How to Draw by Shane Oliver

One of the most universal forms of art is drawing. It is seen all around us, in industries ranging from advertising to teaching. By learning how to draw one has a great capacity to influence an audience. It is also a basic introduction to all forms of art. The skill involved will help you hone your coordination and improve your attention to detail which can then be used in many other artistic avenues.

Before you start learning how to draw, the first thing you need to do is stop and think about what approach you want to take. What do you want to gain from drawing? What lessons do you need to learn? Anyone can develop the skill of drawing, it’s simply about making sure you approach it with the right mindset and that you apply the time and practice required to get good. After all, you get good at what you practice.

When you have an idea of what’s involved in learning how to draw, and have a plan in place, the best place to start is by studying the fundamental templates from the world of art. The most complex pictures can be broken into simple shapes, and it’s that understanding of the foundations that will help you to move forward. You can slave away working out proportions on your own, or you can follow the lead set by masters and you’ll start producing quality much sooner. Nothing ruins a picture like impatience. Once you have those standard settings down pat, you can look at branching out into other areas and letting your own artistic style blossom.

Art can be created with all kinds of materials, and as you grow in experience you’ll find styles and media which suit you more and more. Some more traditional tools are pencils or charcoal, but you can easily branch into something more colourful, like crayons or pastels. And these days if you prefer you can to step into the realms of latest technology to learn how to draw. You can specialise in various computer applications which can add a whole new power to what’s available; some of the most well-recognised being Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.

The art of drawing is very influential, and is one of the oldest styles available. It can tell an audience a great deal about both the artist and the subject and therefore learning how to draw is a valuable journey and a useful skill to possess. If a picture can speak a thousand words, think what you could tell the world with a thousand pictures.

For more advice, lessons and details on how to draw try http://www.sketchapic.com/

About The Author

Almost every skill can be honed and developed by simply finding the right template, and practicing the process regularly. One of the saddest things I hear is somebody saying “I’d love to, but I’m just don’t have the ability”. My aim is to share some of the theory and processes so others understand that almost anyone can become good at something if they know the right path to follow. For more advice on drawing try my website http://www.sketchapic.com/

The author invites you to visit: http://www.sketchapic.com

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7 Simple Tricks to Quickly Correcting your Drawings

When you are drawing, you’re likely to notice how extraordinarily fast you can get caught up in seeing your drawing as correct when it is NOT. It’s like we go blind to our own work after just a few minutes of pencil draw. As a beginning or intermediate artist, you already know what I’m talking about.

And it’s not just me, I see this problem with my art students over and over.

Unfortunately, we get so fixated on what we have drawn that we get stuck and need better ways of how to FIX our drawings!

Maybe it’s that we settle for good enough too quickly and easily. Whatever the reason, it’s a simple fact that there’s gotta be some simple tools for making the job easier.

Yep, here’s your answer.

If you’ve ever seen someone else draw, you’ve likely noticed how fast your brain can see “something” out of proportion on their drawing that they might have missed. That “snapshot analysis” that you just made is exactly the same trick you can apply to yourself to improve your drawings.

But how?

The trick is to see your drawing in different ways–to literally fool your brain into seeing it new all of the time. Then you can become your own critic and allow your brain to lose its fixation on the current view. You must “uncommit” yourself and your perception of own drawing repeatedly.

Here’s 7 ways that your drawing can become “new” over and over so you can spot errant lines in that same instant way that you can snapshot-see it in others.

1) Walk away for awhile.
Yes, literally walk away from your drawing for a short time, like 1-2 minutes (don’t just close your eyes). This gets your brain to forget where it’s stuck by laying new information over the brain. Then when you come back, stay back from it and reassess your work from a distance. You’ll see things you just missed. (Make sure you keep your eye in the same line-of-sight as it was while you were drawing).

2) Step back often.
Many times, just stepping back from your drawing will shrink both subject and drawing and let the eye diagnose differences more easily. (Again, keep your line of sight).

3) Turn the original and drawing both upside down.
OK, obviously you can do this only if you are drawing from a photo or another painting. But getting it into an upside down state is VERY effective in seeing things new without changing perspective.

4) Turn the original and drawing on their sides.
Guess what? You have 2 sides you can do this with and each view makes the drawing “new”.

5) Use a reducing glass.
These are the opposite of magnifying glasses because they shrink the image on your paper. This makes for a great way of making what’s on your paper equal in size to the subject you are drawing, OR makes the arrangement smaller relative to your drawing–in either case making them the same size for comparison certainly makse your job easier in getting the drawing accurate.

6) Use a mirror.
Turn around and face the opposite direction of your drawing and subject. Place a small mirror on your shoulder in the same line of sight that would be if you could put your eye into the mirror, looking at the subject. This reverses the image and will instantly show faulty lines and angles. If you’ve never tried this you’ll find it rather amazing.

7) Side-by-Side: Place your drawing on the display stand next to the arrangement. This puts the drawing and the arrangment very close together and allows the eye to gauge proportions far more accurately.

Summary: as you draw, keep the goal of constantly refreshing your brain from getting stuck on the lines you have already put down on your paper. Then, as you get better with practice, these tricks eventually won’t be necessary, as constant practice gives your eye the ability to see your drawing new almost continuously.

Remember to practice, practice, and of course did I say?, practice.

About the Author

Paul Wagner, art coach and founder of Art Training Intl, serving aspiring artists with simple step-by-step training in How to Draw Multimedia Lessons. Includes an e-book, 15 in-depth video lessons, reference graphics, and access to our complete library resources. Check out how-to-draw-online.com

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Art Materials and Tools: Drawing – Pencils

Drawing is probably the most immediate of all art forms. It allows you to put down your observations instantly. In addition, all you really need to draw is a pencil and a sheet of paper (even a napkin will do). So, drawing is to the arts what boxing is to sports. You just come to the party with your skills and not much else.

Unfortunately, drawing is also one of the more demanding art forms and it takes a lot of practice to become really good at it. However, drawing is a real basic art form, i.e., it is a prerequisite to learning many other art forms such as painting and sculpting.

Above all, drawing is an excellent vehicle for learning to see the world as it “really” is. It is a way to overcome the often greatly simplified memories of everyday objects we have stored in our brains since childhood. These simplifications are necessary and important for a human to function normally. It would indeed be maddening if we needed to recall every detail of an object before we could recognize it. Unfortunately, to give a pleasing artistic and particularly a realistic rendition of objects on a piece of paper, these ingrained memories or schemas are not sufficient and are generally far removed from reality. Just have a look at how children draw the sun or a tree.

Finally, drawing also allows you to put your own interpretation on your observations and ultimately lets you produce your very own art.

In this article we will discuss the various pencils used by the professional artist.

1. Graphite Pencils

Graphite pencils are the most direct and simplest of drawing tools. They are made from graphite and come in grades from very hard to very soft:

9H 8H … 2H H F HB B 2B 3B … 8B 9B
Hardest Softest

The F-pencil is somewhat of an odd duck in the series. It produces a fairly fine line and is often used to draw hair. The HB-pencil separates the hard pencils from the soft ones. In practice, you do not really ever use all 22 grades. I personally use mostly a 3B, a 5B, a 9B, and an F. For really fine lines I sometimes use a 2H pencil. But this is more of a personal preference and you should make your own choices.

Pencils do not cost much, so buy the best you can find. It is more than worth it. A good graphite pencil currently cost about a dollar.

2. Graphite Sticks

Graphite is also available in sticks. These sticks are usually wrapped in a plastic film. They are graded just like ordinary graphite pencils as we explained in Section 1. They are ideal for large-scale projects. They are also inexpensive so don’t be stingy and buy the best.

3. Colored Pencils

Colored pencils cannot be blended and must be built up in layers. Blending is achieved by putting one transparent layer of color on top of another. This way it is possible to obtain very interesting optical effects. Colored pencil art has made great strides in the last twenty or so years. Great pieces of art have been produced with colored pencils. Today, colored pencil art is very well respected and many artists specialize in creating very detailed and intricate drawings.

4. Water-soluble Pencils

This is the latest variety of pencil to come along. Water-soluble pencils provide a valid alternative to watercolors. The pencil marks turn into a watercolor-like wash when they are brought in contact with water. This wash can then be manipulated with a paint brush.

These four types of pencils are the most basic and have been used by most drawing artists. Of course, pencils are not the only tools that can be used to draw. Other drawing materials and tools will be discussed in future articles.

About the Author

Remi Engels, Ph.D., is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter. Samples of Remi’s work can be found at Remi’s Pencil Portraits and Remi’s Oil Paintings. You are also cordially invited to subscribe to his Free Portrait Drawing Course and his popular Art Tip Newsletter.

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