Learn to draw with a simple pencil. How to learn to draw? Step by step plan

there are answers to all these questions. Here are the basics of where to start painting. Follow these tips, do the exercises and you will no longer be afraid clean slate. You'll get necessary knowledge and basic skills. Painting will become closer, clearer and will bring a lot of pleasure.

Part 1. Preparatory

1. Find an inspiring subject to draw

It happens that you have already prepared everything, but you cannot find an object that would inspire you. This should be taken care of in advance. Something interesting is probably lying around in cabinets and desk drawers. Look for items at estate sales, consignment stores and grocery stores. Study paintings by your favorite artists.

The selection should include items that are pleasant to look at: this is important for creating successful work.

An interest in color and shape will motivate you as you work on your painting. There is a connection between feelings for an object and the ability to reveal your abilities. You can do more than you think.

For the first picture, a simple one-color symmetrical vessel, such as a regular coffee cup, will do. Illustration from the book

2. Get to know brushes and paints

Take a soft round brush and a bristle brush in your hands and compare their bristles. Squeeze a little onto the palette acrylic paint from a tube. Try applying undiluted paint. different brushes on canvas or watercolor paper. The strokes should be bright and bold. Feel the differences in strokes with different brushes. Add a little water and apply the strokes again. Medium consistency paint has the same color intensity as undiluted paint, but its texture is smoothed out. And do this exercise again with a weak paint solution. Notice how quickly the paints dry the first, second, and third times.


Illustration from the book

Try applying paint with different brushes - soft oval, synthetic thin, bristly flat. Try each brush until you are confident that you know which brush to use to achieve the design you have in mind.


Illustration from the book

3. Useful techniques for working with the palette

The colors in the paintings we see are usually obtained through mixing: the pure color from the tube is usually too intense. These techniques will make it easier for you to get the color you want.

  1. 1 Squeeze the paint from the tube onto the edge of the palette, leaving space between the colors. Use the center of the palette for mixing. Make batches farther apart to prevent unwanted mixing.
  2. Apply pure color to the brush from the edge of the palette, and not from above or from the middle of the squeezed out “sausage”.
  3. Intensive dark colors, such as black (although it is not scientifically considered a color), add with caution: even a small amount can significantly change the color being mixed.
  4. You need to mix the colors together until the mixture becomes completely homogeneous.
  5. Don't skimp on the paint. Squeeze out as much as you need - usually this is a circle the size of a ruble coin (for whitewash - the size of a five-ruble coin). Paint consumption is an integral part of the painting process. If you save too much, you will never learn how to use paint.

4. Learn to get neutral colors

In any picture there are neutral colors - “visually gray”. Due to their low intensity, they are invisible at first glance, but they are the most useful tool for creating a harmonious color composition. Let's see how to achieve this.

Mix blue and orange in any proportion. Now let's try to change the color temperature by proportionally warm and cool colors in the mixture. If the result is more purple, try making a rusty color by adding more orange paint and then whitewash for a lighter peach color. If the first step produces a rusty color, add blue to create a cool color, close to purple, and then white to create a light violet-gray.

Repeat the previous steps for another pair of complementary colors - yellow and purple, red and green.


Pairs of complementary colors are connected by short vertical strokes. The colors of each pair are mixed with each other to create two neutral colors, each of which was dominated by one of the parent colors - these are located to the right of the corresponding parent. Illustration from the book

5. Primary, secondary and tertiary colors

Draw a circle, then divide it into three equal sectors. Paint the upper sector with cadmium yellow medium, the lower right one with ultramarine blue, and then mix the main red from naphthol crimson and cadmium red light and paint the lower left sector with it.

On the color wheel of primary colors, draw semicircles with centers at the intersection of the sector boundaries with the outer contour color wheel. Fill these semicircles with secondary colors, placing them above the “parents”: cadmium red light above the border between red and yellow, dioxazine violet above the border between red and blue. Add yellow to the green FC and fill in the green semicircle above the border between yellow and blue.

The primary color, when mixed with the adjacent secondary color, produces a tertiary color. Add one triangle on each side of the semicircle, making a total of six. Color in each triangle based on the labels.


Primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Illustration from the book

Part 2. Drawing

6. Start with abstractions

Abstraction is an interesting and simple way to prepare for working on a realistic piece. It is important to choose 3-4 colors that you like in order to feel an emotional connection with the painting. Draw over the entire surface of the sheet with a simple pencil a continuous angular or rounded line. It may intersect several times.

Paint the shapes in the drawing with the colors and shades, paint consistency and brush that you like. Listen to your inner voice. The main task is to do it the way you like, forgetting about everything else.


Illustration from the book

7. Smear pattern

Beginners are often unsure how to apply strokes. The arrows in the figure show the direction that will help to achieve good depth in the depicted space using the example of a mug.


Smear diagram and result. Illustration from the book

8. How to apply eye shadow

Shadows play a key role in creating a three-dimensional image: first of all, you need to learn to see and write them. There are four types of shadows:

  • Own shadows located on objects. These are areas of dark tone that contrast with the illuminated parts of the depicted form. They usually have a sharp edge at the outer edge and a smooth transition at the edge of the light-colored areas of the subject. They own the main role in creating volume.
  • Halftone areas- narrow, with a soft contour, located on the border between its own shadow and the illuminated area of ​​the object. These shadows are the mid-tone between the contrasting dark and light tones of the subject.
  • Falling shadows- silhouettes of an object, “fallen” or thrown by it onto any surface other than itself. They give the impression that the object is on some surface.
  • T Eni at the point of contact- the darkest area of ​​the falling shadow, lying next to the object. They are responsible for the “stability” and mass of the object. These shadows are also called the accent - the darkest area among the dark tones. An accent is the dark counterpart of a highlight, the lightest area among the highlights.

To paint a shadow, apply black paint or paint of a darker color than the base color. And in the second step, cover this darkened area with the main color. The halftone black should show through under the new coat of paint, creating a colored shadow. If you want to make the shadow darker, apply more black from the clear edge of the shadow and mix with the color in the midtone.


Shadow using the example of a cylinder. Illustration from the book

9. How to apply highlights

To create a realistic highlight, use a dry brush with white paint to paint the lightest area on the subject as many times as necessary to achieve sufficient brightness. In the middle of the highlight, place a small dab of thick paint for extra brightness.


Two examples of highlight overlay. Illustration from the book

10. Paint pictures in your imagination

While going about your daily activities, paint pictures in your imagination. Mentally look for correspondence between the surfaces and textures you see around you and the way you work with a brush and apply paint.

Do you dream of learning to draw? And look for detailed step-by-step drawing lessons for beginning artists? I will try to help you with this simple matter and tell you about the many nuances when writing beautiful drawings and portraits in pencil and watercolor! With the help of my step-by-step lessons, not only adults, but also children will be able to master the basics of fine art!
In this section I publish all my step-by-step drawing lessons, and separately, in the section Drawing Lessons for Children, I collect simple lessons drawing for beginner artists. Therefore, if you are just taking your first steps in drawing with pencil and watercolor, I recommend starting your training with this section. Be sure to check out all the drawing lessons and tips for artists collected on my blog!

Drawing a portrait For a beginning artist it seems an incredibly difficult undertaking. Often, beginners rush to create a portrait without studying its basic principles and techniques. Each face drawing ends in disappointment, which can lead to a complete loss of interest. You shouldn’t give up, because every portrait painter started by studying the basic rules, practiced them, made dozens of mistakes and eventually achieved positive results. Now we'll figure it out drawing a portrait with a pencil, its features and rules. They will help you achieve correctness, and most importantly, realism and High Quality portrait.


Almost every person wants to have their own portrait at home, which is considered one of the most complex drawings what an artist can draw. It is not surprising that there is a great demand for this type of drawings. Therefore, the duty of a beginner and an experienced artist is to step by step improve his skills in drawing a person’s facial features, because through the face you can convey not only gender and age, but also the character and temperament of a person. According to their characteristics, portraits are divided into three types: children's, women's and men's. Today we will learn to draw the last view - male portrait with a simple pencil. It has its own characteristics and secrets, which we will tell you about in this step-by-step lesson.


A step-by-step lesson on how to draw a woman's portrait with a simple pencil. After going through just a few steps, you can understand the main features that are inherent in portrait of a woman and are absent in the rest. The face will be positioned from the front, hair pulled back. This is important to know before starting work. Now you can get started.


Hands are a personal and unique part of the body. They can often tell a story about a person's life through their shape and size. Long years people study their lines and structure, trying to read the future from the lines. Today we will learn draw hands with a simple pencil by using step by step lesson. Let's pay Special attention their construction and application of shadows so that the drawing comes out as realistic as possible.


Before you start painting a full portrait, you need to learn how to draw the details of the face. In today's lesson we will learn, how to draw lips in pencil, thanks to the step-by-step description. The lesson is not difficult and is intended for beginner artists, but do not rush. To achieve a result, namely beautifully draw a person's lips, you need to carefully follow the rules of construction and shading.


Many people dream of painting a portrait of their family and friends. But before you draw the face as a whole, you need to learn how to draw the details of the face. This lesson for beginning artists is devoted to the question “ how to draw a nose" This task is not difficult, you just need to use the information about constructing and applying shadows. The shape and size of the nose may vary, but the basic design remains the same. Let's quickly find out how easy it is draw a nose with a pencil.


For many beginning artists, one of the difficult tasks is the question “ how to draw an ear?. Due to the complex structure of the ear, it is often sketched with hair, but this is not an option. There are situations when this approach is not appropriate, for example, if a person has short haircut. So I'll tell you how to draw an ear step by step.

If at school during art lessons you could not depict anything other than the sun, a house or a tree, if your level of painter can be compared to the creativity of a four-year-old child, if you are an artist from the word “bad”, we offer you simple lessons on how to draw with a pencil step by step for beginners: for children, for adults and for everyone.

Perhaps every person who is not related to the fine arts, at least once in his life, had to pick up a simple pencil or a piece of chalk and draw a simple picture from scratch without looking at the manual or textbook.

People who have a lack of imagination and problems with spatial thinking will probably agree that this task is not an easy one. And if you have long forgotten about drawing lessons at school, you may have a sudden need to learn how to draw with a pencil step by step for beginners. With a pencil step by step - this already sounds more pleasant than starting from scratch without a manual or textbook. After all, if you don't great artist, you are enough correctly convey the shape of the object, draw the main lines and draw the main details. Leave claims to the realism of the image, to the relationship between color and shadow, as well as other professional requirements for real artists; for now we are learning to draw the most simple pictures: cartoons, animals, plants and people. The image diagrams that await you below are designed for the most adult “dummies” in the field of drawing, as well as for children 5-6 years old, so you will not have any difficulties.

How to learn to draw with a pencil: from scratch step by step for beginners

Drawing may seem like a difficult and overwhelming task for those who want to get results right away without putting in a lot of effort. But you remember that we draw in stages and set ourselves the initial simple tasks so that expectation coincides with reality.

In the first stages of preparation you will need a simple pencil, a sheet of paper and patience. You also need to know that almost everything simple drawings consist of lines, circles, ovals, rectangles, squares, zigzags and other kinds of squiggles. If for some reason your drawing is not perfect, you can erase part of it or start over from scratch. This is the beauty of drawing.

We will start with our smaller brothers, that is, with animals

How to draw a person's face step by step with a pencil for beginners?

Perhaps the most difficult task for a beginning painter is to draw a human face. You probably won’t be able to reproduce all the details and accuracy of a human physiognomy the first time. It's better to start with less realistic drawings, for example, with anime.

Learn to draw anime

The anime genre has won the attention of not only children, but also adults. Big expressive eyes unusual shape faces and lush flowing hair are characteristics of anime characters.

However, there is something else interesting about them - emotions. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the process of creating an anime-style face, as well as explore all the shades of anime emotions.

Drawing a portrait of a person with a pencil

After a little warm-up with emotions, we will tell you how to draw a person’s face step by step with a pencil for beginners. We will not reinvent the wheel and will draw all the main lines together with you.

How to draw a person with a pencil step by step for beginners?

You have already acquired a little knowledge on how to learn to draw with a pencil from scratch step by step for beginners. A simple pencil is the most practical tool aspiring artist. With its help you can depict entire landscapes, flowers, tanks, people. And if with a picture human face We've already figured it out a little, but we still need to work with the human figure.

Figure standing man will interest budding artists.

A woman who takes a step.

Figure of a woman in different positions.

What else can you draw with a simple pencil?

IN fine arts proportions must be taken into account, as well as the symmetry of the arrangement of all parts. Yes, when you draw a cat, you should calculate exactly where the ears, paws, nose and eyes will be. Markup will help you with this.

With a simple pencil you can draw beautiful house, palace and even the Kremlin.

When drawing animals, you can use a basic technique, for example, drawing a regular circle.

Drawing is an artistic skill that, once mastered, will bring you great pleasure, and over time it can even turn into an amazing hobby. You may think that in order to learn to draw well, you need to attend professional lessons, but that's not true. Simple drawing For your own pleasure, you can save money and improve your skills. To learn how to draw without taking a class, sketch with short strokes, apply shadows, highlight individual shapes in objects of various shapes, and practice as much as possible.

Steps

Part 1

Initial sketches

    Choose an object to draw from life. If possible, find something meaningful to yourself, such as your favorite flower or your dog. On initial stage you will likely find it easier to draw from life than from memory or imagination. So if you draw something that you enjoy, it will help you concentrate.

    • If you're just trying to draw, you don't need special art materials yet. Any pen or pencil and paper on hand will do the job.
  1. Draw a general sketch with short strokes. Lightly press the pencil onto the paper. Concentrate on the line you are drawing, forgetting about the object itself. If you're drawing a dog, forget about it. Instead, start drawing its outlines. They represent the boundaries between the dog's body and its environment. Draw these outlines with short strokes.

    • The shorter your strokes are, the more accurate your sketch will be.
    • Don't criticize your work. Move quickly and perfect your strokes as you go.
  2. Draw in the details. Once the sketch of the object is ready in general outline, start drawing out its details. Try to identify distinctive features or marks on an object, for example, a chip on a cup or a tuft of hair on a dog, based on which you can place other nearby details in the drawing.

    Apply shadows. Applying shadows will be a little more difficult, but they allow you to reflect the play of light and shadow in the drawing, and also create volume. Look from which side the object is illuminated by the sun. Then take a sharp pencil and evenly shade the penumbra areas. Once the pencil tip becomes dull, move on to shading the darker areas. To make the pencil leave darker strokes, press harder.

    • You can practice applying shadows by drawing a smooth scale of shadows. Start drawing the scale from the edge of the sheet. Move the pencil back and forth as you work. As you work, begin to press harder on the pencil to gradually make the strokes darker.
    • It is also useful to practice drawing a scale achromatic colors. Divide the elongated rectangle into five sections. Leave the first section white. Paint the last section as much as possible dark color, as much as possible. In between these two sections (in the three central sections), distribute your strokes so that you get transitional (light to dark) shades of gray.
  3. Connect different geometric shapes into shapes. Learn to compose individual blocks from which the contours of an object are formed. For example, a table can be represented as a series of rectangles and cylinders, and a snake as a series of circles. As soon as you learn to identify individual geometric blocks in objects, you will be able to draw them even from memory (without nature).

    • Spend some time looking at the objects carefully and trying to fit them into individual geometric shapes.
  4. Sketch the subject from different angles. Assemble a drawing object from various forms. While working on the sketch, erase the unnecessary ones and draw the necessary lines so that the object in the drawing acquires the required shape. Once you've finished drawing this sketch, try drawing the same subject from other angles. For example, in profile, a horse's head may consist of a square nose, a circle of cheeks and a triangle of ears, but the same head can be drawn from many other angles.

    • Return to these sketches later to improve the rest of your drawings.
  5. Re-draw the selected object. Next time, after correcting various errors in sketches from different angles, draw the object again. At first, you can even rely on prepared sketches. Build an object from basic geometric shapes, then draw its details and correct it possible mistakes. Once you have some experience, you will be able to draw this object in various poses, even from memory.

    • It is quite acceptable to make some simplifications in the drawing, they may even become yours individual style. For example, remembering the location of every single muscle on the body can take too much time.

    Part 3

    Learning drawing techniques
    1. Explore information about various techniques ah drawing. Your local library should have books about different styles drawing from realism to Japanese manga. Similar books can also be purchased at bookstores. For free ideas and demonstration lessons for drawing, enter a search query in a search engine or on YouTube using the phrase “how to draw (object).”

      • Books on anatomy can also serve good source information for realistic drawings. Learn to schematically draw the skeleton and muscles using them.
    2. Start working with additional materials. It's usually best to stick with one thing before you gain experience, such as pencil and paper. Then you can find alternatives that you like better and will help you develop own style, for example, start working with colored pencils or charcoal. In addition, even simple pencils come in different hardnesses, which allows you to expand your options for applying shadows.

      • TM (HB) pencils are considered standard. T-category (H) pencils are harder and suitable for drawing light lines. M-category (B) pencils are softer and suitable for drawing darker lines.
      • The degree of hardness and softness of pencils is expressed by a number. U hard pencils(T or H) the highest hardness is expressed as a nine, and soft pencils(M or B) nine indicates the highest softness.
      • Vinyl erasers and scratch marks don't damage paper like regular rubber erasers, but they won't erase colored pencils. Due to the plasticity of such erasers (they have a doughy consistency), they can be given any shape to accurately remove individual small parts pencil sketch.
    3. Learn to imagine the drawing process itself. When you're not busy drawing, look around. Think about how you could reflect the environment in the drawing. For example, imagine how you apply shadows around drawn eyes, draw pupils and irises. This line of thinking will allow you to think about working on the lines and creating your own style.

      • The goal is to learn to see details, not just general forms. Instead of thinking about the eye itself, think about the lines and colors that will allow you to draw that eye.
    4. Practice. Drawing is a lot like skills like playing the piano. musical instrument or cycling. As soon as you have free time, sit down and sketch. Practice shading and using different painting techniques. Work on sketching things from different angles. In between drawing sessions, simply spend time with objects that interest you so you can learn more about them without becoming overwhelmed.

    • Make it a habit to draw every day. With this habit, it will be easier for you to force yourself to practice, and you will improve your skills faster.
    • Don't be discouraged by realizing you've made mistakes. This perception stops many aspiring artists. Remember, even experienced artists continue to learn through their creativity.
    • It will take time to master the precise coordination of hand movements. Keep practicing, apply short strokes to the basic ones geometric figures, and the results will improve over time.
    • There is no need to purchase expensive art materials. A notepad and simple pencils will be enough for studying.
    • Developing the skill of identifying individual geometric shapes in objects also takes time, but it helps to make more accurate sketches.

    Warnings

    • Someone, or even you yourself, may try to talk yourself out of this idea. But don't listen to those who say you don't have talent. Drawing needs to be learned, and if you enjoy doing it, just keep working on it.

I am pleased to present to you an improved and expanded manual abouthow to learn to draw. I hope that it will cover most of the questions that I am regularly asked in the VKontakte group. For example, such as:

    • where should I start learning to draw if I have never drawn?
    • How can I learn to draw people?
    • how to learn to draw on a computer?
    • What drawing books are worth studying?
  • How can I learn to paint with acrylic, oil, pastel, and other materials?

I have collected the most useful tips from artists from the site www.quora.com , and it turned out great step by step guide , thanks to which no one will be able to hide behind excuses like “I don’t know where to start, I can’t do it, I’m mediocre, etc.”, believe me,
you will finally find out how to learn to drawb!

Just follow this manual step by step and dedicate enough time to practice, and you can come from this drawing level

to that

Some lyrics

Drawingis a skill that develops with practice. You're not alone when you think you're terrible at drawing! All great artists started by drawing stick figures like this:

The reason they moved on from these so-called "stick figures"to something much greater, is that they had insatiable desire to draw getting better and better with every new touch of pencil to paper. This desire set them apart from the rest and is the only reason they became successful.

First of all, the fact that you decided to dedicate your time to improving your drawing skills is already a great achievement. Why you ask? This is really important because in art and creativity there must be passion, interest, curiosity and dedication, without which the learning process will not be as effective.

So in your case, the biggest obstacle is already behind you and you can start drawing by observing the things around you! That's how simple it is!

The following steps that I am going to suggest should help you gain the drawing skills you want and will also show you the path that you will have to go through to become an artist.

But before you blindly follow the path below, always remember that you are free to choose your own unique path—the path that is right for you. The real challenge is to practice regularly with the intention of learning., so it doesn’t matter where you start your drawing journey.

note that each step mentioned below may take weeks, months or even years to achieve perfection in it. It all depends on how much you really want to improve your skills and how much effort you are willing to put in.

There is plenty of material available online for each step below, including YouTube. I recommend checking various sources, studying different styles and practice the style that suits you best.

Let's start!

Step 1. Learning simple shapes

First, take a paper and pencil (or pen), sit in a comfortable position, clear your mind of thoughts and just focus on the task at hand.

Now try creating a simple form. For example, draw a circle and then continue to practice it.

Try to draw a perfect circle every time. If you really take this task seriously, it could take us several days or even months. Drawing a perfect circle using only your hands is more difficult than you imagine.

Just start drawing circles and keep practicing these circles until you reach a stage where you can draw a perfect circle without using any assistive tools.

Your attempts will start with something like this:

After regular practice, your hand-eye coordination will improve and you will begin to draw better:

This is a pretty good result. Now move on!

The same way, start working with other basic shapes, such as triangle, square, cube, octagon, etc.

This should keep you busy for a while again. Remember, this is a herculean task if your first drawing was the circle from this tutorial.

But after you devote some amount of time (say 6 months or one year), once you pass this rigorous exercise, and once you become a champion in drawing any of simple figures if desired, another interesting facet will appear.

At this point there are two approaches you can follow:

Approach 1 - self-learning

You can learn to draw on your own using free online articles, YouTube videos, books and tutorials.

Easiest to digest drawing lessons for beginners I'm reading Mark Kistler's lessons from the book.

After completing all the lessons, you will achieve significant success. However, although the author stated a period of 1 month, I would advise you to take your time and devote at least 1-2 hours to each lesson, completing all the practical exercises.

Approach 2 - Enroll in an art school or online course

If you don’t like self-study, then I advise you to sign up for paid courses, where they will tell you everything in detail and show you, and also force you to work practically.

The highest quality and most interesting I consider courses and master classes at Veronica Kalacheva’s drawing school.

This school offers both in-studio and online training. There are also useful free materials, which .

This school often hosts free webinars or lessons are opened for study for a while.

Register so you don't miss them!

Veronica Kalacheva's drawing school

Another site with paid but cheaper drawing courses that I like is arttsapko.ru. You can also take some courses for free on this site. There are one-time classes that take place in Moscow.

arttsapko drawing school

Further advice will be more suitable for those who chose the first approach and decided to study visual arts on one's own. But yours creative path may contain both approaches.

Step 2: Shadows and Shades

Now that you know how to draw simple shapes perfectly, let's Let's start shading these shapes.

I will continue with the example of a circle.

So, yours first attempt at circle shading, without understanding how to do it correctly, would look something like this:

Notice that even though your image didn't turn out very realistic, you were already subconsciously aware of the imaginary light source and placed it in the upper left corner and, given this source, you drew a shadow on the opposite side in the lower right corner.

That is, in order to shade objects you need common sense and nothing more.

Now continue practicing shading. It may take several months before you get something like this:

Now this circle looks like a volumetric sphere.

Next, you need to show that the sphere is not dangling in the air, but is on some surface, and you will begin to depict the shadows that the object casts on other surfaces. In this case, the drawing should already look something like this:

Always remember one simple rule, which has been demonstrated in the figure below:

Also, continue to practice shading and other shapes you've learned.

As you practice, notice how the shades vary depending on the availability of light. Look at the tonal scale with shading from light to dark below. You can use it as a guide when you draw a figure.

Keep practicing. It's an endless process!

Step 3. Perspective

The basic law of perspective says:when an object is closer it looks larger and if it needs to be shown further away it will need to be drawn smaller. If you understand this, you understand the basic law of perspective.

Now let's look at the so-calledvanishing point.

I will explain this concept using the example of a cube.

When we draw a cube, why do the length and width of that cube taper towards the end or slope inward on the paper? Look at this picture below for reference and ask yourself why is this happening?

As you can see, the ribs taper both to the right and to the left, as if they are going into the inside of a sheet of paper. This is what gives the cube the illusion of “3D” on two-dimensional paper. And this is possible, based on the basics of perspective and such a concept asvanishing point.

Now let's look at the same cube again.

In the cube, we took the vanishing point somewhere far from our eyes to the right and left of the cube. That's why the sides narrowed to inside papers on the right and left. The figure below clearly shows how the edges of a cube, if extended, will converge at one point on both sides. These two points are called vanishing points:

Now look at the green dot in the following cube drawing:

This green dot is alsovanishing point.

Imagine what a cube would look like without this vanishing point concept. It will look more like a square in 2-D.When we draw a cube, we should always remember the vanishing point, since it is this that gives us the opportunity to depict a three-dimensional figure.

So, I hope that the concept of a vanishing point has become more clear to you, because for anyone good drawing, which is drawn taking into account the space and distance between each object, the vanishing point concept should be followed by default.

Here are some more examples of the vanishing point concept for your understanding.

  • Top view (or bird's eye view):

  • Linear perspective (landscape):

  • View with many vanishing points (any real scene):

Thus, as depicted in the third example, in real scenes there are usually several vanishing points, and these points give the drawing the desired depth or 3-D effect, and a sense of space that separates it from 2-D.

Too difficult? Just don't panic now, okay? At this stage, it is enough just to understand the concept of a vanishing point. Just try to show the vanishing point in your drawings without any drawings or measurements.

This "step 3" was just a prerequisite for learning the laws of perspective, just to make you aware of its importance in drawing. Mark Kistler's "Learn to Draw in 30 Days" course has several step by step lessons to build perspective, you can start with them.

Step 4. Draw complex shapes

Now using your confidence in drawing and shading simple shapes, as well as knowledge of the shadow effect and vanishing point, move on to the next level, that is, drawing various complex shapes.

The rules of the game remain the same:

    1. Keep practicing.
    1. Observe the nuances.
  1. Try to surpass yourself every time and not repeat previous mistakes.

So first, how about an egg? It's not that different from a circle, right?

Let's just get started. Practice until you get it perfect!

Okay, it looks like an egg. Now try different fruits. For example, strawberries.

Great! These are really good strawberries. And look at this detail.The strawberry in the last picture looks quite difficult to draw, but we already have experience with shading from “step 3”. This is the same thing, only at the micro level. Believe in yourself and everything will work out!

The same way, continue drawing different random shapes with shading. Place shadows on these drawings, taking into account effects such as reflection, refraction, transparency, etc. And just keep practicing.

There are many around various items. Learn to draw what you see. This is one of the most important steps to becoming a professional artist. Don't worry if you don't do it very well at first. Sometimes when you start drawing what you see, the beginning of the sketch can look pretty terrible, but the end result can be amazing. So start doing it!

Try drawing two random objects a day. The drawing must be complete: drawing + shading + drop shadow + any other special effect.

Something like below:

Just repeat this process every day. You are on the right track!

Step 5. Draw living creatures

Since we now know how to draw and shade various objects with relative accuracy, it's time to draw moving objects and living organisms. Now it is necessary to include the movement of objects, their pose and facial expressions in the drawing, this is a real challenge!

The most important advice is to keep your eyes and mind wide open. You have to watch everything around you.

So observe all the nuances - people walking, a bird flying, a dog's posture, etc. And, when possible, create a quick sketch this specific position, movement, expression, etc. And work on the details later in your free time.

You should end up with something like this:

This is a quick sketch that can be completed in minutes. Go to a park or cafe and just sketch the people you come across. In this case, the main thing is not quality, but quantity. You need to see and convey the subject's pose.

Study anatomy.Yes, anatomy is the same as in biology class. You need to study the bones of the skeleton and the location of the muscles. This may seem weird and creepy, but on the other hand, it means you can draw a skeleton and skull for Halloween decorations :) This will also help in learning about human proportions and body movements. The same goes for animals - read books on animal anatomy. Almost all art books on drawing animals will have an anatomy section.

Try starting with my article:

Then try to quickly draw a few different expressions faces:

Observe and remember the differences between facial lines. Later, keep adding shadows and make them look even more realistic, like this:

Do the same with trees, flowers, animals, birds, etc.

Now that you know quite a bit, using your acquired skills you should be able to draw something like this:

Persistence, difficulty and pain will then lead you here:

And in the case of people (a little better or worse):

Now it's time to pause and take a look at the image below, this beautiful woman. She really looks very beautiful, doesn't she?

And if you ask yourself, can you be confident enough to draw her as beautiful as she is? Chances are the answer is a big “No,” right? If so, then you still have some way to go!

So your drawing is still in its infancy and there is a lot of room for improvement.For example, you will have to work on detail human eye and his movements, human hair, its shine, etc. I think you understand what I'm trying to say, don't you?

So basically, at this stage, you have to surround yourself with these challenges all the time in order to move forward and not get stuck in the middle.No one will help you with this except yourself!

Step 6. Trying different tools and materials

It's great if you can draw with a pencil, but it will be much more interesting and useful if you also learn how to use ink, paint, markers, pastels, etc. You should try different materials , if only because you may come across something that you especially like. Add color to your sketches!

Of course, art supplies are not cheap now, so you shouldn’t buy professional materials right away, in case you don’t like them and want something else? For starters, tools from the mid-price category will be enough. Now it's very big choice inexpensive art materials can be found at AliExpress.

Don't use fancy art boards or moleskines. Buy a large notebook or album with white sheets. Your goal is to do as much as possible and faster than sketches without having to worry about wasting expensive paper.

Also, if you decide to try yourself in digital art, you don’t have to immediately take up licensed Photoshop, when you can start with free editors, for example MyPaint, SAI, GIMP.


Author: TsaoShin

Step 7. Landscapes

Now put everything together. You must start drawing landscapes with people, plants and many animals. In this step you will have a great opportunity practice your knowledge laws of perspective.

To start, you can try drawing panoramas, such as the view from your window.Try to first draw landscapes more “roughly”, for example like this:


After that, detail the objects.

After extensive training, your drawings will look something like this:

Step 8. Draw from imagination

Start with something simple, like an apple. Simply move your pencil onto the paper, only imagining that you are drawing an apple before you draw it. Then do a quick preliminary sketch to get its shape and the shape of its shadow in proportion to the page. Then start shading and detailing.

Then try to draw something more complex, for example, flowers, trees, a glass, a pen, etc. Each time try to choose more difficult objects. At this point I can give no further advice other than Practice regularly.

Step 9. Forming your own style

Now you know everything. At least enough to start developing your own artistic style.Your style should be unique, and you should continue to develop it with intense practice.

Please note that I can't add anything more to this step because I don't know what yours will be like unique style. I can only advise

The internet is full of resources to help you with inspiration and ideas, such as Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube. I recommend checking these sources regularly, learning about different styles, and practicing the style that suits you best.

Step 10. Getting better

This step is about refining to the point where your drawing is indistinguishable from a photograph or real image. Of course, it is optional. But if you still If you want to develop your skills to drawing in the style of hyperrealism, this will also require a lot of practice.

Although drawings that are indistinguishable from photographs are signs of the amazing skill of the authors who put in a lot of effort, there are equal examples amazing works that Not look like the photos. So you should also keep this in mind.

Here is an example of a hyperrealistic drawing:

Sensazioni, author: Diego Coy

Step 11. Practice, practice, practice.

Artistic skills don't come with fancy sketches and pencils. This comes with practice. It is believed that in order to become a professional in your field, you need to devote a certain amount of time to it - from 2000 to 10,000 hours!

Every time, when you have free time, sit down and draw something, or practice your shading, tone, etc. There are so many things to master - you always need to practice. Draw easy objects and complex ones. Draw people in detail or rough lines. Master everything as much as you can, constantly improve your skills.

Moreover, it is desirable that the practice be accompanied feedback. It’s just imperative that these viewers tell you the truth, so mom and dad are not suitable for this role.Alternatively, you can post your work in some art community or forum. Ours could serve as such a place.

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