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By Vincenzo
This might sound silly but what normally happens when you start drawing is that overwhelmed by the desire to create a smashing artwork,
it is easy to get lost into the details of your drawing...and this isn't a good thing.
You should always proceed from general to particular, working the drawing as a whole and forgetting about the details at the beginning.
Here are five drawing tips to make sure you travel the right track when starting a new drawing:
This means choosing the right support for your drawing straight away.
Are you going to color your drawing? yes? Which kind of colors are you going to use? Watercolor, acrylic? Are you going to leave your drawing in pencil? Are you going to use a charcoal? Are you going to scan your drawing when you are done with it?
All these possibilities require different papers and possible different paper weight and texture. You need to evaluate it before starting or it might be too late when you are finished and realize you cannot use watercolor, for example, because the paper you used is too thin and not prepared properly.
So, remember to evaluate, before starting your drawing, what are you going to do with it after you are finished.
This is one of the most important skills to develop for an effective drawing. It is common to forget the importance of this step when you are starting and it's easy to fall into the bad habit of starting to scribble on the page without a precise idea in mind of how our finish drawing is going to look.
The reason this is not a good idea is a very profound one and something that all drawing amateurs should understand.
When we draw we are training our brain and mind to follow certain patterns. Not differently than learning a musical instrument. You train your brain to instruct your arm and hand to execute certain movements that (with the help of a pencil) will eventually produced controlled marks on a piece of paper.
If you draw without a clear vision of your finished drawing you will allow pre-trained habits to get in the way of your executions and you will end up having at best a cliche drawing made up of a series of usual and common brain-hand patterns.
So it is very important to visualize before starting. Think before drawing. Give it a few minutes, relax and focus on an idea and try to stick to it.
It might be more difficult that "drawing by scribbling" at first but will empower enormously your drawing skills. Your drawing might eventually look different from your 'vision" but it will serve the purpose of making you focus on an idea instead of having your arm doing the job for you.
This is very simple but often overlooked by many. Establish general shapes and forms first than start detailing them. An example could be if you are drawing a character, establish its general shape, head, body, very roughly.
Very loosely establish its pose. Be sure that it fits into the page you have chosen in step1, if not resize as necessary. Check how your pose guides the eyes and consider small modifications to make it look better. At this stage is very easy to change and make adjustments to your drawing.
Do not commit the mistake to start, say, with a loose head and immediately start detailing it! or even worse starting from a detail like and eye or an eyebrow (unless your drawing is just the drawing of an eye or eyebrow of course!).
I know there are many videos of people on the internet doing amazing drawing starting from a detail but that is misleading.
What these videos do not show are endless hours of repetitive not-so-good drawing those same people had to do to get to the point where they could draw comfortably starting from a detail. And, generally speaking it is not good practice even for a professional. Bottom line is: establish your vision on paper gradually.
more drawing tips coming...
Do not get caught too much in your drawing at this early stage. Keep it loose and "fluid", easy to change and modify. To do that, back off often from it. Take a break of 2 min every ten you are drawing and evaluate it.
Flip it horizontally if necessary or ask for a feedback. This is what pro do. It is so important to establish a good form from the beginning because everything will just flow through effortlessly if you have taken time to do so.
Once you are happy with your drawing outline start adding details to the whole drawing without focusing on a single area. Try to progress all the parts of your drawing simultaneously. If you are drawing a character you might be tempted to focus on the head for example. Try not to do it.
Try to win the temptation and work on the drawing as a whole adding details all over it and moving constantly from one spot to another. While your drawing is taking shape constantly add more detail until you are satisfied with it.
We hope our five simple drawing tips might help you along your way of becoming a better artist!
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