3 Things That will Super Charge your Drawing Practice

It is not through talent, that you will succeed. Rather it is through perseverance and practice (15 minutes per day). Give me 15 minutes per day and you will be a rock star! 

So, I realized that I never actually told you how to practice. And, no it’s not just drawing, it is changing the way you draw.

There is a specific way to practice and it is important that you get this concept. I like to compare practicing to learning a new language (say you are going to Mexico or Spain). If you have never spoken the language or practiced learning the language, you may just end up babbling your way through a whole new country! If you have not practiced learning the new language, you will have zero skills in speaking that language when you get there.  So, how do you practice the art of drawing?

1. Observance: Most people have no idea how important this skill is, and they tend to skip right over it. Don’t make that mistake. Observe other artists work, study it and see how they captured the feel of water, the highlights and lowlights? How do they use light to brighten their work? Make sure you listen as well. Most people are willing to share how they did something; you just need to ask. Or just sit and listen, you will be pleasantly surprised at what you learn just by observing and listening.
2. Study No this is not school, but you are learning something new and in order to learn something well, you need to study that subject/craft, and put in your practice. One of your greatest resources is the public library. Check out a book on how to draw, or the art of shading, or drawing cartoon characters. Whatever you fancy, you will likely find a book on the subject. You just need to look. Another great resource is the internet. Go to the different sites and observe what they are doing.
3. Be a copy cat! Find something you want to draw (copy), draw it, then repeat. Over and over again. Find an artist or illustrator that you like and copy some of their work, repeat, repeat.  Study how the artist put the drawing together, then copy it, copy it line for line, copy them for proportion, for shading, etc... Copy, repeat, copy, repeat. You will find that you start noticing different things about the drawing…how they shaded her face, how they put wind in the sails of a sailboat, the texture of hair or fur! History states that many of the renaissance artists would copy the drawings of their masters. This is no different, IT IS OK TO COPY.

Did you notice I never said anything about drawing from your own imagination? I have a good reason for that…drawing from your own imagination can lead to a failed attempt! As a beginning artist it is important to realize, you’re not there yet. Give yourself time to succeed with baby steps, before you try to push yourself to leaps and bounds. When you draw from your own imagination you could actually be practicing the same mistakes over and over again. before you know it, you have developed habits that can be hard to overcome. Save your drawing from imagination for a time where you have put more effort into learning the skills you need and you have established yourself as an up-and-coming artist.

I took a beginning drawing class many years ago, but I still remember the instructor telling us not to practice! What? Not practice drawing, how will I get any better? You will get better, just remember not to practice bad habits. Those come from ideas you have in your head, not from studying, observing and repeating what you have learned.

Observe, study and copy these are the keys to your success. If you can master all 3 at once you will succeed in speaking the language of drawing!

Use this link to sign up for my FREE beginners drawing class. I will teach you the five key objects, so you can draw almost anything.

This is Kurt, and I’m a Dad Who Draws. Go Make Your Day Great!