The craft of a good draftsman is based on 2 basic things: the ability to control your hand and correct vision. If you want to create or design websites, then you can’t do without special training.
The next 6 sections of the article, in fact, are the first step in this direction - you will learn how to learn to draw and where to start. Immediately after this, proceed to the second part of the topic and go through some more.
This is a translation of a note from Medium by Ralph Ammer (all the graphics are his).
Advice. For the next 6 tasks, use one type of pen and one type of paper (for example, A5).
Dexterity of hands - two trainings
The first two techniques are about controlling your hand. You should train your hand, and also learn to coordinate the vigilance of the eye and the movement of the hand. Mechanical practices are great for beginners. You can use them later to try out new tools. They also allow you to relax and take a break from mental or physical work. So, how to start drawing correctly.
1. Many, many circles
Fill a piece of paper with circles different sizes. Try not to let the circles intersect.
Learning to draw circles is not as easy as you might think. Note that the more circles there are on the paper, the more difficult it is to add the next one. Draw them in two directions and as many as possible.
Advice. Shake your hand when it starts to cramp, do this after each approach.
2. Hatching - creating a structure
Fill a sheet of paper with parallel lines.
Diagonal lines are the easiest for us, as they correspond to the movement of our wrist. Note that a left-hander prefers the opposite direction of strokes than a right-hander. Take a look at your favorite artist (in my case, Leonardo da Vinci) and try to guess which hand he wrote with?
Try different stroke directions. Enjoy the shading process. Combine different strokes and enjoy how the paper is covered with different shadow spots.
Advice. Do not rotate the paper. It is very important to train your hand in different directions.
So, after we trained our arms, we need to do some exercises for our eyes!
Perception - learning to see
Drawing is primarily about vision and understanding what you see. People often assume that everyone sees the same thing, but this is actually not the case. You can always improve and improve the quality of your vision. The more you draw, the more you see. The following four techniques will force you to expand your view of familiar objects. This is exactly where they start learning to draw in different courses.
3. Outline - show me your hands!
Do you see these different fascinating contours of your hand? Draw them on a piece of paper. Don't try to recreate everything, just pick a few of the most interesting ones.
Whether you're drawing a person, a plant, or your favorite animal, you're creating an outline of what you see. Contours define a body or object and make it possible to recognize a pattern. The goal is not to immediately display all existing distinctive features, but to learn to see them!
Even if you know the shape of an object, it's still worth taking a closer look and re-examining it.
4. Chiaroscuro - adding light and shadow
Draw a piece of fabric. Start with outlines, and then use your shading skills to find the light and shade transitions.
This exercise will help you learn how to convey light and shadow on paper. I must admit that this is not the easiest way for beginners. Keep in mind that you don't have to make perfect light and shade transitions. The fabric provides a playing field to practice the skills learned in previous lessons. Plus, you'll also understand how to learn how to paint chiaroscuro using only your hand.
Advice. You can do curved shading to create shape and cross shading to achieve deeper shadows that resemble fabric texture.
Advice. Close your eyes slightly when looking at the fabric. You will see a blurred image of the fabric and increased contrast between light and shadow.
5. Perspective - cubes in three-dimensional space
Let's draw some cubes! Follow simple steps.
Perspective drawing is a projection of a 3D object into 2D space (your sheet of paper).
Building a perspective is a separate science that cannot be fully considered in one article. However, we can have a little fun within the confines of a simple technique that gives us an intuitive sense of the magic of drawing in perspective.
Step 1: Draw a horizontal line. This will be the horizon.
Step 2. Place two points on the edges of the line - two invisible vanishing points.
Step 3. Draw a vertical line anywhere.
Step 4: Connect the ends of the vertical line to the vanishing points.
Step 5: Add two more vertical lines as below.
Step 6: Connect them to the vanishing points.
Step 7: Now use a black pencil or pen to trace the cube.
Repeat steps 3 to 7 as many times as desired. Enjoy the build! Have fun drawing, then you will succeed. You can shade the sides of the cube.
Advice. When you draw cross lines, it is better to slightly overlap one line over the other, this will make the shape easier to see.
Mastering perspective drawings will help you create the illusion of depth. And most importantly, you will teach your brain to see and recognize three-dimensional space. This is a great practice on how to start drawing from scratch without any skills.
Even if you decide to ignore the rules of perspective and make “flat drawings,” this knowledge will never be superfluous, but on the contrary, it will help expand your horizons and sharpen your visual receptor.
6. Construction of the composition - why here?
Make 5 different designs one object. Position the item differently each time.
As you create various options placement of your subject on paper, try to trace how this changes its connotation - meaning.
Author Ralph Ammer has several more interesting articles, but this is the one you need to watch first in order to understand where to start drawing with a pencil and more. In the comments I would like to see your opinion about the pros and cons of the presented methodology. Which exercises really gave you pleasure and which ones didn't? What else do you want to know on the topic or perhaps you have your own ideas on how to learn to draw from scratch - write it all below.
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If you are starting from scratch - complete zero, like me, and wanted to learn how to draw with a pencil - read the chronicle of a lazy, mediocre artist. Last time I drew while still at school. I drew like everyone else, averagely.
How can you draw with a pencil after 50 hours of practice?, and how to learn it. I started drawing from scratch.
I did not draw regularly, on average 15 minutes a day, for six months. And you can learn in a couple of months, drawing 60 minutes a day!
I started drawing the following drawings in the belief that I was mediocre at drawing.
But since I know that almost everything I know about myself is not true.
I decided to double-check myself: do I really have crooked hands or did I suffer that much at school?
Sphere
The main element of drawing. Draw the shadows and penumbras of the sphere.
The time indicated is based on reading the textbook. Drawing itself takes half as much time.
Cube
Basic building brick of any design.
Cube Modifications
Drawing texture with a pencil
Flags and rose
Drawing cubes - advanced level Drawing spheres - advanced level From this stage you
obliged to buy
shading - paper pencil.
In previous tutorials I blended with my finger, then blended with #3.
All the magic of penumbra: volume, small shadows in the corners, when drawing an eye and a portrait - thanks to shading.
It's like your drawing ability is multiplied by three! You'll be amazed when you compare your results.
Flags, scrolls
Cylinders: volcano, cup
Drawing a living tree
Room in perspective
Street in perspective
Drawing in central perspective: castle, city
Inscription in perspective
Learning to draw a portrait
Learn to draw a hand
Exam: first portrait!
Drawing people is much more difficult than roses or anime. The face cannot be distorted - every mistake is immediately noticeable.
You need to learn to draw people when you feel confident that you can draw a recognizable outline and sketch of a face.
I learned to draw with a pencil, and the skill turned out to be complex. I picked up a brush for the first time since school and painted. 6 long hours, a little crooked, but how great!
Now I can give an extraordinary gift - draw a picture for a friend, a bookmark in a notebook, a caricature for work. I even made a small cartoon.
First painting: pastel, acrylic, gouache and oil.
All the equipment is made from scratch, and there’s no shame in hanging it on the wall. How to learn to draw correctly - algorithm Learning to draw with a pencil is the basis: demolish angles, line sizes, maintain proportions. Just learn not to be afraid to draw.
Master
gel pens
. The set will cost less. After 1–2 years, the markers dry out and you need to buy a new set.
First level The felt-tip pens saturate the paper a little and it begins to become limp, which is why I don’t like drawing with them. .
You can draw 2-3 times and the line becomes more saturated, you can draw penumbra.
We paint with watercolors.
First level Cheap materials, and familiar from school. They are diluted with water, so a new layer of paint blurs the previous one..
It is difficult to master how she will behave. From scratch, on your own, it’s not easy to learn how to draw details.
The advantage is accessibility. We draw with gouache. similar to drawing with pencils, but has its own characteristics.
Painting with oils.
Complex professional paints. Durable, but you can’t buy cheap ones - they crack.
It takes a long time to dry, about 2–10 days. This is a plus - you can always remove a layer, finish drawing, shade.
First level , and then it’s only more fun and easier. .
How to learn to draw
First level Let's draw.
with a simple pencil
A fundamental drawing tool. Almost all illustrations, sketches and paintings are drawn first in pencil.
Then it is rubbed down to barely visible lines, or we paint on top with paints. Errors are easily corrected. #1 for beginners. gel pens A simple tool for drawing in color. The drawing technique is similar to the technique of drawing with a pencil - after all, it is a pen, not a brush.
Errors can only be corrected in Photoshop.
We draw with felt-tip pens. Analogues: markers and professional “copies”.
More variety of colors than
But there is also a minus, you need to very carefully apply a layer on top so as not to spoil what you have. I do not recommend using them for beginners. Can you learn to draw with a pencil?
. Find “Why?”, buy a textbook and draw for fun. In a month, you will be surprised at your abilities.
Alexander Grigoriev-Savrasov
2017-11-22 at 12:11
How to learn to draw without making mistakes, whose advice will be the most effective in the countless mass of advisers, mentors, teachers?
There are so many artists, so many opinions. Some say we need to copy more, others, on the contrary, are categorically against it.
How to make sense of all this leapfrog? Yes, the dog would be with them all, let them do as they want, is there really no clear logic for a novice artist to immediately learn the basics without mistakes?
Those who seek the truth on the path of mastering knowledge argue approximately this way.
At one of the online meetings I was asked a question: name the mistakes that should not be made when working on a painting. I understand the question this way: it is necessary to identify a number of mistakes that will protect beginners from wrong actions.
I wonder how you can learn something without making mistakes? My answer: make all the mistakes, only after this experience you will know them yourself.
Do you want me to give you invaluable advice, having understood the essence of which, you will not need to think about trifles, such as possible mistakes and other nonsense?
When working from nature, we should understand what and how we see, simply understand the mechanism of vision.
It seems to you that you are drawing with your eyes, that is, repeating what you look at. You are mistaken, you draw with your brain, this is exactly how we hear, see, feel.
Imagine, you are about to paint a still life, you look at nature, you see a jug, a dish of fruit, an apple in the foreground and folds in the drapery. You see all this while your eye examines objects. As soon as your attention switches to the snow-white canvas, only a piece of the observed nature remains in your memory, for example, an apple, and you remember the rest of the objects vaguely.
You will draw the apple first, then add a jug to it, then a dish with fruit, then think about the folds, etc. You will create your picture piece by piece, fragmentarily, observing nature in parts, and never as a whole.
I repeat, every time you look at nature, you remember only a fragment of it, and no matter how many times you look at it, only a part of it always remains clear in your memory.
The artist's skill lies, first of all, in the fact that he teaches himself to see, to form full picture depicted, relying on visual memory. If you imagine how everything actually happens, then the picture with which the work is being done is not in front of the artist’s eyes, but in his imagination.
This is the secret of mastery. This is where you should look for the answer to why one person can’t draw, while the other masterfully wields a pencil and brush.
No matter how much you read and listen about possible errors artist, no matter how many tricks you spy on different masters, no matter how effective your strokes and strokes are, you will still mark time, because you do not know how to see.
The value of a painting is its integrity. Some people think that by depicting a lot of details, skillfully working with every speck, you can create interesting work. You are wrong.
As a result, your work turns into a “traffic light” screaming wild flowers or into a canvas strewn with “peas,” where the mass of worked out details has no connection. All dried, blackened, whitened works are a consequence of the inability to see nature, which means that hints about possible mistakes are empty words for you.
In the professional environment of artists there is such a concept - “he counted all the objects”, paid equal attention to every detail. It’s hard to look at such a work, there is nothing for the viewer’s attention to focus on, every piece of the picture shouts: “Look at me!”
I do not agree with the way the science of drawing, painting, and main reason in the way it is presented. Ninety-nine percent supposedly educational material on the Internet - this is “playing an artist,” and, a la the masters, they themselves play artists, without having any idea what they are talking about.
I am ready to forgive the teacher a lot: tongue-tiedness, stuttering, severity, even rudeness, but not the lack of skills and knowledge. Title “ good man“I’m not satisfied.
I understand perfectly well where people are coming from, repeatedly writing to me that they have dozens, or even hundreds of master classes behind them and a complete lack of desire to continue this way. Some have completely lost all interest in fine arts, because we never learned anything.
Not only did they not become artists (which is not at all necessary, everyone has different motives, some are looking for art therapy and nothing more), but they did not even learn to see, read paintings, or receive aesthetic pleasure from works visual arts.
Think about it, the vast majority still have no idea how to look at a picture, what to admire, admire, what to perceive?
A novice artist gets the impression that masters of fine art are those who have picked up technical tricks former lovers, but with much more experience than them. There is also an opinion about talent and inspiration, which sometimes covers the lucky ones, and they create masterpieces.
Everything is much simpler and more complicated at the same time. How you apply paint to the canvas is important, but there is another side to mastery, which lies in the ability to see, form a picture in your own imagination, and understand its design.
My article is not about how to learn to see - this is a separate topic. I want to draw your attention to the importance of this skill and devalue the desire to get tricks and tricks. You must invent them yourself, since they will become your creative language, your style of expressing yourself.
You may ask, is it really possible to learn to see? There is such a technique, but isn’t this talent? I answer, there is no methodology, there is awareness, a deep understanding of the process and a sequence of actions.
Talent is one percent out of a hundred, where ninety-nine is conscious work, that is, you always know exactly what you are achieving in your work, and do not rely on intuition and miracles.
I believe that my articles are interesting, first of all, to thinking people who want to understand the secrets of mastery, and not to spy on tricks. Anyone who is looking for miracles in my texts and online meetings will not find them.
Unfortunately or fortunately, everything in the world is achieved through work. Even if you have all the knowledge, without practice, without overcoming yourself, you will not achieve results. It is also true that without knowledge, nothing can be changed by work alone.
Not only those who decide to become a real artist dream of learning to draw. For some it's just a hobby. But the result of any hobby should not be ashamed to show to friends. This means that whatever the goals of a person interested in creating paintings and sketches, it is important for him to know how to draw like an artist. Simple tips The tips given in this article will definitely help you achieve some success.
Practice regularly
No matter how hackneyed this phrase may sound, “you can’t catch a fish out of a pond without difficulty.” Dreaming of skills on the level of Leonardo da Vinci and doing nothing for it is a dead end. You need to draw constantly - make sketches from life, copy the works of great masters. Create at least 3-5 sketches a day, and the result will not be long in coming. You ask: "Why so much?" The answer is simple. You want to learn how to draw like an artist. So, first you need to learn how to work the same way - constantly develop and improve your skills.
Learn Theory
If you read books about drawing, you will learn a lot of useful things. The textbooks will teach you about perspective, proportions, and light and shade. There you will also learn that all objects, no matter how complex they may be, can be broken down into simpler components - cubes, prisms, spheres and cylinders. By the way, before moving on to more advanced topics - drawing people, animals and architectural objects- hone your skills on something more understandable. Learn to create volume on paper. Drawing chiaroscuro on the ball and cube in perspective will help with this.
Draw from life
Constant drawing from life will help you learn to feel volume and recreate it on a plane. It doesn’t matter what became the object of interest - a cat, a vase or a crumpled piece of paper. In any case, such practice will eventually force you to be more observant and better understand space and volume. You don’t need to sit down at the easel right away - study the object for a while, figure out what it is. Try to mentally break it down into simpler components and only then proceed to work. Take your time to color. First, figure out how to draw like an artist with a pencil by studying the relevant literature. Don't waste your time on this. You are unlikely to be able to correct errors in proportions and perspective with color.
Don't draw from a photograph
Pay attention to this point if you really want to figure out how to draw like an artist. Do not strive for the experience of photorealists; their skills are honed by simply copying reality. The main thing for you is to learn how to create something yourself on a piece of paper, gradually developing your own style and technique. You have set a goal for yourself to learn how to draw. Like the artist whose photo you see below, working is pointless. Copying flat image, you will not learn to feel the shape and create volume, and this is very important for a real master. Although such works look impressive, drawing from life cannot be replaced by anything.
Don't be afraid of mistakes
Even the most famous artists. You don’t think that Ivan Aivazovsky woke up one morning and started drawing a stunning sea? Everyone makes mistakes, and it is important to recognize this. There will be many failures, and you must be prepared for this. Consider troubles as a new experience, study your old works, analyze and, perhaps, next time they will not exist. Don't forget to compare your first drawings with new ones - you will definitely notice progress, and it will give you strength. You will always have time to give up creativity, but starting over can be very difficult.
Now you have figured it out as an artist, but it will take a lot of time to create. Don't blame yourself for your lack of talent - it's better to spend time practicing, study the theory and be patient. The result will pleasantly surprise you.
If you have a desire to quickly learn how to draw, so that your friends and acquaintances admire your work, then my free course with drawing lessons using the method of one of the greatest draftsmen, Albrecht Durer, who worked at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. Even if you don't know how to draw at all.
And if you are already a good drawer, thanks to the course you will improve your technique and understand that you can draw anything from life - any still life, landscape, and even a portrait. If you prefer to work with paints, you will still find this course very useful. You will discover a lot of new things for yourself, because I will talk about basic principles drawings that are needed by both graphic designers and painters. The most important thing for an artist, as I have written many times, is to learn to see like an artist, and then capture what you see on canvas or paper.
First of all, during the course we will focus on developing artistic vision, and we will also learn to draw not with objects and shapes, but with lines and spots. Teaching a person to draw without developing his artistic vision is a pointless exercise. Because when a common person looks at the landscape, he sees the street, houses, trees, people. And when the Artist looks at this landscape, he sees lines and spots. If the Artist draws with a pencil at this moment, he sees dark and light spots; if he paints with paints, he sees colored dark and colored light spots.
The artist sees lines and spots, transfers them to the canvas, and the viewer distinguishes on the canvas - streets, houses, trees, people. Here it is magical transformation, and you can’t go anywhere without him. If you want to learn how to draw anything from life, regardless of shape and material, try to see not objects and objects, but lines and spots.
What does it mean to see lines and spots?
In proper teaching, drawing is taught general principles(formulas), thanks to which a novice Artist can draw all similar objects from life and imagination.
For example, if you watched the lessons on the site, you may have seen the following lesson: “SHADOWS ARE DIFFERENT, HOW TO CONVEY VOLUME.” In that lesson, I talked about how to make objects look three-dimensional by placing light and dark spots correctly: a highlight, light around the highlight, halftones (penumbra) around the light and shadow (the darkest places). This is a general formula for adding volume to any shape, from a ball to a person's face.
And it doesn’t even matter whether you know how to hatch or not! The main thing is to correctly find the place of dark and light spots.
I'll try to show with an example that it's as if I don't know how to hatch. It looks something like this:
But if the object is at least a little transparent, then in our formula light and shadow change places.
That is, there will always be a dark place around the highlight, and where opaque objects usually have the darkest shadow, transparent objects will have light.
Something like this:
Let's check this formula on grapes:
On an average bottle, everything is the same: there are dark spots around the highlights, halftones around the dark spots, and light spots in the shadow itself, only the shape of the spots changes:
And even the iris of the eye is drawn according to the principle (formula) of transparent objects:
So, just by swapping the shadow and light in places when drawing any object, you can create the illusion of transparency! I hope you noticed that the principle of drawing and the stages of drawing different objects were the same.
