Best way to learn to draw?

[LividZephyr]

I'm not a very patient person, so that's partially why I've struggled to get into drawing. I want to change that. I want to work on my patience and care and feel that drawing is an excellent medium to help me hone that skill. And I want to draw more realistic models - not spriting or pixel stuff. And I mean drawing as in by hand.

The problem is that I don't know where to start. I know people isn't a good place to begin with, but eventually I want to get there. What's a good object to start learning to draw? Where's a good place online for tutorials? Any good YouTube channels? Recommendations are appreciated!

 

[Ninja Paladin]

There is no universally good place to learn or an equally universal way to learn, for instance I learn via immersion and carry things between the mediums I work in. The best way for you to find out how you learn is to simply try drawing for a while and try to improve via one method, then change it up by introducing a new method. After a while cycle through to another method and so on, soon enough you'll find a hybridisation that works for you.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

As a person who does a lot of free lance drawing, my best recommendation is just to draw things that you actually like drawing. For myself, I love to watch anime and play video games so I choose those as my mediums. Experiment with all different types of art styles until you find one that suits you the most.

When it comes to the patience aspect of drawing, don't force yourself to draw. My main form of art style is stippling, which if you don't know what it is it basically means drawing pictures out of dots (which can take hours upon hours to complete a single picture). What I've learned is that I draw until I feel content and come back to it later; it's not necessary to finish it in one sitting. I'll usually throw on some music or a podcast to listen to in the background which helps me stay motivated on the project at hand, and then when I get bored I'll just take a break.

If you don't want to start with your hobbies, just try simple shapes. A mug, a book, a Nintendo DS; just something that will help you start forming basic shapes that will eventually help you with more complex objects. That's at least what I did when I started out with my art and it's helped me immensely.

And most of all just have fun with it! Art isn't something that should be forced, but rather should be something that is conveyed in the moment. I know sometimes we all get a little impatient with our art or our skills, but practice does make better, and the more you practice the better you'll get at it. [:

 

[Rabby]

Practice, practice, and more practice ^^
If u forced urself to do it, you'll do a terrible job :/
But if u didnt, u would do wonderful <3
It all depends....on if u have the passion and enough love to do dat once single thing ~<3

 

[Fairy]

Just have fun! Screw actual talent or skill. Just enjoy yourself and draw for yourself. If you have something in mind that you want to draw, than do it to the best of your ability. Here's a small list of things to begin with; ie the basics of drawing, which is always a reliable place to get a foundation. The best remedy to getting fed up with what you're drawing and losing patience is to walk away for a while. So, draw something you like, when you get tired of drawing, browse PC, and then go back to it.

But seriously, if you really force yourself to draw when you're just starting out, you won't reach a lot of the creative milestones it takes to be a truly good artist. Without learning from a professional source, it's hard to sit down with the focus and determination you need to create something masterful. So don't! Just go with the flow~ Then, if you feel up to it, post it here and we'll help you. :)

Okay, all this said, there is no perfect, fool-proof way of learning to draw and replicating that indefinitely. So it's really going to depend on the kind of person you are and what you expect from yourself. Still, I stand firm that the best thing you can do is work at your own pace and follow the pre-Raphielites: "Art for art's sake".

Best of luck to you. And do follow up with us on how your progress is going!

 

[Inferna]

Whatever you do don't start off by drawing anime or cartoons constantly. Guaranteed 3 or 4 years down the line you'll wish you never. Work on observational drawings first. Start sketching little objects around your house, a book, a teddy, anything! It doesn't matter if it sucks at first practice is key c: look at how light works on your object, try shading it, getting the light and dark.
Once you feel more confident you could start drawing self portraits/people or set up little still lives. Really look at colours and how they work, learning a little colour theory can be immensely helpful!
It takes a lot of perseverance and practice. So yeah after you've worked on the basics you can start drawing what you want. It's much better to have a firm grasp of the basics (anatomy/scale/proportion etc) first, then you can work on a style later. Once you've done that you can experiment even more, you never stop learning.
Material wise you don't need to splash out, some nice a4 paper and a set of pencils are all you need to start with.
There's lots of great website for tutorials, deviant art is good.

Let us know how you get on though :3

 

[Meksal]

The best way to draw is to draw, tutorials don't really help, you just gotta get good at it through practice.

 

[Saki]

I know it may be hard to hear but you definitely need to learn some patience. I struggled with this as well, and once I decided to let myself spend days, or weeks (yet to get to the month mark) on a piece I found myself feeling much more accomplished and proud of my work! Try creating a piece of art slowly, just do it once, and see how you feel about it... you may be pleasantly surprised and (like me) never look back.

I recommend getting formally aquatinted with layers in Photoshop or GIMP (if you have no already), layer mechanics are simple but fundamental to drawing of course. Play around with overlays etc, and never draw on the background layer :P. Start with something easy, pick your favourite Pokemon and try to draw it slightly different than an image you find. Start by making a messy layer with just shapes of what the image looks like, make a new layer, and turn down the opacity on your first layer, and start drawing your outline using the shape to help you. You may need to keep making layers and perfecting your outline, be patient and remember that a good set of lines paves the way for a fantastic drawing. You need it as a foundation and you can't make something look better just by colouring (imo). Hide the layers you don't need (keeping only the final outline layer) and start with your basic colours. Use a clipping mask to shade, highlight etc, and play around with it!

I agree with another person in this thread that you learn by doing, but technique tutorials are absolutely well worth your time! Check out deviantArt for these sorts of things, and browse other artist's work. Everyone is mortally afraid of copying someone/being copied there but in all honestly if you learn something by looking at someone else's work it's fine. Just don't out right take credit for their work of course :P.

Anyway, I hope this helps a bit, feel free to leave me a VM if you want anything explained more or have any questions. I am not perfect of course and I have a lot to learn in terms of digital art, but I sure have a lot to share as well. :) Good luck!