Drawing is a useful and fun art to learn, as well as a beautiful hobby. However, if you are not good at drawing, this activity can become a little less fun and exciting. Most people would recommend that you take drawing lessons if you want to improve your skills, but these are expensive, and can be intimidating. Moreover, they are not always suitable for any style. If you want to learn how to draw without taking lessons, just keep reading.
Steps
Step 1. Learn to draw what you see
This is one of the most important steps in becoming a skilled artist. Who would ever want to have a portrait done by you, or a sketch of their favorite landscape, if what you draw doesn't look like what you see? Don't worry too much - many people are unable to do this but you CAN fix it. Don't be afraid to draw exactly what you see. Sometimes, when you start drawing what you see, the initial sketch can be downright hideous - but the end result becomes fantastic. So do it! Next time you draw someone, draw their actual face shape, their real nose, real eyes, real teeth. It will take some practice, but it will be worth it.
Step 2. Search your library for drawing textbooks and browse online for free art lessons
You will find great articles and a lot of educational material available online. YouTube is full of demo videos and easy-to-make projects. Many will help you get an idea and may also contain advice and warnings on the material to buy to learn how to draw well.
Step 3. Practice different styles using various tools of the trade
It's great to be the best sketch artist in the world, but it will be much more useful to you if you also know how to use ink, colors and a bunch of other drawing styles. There are some designs in which curves prevail so much as to form spirals and others in which texture and colors prevail over linear strokes. You have to try your hand at all the different branches of drawing, because you may come across one that you are particularly good at. Try drawing with ink, or to put it better, try creating tones. Maybe you could draw some spirals or some curves - or some straight robotic lines? Play, experiment. This is a fun step. Enjoy it!
Step 4. Learn to sketch the main shapes to establish proportions before adding details or shading
It is possible to do this with very light, barely noticeable lines. Some artists do not cancel these guidelines. Coarse mistakes such as eyes that are too big or a forehead that is too small can be spotted right away with this process before adding details and shading.
Step 5. Learn to do the shading, lines, tones, texture and reflections
This is a slightly more difficult step, as some of these skills are difficult to master. But it's also a vital step, so don't even think about skipping it. Learn where reflections go on an object when the sun is shining in its direction, how adding or removing some lines can radically change a design, how shading can create the illusion of making things seem much more real. Again, play and experiment. Draw a square. Gradually blend it from dark to lighter. Draw a balloon or an apple - draw the light reflected in it. Drawings can become much more realistic and detailed when you add that extra something.
- Try creating a shadow bar. Press the pencil as lightly as possible to one end of the bar, then gradually press harder to darken the tones until you create a very dark shadow at the other end of the bar. Make the transitions as smooth as you can. This is an easy exercise, and you can practice on a phone book, the back of an envelope, or the back of an old assignment they returned to you.
- Try creating a value bar. Draw a rectangle and divide it into five sections. Leave one of the sections at the ends white. Darken the opposite one as much as your pencil allows - go over it as many times as possible to get as dark a tone as possible. Then try to fill the middle section with a solid gray exactly between white and black. Fill the one near the white section with a lighter gray exactly between medium gray and white. Fill the one next to black with a dark gray halfway between medium and black.
- Try making a coffin of values with ten sections. Don't worry if you don't succeed right away. Few artists can control the pencil well enough to get eight equally spaced shades of gray. It's worth a try, though, and you can print a value map to compare with your work to check how close you got and gain more control of the pencil's tone. Also note that graphite is not as dark as black in printed paper - your darkest value may be a section or two away from that. The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to shade an area as you like with how much light or dark you want in a homogeneous way, and also to make you recognize the different values. The eye can see much more than ten degrees of light and dark, but a scale of values will help you organize the design so it doesn't get too dark or too light overall.
- When drawing something real, try to create reflections that are darker in the shadows than the shadows are in the highlights. This makes for a punchy and dynamic design.
Step 6. Practice using different types of pencils
"H" type pencils are stiff, draw fainter lines and the tip is thinner and finer. The higher the number of the pencil, the stiffer it is. A 2H is stiffer than an H. A 6H is extremely rigid and is used for sketching or architectural drawing.
- HB is the medium grade pencil, also known as the # 2 standard pencil. It can be used for both fine lines and decent shading. They are the pencils that are normally used, those that you give away for free at the grocery store or are thrown away without thinking about it, in short, it is the classic standard pencil. Keep several on hand for sketching. F stands for "fine", it is a little stiffer than an HB but not as stiff as an H pencil. The F is great for writing or sketching.
- The B is softer than an HB. The whole range of B pencils gets softer as the number increases, B stands for "black". A 2B is dark, soft and easy to blend, great for splashing or creating shadows. The 4B is even darker and softer, very easy to blend with your thumb and use for shading. From 6B to 9B, the pencils are so soft and dark that using them is like drawing with charcoal. They are very expressive and great for shadows and shading. A serious artist should collect a whole assortment of different hardness pencils to use for various purposes.
- Also try different types of erasers. Classic white vinyl erasers are gentler on paper than pink pencil erasers, and they also don't stain it. The gum is great. I'm a bit like artists' plasticine. You can play them while you are thinking about what to draw and they have multiple functions. You can lighten an area by pressing gum on it and then removing it. Stretch it, fold it to clean and repeat until it takes the shape you want. Also, the gum is very gentle on paper.
Step 7. Choose a subject you like and want to draw well
Try drawing that object over and over in many different ways. It could be a photo of someone you love or admire, an object like a very realistic silk rose, an interesting vase, a tree outside the window, or your cat in various poses. If you do many different drawings of the same subject with various poses and arrangements, you will notice a lot of improvements in a short time. Every time you draw, you will notice something new. The proportions will be more precise over time, you will get more accurate shading and you will be able to make it better. Also, try to use different materials, pencil drawing, ink drawing, colored ink drawing with watercolors, colored pencils. Eventually you will create a version, or more than one, that you will want to frame and hang in your bedroom.
Step 8. Study the anatomy
That's right, anatomy, the same one you study in biology class. Sketch skeletons and copy muscle patterns. It may seem strange and creepy, but on the other hand, you can draw beautiful skeletons and skulls for Halloween decorations or to impress your friends who are addicted to video games and horror movies. This will also help you learn human proportions and how our bodies move. The same goes for animals - read books on animal anatomy. Almost all drawing art books have a section devoted to anatomy.
Step 9. Look at everything and imagine what it would be like to draw it
While standing in line, look at a person and imagine that you are drawing a pencil portrait of them. Imagine holding a pencil in your hand and create a perfect sketch of her face. Imagine the shading around her eyes and a sketch of the iris and pupil. Look at your dining tray and imagine drawing it as a still life. If you are fantasizing about drawing exactly the way you want, you are actually doing real tests with your mind. You will be able to solve many difficulties before picking up the drawing pencil and you will notice big improvements in your drawings.
When you're actually drawing, try fantasy drawing as a preliminary exercise. Just move the pencil over the paper imagining that you are drawing an apple perfectly before you start sketching it. Then make a quick preliminary sketch to place its shape in the right proportions on the paper and outline the shapes of the shadows. Then add the details and shading
Step 10. Practice, practice, practice
Drawing skill doesn't come from a fancy notebook or pencils. It comes with practice. Whenever you have some free time, sit down and sketch something or practice with shading, tones, etc. There are so many things to learn - you always have to practice. Make sketches, whether they are easy or difficult. Draw people, in detail or rough. Add light reflections, whether it's apples and balloons or eyes and glasses. Master everything as best you can, and constantly try to perfect yourself. Have fun.
Advice
- You don't have to buy the most expensive drawing pens and notebooks. Regular notebooks and any pencils are fine. However, having the proper tools for some things, such as pencils to produce thin or thick lines, might help.
- Talented people have learned a lot just by fantasizing about their drawings, so their first real sketch isn't really a beginner's sketch. This is especially true if they start learning when they are young. Their minds may have learned even before they have developed coordination in the hands. This also applies to your mind and hands, so don't worry and train your hands patiently, like you would a dog. Eventually they will learn too.
- Once you have learned to draw well enough that non-artists will be able to recognize your subject and enjoy your drawings, some people may want to buy them. Go ahead and sell them your designs. You will never run out of financial resources again, as long as you can pick up a pencil and paper. If you are in high school and take the time to improve yourself, you could make money making drawings instead of working at a fast food restaurant. You could portray your friends and their boyfriends or girlfriends, or some famous person. It could be the right choice for your future profession and also for a different lifestyle, which would relieve you from the stress and responsibilities of another job. But it can easily become a supportive hobby, allowing you to buy the materials you need or to indulge yourself.
- Get in the habit of drawing daily and date your work. When it becomes a habit, you won't have to try too hard to practice. It will also become more rewarding and you will be much faster - even after a week or two of daily practice you will get good results. Don't expect perfection and don't blame yourself if you don't get good results. Even the Great Masters do not achieve perfection with each of their works. Try to improve yourself and be proud of each drawing that represents an improvement over the previous one. Drawing is an art that you continue to learn throughout your life even if your drawings were worth millions like those of Picasso.
- Being a perfectionist is a good thing. If something doesn't seem right, retrace your steps and do it all over again. Also, it's good that you take breaks to watch your work come about.
- Don't get too frustrated if you don't succeed right away. Many people have a hard time mastering skills such as drawing. It does not mean that you are unintelligent and so on. Keep practicing. Many think that drawing is a talent and that some people don't need to learn because they are born with the necessary knowledge. This is not true. People who love drawing practice so much that it seems natural to them and their drawings are much more beautiful than those of those who have never taken a brush in their hands.
- If you have questions or need help, ask someone who draws better than you. They probably remember how they solved the problem and will be happy to teach you. Very soon, as you begin to improve, beginners will start coming to you asking for advice on how to draw a cat well or how they can draw a rose that looks real!
- Many artists share their talents on websites such as wikiHow and YouTube.
Warnings
- Don't believe anyone who tells you you have no talent. They are trying to sabotage your efforts and control you, to stop you from drawing. They are often jealous. Others have different reasons, even good intentions. They may think it is better for you to get a regular job than to study to become an artist, but they are still wrong. Talent is part of the nature of the man who wishes to express himself; skill is what allows him to prove to others that he has it. The more you draw, the more people will say, "Damn you are a talent, I wish I could draw the way you do." Most of them don't believe it when you tell them how long it took you to learn, even if you bring out your worst beginner drawings to prove it. Being talented means having a strong personality and being down-to-earth. It's like calligraphy. Anyone can learn to write; in the same way, you can learn to draw and if you learn to do it well enough for your style to be recognized, people will begin to appreciate your work as a part of you.
- Don't be too much of a perfectionist and don't scold yourself if a design doesn't work out the way you wanted. You would be acting like a fool. All you would get is feeling bad and giving up. All artists learn to continually improve themselves over the course of their life. So when you notice that a part of a design hasn't turned out very well, think of the design as a test. Why don't you like it? How could you improve it? Try again using a different technique until you understand what's wrong. Drawing is like an eternal puzzle with millions of solutions, and all are the right ones, as long as you can use it to communicate what you feel.
- Be careful not to do any damage. Do not smudge with ink and colors, and see that you do not blind someone with a pencil or brush. Use your brain.
