Learning how to learn

[Defunct]

He ya'll, I am a newbie in arts (all mediums basicly), but if I've learned anything - it's that just about everyone can learn how to draw and paint. Hence I have chosen to learn how to do these things. All I have to do is learn "how to learn", and then practise as long as both of my hands still work..
Anyways, that's what I'm after now - I would like to know what ways are there to develope my eyes so that I can compare proportions and shapes so that I can copy them onto paper from real life and photographs without having to use a ruler for the rest of my life. I always draw some areas too large or too small, put them in the wrong place or get the shape all wrong, if I don't do enough measurements.
The barque drawing method seems like a good way to go, but I seek methods that are easier to execute, as I'm serving in the military atm and having a huge setup like that there would make me look a bit like... well.. like a freak ;)

Hope you get what I'm ranting about ;)
Any replies appretiated!

Cheers

http://img8.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Defunct/granny.jpg

Decided to include a pic to give some sort of vague idea of my experience level.. It's a sketch from a photo, which I gave some quick and careless coloring.

[mtw]

Read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. She teaches you how to see.

[Defunct]

Thanks for the tip mtw. I did some googleing and found that in her book Betty mentions, that you can practise seeing by drawing from inverted subjects. This "deactivates" the left side of the brain and lets you actually see the values and shapes of the subject. So I guess I'll be drawing a lot from inverted photos from now on using grid transparencies to aid my positioning.

(Btw I can also think of other means of deactivating the left side of the brain :beer: j/k ;) )

[LEN]

persistance

[Tempestus]

That's kinda funny, I'm currently reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain right now (my Mum gave it to me for my birthday).

I found there to be a lot of psychobabble about brain activity and such while drawing, but some of the excercises she uses are very helpful it getting you to see proportion, and how different shapes relate to each other to form a whole, accurate image.

I'd definitely recommend it for a read-through.

[DramaticDigital]

Along with reading try to use charcoal or some media that you can do quick shading with and do some 5min drawings where you just try to get the basic shapes and proportions down. Do the drawings one after another for an hour or so. Try to look at things in black and white and draw the appropriate shade where it belongs instead of doing outlines. This may sound kind of crappy but this is what you would do in a beginning art class and you will see dramatic improvement in a short amount of time.