How to Draw Anything

The only difference between those who seem always to have been able to draw and those who say they can't draw a straight line is learning to really see what you are trying to draw.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pencils: #2,#4,#6,#8
• Large drawing pad
• Small metal sharpener

1. You must practice and then practice some more. Keep your pencils sharpened. Believe the paper is free and that you can use all you want without hurting your pocketbook.

2. Find an object you think looks interesting, like an old tennis shoe, a gnarly old tree, or even your own hand.

3. Using the #6 pencil, place the pencil on the paper where you want to start drawing. Without looking at the paper, look instead at the edge of the article you want to draw. Allow your eye to move very, very slowly around the edge of the item. As you do this, let your pencil follow along on the paper. You are learning to coordinate your eyes with your hand. Do not lift your pencil from the paper.

4. Work very slowly and do not rush the process. Your first few attempts may not be very good, but each attempt will be improved over the last.

5. Try to draw large and loose, not small and cramped. Drawing large will help you later when you are drawing something small.

6. As you draw, allow your eye to travel along creases, crevices, etc., as your pencil draws them.

7. Don't worry if your ending place doesn't meet your starting place. Eventually, it will. After you have done many, many drawings this way, you may begin to look back and forth between the object and your paper.

8. The lesson is to learn to draw what your eye actually sees, not what your brain is telling you the object looks like. If you do this, you will see vast improvements in your work.

9. After you have practiced these contour drawings for awhile, try them with your less dominant hand. This is where you will create some very interesting drawings.

[acole]

on 8/28/2008 Good article. Encouraging. Thanks!