Learning to draw

[Otterly]

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Idiot Sandwich the 3rd]

I think the obvious advice is really good. "Pick up the pencil, look for reference, and draw what you see, practice and have fun", but many times that will get you art blocked, and that could affect your practices and therefore your improvement.

I have some expirience as an illustrator, but i think this tip could be applied easily on any other aspect of your life (at least it does for me)

Fail as much as you can, in every piece you do, try to embrace your mistakes and keep drawing until youre DONE.

Dont just stop something you already started because you noticed something was wrong, embrace that mistake and finish no matter what.

Once youre finished then youre allowed to think about your mistakes, many times those mistakes dont actually ruin your drawing as much as you initially thought, thats part of "trusting the process", but still you need to see what worked and what didnt and correct yourself in the next drawing you do.

Something else is that you really need to have a good balance of the mentalities of "having fun" and "trying to improve" make drawings for both, but never mix both mentalities or you could frustrate yourself more often.

TLDR: Fail fast, but improve faster i guess

 

[Tragi-Chan]

Lots of good advice here. One tip I would add is to stop thinking of things as what they are, and start thinking of them in terms of their components. If you’re looking at a tree, say, look at the individual shapes within it - the light and dark patches, the textures, how they all relate to each other.

It’s amazing how much things do not look the way you think they look, when you actually pay attention to them.

I would suggest starting simple - a log, a piece of fruit, something that will let you master the basics. I found life drawing very useful, although I’d say that’s not necessarily a good place to start.

 

[Catboy Ranch Dressing]

The only guide you need

>How to draw Hitler
>Not Smugler

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Id say this book right here is definitely a reference to use:


It's basically a portable crash course on learning to draw. I've never had the focus to really get into it but even going as far as I did ended with me being able to pull off some basic stuff I couldn't before and it's an amazing starter for any novice. It's just lesson after lesson where you spend about 30 minutes teaching yourself the very basics of shading, shapes and perspective. It's a really good book and I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to pick up drawing.

 

[Overly Serious]

I see lots of people have already recommended Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I have this too and though I never really stuck with it the book is good. The pseudo science will drive you (and especially you) nuts but the concepts and approach are good even if the wild hypotheses used to justify them is not.

What I would just say is that there was a study done on brain usage by musicians, monitoring the size of the areas used to control the right hand of string muscians which found it was substantially larger than in non-musicians. It will be similar for art. Right now you quite literally do not have the brain capacity to draw well. But by doing this every day and sticking with it, you will create the neural wiring that turns you in a slightly different person. Otterly, but Artist Otterly.

I know you know all the biology stuff, but I like it as a reminder of just what we are capable of as excitable meat. We can actually rewire our brain - it's amazing, really. Make sure to keep your daily sketches so you can see your improvement over time. You'll love seeing it.