As I know there are a fair few art buffs here, this seemed like a relatively appropriate place to ask. I have always wished to be able to draw, but am so inept that I never really took it anywhere. Coupled with the fact that my handwriting is so bad that when I was in high school I was actually put into a special class just to help teach me how to write a bit neater, I've never really had a good start with drawing. However, I would still very much like to be able to draw something at least passable. I am looking for any books/material that would be appropriate to help me learn, from the bare basics, how to draw. I am a big fan of programmed learning, which is a process by which information is given a bit at a time, and then exercises gradually build up and provide immediate feedback to a learner. I taught myself maths this way, and I feel like it may be a good way to learn art. Does anybody here know of any material that is structured like this, or else is appropraite. I have seen the book 'The Natural Way to Draw' by Kimon Nicolaides being recomended here at some point, but I have read mixed reviews of the book. Does anybody have any experience with this book? Thanks Jabby
Where you want to start is with the fundamentals (learning to draw what you see). So areas you want to cover is developing forms, shapes, contrast and working with perspective. One book I highly recommend (which taught me how to draw when I was kid) is [ame="http://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Draw-Marvel-Characters/dp/0756614708"]You Can Draw: Marvel Characters[/ame]. Normally I wouldn't recommend 'how to draw in this style, or like this' type books (as a note: avoid 'how to draw manga' books like the plague) as I tend to find them more crippling to a beginner artist rather than helpful, especially once you start wanting to branch out. But I found that book in particular to be very good in teaching the fundamentals that can be easily translated over when working with realism or still life. Other sources I can recommend for tutorials is Deviant Art and I draw Girls Drawing is a little bit like Sparring, you can only get good at it if you practice it on a regular basis.
I've got a few "how to" books. I mainly got them for the different practice of movements as well as tips on certain bits. (I studied intermediate art until I found photography, then storyboarding) I still have trouble with hands and fingers though. Start off with still life drawings or landscape I say. Also get yourself those little wooden figurines. They helped lots. For odd angles, get your phone and take a picture and study that picture
I think that while you can learn the skills and techniques, you really have to be naturally gifted to some degree. Some people just simply cannot draw full stop. If you have a natural talent and a love for drawing then the tutorials can go a long way. Otherwise I think it would just be a waste of money, personally. Don't let me discourage anyone from trying though. I'd love to be proven wrong and see what you come up with. I love art.
Thanks for te advice guys. What I am primarily interested in is figure drawing. Would you say that the skills that one could gain from the book you reccomended are quite transferable?
I agree with you to some degree, and I am under no illusion that i will ever become the next Michael Angelo. However, I still hope I can get some degree of competency. As an example, there was a time when I was useless at Maths. I couldn't even do the most fundamental things that were taught in the early stages of high school. However, I decided I wanted to learn how to do it, and taught myself maths. Now I am studying towards a degree in electrical engineering, and recently had one of the highest math exam scores in my year. Although I'm never going to be able to solve the Riemann Hypothesis, I have been able to get to a certain level of competency where I can incorporate that knowledge and skills into my professional life in the future. I don't have the same aspirations for art, but I do think that I can gain some degree of skill.
I can't really think of any books to recommend, so I'm just going to give you some practical advice. Look at the object you are drawing, not the paper. Hold the pencil, to begin with, with an underhand grip. This will force you to use bold movements. You should put down in the first few seconds something which encapsulates the whole pose. Distinguish between your 'free hand' and your 'control hand'. Your 'free hand' is the way you draw at first, boldly and lightly, to get the idea of the whole thing. You then switch to the closed hand, and back and forth until you're satisfied. Don't overwork the thing. Know when to stop. Keep standing back from the thing. Don't get too close. Try and consider it as a whole thing. When drawing values, try and think in terms of highlights, darks and halftones. Learn the classic order of light. Most of the time, it's not helpful to mindlessly copy real tones. You have to learn to 'invent the light'. It's not necessary to draw every single leaf. Think in terms of massing. Work up some portions, the closest, to a high degree and use textural strokes for the rest. Copy. Never be ashamed to copy. The masters of the past all spent a lot of time copying. If I were you, I'd get a book of rembrandt and dürer's drawings. You can get both from dover books. But copy mindfully you should have a specific aim in mind. Do some exercises as well as 'real drawings'. Try drapery, eggs, that sort of thing. Classic art-school exercises. Don't highlight using white at first. It takes real skill to do this. Never violate a highlight. Get the structure in first- reduce whatever you're drawing to it's simplest elements. In figure drawing, this means stick figures. Drawing is a series of decisions and corrections. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Burn through paper as if there's no tomorrow. Drawing is making a mess and then cleaning it up. If you can't make a mess, there's no hope for you. I could go on and on, but if there's anything specific, just bring it up here and I and others will be here to help
I have had the privilege to experience the fact that with dedication people can draw, full stop. Working with mentally and physically disabled people in the past has taught me this: Anyone can learn the basic fundamentals and string them together to create art. Those that are naturally talented will have an easier time picking up basics and fundamentals, but with art its very much a tortoise and the hare scenario, practice and dedication is what makes perfect at the end of the day, not necessarily whether someone is cognitively better equipped than you. And even if you are not good at doing something, it is not a waste of money to engage in a passion, I don't consider myself to be particularly good at sparring but I do it because I enjoy it, and with time I have been slowly getting better at it. Art for some is a hobby and for others its a career. And yes, you can get good at doing a hobby.
Solid. Gold. Advice. When I see people trying to draw, but not quite getting it, it's usually because they aren't understanding the underlying structure and form of what they are drawing and instead are drawing the "surface" that they can see. Clothing for example falls the way it does because there's a human inside it, the human is shaped the way it is because there are bones and muscles inside it. The outer stuff we see is a result of the inner stuff we don't. Get used to drawing cones, cylinders, spheres and boxes. Simplify what you are drawing down to those forms and then build up from there. It's easier to draw a cylinder than it is to draw a human arm but a human arm is essentially a couple of tapering cylinders joined together. If the underlying structure is wrong then no amount of detail and visual niceness will make the picture work so get that right first. Really good artists can often go straight to a fairly detailed drawing because their understanding of form is so good or that it's already well formed in their minds. Us mortals are rarely that good so understand that and build up from the basics.
True. It has a lot to do with what ruskin called the 'lines of force'. The other big thing, I think, is anatomy. It's fallen a bit out of fashion lately, but I find it really helps. If you know what's there, the figure is so much easier to deal with. Not only that, but there's so much stuff you simply won't know if you spend all your time squinting at a model.
Here i find lots of discussion about the drawing , every body is giving advices to other person about the drawings and its material, but i don't see here some practical work. You guys must paste here some kind of your drawing work so that others can see and understand what is drawing.
A lot of artists just learn to get proficient copying the styles of their favorite artists, over and over again. Some people are born with better spacial perceptional awareness that aids in being a natural artist, many are not. All of them got talented by many, many hours of repetition. Those amazing pieces of artwork you see often have a shameful amount of hours behind them, even after they've been mastering their craft for years. But yeah, many copy style until they master the basics over and over and then eventually they can find their own artistic style. So, obviously you wanna draw representational artwork, but what subject are you most interested in drawing? Houses, boats, people, landscapes, etc? Art books are divided by subject focus most frequently. Edit: Dammit new guy, this is a thread necro!
Handwriting is much different than drawing. Just because someone has bad handwriting, does not mean they could not draw Like anything.....practice!
