I have improved my drawing skills for the last couple of months because I wanted to draw illustration art for my blog postings. I did more painting when I was in school. After graduating high school, I paint or draw whenever I feel like it. I probably draw/paint more than most people. Since I have never taken time to practice painting or drawing seriously, I’ve never become good at painting.
I decided to copy drawings from manga Comics for my first project because I could not draw a picture without looking at anything. I wanted to know how much I could draw. My first drawing was not good. My first project helped me identify some problems that I could improve. For example, I ended up with too many lines. If I were to start drawing with a pen, I would not find the correct lines as there were too many. I also had difficulty with deciding the location for the eyes and the nose. There are so many things I need to improve. I could improve many, but I decided to work on my lines.
To draw a picture, you have enough resources in your head and technique to express the image. If you try to paint a person drinking coffee on the chair, you need to visualize the picture to create your original art. Even you have an image in your head, and you need to have minimum techniques to express the image on the paper. You will need to gain such resources or techniques from drawing a lot.
Painting and drawing require a lot of practice. You will need to draw a lot if you want to get better, just like practicing an instrument. Fortunately, we can learn basic drawing techniques online. Some YouTube videos even present you with how to practice drawing. If you’re going to be good at painting or drawing, you need to practice basic techniques. It would be best if you strived to learn as many patterns or pictures as possible to have many images you can pull from your brain.
Line Stroke Exercise
I decided to work on basic techniques – line strokes. Line strokes are essential for drawing. My line strokes were so bad that the character’s hair from my first drawing project looked unnatural. Line strokes also can affect the facial expressions of the characters. The exercise reminded me of my practice of learning calligraphy when I was 4 or 5 years old. When I started taking a Japanese calligraphy course, we learned how to create a beautiful line stroke. To make a beautiful line stroke, you need to control your hand and pen movement. I do this exercise on letter-sized standard paper.
Ever since I started line stroke exercises, I began to pay more attention to lines from a picture I am studying. I was surprised by how many techniques you can steal from great art. Thickness or the strength of the lines can impact the picture. For example, if you were to draw hair, you can make the hair more realistic by using solid and thick lines on the shaded area to create depth in the picture.
Contour lines
After a few weeks, I started to practice drawing contour lines. Contour lines are lines that define the outline of the image. I noticed from my first painting that the body’s position was slightly off proportion because I started from smaller parts. Drawing the contour lines first reduces this problem since the outlines form the objects. So, I concentrated on creating draft lines that captured a silhouette of the picture I was copying. Initially, I started using a black pencil to do this exercise. Then, I realized it would be easier for me to do this exercise with a light brown color pencil since I would not get too distracted with the details of the picture.
Draw Heads
When I drew the face of people, I found it was challenging to draw precise positions for facial features. I checked YouTube, and I found an exercise for drawing heads. I started by drawing a combination of Contour lines and central lines to draw faces. I do not do more than 15 minutes of practice. Drawing faces in different angles is challenging because of the shape or shading of the facial features changes. This exercise helps me to visualize how the dimensions should be expressed in lines with different angles. When I started, it took me much longer to draw one head without any details.
I am focusing on a few technical skills now. I spend no more than 30 minutes on these drawing exercises with a pencil on standard letter-size paper. There are two things I keep in mind. First, I have a purpose for the exercise per session. For example, I may practice “different angles of faces.” I practice only the angle of faces. I also put that label on the paper. I just practiced drawing. Second, I identify anything that I can improve from the drawing and write the findings on the paper for future practice. My husband suggested that I put the date when I did the exercise on the paper to see the improvement.
Ever since I started practicing line strokes, I have gotten much better at drawing than a few months ago. My drawing skills are improving slower than I would like. For example, the hair does not look like a piece of seaweed. I pay a lot of attention to the lines of my drawing than before. I found that improving drawing and painting pictures is like learning an instrument. This type of exercise resembles Hanon fingering practicing (finger dexterity exercise for piano players).
I have been practicing my drawing skills for the last couple of months. I draw a more complicated picture on the weekend, which helps me identify what techniques I still lack. I still need to learn other techniques in painting. In a few months, I am planning to add shading, body parts, and movement. I will continue to work on basic drawing skills because I want to have my pictures on my blog.