What you need to know before learning to draw?
Art Basics 101
When you see beautiful sketches around, don’t you get the sudden urge to learn how to do that? The good news is that it isn’t a challenging task to try replicating an artwork. But the bad news is that the shortcut methods are not sustainable, and someone with even a basic idea of artwork would be able to identify those flaws. If you really want to learn to draw, you need to be patient. You can’t just jump into holding a brush when you can’t even draw a straight line without a ruler! Here are a few prerequisites before you buy art supplies and start drawing objects.
Learn to observe objects around you
If you belong to the majority, the first thing you would want to draw would be a human face or maybe a landscape (All of us have good experience of landscape drawing in our compulsory art classes in schools, those ‘V-shaped’ mountains, with a tree and a hut in front of it! :p). Do not start with these complex objects; start with something very simple with a regular shape like a bottle, a table, or whatever you see around you. Observe that object very carefully and choose an angle from where it looks simplest. For starters, a front view is advisable. Mentally visualize the object as an assortment of several geometrical shapes. For the front view, shapes like circles, rectangles, squares, triangles, semi-circles, and isometric view cubes, cylinders, etc. Here’s an example –
Visualizing a few everyday objects as an assortment of shapes –
You can do the same exercise for any other object — more on this in the following tutorial.
Start practicing freehand
This is the most essential prerequisite as an artist needs to have steady hands. When you draw something, the outlines speak volumes about the confidence of the artist. This example might illustrate the difference practicing freehand does –
Here is a way of practicing freehand. You can do this anytime, while watching tv series, in between your meeting, etc. I do this before starting any artwork as a warmup.
Once you are done with practicing circles, lines, ovals, try applying different pressures at different points. That’s how you get different shades with the same pencil.
Important points to note here –
Are you holding the pencils correctly? The way you hold the pencil affects your drawing to a large extent.
Are you able to lift the pencils as little as possible? (This will come with practice)
Start observing old masters’ works
It would take years before you can replicate starry night, but that shouldn’t stop you from admiring this fascinating style of work. There are tons to learn from, even by observing these great works. For instance, observe Monalisa to get some lessons on how to create a portrait. The pose, the expression, the background etc. How Picasso’s work went from classic realism to several other styles is an interesting arc to study. ‘The Tragedy’ by Picasso is an example of his work from ‘Blue Period’ when he used to create realistic work with background and subjects somewhat stylized. More on artists’ life and styles in my later articles.
You do not need to be a student of art to understand the difference between the terms ‘impressionism’, ‘expressionism’. Just look at any of Van Gogh’s work and compare that to ‘The Scream.’ You would get a hint of the difference. I would do a detailed article on this, for those who are interested.
Start understanding colors
Take a sheet, and pick any set of colors you have access to. I would suggest oil pastel. Try the colors one by one, mix them and see the results. As you have done with pencils, try applying different pressures and see how different textures are created with the same set of colors.
Feel the process
It’s essential that you feel the entire process while practicing freehand or trying out colors. When you do this with complete mindfulness, you will gain all the advantages of creating art. This is a meditative process, should relax your nerves and relieve you of any stress.
In the comment section or by DMing, let me know how your 1st week of learning to draw went. Next week, we will sure draw something.
Don’t forget to take a few minutes of creative break every day!
-Ipshita
