Learning To Draw - Where To Start A Picture?

By: R. Schmidt Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Recently I was asked a question that seems common among beginning artists who just start to learn drawing: " how and where to take the first step to drawing??" Don't be misguided into believing this is a too simple and silly question. Although the reply may seem clear, I've seen too many artists that fail because they don't follow these principles.

Once artists approach a new drawing unorganized and unstructured they can fail. Not that I believe much in structures and strict rules. Sticking to some really plain and obvious rules when preparing a new drawing will make your work much easier.

What urges you to draw?

First inquire yourself not only what you desire to draw but also why do you want to draw it? What is the message you're trying to give the viewer? Knowing the communication you're trying to express to your viewers is a vital first step. For example, visualize that you wish to draw a picture of a dog then inquire yourself why? Is it to explain how adorable he is? Is it to illustrate how skillful a hunter he is? To show how dangerous he is? Is it in memory of him?

Having understood what to communicate the next step is to consider how you can use the elements and techniques to convey it. You can utilize perspective, dark and shadows, colors, composition, add various details, use diverse drawing techniques etc.

Next you should endeavor to find out where your picture is going by making lots of small thumbnail sketches. Try numerous ways to create the drawing, see what really works and what will not work. Create these sketches swiftly. The belief is to put the whole composition into place, so you don't need to spend time adding a lot of details on them.

It's from time to time very tricky, even for professional artists, not to jump ahead and start on the final picture before things are really contemplated upon. But this scenario often ends with that attempt going into the bin once you've realized that your first plan didn't materialize the way you'd first contemplated. So it's an extremely good idea to use the initial steps when starting a drawing as it will prevent a lot of labor in the long run.

Getting on track with drawing

You have completed with sketching a composition you like to develop in a full-blown drawing? Then it's time to get started. This time it's not speed but beauty you want to strive for. And there are some instructions that will help you to make the beautiful drawing you want to make- without too many attempts going to waste.

It's all about the order in which to come up to the different parts of your drawing ideally. In a nutshell there are just two straightforward rules:

Initiate with light tones, graduate to darker tones

This allows you to fix small mistakes you have done at the start as the darker tones can conceal any of your errors.

Begin with little details and get into more details later

In the majority of cases the drawings get waste by indistinct size, perspective and composition. Now start first by arranging the total drawing without fine points just in faded lines. This makes definite you'll make all errors in perspective and proportions early in the procedure. If something goes really awful then, you can make a fresh start without making too much work loss. And all lesser mistakes still can be fixed easily as there are only faint lines and no details in place.

Even if you are knowledgeable and sketching for years, it will be perfect for you to refresh your mind about these tips once all over again. In fact I'm forgetting these guiding principles very often - and introduce errors into my drawings that could have been avoided. And you'll notice these guidelines are even more practical, if you've just initiated to become skilled at drawing.

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