- A quick Beginner’s Guide to Drawing: 6 drawing exercises to get you started right now!
- By Ralph Ammer
- The Nuggets translation Project
- Permanent link to this article: github.com/xitu/gold-m…
- Translator: wzasd
- Proofreader: LeeSniper, liruochen1998
A quick introduction to drawing techniques
6 drawing exercises to get you started right away!
The basics of drawing have two things to master: learn to control your hands and your eyes.
Tip: For the six exercises below, I recommend using a pen and a specific type of paper (e.g. A5).
Dexterity – Two exercises
The first two exercises are about how to control your hands. We want to build your muscle memory and train your eye and hand coordination. Mechanical training like this is a good place to start. Later you might use this method to try out new pens, or to train yourself when you don’t know what to draw.
Of course, they’re also a great way to relax.
Exercise 1: Circles — More is More!
Exercise 1: Draw circles – As much as possible
Draw circles of various sizes on a piece of paper until the paper is full. Make sure the circles don’t overlap
Drawing circles is not as easy as you might think. Ever notice that the bigger the circle you draw, the harder it is to get round? Try drawing in both directions – and keep drawing them.
Tip: Shake hands when they start to cramp! After all, it’s about exercising our hands.
Exercise 2: Hatching — The joy of Structure
Exercise 2: Tessellation – Structural fun
Fill a piece of paper with parallel lines
Diagonal lines are the easiest for us because they correspond to the motion of our wrist. Have you ever noticed that left-handers prefer the opposite direction than right-handers? Take a look at the drawings of your favorite graphic designer (for me: Leonardo) and guess which hand they used!
Now make sure to try drawing lines in other directions. Have fun! Combine different shades and appreciate the lightness of the paper.
Tip: Do not rotate the paper. The point of this exercise is to get your hands used in all directions.
Now that we’ve trained our opponents, let’s start training our eyes!
Perception – Learn to see
The point of painting is to see and understand what you see. People often think that everyone sees the same thing, but actually seeing is a skill that can be improved. The more you draw, the more you see. So these four exercises will help you see more.
Drill 3: Silhouette – Show me your hands
Do you see all the fascinating lines on your hands? Collect them on a piece of paper! Don’t try to draw the whole hand, just pick out some lovely lines.
Whether you’re drawing a person, a plant, or your favorite animal, it’s usually about defining the outline of a body or object and letting others see what it is. The challenge is not to draw these unique lines, but to see them in the first place;
Even if you think you already know the shape of an object, it’s always worth taking a closer look and re-examining it.
Exercise 4: Chiaroscuro – Fold light and dark
Arrange and draw a piece of cloth. Start with the outline, and then – using your tessellation skills – create a relationship between light and dark.
This exercise is to give you a sense of light and dark. I have to admit that this is not easy and could be part of an advanced tutorial. Remember: this one isn’t exactly “true”. This piece of cloth serves as a backdrop to try out the different patterns you’ve worked on before and feel how to use light and shadows that you hand-painted.
Tip: You can use curved shadows to adjust shapes, and use shadow line implementations and cross lines to simulate darker areas.
Tip: Close your eyes when you see the cloth. You’ll see it blurry, but you’ll also see a sharp contrast between light and dark.
Light alignment is the best way to show the important content in an image. Just look at the paintings of Rembrandt and Georges de la Tour. The next time you see a movie, notice the comic effect of time.
Exercise 5: Perspective – Vanishing space
Let’s draw some cubes! Just follow these simple steps.
A perspective is basically a projection of a 3D environment onto a 2D surface (your paper).
Building perspectives is a science that cannot be covered in detail within the scope of a single article. However, we can have some fun with a simple technique that allows us to intuitively feel the magic of perspective:
Step 1: Draw a horizontal line. This is the horizon of your photo.
Step 2: Define two points on the horizon near the edge of the paper. Those are your two vanishing points.
Step 3: Draw a vertical line somewhere.
Step 4: Connect the ends of the vertical line to the vanishing point.
Step 5: Add two vertical lines like this.
Step 6: Connect them to vanishing points.
Step 7: Now use a darker pencil or pen to emphasize the cube. Look!
Repeat steps 3-7 if you prefer. Have fun! If you like a challenge, you might even tessellation to the edges of the cube.
Tip: When you draw lines of encounters, it’s usually a good idea to cross them. This shape looks better.
Mastering perspective will allow you to see the power of deep composition. But most importantly, you teach your brain how to think in three dimensions. So even if you choose to draw “flat” diagrams or obfuscate “rules” of perspective — which I love to do — understanding perspective is still one of the most valuable drawing skills you can master.
Exercise 6: Composition – Why is this there?
Make 5 different drawings of an object. I put this object in a different arrangement each time.
Composition is a great tool for expressing something in order to shape its meaning or message.
To understand how it works, we must keep in mind that our perceptions are fixed by everyday experience. For example, horizontal and vertical lines seem more “stable” to us than diagonals, which can “fall” at any time. When we see a big shadow at the bottom, we somehow think it must be “heavy”.
When you try to arrange your subjects differently on a piece of paper, notice how this changes their connotations – their meanings.
Let me know what you think!
Since this is my first drawing tutorial, I was curious which part you liked best. What else do you want to know about painting? Leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below!
Oh, here’s part two:”Another 5 drawing exercises“!
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