Drawing is an activity that you can exercise continuously, always finding room for improvement. If you're looking to hone your skills, there are three areas you can focus on. The first is the construction or composition of the subject; making light construction sketches on the page is a fundamental habit that saves you time and ensures some consistency when drawing the same object in different positions. Another area is simplification, that is, breaking it down into essential elements. Finally, focus on rendering volume and mass using shadows and highlights. Of course, it takes time and a lot of practice to get better at drawing, but following these tips can help you find the right way to do it.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Using the Construction
Step 1. Mention some very light construction lines
Use a very light pencil stroke and erase the lines when the drawing is finished. This way you can sketch out many light test lines until you find the right ones without confusing your paper.
- As an alternative, you can use a blue pencil that does not appear in scans or photocopies;
- Many artists use special easy-to-erase blue technical pencils called 'col-erase'.
Step 2. Study design templates to see how characters are constructed
A design template contains many drafts of a single cartoon or animation character in many poses and expressions. It is used to uniform the appearance of the character when multiple designers are working on the same project. Looking at a design model can help you understand how each figure has a particular construction structure that serves as its foundation.
Many design templates can be found on the internet
Step 3. Use anatomy books as a reference for human and animal subjects
The book 'Gray's Anatomy', for example, is a classic that can help you learn more about the structure of the human body. You will be able to apply this knowledge to your drawings even in different poses.
Part 2 of 3: Simplify and Break Down
Step 1. Ignore the details when starting a draft
Take some time to examine the objects, breaking them down into their basic elements. Learn to see beyond the dimensions, reduce and draw the essential. When you get used to it, you can draw anything.
Step 2. Draw backwards
Drawing backwards helps you stop drawing what you "think" you see. Instead, you will draw what you "really" see. The easiest way to do this is to use a photograph as your subject: just rotate the photo and go.
Or, if you're working from a reference draft, you can rotate it
Step 3. Make sketches in 30 seconds
It will be useful to you, because you will not have time to deal with the details. Sketch everything you can.
Practice quick sketches when traveling around the world (at the zoo, on the bus, at the park, etc.). This allows you to draw the basic elements of your subjects and also have some very useful reference material that you can develop later
Step 4. Look around and ask yourself how you would draw it
Get used to examining the elements around you by eye, even when you don't have a pencil and paper available. Imagine breaking down objects into their essential forms. You will get to see the world in a whole new way.
Part 3 of 3: Perfecting the Volume
Step 1. Practice drawing shadows and highlights
Your subject has weight and volume and when hit by light it creates shadows and highlights. Instead of drawing the outline of the subject, try sketching a balanced separation of light and dark areas.
- Start treating the shadows as you would with flat graphic shapes. Some may be darker than others, but there should be a minimum of contrast and texture in each shade. Use the edge of your pencil to create these shapes, rather than scribbling lines.
- Gradually transition from shadows to highlights with intermediate tints. Create gradations of contrast using the dark of the shadow and the illumination of the highlight.
- Your lights can have a structure, depending on the material. There may also be areas without any structure.
Step 2. When drawing using a line, make the volume by changing its thickness
Hold the pencil like a brush. Use the tip for thin strokes, the side for softer and thicker strokes. You can also gradually change the stroke from thick to thin to create the gradients (great for motion lines between shadows and highlights).
Step 3. Pay attention to the direction the light is coming from and see where the shadow falls
If you're drawing live, walk around the model or object to see it from every angle.
Step 4. Make a model of your subject
If you have trouble rendering highlights and shadows exactly, make a simple model of your subject using the Das. It doesn't have to be perfect - it will help you see how the light behaves with that shape, creating shadows and highlights.
Step 5. Practice drawing a 'negative space'
This is the space between the various objects. Observing negative space can help a lot in understanding volumes and also in measuring distances between elements.
As an exercise, you can only draw negative space (instead of an object). This is a very effective method, especially if you work with a thicker tool like charcoal
Step 6. Use brighter light
This is a trick that can make the image stand out: it brings out strong contrast and shading, which often gives the illusion of realism.
