How to Improve Drawing Skills

Changing the scenery and location of where you draw can help you develop new skills.

Many aspiring artists set off into the world with dreams of someday sketching grand images, but soon they come to a plateau of skill they don't know how to break out of. Try new drawing techniques or force yourself to draw things you haven't before to help you break out of a slump.

Things You'll Need

• Sketching and drawing materials

Instructions

1. Draw from real life, even if you want to be a cartoonist. The best subjects to study are those that are real, in front of you and moving. Go to a park or any busy place with a lot of people or animals and try to sketch what you see. Do "gesture drawings" which are drawings that try to capture the basic form, but without details, in about fifteen seconds.

2. Ask friends or family to pose for you or sneak up on sleeping pets when you want to practice drawing full detail. The eye can better grasp the true 3D form than it can get images from photos and videos. But if you find yourself without willing subjects, videos and photos will still be better than nothing.

3. Copy your favorite artists. Keep the results to yourself. While most artists don't appreciate their work being mimicked, if you copy them only for your own practice rather than display, then it's a good way to learn new techniques. Try to mimic their use of line and color. Do not trace! Copy freehand and discover for yourself the techniques they use to transfer images onto paper.

4. Don't forget to draw for fun. Sometimes practice can become tedious; draw something in a silly new style now and then or experiment with old styles. If you feel you haven't learned much, redraw an old picture you once drew and see the awesome results. This can also help you zero on problem areas where you need to practice further.

5. When you locate a problem area with drawing -- such as buildings, hands or eyes -- whatever your weakness may be, find as many examples, videos, or photos and draw that item 100 times. You will learn something!

Tips & Warnings

• Draw everyday and you will continue to improve.

• You don't need any fancy supplies to practice. Just begin with a pencil and lined paper if you have to. Not everything you produce has to be a masterpiece.

• Understand that improving isn't a steady slope. It often occurs in peaks and valleys instead.

References

• 8 Drawing Exercises That Every Artist Should Practice