4 Flawless Tips On Learning To Draw

One of my fondest memories as a child is when my mother taught me how to draw. She’s an engineer so most of her drawings were plans for buildings and other infrastructures. Nevertheless, I learned a thing or two from copying the plans in her blueprint, even developed a passion for drawing. I have since moved on from her roads, bridges, and buildings to other things under or beyond the sun.

Sketching as an Artform

This freehand form of drawing has been around for ages and is one of the oldest forms of visual communication and artistic expression. People are motivated to sketch variable, this often leads their work to land on every kind of canvass and may be seen by a multitude of assorted people. It is not uncommon that other artists incorporate other media such as sketches into their craft. The beautiful sketch drawing that adorns the Pretty Reckless album cover shows that drawing transcends different media and can captivate audiences all the same. This can be likened to the band’s success in overcoming doubters and are now in their third album. 

Here are some tips on how to learn and improve your drawing skills:

1. Start With The Simple Things

It’s advisable to start with simple shapes and gradually move on to more complicated ones as you get better. You should learn how to visualize your subjects and decompose them into shapes, a combination of different shapes. You will then learn to do away with the intricacies and arrive into a proportional placement of the elements. When you have a solid base outline of your sketch down to the tee then you can proceed with how to add texture and details.

2. Basic Techniques

We are taught how to hold a pencil differently when we’re at school because we are prepped to learn how to write. Handling a pencil for drawing is different in a way that you’ll be laying down lines and won’t really care if it’s not as neat because you’ll erase them later. You should also learn to hold the pencil with the hand far from the tip so you’ll not only use your wrist but your arms as well. You should learn how to compose yourself and relax, especially when you start with very light lines.

3. Develop Coordination and Skills

You can develop this by drawing the works of sketch artists. You can also draw photographs to get the feel of a three-dimensional picture with vivid image depth. This way you can learn how to develop your eye-to-hand coordination which is important when you work details. You don’t have to work with your imagination, using a reference will make you observe minute details and incorporate that when you’re drawing from your imagination.

4. Take Time to Draw Daily

This is simple to the extent that you’ll only have to pick a drawing and draw that then repeat until you see improvements. If you’re tired from drawing the same thing over and over or you have a lot of references then you can draw them as well. The important thing is you take time to draw and hone your skills. Spending 15-20 minutes to sketch daily to practice a single technique will take you way farther than doing nothing or by just reading about it.

Buying a sketchbook to practice on everyday will help you along the way. This is a skill and just like any other skill, you will get better when you take time to hone it and trust the process. Personally, whenever I can spare 20 minutes to draw I’ll whip up my pad and pencil and start drawing. There are those who come up to and say they’d want to be better at it, and all I can say is the only way to improve at drawing is to draw.