What are some ways to help me improve my drawings?

Question

what i really mean to say is that i want to draw beautiful drawings. just.... draw well.
i love to draw and i want to be able to draw well, but my hands do not do it. my drawings, art pieces, almost all my art projects don't look well. none of them are really nice.

i just need some ideas to REALLY be able to draw well. i already have a book, like basics for drawing, but it isn't helping much. my hands' just not very artistic. or maybe some ideas on how to be more artistic? i'm 15.

Answer 1

Im 13 and im a great drawer and painter for my age. . . i started of by coping pictures try this picture of an eagle and tell me how you get on



http://www.travel.hickerphoto.com/images/bald_eagle_bird_MG0813.jpg



Have some self confidence

Dont Rush your work

spend some time on one feature

Always add shadow <-- you can get a shader for adding shadow



This might help you when your adding your shadow to a sketch

http://www.travel.hickerphoto.com/images/bald_eagle_bird_MG0813.jpg



And heres a trick try using a letter B pencil. . . .i use these all the time there not 2 dark and not too light



Also you can try sketching on a sketch pad page these pages are more thicker and are used for sketching



Hope i helped



Tell me how you get on

Wish you luck . . .!

Answer 2

This is a really long question. There are lots and lots of different things that can improve your drawing. What always frustrated me as I was trying to learn is I didn't know where to start. When people say "Practice" it makes me want to scream. If you don't know what to practice it feels like going in circles! It's like teaching someone how to drive a car by giving them a heap of parts.

anyways rant over... here's some advice lol



1. Get a sketch book and some pens (various types to see what you like) Go somewhere, (anywhere, park, mall, subway, soccer field) Sketch from LIFE!!! This is the best exercise you can do by far. Do quick sketches of what people are doing, Don't worry about details or outlines, heck, use a crayon. Draw lots of gestures, are they sitting, standing, leaning. What leg are they resting their weight on, what way are their shoulders tilted, are they tall and thin, are they short and fat.

you want to work quickly, while trying to incorporate as many things you know as you can. This will help with showing movement, proportions, mood, and general drawing.

Don't worry if everything looks terrible at first, gotta start somewhere right!.

2. Practice Proportions

just spending time practicing proportions is a good way to put them in your mind and eventually your sub-conscious.

Find as much info as you can about proportions, there are 2 main systems, the head-system (a person is 8 heads high) and the 5 eye box system {(the one I prefer), the head is 5 eyes wide, from the top of the head to the pit of the neck is 2, 5 eye boxes) Find these and practice drawing from them. Memorize important land marks, the half way point of the body , how long are the arms, legs etc... There's lots of stuff out there to look up.



3. Learn perspective, 1,2,3 point, curvilinear and atmospheric. Start with 1 and work your way up. Perspective is essential to drawing anything. It helps create depth and realism in any image. Start out by drawing cubes cylinders and various other simple forms, and then start breaking more complex objects down, a bike is just a series of cylinders. A hand is a box with cylinders for fingers.



4. Anatomy. this one's kind of advanced but is essential. Practice drawing skeletons, this will help with your posing, and proportions. Then move onto drawing the muscles. If you know your bones and muscles you can draw a person doing absolutely anything.



I always recommend life drawing to people because it's very challenging and you will learn so much. A wise woman once said to me there is no problem in drawing you will face, that you wont face in life drawing.



Good luck! - www.conceptart.org -> my favorite website, head to the forums, very useful!

Answer 3

hello :) i am 20 ... when i was younger i had the same problem ... my hands and mind malipunate what im looking at and the result never turned out like the image ...

i still have that problem now but im in art college and it works for me now!...

for help, practise is definitely the best option, even start doing 2 min drawings each day of certain images (or more min if it requires more detail and stuff) but end that image at the time intended !! and keep doing that when you have spare time every day or few days ;) soon your talent will in crease :)



another thing i do (my boyfriend mentioned it for painting)

when im drawing out an under image i sometimes grid the page im drawing out to make sure preportions are right etc :)



em another thing if theres alot of detail, small stuff and stuff ... put the image into photoshop and zoom in, helps with the tiny parts and you can concentrate on that area then and your mind will be less likely to stray into other parts x



hope that helped slighty

Answer 4

My twin daughters are your age, and here's the advice I give them about drawing:



Sometimes your brain sends you messages about what you are drawing that actually work against you. Let me give you an example. Let's say you are trying to draw a vase. Your brain has preconceived notions of what a vase looks like, or 'should' look like. You really have to work to ignore those messages, and just draw what you SEE. Draw the darkest darks, then draw the middle darks, then the lightest areas. Blend with tissue, then look for reflections and the lightest areas. Take out those light areas with a click-eraser or kneaded rubber eraser. Blend slightly to take away the harshness of the edges of the areas you erased.



If you draw from a photo, try turning the photo upside down and draw it like that. This tricks your mind and trains you to just look for the shapes, darks and lights.



Don't give up, don't be too hard on yourself. It takes time. You are probably getting frustrated because...(TA DA!!!) You are fairly perfectionistic and you have high standards, which is an excellent trait for a pencil artist.

Answer 5

Your style or technique sometimes takes years to develop. ...even the greatest artists will tell you that. Your hands are not what makes you artistic...it is your mind and your perspective on the subject. Look at other artists' works, look at the way light falls on objects and subjects, "practice,practice, practice", like Billie, another poster said. Your use of color, dimension, light effects, and personal style develop your art. "THINK" about what you are drawing and just have some confidence. Everybody's idea of what is art and what isn't is different, too. Anything that is created in whatever form, is a piece of art, if you think about it. Nature portrays art, the human body does, landscapes do, industrial structures do, I could go on and on. Your interpretation of them is art...whether primitive or sophisticated. Just enjoy your passion for drawing. The more you draw, the better you will become, believe me.

Answer 6

you just need to discover your drawing techniques. try using different materials and mediums to find out your strengths and weaknesses. if you have weaknesses, try drawing with that more to improve. basically, you have to keep drawing in order to get better. you can read books on different techniques, but that won't help improve your drawings; it can only make you aware of the ways you can improve

Answer 7

Books don't really help, just develop your own style, oh! And practice, practice, practice! Cause it really does help, I've been a long time drawer/ artist (15 years old too) and I've been drawing since I was about 3, since I get bored in offices, and there was paper and pencils there. So... you can imagine I had ALOT of practice.

Answer 8

He is the best painting educator imo.He hs tv show, dvd etc. Take a look at http://www.bobross.com/



Drawing, I do not know other then books

Answer 9

Your main problem is proportion and possitioning. The basic quality is good