So there are several drawing methods, and there are many arguments on which ones artists should use and which ones are better and ultimately which one is the best. There have been big debates between painters from back to the time of the Renaissance movement whether to start in line or to first start painting with color. Artists founded schools on both sides, and frankly both were successful. Today, there are very similar arguments with illustration styles. To use an under drawing or to directly draw from life with zero under drawing. I'm going to discuss direct drawing. For some of my classes, I'm required to use direct drawing, but for others I'm not. So, I've a bit of experience in both under drawing and direct drawing.
Direct Drawing: Direct drawing is the method of drawing from life directly as you see it. It requires more time observing and less time drawing. Sketching has no part in direct drawing as the ever time the pencil touches the paper it is going to be apart of the final composition. There are many artists who have mastered this method of drawing, and their drawings are very clean. It's a very good method to pick up if you want to spend more time getting the drawing complete and less time sketching and working out the illustration. Theoretically, this is an ideal form of drawing, however it requires a great amount of time to master, and until that point your drawings will suffer. One major flaw is that you must always have a model for reference. Drawing off the top of your head is impossible with direct drawing. Making life as a production artist very expensive as you must pay a model to pose for you regularly and provide a colossal wardrobe of costumes. The second problem with this method of drawing is it is very hard to get proper anatomical dimensions drawing people. This is practically impossible when illustrating architecture even from life as you almost always need to sketch the dimensions and make soft line calculations with rulers which will eventually be erased. However, when illustrating people this method can be mastered like I said, as many have, but it takes many hours of training your eyes and hand to draw anatomically correct with out sketching out anatomical measurements. This method can be quick once mastered, and can deliver great results.
Under Drawing: This is the method of using blue line pencil or light graphite or charcoal pencil to sketch out and measure the calculations before darkening the final line work. Many comic artists use this method which usually the final line work gets inked based off of the pencil sketch. Animation studios also use this method as they blue line the initial animations which will later be refined to dark pencil or ink. Personally, this is the method I prefer. As you are not required to draw from a live model, but you can feel out characters or buildings as you see fit. Reference material is a useful tool to help you visualize poses and costumes from your work space. In many work places you don't have the luxury of posing a model, so being able to sketch your ideas and using reference material is essential. One of the arguments between these two methods is that with direct drawing you are able to draw more quickly. However, if you master either one, your drawing time will be quick either way. Masters of under drawing use very little under drawing as they need to spend less time finding the forms of their subject as they have learned the form through experience just like the direct drawing school of thought. Their benefit is that they are not limited to what is real and what can be directly seen. Direct drawing limits the imagination of the illustrator, as they can only draw what can be created in a studio room with a model and drawn. The under drawing method promotes creative thought as you are always using your create imagination to create drawings as you lack a live model to pose for you. Sketching is also essential when coming up with ideas for layout for a scene with various characters. Randomly sketching various characters or designs also helps your brain to develop new ideas.
You can come to your own conclusions. Both are correct, but I prefer under drawing as I work a lot with fantasy and manga illustrations. The artist I know who draw directly tend to only draw or paint portraits and some times pinup art. However, there are many painters who use under drawings for portraits, pinup art, even if they have a live model to work with.
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