Having drawing & painting skills as well as photographic skills are a great asset when choosing a Graphic Designer. I came up through some great schools where I developed many interests and abilities. In the 1970's I attended the High School of Art and Design and had some fantastic teachers who engrained in me the importance of drawing which I continue to use to this day. For example when creating a mock-up of a product it is good to know and visualize what something will look like 3 dimensionally. It helps you in your computer work when adding textures to something.

 

   If you understand perspective drawing you can make photographic additions to a scene and make them look believable when adding imagery such as objects, furniture or people. You have to take into account the lighting direction, the contrast and the color matching as close as possible. 

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   In typography understanding letter spacing is very important. For example in the word CARTOON you have to see not only the letters themselves but the negative space behind each letter. Certain letters like the o's have a great amount of negative space behind them so they should be spaced closer together! The letter T has a decent amount of negative space underneath its horizontal stems so the T can come closer to O letter. Certain letters that have a more boxy appearance have a lesser amount of negative space so

you can space then further apart. The A letter has a great deal of negative space on each side of the upper part of the A, so other letters can be butted up closer entering the A's space area.