I'm a beginner at drawing. Anyone wants to give me some useful tips?

Question

I've just started drawing and I would like to become good at it.

Can you share how you started drawing? Was it something that you have been doing all your life or did you start drawing at some point at your life?

Is there anyone right there who was REALLY hopeless at the beginning but improved a lot with time and can draw amazing things now? (If yes, how long did it take you to become good at it?)

How should I/shouldn't I draw?

What are the best things to start drawing with?

Answer 1

I'm about to give you pages upon pages of text.



There really are no rules to it. I mean, there are techniques that can help you, but the entire process is just different for different people, and the techniques are things that no one can really teach you.



I draw anime, and I started out just pausing whatever I was watching and drawing it. From there, I looked for lots of tutorials to teach me what I was doing, though tutorials, most of the time, didn't really help me. It was just a very gradual thing, and I had to learn most of these things for myself.



To get you ready for the progress, the earliest drawings I have of mine are these:



http://s286.beta.photobucket.com/user/happy_lil_chipmunk/media/Kimiko.jpg.html?sort=3&o=149



http://s286.beta.photobucket.com/user/happy_lil_chipmunk/media/img002.jpg.html?sort=3&o=107



Those are from the summer between seventh and eighth grade, a year after I started drawing. Back then I was proud of them, but now I have to wince a bit when I see them. The same goes for the drawings I drew in eighth and ninth grade, and sometimes even in tenth grade, just last school year.



This here is from last summer, though I wish I could show you something even more recent:



http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcfhklYjyq1rjg6jyo1_500.jpg



I'll tell you now, a LOT of work went into getting here. I was drawing constantly (teachers had to say "put the sketchbook away" whenever I had a sketchbook. When I only had printer paper and the backs of worksheets, they took the drawings away.) and it was when I started drawing that I got a huge callous on my middle finger from the pencils.



The most important thing I could tell you do to is experiment. Some of your drawings will end up looking really funny, but others will have something in them that you sort of like. Learn to draw a lot of things in a lot of different ways.



Learn the difference between drawing with a regular pencil or a mechanical one: how they feel, which one feels better for what purpose. A regular pencil might feel and look better for shading while a mechanical pencil might make better lines. Start inking as soon as possible, even if it's with a cheap pen you happened to have on hand. (A while ago, a girl saw a drawing I was inking and asked what I used. I held up a regular old Bic Crystal and she was surprised, saying, "she isn't even using anything special!" A good utensil can make art easier, but you're the only one who can make your art better.) Learn what you like and don't like about any utensils you can get your hands on.



A lot of people try to acquire a style right away. Don't bother. Again, draw a lot of things in a lot of different ways, so that your skills will be broader. The style will get there later, and probably without you even noticing (:



Hope this helps you and prepares you for your journey as an artist :D



(One more tip. Get a tumblr, unless you're 12.9 years old or younger, and follow some art blogs, paying attention to what you like about some pieces, why you like it, and try your best to replicate it. That's how I learn different methods of drawing hair, eyes, mouths etc, and from there, I start to make my own that suit me.)

Answer 2

I actually only started drawing when I was 11, because I just never really cared before that, and I'm only 16 as it is, so, about six years, and I watch a lot of anime/cartoons and just decided, hey, I wonder if I can do that.



I don't think I'm an AMAZING artist, but I definitely think I am an okay artist, especially if you compare my art now to my six years ago! And, with drawing comes a lot of time where you're uninspired, so you've got to be prepared to feel like drawing nothing for months and then, bam, you're drawing everything for a few more months. As far as how long it took to get decent? The thing about art for me and all my friends, who are also artists, is that for about a year, it looks like everything you've drawn is actually pretty great, but as you keep drawing, your art will develop without you even noticing. Check your old pictures in about a year, and you will laugh at them! So don't worry about how long it will take you to get "good at it", and just enjoy your art.



As far as how you should or shouldn't start, I wouldn't start out with anything portrait-like or very heavily detailed, because it'll just get you majourly frustrated (speaking from experience -- I made that mistake.) Start with easy stuff, and just draw whatever you see. DON'T get aggravated if it doesn't come out right. If you need to, look up a tutorial on how to draw something. You might see a perspective from someone else's ideas that you didn't consider before.



Good luck! :)

Answer 3

When i was 6 I won my first coloring contest and was given a huge painting set. That got me more interested in art as a kid. I took up drawing seriously when I was 19. I was completely frustrated at first, but by drawing every day, I improved A LOT over 6 months & I could really see it in my artwork.



Some advice:

1. keep all your drawings - this is where you can see your improvements and weaknesses

2. Ask someone to critique you - get lots and lots of critique as it forces you to improve

3. "seeing" the subject is more important than the drawing process - learn to observe every little part and characteristic of your subject.

4. It takes lots of practice to master your art supplies. start with pencil, then charcoal, then colored pencils.



Good tools:

2b graphite pencils (soft & easy to erase)

art gum eraser

kneaded eraser

drawing board for drawing comfortably

vine charcoal (completely smudges away if you mess up)



How to draw:

Draw from life - you can draw family, friends, nature, etc. Also draw from pictures for practice, its a very beginner thing to do, but it helped me speed up the quality of my artwork & its very easy to bring a sketchbook & picture with you and just draw whenever you are out or at school.

Answer 4

well i started drawing for 3 grade and improve a lot !! i start to draw because i was watching anime when i was little and its pretty cool to draw because people get amazed at your art and i too get amazed by my art too becauz i draw so good that anyone would wish to have a talent to draw :D



you can draw but if you find it interesting it can be a hobby for you or more !!



i say the best thing is...observe

look at things may be hard try it out !

Answer 5

These are REALLY terrific questions! I myself am a writer, but my mother is a professional artist, Sarah Parks, who has developed an online drawing instruction series, "Drawing Secrets Revealed." Maybe it would be something you'd be interested in?



She has always drawn, back from when she was a young child doodling and tracing. She went to college and got two degrees in art (studio art and art history) and is a professional oil portrait painter now (you can see her work at http://sarahparksartist.com). She's really the expert.



While you can get a lot of great tips and tricks out of a book or in-person course, it's often hard to do that.  A book is pretty static, with a limited number of pictures you can use to guide you, and an in-person course can be expensive, inconvenient, and STILL not give you what you're looking for.



I recommend searching for reputable, solid drawing courses online.  It can be convenient, cost-efficient, and pretty effective.  There are quite a lot of them out there.  I don't want you to think I'm being pushy about her course, so here are some guidelines for choosing good ones as opposed to fluff which you can apply to any online program out there:



1)  Make sure their explanation of the contents of their course is clear and detailed.  Make sure you really understand what each lesson or module is providing.



2)  Make sure the price is reasonable for your budget.  A site that offers a range of pricing options can be a great find.  



3)  Make sure there is a continuing logic through the course.  Whether the artist is offering three lessons or fifteen, make sure there's a cohesion in the entire program.  You will improve your drawing skills best if each lesson builds on the previous one.  In these cases, it's best to go in order through the lessons.



4)  If the site seems to be offering something for nothing, chances are, they ARE.  The price should be comparable for the quality of instruction they're promising.  There should be a clear message that the lessons or program will not just draw something for you but will actually TEACH you how to do what the professional artist is doing. And if they're offering you free instruction or instruction that only costs a few dollars, chances are very good you won't get a lot out of it and you'll be back to hopping around the Internet looking for good instruction.



5) Look for proof of the artist's skill, either by seeing images of their work on their site or seeing before and after pictures from their students.



Be smart about looking for good drawing instruction on the Internet, and you WILL find it. A great place to start can be found at http://drawingsecretsrevealed.com, a college-level, 12-lesson video instruction course that uses video demonstration and PDF downloadable practice materials to teach you to draw. It has a variety of pricing options for any budget and my mother is an extremely good teacher. You can see her paintings and drawings on the site, which shows you the underlying foundation of solid drawing skills she teaches.



Good luck!

Answer 6

i've practiced drawing for about 2 years but never really considered myself any good beforehand. after 6 months you'll be better than anyone you know who isn't an artist :) i'm no way there yet but getting better with each sketch



firstly & most importantly you need patience - a good sketch will take a couple hours. draw large i.e. full page of a4 minimum, this will give you space to try out detail (drawing smaller is way harder in my experience).



i started drawing portraits, if you draw celebrities you know well then you can benchmark your results accurately. i use pencils of different thicknesses, this gives me ability to smudge and create cool looking shades (good for face tones, etc). shape and positioning is way more important than detail mind, once you have the proportions nailed (i.e. length of eyes, etc), adding the detail is the easy part.



check out http://www.fanart-central.net/ for some inspiration

Answer 7

1. move the 2 center pawns first 2. Bring knights and Bishops out next 3. Castle 4. keep the Queen in the back till much later in the game 5. do not check the opponents king unless you gain something after he defends 6. if you have captured more pieces than the opponents, keep exchanging, that will ensure that he always has fewer pieces than you so in the long run you will win. 7. save as many of your pawns as possible for the end game, do not let him save his pawns to the endgame.

Answer 8

Draw yourself, naked. Take a photo to use as a model. Post both the drawing and the photo here so I can critique your drawing.

Answer 9

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