You'll never be able to paint better than you can draw

I heard that recently. Is it true? I'd like to THINK so. Learning to observe and draw well, is a necessary path. And while drawing can be an end in itself, through history it has served as "preparation" for painting. And not because it's simply a discipline, but because it teaches OBSERVATION, I think, and trains the hand; in other words, it develops the "artist's eye," which is so necessary in any real art. Drawing and painting are really the same thing: sensitive observation. Or so it seems to me. ...So, I'm working on a mural of a cheetah, and I'm THINKING about the cheetah. And so tonight, at work, I did a little sketching of a cheetah. Of course, I had to stop and draw a PERSON for MONEY, but I got some of the "cheetah study" done too. No big deal.