Learn How To Draw
Learn How To Draw
Learn How To Draw
Learning to draw is not only fun, it can also be an awakening experience. Fortunately anybody can
learn to draw. And so can you, no matter what your age, your professional background and your
situation are.
Learning to draw is nothing else than learning to use your eyes. It sounds easier than
it is, so it's tempting to fall back on mere copy work. However, copying other
drawings or pictures is not the best way to develop your drawing skills. Instead you
should prefer drawing real scenes first containing simple objects, later more
complicated things like animals and people.
If you want to learn how to draw skillful and beautiful pictures, or want to become
more creative, then you should read on. I will show you the important stations on your way to drawing
mastery
The most important prerequisite you need for learning to drawing is not some special
material or equipment but your motivation. Especially when beginning you will face
obstacles and setbacks. Also you may be afraid of failure. The more motivated you are
the easier it is to overcome these problems and move constantly along the road to
success.
Another important point is understanding your subject. The better you know and understand what you
are drawing, the better you can bring it to paper. You'll see: once you learned to recognize and grasp
your subject's dimensions and fabric and the objects that are composing the scene you are capturing,
drawing them in the proper dimensions, proportions and perspective will get much easier.
Drawing is craftsmanship to a certain extent. To create great drawings you
need to know how to create shadings, get your lines and shapes in form etc.
Building on a solid foundation of these skills helps you to focus your
attention away from the mechanics of drawing towards the creative part. In
the fourth part I'll show you several exercises that will help you to practice
these basic techniques.
So what makes up a good artist beyond these basic skills? Mainly years of experience that result in
countless small ideas, techniques and concepts all picked up intuitively and hidden in the artist's
subconscious. That's one important reason great artists are not automatically great art teachers.
Of course experience will come only with time, but the fifth part contains tips and tricks that will be a
shortcut for your drawing career.
The following parts of this course will cover these topics. So they'll be giving you the knowledge
necessary to start a learning path that will lead to great results and of course: great drawings.
Ok, what are your conclusions? Perhaps you recognized, that you are most afraid to fail before
yourself? For this problem I will show you a recipe later.
2. Choose easy techniques for your drawings! Don't use colored pencils right from the start.
Don't aim for creating photo-realistic drawings right from the beginning. Start small, first try to
capture only outlines and proportions of your subject. Concentrate on the simplest parts and leave
all the shading, texturing etc. for later.
2. Don't be afraid to repeat drawings! Something went wrong? The best reason to start over again
and to repeat this drawing. But don't overdo until you are bored by drawing. Instead try to find a
new approach each time you are drawing the same subject. Try different interpretations, different
angles, different light conditions etc.
Every time you want to start to criticize yourself, every time you feel your critic trying to spring into
action, tell him: "Later!". Store the drawing in away and have a look at it a few months later. What
happens then? When you take your drawing again and begin to criticize, it is some months old. Usually
you'll see it isn't as bad as you thought. And if it was not that perfect, it cannot hit your self-confidence.
When you followed these tips, you know: during the last months you have improved that much you
don't need to worry about mistakes you made months ago!
Placement
Outlines
Shapes
Illumination.
These four steps are quite simple and follow the common process to create a drawing. I abbreviated
this system P-O-S-I - a POSItive way to learn drawing.
So let's get started:
This is the first step. Have a look at the whole scene, identify the different objects in the scene and try
to understand the scene. Focus on the different objects' locations and their position relative to one
another. Finally if you think your understanding of the scene is good enough, mark on your paper
where you want to place the different objects.
Try to be as accurate as possible unless you already have some competence in the art of composition.
Advanced artists know how to alter the scene for a stronger impression without disturbing realism at
the same time.
Now you know where to place the objects it is time to sketch them as simple outlines. Look carefully
at each part of the scenery and try to understand its form and outline. Then draw its outline - only the
silhouette - in a few light lines. Limit yourself to the outer lines of each object. Repeat this step for
every object in the scene. Ideally you start with objects in the background and continue to the
foreground parts.
After finishing the outline of the whole scene this way, it is time to have a final judging look (but not
too judging tough!). Now it is still easy to reposition any object or to correct one or another line. But
don't be excessively critical and keep in mind: every good drawing lives from slight deviations.
Now it is time to turn our attention to the objects' shapes. Begin to add the internal structures of the
scene's parts with few and fine lines. Place strokes in the right directions to follow and form the shape
of the parts of every object.
For curved objects use curved lines and in flat sections use straight lines. But still limit you to few and
light lines. Just try to get the shapes right. As there are still only thin lines on the paper you have still
the opportunity to correct a line here and there.
Finally your picture has gained a stronger perspective and three-dimensional appearance. Time to fill
out the white spaces and complete your drawing!
Until now we only worked on laying out the scene using light lines. Sketching the outlines and shapes
of all objects in the scene we created a line drawing that depicts the scenes outlook reliably.
But for creating realism something is missing: texture, light and shadow. In this final step we will fill
in these elements that give volume to our drawing and finally make it look realistic. So in this step our
opportunities for creating a great drawing are great but also is the risk of damaging it beyond repair.
What to do? Again look carefully at each part of the scene. Note how light and shadow fall on it, how
its surfaces are textured and what the colors look like. Most important is the surface - because even if a
surface is all one color, its structure and texture creates different shades.
The same applies to shadows. Look how the objects cast shadows on themselves and on objects around
them. Add these shadows by first drawing their outline, correcting and perfecting it and then filling it
with darker tones.
When adding all the shades and textures to your drawing always try to work from the background to
the foreground. While doing this go from brighter tones and weak contrasts in the background to
strong tones and contrasts in the foreground. This creates a stronger three-dimensionality.
With this final step you finished you drawing. Go one step back and enjoy. And keep in mind: if the
little critic in you comes to life, put your drawing away, the more you will enjoy it in a few months!
Again when you have achieved enough practice, try to start the techniques learned on real-world
subjects.
You'll see with each repetition you will understand the subject better and your ability to capture and
depict the proportions of any subject will improve greatly.
4. Drawing from life is superior. You'll see: depicting real-life subjects seems to be more difficult
than merely copying photos or other drawings. But it is much more rewarding and your drawings look
much more lively and realistic. How it works? I don't know for sure, but I'd guess your mind somehow
absorbs the scenery with all senses giving you more inspiration to put on the paper.
5. Don't draw complicated subjects. Stay away from subjects that are too
complicated. Instead start with simple subjects that you can understand and depict
as good as you want it to be. Then increase the difficulty in little steps so your
drawing skills can grow with the small challenges you are facing.
6. Don't go into Detail too much. When drawing, less is more. Most of us tend to add too many
details, too many small lines, too many unimportant objects. Don't try to draw all the details you see.
Instead try to capture the scene as a whole, absorb how it feels and try to put this to paper using only
few lines.
7. Practice, practice, practice. Oh and did I mention it? Practice! You cannot draw to often. And yes:
you will learn to draw much faster. Always keep in mind: every line you draw, every drawing or
sketching you finish improves your drawing skills and brings you one step forward. Practice by
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drawing scenes you encounter in everydays life into your sketchbook. Practice by doing the exercises
I've shown you. Just practice.
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