the best tips I’ve found on my relatively short drawing quest
As a part of my goals this year, I want to get better at drawing. (Or I want to draw more. It’s basically the same thing.) I’ve always enjoyed drawing. I wouldn’t say I’m awful at it. But I go through weird spurts of it because I never set aside time to specifically do it.
And all of that hasn’t changed much, but I’m being more frequent with my weird spurts, soooo improvement. Alongside that, I’ve gathered some tips on my drawing quest that I will now share with you.
• Practice! (!!)
The most basic and probably best tip to get better at drawing is practice. The more often you do something, the better you become at it. (Except for me with blogging.)(It’s just not happening.) Drawing every day (just like writing every day, or playing an instrument, or making eggs, or stretching) builds muscle memory. Even if it’s just for five minutes, and it feels like you’re getting nothing done, it at least counts towards building a habit.
• Make lists of things you wanna draw
If I don’t know what to draw, my first inclination is to go on Pinterest to find something.
My first inclination is stupid.
I will literally spend hours scrolling through pictures before remembering what I was trying to accomplish. So. Writing lists. Or just saving pictures to your camera roll or a Pinterest board (which is still somewhat risky.) This is a friendly tip, guys.
• Find artists you like and copy them
Last summer (?)(maybe), I was drawing and enjoying drawing for the first time in a long time. I’d found an artist I really liked (originally on Pinterest, but I traced them back to Tumblr), and I started copying their drawings as best as I could. And I was delighted to see that I could take their style and experiment with it.
Trying to draw something of my own with no reference is intimidating and I waste time trying to figure out what I’m doing. So testing out different artists styles’ has been helpful, and more importantly, fun.
• Print out drawing references and keep them with your sketchbook
I saw this idea on Tumblr and I love it. (Even though I still haven’t done it yet, shhh.) But it’s seriously a great idea. You could print out pictures of people or animals or cars or landscapes or simple drawings people have made of them just to have a sort of template to fall back on when your hands fall off. And yet again you avoid falling into the actual pit that is the internet.
• Also, if you want to take it to the next level: Pixar in a Box
Remember this post? Well guess what? Pixar in a Box unsurprisingly also has lessons on animation on Khan Academy, and they look super cool. But I haven’t checked them out because they are largely math-based and I would die. Calculus is all I can take right now, thanks.
As a last bit of inspiration:
Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward. — John C. Maxwell
Alternatively: your drawings might be crappy, but you made them, so it’s all good.
