5 Beginner Tips for Drawing

These tips are especially relevant for drawing and sketching, but they can also be applied when painting or creating in other ways,
​as these tips are more about general art technique vs application of a specific medium.

1. Use a reference when learning new subjects. Landscapes and urban areas are great places to go to sketch, and the Internet has an endless collection of photography to inspire your art. Other people’s work is protected by copyright, so be sure to just use references as a base for your own unique sketch. You can also use free-source photos or any reference that you have the artist’s consent to use, which is what I do for my realism studies. 
2. Look at your subject (reference) as a collection of shapes. A pear becomes two ovals, or a fish a collection of triangles. The background might be made of a combination of simple colors and shapes. Seeing complex figures as more simple shapes makes blocking them out much easier. 
3. Look at your sketch from all angles. See the distance in between the shapes that make up your drawing. When you study a hand by looking at the shape of the fingers and the space between the fingers, you have more information about how your lines flow. 
4. Acknowledge the angles of your lines. If you’re sketching a tree, does arching an angle more strongly create character or capture the energy in your subject? Exaggerating angles can add movement or focus to a sketch. 
5. Don’t draw every line. Sometimes with art, less is more. Look for subtle ways to indicate where shadows cast lines or use simplified lines to mark the general idea of the subject instead of the entire shape. This tip is especially helpful with facial features and out of focus areas.