An Illustrator Shares Tips and Best Tools To Draw
As humans, we have been illustrating since the beginning of times, and even now it’s almost natural to draw nonsense when we’re on the phone with the boy we like, or during a boring zoom meeting.
I have this friend, whom I’ve known since university, and I’ve seen her trying and experimenting with new drawing techniques ever since, so I asked her a few tips for us, who know next to nothing about drawing and would like to try it someday.
Her name is Gabriela, she goes under the name of AcidoDulce, she has been drawing since she was a child; her mom used to pain in oleo and took both of her children to painting lessons, and even though she has been surrounded by art and doing new things, Gaby has found out recently her style, yet she still doesn’t know how to name it, and is something common among illustrators and creatives, in her words: it’s just the way you decide to express and your voice becomes your style.
As she is my friend, I can only say great things about her talent, I’ve never met someone more creative than her, yet, when it comes to her drawings Gaby is never satisfied, she keeps having a love/hate relationship with her work. Since she started to draw, she has had that “I’ll never be enough” sentiment.
“Drawing is the artist’s most direct and spontaneous expression, a species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.” -Edgar Degas
Tips from Gaby:
- To find your voice as an artist. To dare to get to know/ discover yourself; reflect, to be brave to auto criticize, which requires confidence, to care to keep improving, and of course, study and practice.
- Stretching hand exercises before drawing. Drawing requires precision as the same muscles move constantly, so even though Gaby doesn’t stretch often, she says that she should because she sometimes stops and stretch when uncomfortable. During university she hurt her wrist so she learned the normal exercises for carpal tunnel.
- To have a clean space to work. Even though she’s constantly changing her work spot, something crucial is to have a clean well lighted space.
- Just start. At the beginning everyone’s a mess. You can start by drawing something around you and your intuition will guide you. She shares a Steve Jobs quote that has becomes her life motto:
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
- No especial material needed. Sometimes we think that nothing can be done unless we have the best watercolors, the most expensive paper, but none of that matters. The important thing is to develop your vision as an artist. Materials are only tools to try different techniques and to experiment but it’s not worth it to give it a lot of thought. Her favourite material is a Bic black pen and a pink neon pen.
As an 31 days challenge, she had to choose a word and draw something every day. In the illustration above, she chose the word: pyromania. Which in its meaning involves fire and craziness. Here’s her explanation:
To me, fire comes from the heart, and only the exterior can create a combustion. Craziness is needed to let your heart to the outside world, letting others see your vulnerability, and even though it’s painful, you have to trust that your own fire won’t burn.
Tools:
- Fabriano paper 300 gr. (Watercolor paper). Everything starts on a sketchbook and it depends on the technique she’ll work on, but she prefers watercolor paper.
- Prismacolor Col-Erase. The blue pencils from prismacolor are unique to draw but also a easy pencil will do.
- Watercolors. She keeps experimenting with different brands but her favourites are from H. schminke & Co and Winsor & Newton. Gaby has had a hard time trying to find watercolors from White Nights, yet she knows they are good.
- Markers. Even though she barely uses markers, she recomends the brand Prismacolor as well as COPIC. POSCA markers will be her next adquisitation but until then, a Pilot Pintor works.
- Sharpeners. Despite her preference for Staedler’s sharpeners, she goes with a simple knife to sharp the pencils as she pleases.
- Erasers. Hasn’t found one that fits her necessities completely, yet she uses a kneadable eraser from LYRA and TOMBOW.
If you are interested in drawing or painting, Youtube has some good beginners tutorials, and Skillshre, Domestika and Creahana have interesting courses to discover techniques and create outside the box.
To finish this article, Gaby would like to tell you something interesting about illustrating:
From the art in general, I would like everyone to learn to romanticize time more, to observe, to feel, live a bit slower and consious.
Some artists she follows are Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, Goya, El Bosco, Kubin, Takato Yamamoto and Junji Ito, among others.
She’s selling those illustrations she made for the challenge during October, so if you are interested, her instagram is the way to contact her.
