My drawing tips
7 Tips to learn to draw (better) and have fun doing it
Whenever I go out to draw, I often get comments from bystanders such as: "clever, I can't draw at all!" or "I wish I could draw, but I don't have the patience for it!".
It always strikes me that when try to tell them that in fact everyone can draw and that I'm actually impatient myself, people don't really take it seriously. They remain firmly convinced that I must have some innate talent or they think my drawings take many hours, weeks or months (!) to make. Hence also this most frequently asked question I get: 'how long did it take you?'
So here I would like to give my 7 drawing tips for (realistic) drawing; I like to share tips that are currently helping me to get better and better and, more importantly, to have fun drawing. They are not tips like 'how to draw a robin' and stuff like that because there are already many examples of that on YouTube and so on. I just like to give some general motivational and practical tips/links that have been useful to me and that you can explore further yourself. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message!
1. So how can you learn to draw (better)? My main tip for realistic drawing is: draw what you see, not what you think you see. By this I mean that you really have to learn to observe well and not have a "judgment" in advance about how something is put together. Actually, drawing is not so much something you do with your hand, but what you do with your eye; it's all about observing. Of course, there is also such a thing as your own drawing style, for example, one person draws (hyper) realistically, another more sketchy or more like a cartoon. As for finding your own drawing style, again the following applies; experiment as much as you can. Also look at examples of other artists and what you think is cool, but don't let yourself get discouraged by it either; everyone is unique and on their own path. As for classes; these days there are so many options for taking classes; you can look for classes in your area, but what I think is so cool about online classes is that you can take classes from the very best artists for very little money!
Here are a few examples of people/websites you can get inspiration from or online tutorials: Koosje Koene, Sketchbook Skool with Danny Gregory, Alphonso Dunn, Liz Steel, The sketch.co (Urban Sketching), John Muir Laws (nature drawing), Mark Carder and James Gurney. John Muir Laws has written a good book on nature drawing, there are also very good general drawing tips in there. My personal favorite artist is Rien Poortvliet, unfortunately he passed away in 1995. But his books are still available in abundance (second-hand) and I get a lot of inspiration from looking at them. By the way; I also love the drawings (and paintings ) of John Singer Sargent! Finally, you also have all kinds of platforms like YouTube, Domestika or Skillshare with endless tutorials. Or this one, also very good and approachable: artprof.org. I really like freearttraining.com where you can really learn the academic way of drawing, and even for free (but you can donate)! You can also go offline for academic training in realistic art (in NL) at dutchartatelier.com or, also super, the one by Anthony Waichulis, among others. Another approachable and educational drawing activity: take a workshop (often with guided tour!) at the Rijksmuseum. Finally: would you like to go out and draw with others? Check out the website of Urban Sketchers Netherlands. Everyone can participate (for free), regardless of drawing level, and it is fun to meet new people who also like to draw!
2. Topic: Choose topics that YOU are excited about. Don't pay attention to what is currently trending or what everyone else is already drawing or what others think you should draw, but be yourself and follow your own interest. Finding it hard to choose? Then just try different things for a while to see what you like the most. And otherwise just don't choose; there are no rules in that regard. However, if you want to become very good at a certain subject/theme/material, then it's best to focus on it and draw it often. In that case, it is better to draw 1 thing 100 times than 100 things only once. If you would like some more rules on how to be an artist and what to make, here is a good list (English).
3. Material: Keep it simple, especially when you are starting out. For example, start with a (cheap) sketchbook and a few pencils or even just 1 HB pencil or a ballpoint pen and an eraser. For 10 euros you are good to go. Most people are a bit 'afraid' of a blank white sheet of paper and besides that they are also afraid of 'ruining' expensive materials. But just DOING it is more important than having the perfect material. That's what I love about a cheap sketchbook; you can lose or ruin very little. Experiment with it; you can even do that on cheap print paper. Of course, at some point you may find that you want some more options or you want to try some better materials. My materials at the moment are mainly a Bic round stic black ballpoint pen and a mechanical pencil. For color I have been using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for quite some years. Recently I am experimenting with a mini Winsor&Newton watercolor set with a Sakura koi waterbrush. I often get my sketchbooks (usually so-called "dummy books") from a discount bookstore or Action stores (The Netherlands).
4. Sketchbook: Use a sketchbook! The sketchbook is your own compact drawing studio where all your work comes together. You may do whatever you want in it; make sketches, full drawings, scribbles, write down ideas, quotes, stories, whatever you want. Size is also important, I would say; not too big, but not too small either. I myself usually use A5 size; easy and light to carry and hold, small enough to quickly fill a page and you can also use the double pages to make something A4 size. When someone asks me to make a drawing for them, of course I do it on loose and good quality paper and then I really like Clairefontaine's 'Paint On' paper.
5.Draw regularly from direct observation/live model: By this I don't necessarily mean draw a person or animal, but draw something -that can also be a banana or a lamp, for example- that you see in 3D before you, so not from a photograph. There is nothing wrong with using photos as a tool (I'll come back to that in a later point), but drawing something from direct observation helps to get better at drawing and really understand shape, color, light and shadow. Scary and difficult? Maybe, but see the fun in it and if you don't like the result you can always throw your drawing away. At least you will have practiced and even from 'wrong' drawings you learn a lot. Write down why you think the drawing is stupid, shrug it off and write down what you can do differently next time. Cliché but true: the more you do it, the better it goes!
6. How to use photos: Photos are a great tool to use when drawing; I use them too. After all, it is not always possible to draw something from direct observation; for example, with an animal that keeps moving, a person who does not have time (or sense) to sit still for a long time as a model. Or the light changes too fast, you are standing in a (too) crowded place, the object is too big/shallow or you name it, there can be all kinds of reasons why a photograph is more convenient. What I recommend in cases like that is to do use your own photos as much as possible. Do you want to draw a gorilla or an elephant? Then go to the zoo, make it a nice day out and take your own pictures (and most importantly; sketch some on the spot). You will be able to observe the animals with your own eyes and you can make your own choices in terms of composition, light, etc. This will make your work more original and creative! But sometimes you don't have that option because your subject is something from the past or far away in another country etc. Or; sometimes you only have photos or images from others/the internet. In such cases, I still try to put my own spin on it as much as possible (e.g. adjust or omit some things) and look up multiple images and make my own image of it. I also try as much as possible to name the creator of the original work when I post it online. I also find videos/movies very useful; then you can look at a subject from different angles and choose what you want to make of it yourself. Pay attention to copyright: not everything on the internet can be used to draw and put back on the internet. I find it a bit boring when I see the same picture from Pinterest over and over again. Give it your own twist! But if you are really into copying Pinterest pictures, don't listen to me and do your own thing, it's just a tip.
7. Talent and passion are overrated: think of a good musician, dancer or sportsman or woman: would you say that they just became this good out of the blue? No, everyone knows that as a musician you have to learn notes and practice a lot to be able to play a piece of music perfectly. And as a (top) athlete you can't get away with just one hour of practice per week. Of course, some people have more interest or aptitude for a particular subject than others, but everyone can become better at something if you put in the time. It's the same way with drawing; the more time you put in and learn critically, the better you get! A good book I recommend about how to get really good at something is "So good they can't ignore you" by Cal Newport. If you really want to reach the top it will not be easy. But it depends on you what you want; you can also just draw because you like it without ever achieving 'anything' (although drawing is good for your brain anyway - this is proven by several studies, see one here).
As a final note; a long time ago I watched a video on YouTube about a successful artist and he was being interviewed about his work. People asked all kinds of complicated questions about his art and his reasons for it and he replied; "It's all just fun"! That stuck with me, because for years drawing was a pretty serious matter for me, as I like to do things very good or not at all. But those words and the fun that artist had in painting still stuck with me. So nowadays I try to approach drawing in that way as much as possible; for me it is now mainly about the experience and not just about the end result (although staying positively critical towards yourself is not a bad thing). And when I start taking it too seriously, I tell myself: 'It's all just fun'!