How do you go from zero to maestro?? Start with the basics, of course:) Add in a little daily diligence and persistence and you’ll be amazed at not just how fast you improve, but also how much you enjoy losing yourself to the experience.
Now, many people say ‘but I can’t draw’ or the most common ‘I can’t even draw a stick figure’. But here’s the thing, if you can sign your name, you have the eye hand dexterity to draw. Everything else is just desire. Desire to practice. Desire to improve. Desire to learn to the see the world with the eyes of an artist then translate that vision to paper!
Perhaps we cannot pull that perfect straight line or swing a perfect circle without a stencil. But consider the power of improving just 1% a day. It add’s up, and even better, we will feel good about ourselves because we’re investing time in ourselves and not in some social media gravity well.
So lets see what are some of the exercises we can add to or daily list:
Contents
Daily Simple Drawing Exercises for Beginners
Practice drawing straight lines
Sounds easy, right? Actually it does require some practice.
To start is easy though. Just start. Play around. Try pushing forward, then pulling backward. Try moving the pencil perpendicular to your forearm. Most artist find their straightest line when pulling the pencil down in line with their forearm, usually done in one clean motion. Drawing straight lines isn’t as easy as it looks. If you are a beginner, an easy way to start is to break the straight line into small ones. You can always combine them back later.
Drawing smaller lines is one way to make a better straight line without using a ruler. However, if you want exact poker-straight lines, you can always just use your ruler. But don’t stop there. After drawing a straight line with the ruler, draw another line free hand next to it. The ruler straight line becomes your gauge and goal.
Above you can see the ruler straight line on the right with my freehand mark as near parallel as I can manage. Starting with a perfect example helps keep your standards high.
For best muscle memory retention, be sure to match your pencil hold and pull between freehand and ruler use.
Another very practical form of straight line practice is fill in and shading. Use a glass ect… as a stencil to make a basic shape. Then, free hand fill that shape in with as near parallel lines as you can manage. It’s OK to to fill in half the shape with shorter lines, then fill in the other half. You can gradually shorten or widen the space between lines for shading effects.
You can see I need to practice this exercise more, particularly at the beginning and end of my stroke where I tend to fish hook.
Getting your lines right is an essential first step towards almost any form of drawing. Think about any shape – be it a room, a person’s nose, a cup, or any other object – it is impossible to draw any of them without straight lines. If you look closely at my sketch book example below, you’ll see 90% of the drawing is just a series of straight lines.
Draw Circles
The next step is drawing a circle. Again, if you are a first-timer in drawing circles, you will never get a perfect circle. However, you can try making smaller circles in your rough drawing book. The only key is to keep practicing.
Try making smaller circles in the beginning. Then carry on by increasing the size of the circle. This exercise will take a little time. Keep increasing the size of the circle while practicing.
Making a perfect big, round, and smooth circle is impossible even with a week’s practice. People who can make a perfect circle have practiced it for many years before putting out their public artwork.
However, you can help with anything circular in shapes like a cup or a round lid. And, the compass is always there. Drawing instruments should be used only as a last resort if you are doing a professional project for someone.
Start with simple floral patterns.
Next, let’s try to make a flower out of circles. How would you do so? Have you practiced enough circle and line making in your previous steps? If not, then you need to practice a little for it.
But, let me assume that you have been true to the tutorial so far!
You will get to practice your lines and circles in this exercise. You can make a perfectly straight line with small angular circles around it with a little bit of concentration. Try not to see it as a task; instead, make it fun. No one is watching or evaluating! Design your shapes based on your imagination.
Dot and line technique
Do you remember the connect-the-dots games that we used to play in our childhood? In this exercise, we get to do something similar.
This exercise will help to perfect your lines and circles. Practice daily by drawing small broken lines of dots for the image you want to draw. Concentrate on the broken dots/lines, and try to trace out the image perfectly. Keep practicing until you achieve a good illustration.
You can try various shapes and designs by following this simple technique. Soon, you will be able to achieve a fairly decent freehand figure, shape, or design.
Draw different shapes
Once you have achieved drawing this straight-line with confidence, try different shapes like a circle, square, triangle, rectangle, etc. Drawing simple shapes is another fun activity to do for beginners.
Begin with your sketches in your sketchbook. Try making cups and glasses. These require some concentration and vertical lines to form glasses and some round and angular shapes to draw cups.
Note the shapes of a real cup or a glass. Try to imitate that instead of drawing from your imagination. Imagination is the first step towards a realistic drawing.
Creating shapes with wires is also an innovative and easy way for beginners to create random shapes.
Sketch body parts
Try sketching eyes of different shapes after you have practiced the above exercises multiple times and excelled.
Who does not like sketching poses? Once you have mastered perspective drawing to some level, you can begin with various shapes and poses—freehand drawing and sketching work best here.
Try different poses using your freehand drawing. With this technique, you can get an idea of humans, animals, and other illustrations.
Take smaller reference points for figuring out these sketches. Thumbnails work the best for drawing gestural figures. A bit of concentration is required to see how you are moving.
Perspective Drawing
With this activity, you will gradually start to work your way towards a better level of drawing.
Pick an item to draw. I recommend something straightforward, similar to a mug, a shell, or your toothbrush. Think how you would draw that object if you were to make a quick sketch of it. What viewpoint would you pick? Most often, the answer is a side view.
Now, to take you out of your comfort zone, I will ask you to draw it from a different perspective. How would the object look like when viewed from the top? How about the bottom? What if you were to see it from a tilted angle? You see where I am going with this.
Practicing perspective drawing strengthens your ability to view the object from many angles and views.
One Line Drawing
One-line-drawing is another exercise that can strengthen your newly acquired illustration skills. One-line drawings have been around forever, and they’re relatively straightforward to do. All you need to know is that you can’t lift it until the drawing is complete once your pencil touches the paper.
This exercise helps you to plan your drawing. It would help if you envisioned how you would draw before you begin drawing, which is very important for professional-looking illustrations.
Remember the Fundamentals
Drawing is a fun activity. It shouldn’t be considered a task. Instead, it should be a stress buster and mood elevator. Some of the best artists out there view drawing as a form of visual meditation. Here are some fundamental points that you need to consider every time you practice:
- These exercises will guarantee results only with complete concentration.
- Make it a point to do result-oriented practice – it should have a clear goal in mind.
- Practice daily set a time of the day for practicing. Create a schedule.
- Study well, research thoroughly and apply the fundamentals correctly.
- Drawing is fun only when done without considering it to be a task.
- Clear your basic understanding of making various shapes.
- Practice thoroughly for different shapes in the beginning.
- Always try to push yourself to improve while practicing. Can I make that line straighter? Is that circle perfectly round?
- Consider drawing a different form/shape/illustration every day.
- Use a new shape every time you begin sketching. Keep increasing complexity.
- If you feel you need to go back a step, don’t be afraid to do so. If your dot and line sketch didn’t come out so well, ask yourself – did I get the lines straight? Should I practice making straighter lines again?
- Be creative while drawing lines and figures. Your figures should add up to make a completely new design of your own. (you think that you can only copy)
- Try to see things around you to take some inspiration. Take inspiration from nature and the environment.
- Sketch a lot and keep practicing. Don’t think about getting perfect shapes every time. Practice will make you better at every drawing.
- Train your eyes to learn the difference between proportions.
- Lastly, be focused on what you are practicing. Keep your eyes and mind open.
- Join basic sketching/drawing classes if you still can’t do it.
Is It Necessary to Warm up Before We Begin Sketching?
Before you draw out a large drawing in your sketchbook, doing some basic sketches can significantly improve your drawing.
Most importantly, it’ll warm up those parts of your body that you need for drawing, such as your fingers, wrist, shoulder. Remember, drawing is just like exercise; a little warm-up goes a long way in preparing you for the workout.
A little warm-up will also help attune your mind and help you concentrate.
Some Basic Warm-up Activities
Ever notice that your first drawing or the sketch of the day is consistently poor? In drawing, painting, or any craftsmanship, an appropriate warm-up helps to improve outcomes.
The best warm-up activities are those that help you practice your muscles and your mind simultaneously. They should help you focus. However, they should not be very troublesome or complex.
A good warm-up for an artist will include a progression of short, simple activities repeatedly for a fixed amount of time.
Just as a musician rehearses his/her harmonies, you should begin with each drawing’s more simple components, for example, your lines, shapes, and figures.
- In case you’re making compositional representations, a bit of practice with drawing boxes and practicing perspectives is an excellent way to start.
- In case you’re doing figure drawings, you should practice your S-shapes.
- There are many characters used for drawing each image uniquely. Use your imagination to draw characters to improve your shapes and figures.
It’s essential to have various activities and select them based on what you want to draw or paint later. You can draw whatever you see around you, and always be prepared to throw away several early versions of your drawing in the trash bin.
It takes a great deal of courage to keep working on your drawing skills. You will have to work hard every day and be willing to accept failure and rejection.
FAQs
Will I be able to learn sketching/drawing by basic techniques?
Yes, you will quickly grasp new techniques if you work with complete focus and concentration. Basic techniques will open up your mind and imagination and push you to practice regularly and draw better.
What is the right way to hold a pencil?
You might have heard from various people around you that there is a particular way of holding the pencil correctly. Or maybe someone has admonished you for not keeping the pencil in the right way. But the truth is, there is no particular way of holding a pencil.
You can grab your pencil, sketch pen, or any other drawing pen in whatever way you feel comfortable holding it. Try to experiment with various grips to see which one gives you the best results. You might be surprised to find that some grips give you better results than others in certain types of drawing.
Would I be able to draw figures with thumbnail techniques?
Thumbnail drawings are basically like a snapshot of whatever you want to draw. You make them in a small box, don’t focus on the artwork’s intricacies, and the idea is to plan out the finished work.
Thumbnail techniques can be a great warm-up exercise, especially if you are looking to draw a complex painting.
How to sketch/draw with a pencil?
The dot and line technique is a perfect way to start. Draw joining the dots and maintain a smooth line throughout. Once you master this basic technique, you can start expanding your horizons. Try making freehand drawings afterward and see the result. If you feel you need a bit more work, there is no shame in going back to the dot and line technique.
What is the easiest thing I can sketch as a beginner?
As a beginner, you can always start with simple drawings. You can start with a simple scenery or a city skyline drawing. Mandalas are also simple to draw. Doodling is also very easy with repeated patterns. Last but not least, you can try drawing Zentangles.
What tools do I need to draw?
The great thing about drawing is that pencils and paper are so widely available, usually in almost every families junk drawer. But when the time comes you’d like to invest in some nicer tools, MstrSktch offers two different pencil sets that make it easy to form the daily habit of drawing.
This first one is for value based rendering. Using 4H, HB, and 5B grade leads, it covers a broad value range. It is also based on thick 2mm leads which allows you to make a long point for both accuracy and shading.
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This second set if for line based art primarily. It includes mechanical pencils from tiny .3mm to a fatter .9mm.
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Closing Statement
The great thing about drawing and sketching is that it’s good for just doodling and light hearted scribbles to full on intensive graphite renderings. Whether your goal is mastery or just a light day dreaming like exercise or a visual journal of your travels, drawing can be your best friend.
The secret is to enjoy the journey, lose yourself in the process.
“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
~ Robert Henri ~