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"Study For Pillar" by david Kassan 30 in. x 20 in. charcoal on mylar |
Drawing is something that you have to practice consistently in order to get better at it. Start off by drawing simple, small objects like a ball, a pencil or a envelope. Look around your house and draw easy things at first and then try harder things as you get better. Anyone, can learn how to draw, it's just a matter of taking the time and effort to learn and practice and get a good teacher to help you get better. Or take or subscribe to drawing program online. Good teachers can look over your shoulder and see what needs improving but if you cannot afford lessons then I provided a list below. There's really no reason not to sketch. We all have small moments of time that we could take out a sketch book and sketch something quick, even if its just practicing making circles, lines or boxes.
Here are some tips to get you started in Sketching and Drawing:
1. Carry a small sketch book with you everywhere you go and draw whenever you have free time.
2. Draw everything and don't worry about making a good drawing - just attempt it and do the best you can. You don't have show your drawings to anyone if you don't want to. You just want to practice and challenge yourself to a try and draw things as best as you can.
3. Break thinks down into simple straight lines and shapes.
4. Draw the shapes that make up the subject you want to draw and don't worry about trying to draw the subject. For example: Don't try to draw a building but instead draw the rectangle of the building then draw the rectangles inside the rectangle outline of the building.
5. Print out a photo and try and draw it as best you can to the actual size on some tracing paper. Once it's done, hold it over the picture and see how close you came and where you went wrong. This will show you where you need to improve and it helps train your brain so you do better.
6. Use a compass to measure the width and height of a subjects, use it to measure distances of items withing your subjects. For example: If you were drawing a bird, you can measure the width and height of the bird, measure the distance from the end of his beak to where it goes into the head, measure the size of it's eyes, the size of it's wings, feet and tail and copy the measurements to your paper or sketch book. Once you get all these little measurements in then you go around and fill in missing items and details.
7. Sketch very lightly so you can erase you lines.
8. Buy some soft vine charcoal to sketch with. You can wipe it off very easily and redraw. That's also it's drawback is that you can also wipe off what you wanted to keep and you'll have to seal your drawing with some clear spray when you're done.
9. Go to the library or go online and try and copy simple drawings. Even if it's meant for children, don't be afraid to use those drawings to practice. In the beginning you are just training your hand and eye coordination and you want to keep practicing until you can do it without thinking.
10. Don't worry about details or making something look like a photo. In the beginning you just want to train yourself to copy the basics outlines and shapes and get the proportions as close as possible. It's all training your hands and eyes in the beginning.
Here are some good web sites for learning to draw. Some are free, some have monthly fees (no I don't get any commissions) and some are more expensive. There are tons of free websites that you have to show you how to draw so start with those. The key is practice, practice and practice some more. You will get better each and every day.
Here are some tips to get you started in Sketching and Drawing:
1. Carry a small sketch book with you everywhere you go and draw whenever you have free time.
2. Draw everything and don't worry about making a good drawing - just attempt it and do the best you can. You don't have show your drawings to anyone if you don't want to. You just want to practice and challenge yourself to a try and draw things as best as you can.
3. Break thinks down into simple straight lines and shapes.
4. Draw the shapes that make up the subject you want to draw and don't worry about trying to draw the subject. For example: Don't try to draw a building but instead draw the rectangle of the building then draw the rectangles inside the rectangle outline of the building.
5. Print out a photo and try and draw it as best you can to the actual size on some tracing paper. Once it's done, hold it over the picture and see how close you came and where you went wrong. This will show you where you need to improve and it helps train your brain so you do better.
6. Use a compass to measure the width and height of a subjects, use it to measure distances of items withing your subjects. For example: If you were drawing a bird, you can measure the width and height of the bird, measure the distance from the end of his beak to where it goes into the head, measure the size of it's eyes, the size of it's wings, feet and tail and copy the measurements to your paper or sketch book. Once you get all these little measurements in then you go around and fill in missing items and details.
7. Sketch very lightly so you can erase you lines.
8. Buy some soft vine charcoal to sketch with. You can wipe it off very easily and redraw. That's also it's drawback is that you can also wipe off what you wanted to keep and you'll have to seal your drawing with some clear spray when you're done.
9. Go to the library or go online and try and copy simple drawings. Even if it's meant for children, don't be afraid to use those drawings to practice. In the beginning you are just training your hand and eye coordination and you want to keep practicing until you can do it without thinking.
10. Don't worry about details or making something look like a photo. In the beginning you just want to train yourself to copy the basics outlines and shapes and get the proportions as close as possible. It's all training your hands and eyes in the beginning.
Here are some good web sites for learning to draw. Some are free, some have monthly fees (no I don't get any commissions) and some are more expensive. There are tons of free websites that you have to show you how to draw so start with those. The key is practice, practice and practice some more. You will get better each and every day.
YouTube.com:
YouTube has a ton of video instruction and I've learned a lot from watching videos. I love to watch the time lapse videos on painting and drawing. You can even slow down the videos if you want by going to YouTubeSlow.com. You just cut and paste the youtube address into their web site and it will play in half the speed or a quarter of the speed:
http://www.youtubeslow.com/
Andrew Loomis Drawing Library:
You can view all the Andrew Loomis books online for free. These are amazing drawing books with tons of information covering all the basics. They are old and dated but all the lessons awesome:
http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/
Deviant Art:
Deviatart has tons of free lessons for both traditional as well as digital drawing and painting online, a forum, gallery and lots of really cool art.
http://www.deviantart.com/
YouTube has a ton of video instruction and I've learned a lot from watching videos. I love to watch the time lapse videos on painting and drawing. You can even slow down the videos if you want by going to YouTubeSlow.com. You just cut and paste the youtube address into their web site and it will play in half the speed or a quarter of the speed:
http://www.youtubeslow.com/
Andrew Loomis Drawing Library:
You can view all the Andrew Loomis books online for free. These are amazing drawing books with tons of information covering all the basics. They are old and dated but all the lessons awesome:
http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/
Deviant Art:
Deviatart has tons of free lessons for both traditional as well as digital drawing and painting online, a forum, gallery and lots of really cool art.
http://www.deviantart.com/
Drawing Tutorials Online.com:
This is one of the best online sites. They have lots of video tutorials that are well explained. They have a weekly podcast, video critiques, reference library, online pose videos and membership gives you access to over 1000 video tutorials. I was a member for awhile and learned a ton from. Membership is only $19 per month or $147 per year (good deal):
http://www.drawing-tutorials-online.com/
Language of Drawing DVD:
I haven't personally used this product but based on the lessons he shares on his blog, he has put together a great basics of drawing DVD. His methodology teaches the basics of drawing through a series of exercises that the students are expected to practice repeatedly so they become second nature and the exercises slowly build on the previous skills that were learned:
http://www.waichulisstudiostore.com/
This is one of the best online sites. They have lots of video tutorials that are well explained. They have a weekly podcast, video critiques, reference library, online pose videos and membership gives you access to over 1000 video tutorials. I was a member for awhile and learned a ton from. Membership is only $19 per month or $147 per year (good deal):
http://www.drawing-tutorials-online.com/
Language of Drawing DVD:
I haven't personally used this product but based on the lessons he shares on his blog, he has put together a great basics of drawing DVD. His methodology teaches the basics of drawing through a series of exercises that the students are expected to practice repeatedly so they become second nature and the exercises slowly build on the previous skills that were learned:
http://www.waichulisstudiostore.com/
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