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For the time being, the world remains its own drawing; we walk a tightrope above an abyss, and the grace of the walk does not deny the artificiality of the wire.
I now know that there is no straight line that you can draw around a circumstance to take its shape away; there are only marks, made underhand, that you erase and adjust and erase again, over and over, until the black dog barks and the afternoon is over, and you close your pad and call it life.

from Life Studies, his experience as an art critic learning to draw. He has a lot of smart things to say about drawing realistically, and the meaning of being able to capture an authentic image but still attach meaning to what is left in and out by the pencil.

I'm often tempted to seek out a drawing class, partially because of excuse to study naked people, but also just because I wish my own works weren't so doodle-ish. Still, I'm not sure if learning to draw what's before me is what I'm after, but being empowered to come up with more compelling original scenes... illustration, I guess. Like Shary Flenniken's easy lines, or the effortless grace (really, just watch a video of him doing stuff freehand) of Winsor McCay