly and have no control and awareness of how to create your figures the way you want to, you will be wasting a lot of good (and expensive) paint and canvas before arriving at your first few decent paintings.

On the other hand, if you aim to paint abstractly, you can skip learning how to draw. Abstract painting, it’s all about the qualities of paint. You need to understand the substance of color by experimenting with it and learning how to manipulate it to create the textures and painterly effects you are looking for.

Conclusion

Painting and drawing are two separate art forms that share a common ground: two-dimensional visual artistic production. Painting predominantly takes place on canvas, wood, or a copper surface, whereas drawing most often takes place on paper. With painting, the artist uses the substance of paint, oil, or acrylic on the designated surface. In contrast, a draughtsman uses dry media such as a pencil, graphite, charcoal, chalk, or the ‘wet’ media ink, bister, sepia, or watercolor.

From a historical perspective, painting was superior in relation to drawing. However, in a contemporary context, drawing has become an art form an sich and is equally valuable, ‘good’, and arguably as difficult as painting.

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