Learn How to Draw
Drawing well is a skill some people have and many more want. Drawing is a way to express your ideas visually. While most people have some skill in drawing, there is always room to develop your ability and become more talented.
Talent in drawing is the result of practice. You will need some basic materials if you want to develop your artistic skills. Get a book of drawing paper. This will be your journal and you can review your progress as you flip through the pages of this book. You will need some pencils. Start with graphite pencils. Charcoal is soft and smears easily. Good graphite pencils in say a 2B hardness make dark lines and hold up well in a notebook. Get an eraser. Kneaded gum erasers work well and do not leave any crumbs on the page when you use them. Once you have your supplies you are ready to begin.
Some art teachers will tell you to work from nature and live models. This can be a problem if you are inside most of the time and do not have a lot of friends who feel like sitting still while you draw them. You will have none of these problems if you work from photographs. You can get photographs from just about anywhere. Magazines are full of them. You can download photos on the Internet and work from your monitor. You can take your own photos and print them out in black and white. The important thing is that you have some model to compare your drawing to so you can see how you have done.
There are two ways to work out a drawing. One is with lines, the other is with shades. Use lines to mark out the outlines of your subject. Use shades to portray the light and dark areas. You can work entirely with lines or shades, or combine the two techniques. There are two ways to construct a drawing. One is by eye and the other is by measuring. The old masters like Da Vinci used tools to measure their models. There is no reason you cannot use simple tools like using your pencil as a rule to map out proportions. This is not cheating. The eye is not the most reliable tool to use when trying to get proportion correct. Experiment and see what works for you. The important point if you are trying to learn how to draw is to actually draw things. Work from some physical object and do your best to describe it with lines and shaded areas. The general principles are very simple, but the execution is open to infinite possibilities.
Take your time when you draw and try to get a pleasing product. Add details like the lines in eyes, the petals in flowers, leaves of trees, fur of animals. A drawing full of details shows that the artist has done his job and worked hard. You are not trying to make a photograph, but you are trying to convey your impression of a scene. Use your eraser to lighten lines and shades and bring contrast to your work. As you work with your pencil you will see that there are many possibilities for where a drawing can go. Do not be too concerned if your first attempts look nothing like your model. It takes time to develop any skill, and practice will move you along to your goal.
If you use simple measurements in your drawing practice, you will train your eye to think in proportions. As you develop skill in showing light and shadow you will notice yourself perceiving light and shadow in the world around you. There are many good books about how to draw. Go to a library or book store and look through the art instruction stacks. Research into the different techniques and media of drawing will help you develop your skills. Make drawing part of your daily life and you will become proficient. Drawing is a skill that everyone should have, if only for the joy it brings while you are drawing.
