Artists’ Blog – Art School Online

Learning to draw is not as hard as you might think. The idea that you must possess mysterious “talent” in order to draw well is basically flawed. The simple fact is that everyone has the ability to draw. There are certainly people who are really talented, and can develop their artistic skills very quickly. However, everyone is born with some artistic skill – therefore learning to draw is possible for anyone. The trick is to cultivate what skill you have to the best level possible.

Having said that, there are really no shortcuts if you want to learn how to draw well, it simply takes lots of practice……and more practice……then lots more practice! If you regard drawing as a skill you can acquire rather than a talent you are born with, you can gradually work at hone your drawing just like any other skill.

Here are some useful tips to help in your quest to improve your drawing skills.
Get Inspired. Visit places like www.art.com and take a good browse amongst drawings by other people. This can often spark ideas of your own.

Start a Sketchbook. Invest in an sketch pad or exercise book and keep it with you at all times. When you see an interesting subject, start drawing it right away. If time doesn’t permit, just note down your good idea and return to it later. Don’t throw any of your drawings away. Keep a tidy portfolio of everything you draw. This is a great way to monitor your drawing progress over time

Draw Exactly What You See. Probably the most important drawing principle is learning to draw exactly what you see. Sounds easy doesn’t it, but it’s not as easy as you think! Here is one really useful tip on learning to draw what you see – (this does not apply when working on ‘live’ drawings, but if you are drawing from a reference photo, it is very useful.) Start by drawing things upside down. This forces you to draw exactly what you see, instead of drawing the version of your subject which is embedded in your memory. Learning to draw upside down is a wonderful exercise for awakening the right (artistic) side of your brain.

Use the “negative drawing” technique. “Negative drawing” teaches you to easily and clearly see the “white” (or “negative”) space in your drawing. The “white space” or “positive” space is the area that surrounds your subject. Instead of drawing “out” the positive part of the drawing with line, you concentrate on drawing “in” the shapes that surround the positive part of your drawing.

Don’t look at your drawing too often. Put your main focus on the subject, glancing at your drawing only occasionally. This way, you won’t be constantly judging your drawing, or becoming overly critical of your work. Continue to focus on the subject and draw exactly what you see.

View your drawing in a mirror. You can see your drawing in a different light by turning your back to the drawing and holding up a mirror. Looking at your drawing through the mirror often highlights any structural mistakes more easily.

Avoid producing a “mechanical” drawing. It is usual to firstly sketch in the light basic outline of your drawing, then complete your finished drawing over the top. It is a good idea to avoid making the finished drawing too mechanical (by keeping inside your initial basic lines). Try putting life into your drawing by not restricting the boundaries of your finished drawing to those initial basic lines.

Create depth in your drawings. When drawing, use thin lines for objects that are far away, and thicker lines for objects that are closer or in the foreground. For example, you can take a standard sized object, say a cow, and repeat it twice in your picture. Draw it once as a large object near the front of your drawing, then again as a smaller object towards the top edge.

Warm up before you start drawing. Just as an athlete warms up before a race, it’s a good idea for artists to get nice and loose before they commence drawing. Start off drawing with your elbow raised, drawing directly from the shoulder. Draw some fast straight lines, circles, and ovals. You can then draw some arcs, pivoting with your wrist similar to a compass.

Create some movement in your drawings. In real life, you can’t see air flowing – it is invisible. However, there are plenty of other ways to indicate air moving. For example, you can create the illusion of movement by drawing hair blowing, trees moving, and dirt and gravel spraying. For cartoons, you can add air movement lines.