Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw realistic artworks, but had no idea where to start? Many people feel this way! Learning to draw is an adventure and seeing yourself improve is a wonderful feeling. Rest assured, anyone can learn how to draw but it will probably take a lot of practice. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see improvement! So, sharpen your pencils and get started with these tips for learning to draw.
Look At Online Tutorials
Online tutorials are a helpful place to start. They can be very simple, such as how to draw a shaded sphere (a common first subject in drawing classes), or they can be more complex, such as how to draw a human head. Watching tutorials for beginners and following along in your own sketchbook is a great way to get started. You can find free tutorials on YouTube, or purchase a drawing class from an online course marketplace.
Typically, drawing students begin learning with graphite pencils. This is a great medium for getting started, but you may want to try different mediums as well. You can look up medium-specific tutorials such as how to blend colored pencils or how to draw skin and hair textures with charcoal.
If you find that you aren’t improving as quickly as you’d like using online tutorials, check out in-person classes near you! It’s always helpful to have the feedback and advice of a teacher.
Practice Observation
Drawing from observation refers to drawing based on what you’re looking at in real life, such as a still-life, a figure model, or a landscape. The ability to draw what you see is a powerful artistic skill that can only be honed through practice. One of the simplest ways to get started is with still-life drawing. To do this, pick a simple object like a cup or a piece of fruit, place it in front of you and try your best to sketch it using quick, loose movements. Don’t get caught up on the tiny details. Rather, aim to get the proportions and shapes looking accurate, and then worry about the details from there. Once you have a grasp of how to draw a simple object, it will help you learn to draw more complex subjects such as a figure model or a still-life with more objects in it.
Experiment with Different Mediums
There are all kinds of mediums to draw with, and different artists have different preferences. Get to know your own preferences by trying new things! Some great mediums to try are pencil, charcoal, colored pencil, pastels, and markers. You can even try drawing digitally on a tablet. If you feel unsure of what medium you’d like to work with, you may be able to get helpful advice at your local art store.
Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Learning to make realistic drawings does involve some guidelines, but it won’t be any fun if you don’t cut yourself some slack and let yourself experiment! You can try drawing with multiple mediums on one surface, drawing a subject that you usually wouldn’t, layering drawings on top of each other, or even using an unusual surface to draw on. A practice that many artists use to work on their observation skills is drawing from an upside-down reference photo. That way, you’re more focused on the structure and lines of the image rather than the subject that it’s portraying. Why not give it a try? A drawing that doesn’t come out well is never a failure because you learn with every single drawing you create.
Practice makes perfect, but don’t expect perfection when learning to draw. Creating art always involves trial and error, so let yourself enjoy the learning process and don’t be too attached to the end result. Learning to draw takes patience, but it’s so worth it. Drawing will sharpen your observation skills as well as your artistic prowess and will allow you to relate to the world around you in a whole new way. Enjoy the journey!