Struggling with Learning Drawing Techniques? Use These Tips to Overcome Your Woes and Succeed!

Learning drawing techniques are important to an artist! Here's where progressing through the phases of imitation, experimentation, inquiry, and evaluation will not only get you good drawing habits but will also improve your skills to become a desirable artist!

I'm sure you have a lot of fun drawings that you want to try but can be too intimidating when you start off. That's where I am here to help. I hope to inspire you, through various fun drawings, on learning drawing and painting techniques on your own pace.

My online drawing lessons are there for you to experiment on your own so you can figure out the best way that works for you, and yet, follow the rules of realistic drawings so you learn effectively.

In each of the lessons, use these four learning drawing phases to understand your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.

That way, you can meet any drawing challenges enthusiastically instead of being intimidated by it! I'm sure you would like that feeling, right? It's easy being your own motivator!

Learning drawing techniques through imitation

Imitating, especially from nature, is a valid learning concept for all artists to get inspiration, basic skills, and ideas from! How far do you think civilization will go without imitation?

When you start to draw something that already exists, you are studying why and how it can exist in this world. Artists truly benefit the most when they understands the world around them!

Though it may seem awkward at first to copy something, as it's not your own creation, you need to think about what can you gain from it.

If you finish copying and stop looking back at what you've done, then yes, it is detrimental to you. After all, there's no point in learning if you can't apply anything from it, right?

Of course, if you've finished imitating a concept and you begin to look back on what you've done, then that's where your true learning begins! There is a lot of knowledge that comes from imitating the natural world!

For example, textures, perspective, shading, and creating form in 3d space. Thus, for learning drawing techniques properly, you will need to copy and imitate! On this site, when ever I put up a lesson, just follow along.

In other words, try to recreate each step as best as you can! You will develope a firm drawing foundation just from the lessons on this site.

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Learning drawing techniques from experimentation

After imitating the real world and studying it, you will start to develop a strong foundation naturally. If imitation gives you the basic techniques, then experimentation is where you apply what you have learned to new styles and new tools!

For example, does a picture look good in a realistic light or through a cartoon? What benefits can you find using one style over another? Obviously, a cartoon is a lot more easier to do and it serves well to represent an idea.

At the same time, a realistic drawing is more complex, but has its own rewards by showing off your skills and flexibility as an artist to get potential clients! The goal of experimentation is to get comfortable with exploring the unknown.

Just think of it as building a house of knowledge. Basically, you're building on a good foundation already set out for you (through imitation) and now you are just trying to build an appealing design!

You should put a lot of emphasis on experimenting as much as possible because it is a lengthy process that requires you to actively think about the composition.

Also, when you're looking at the works of other established artists, understand that you're looking at the ends. You need to look at the means of how they did it and understand what they know to paint it.

Experiment and find out how they did it! In doing so, you are discovering new techniques as well as building a reputable portfolio at the same time! It's a win-win situation for you!

Learning drawing techniques through inquiry

What is inquiry? It's just as it sounds! You are asking questions about the world around you. Basically, this stage of drawing development will require you to ask yourself a question and then answer it.

The key is to find opportunities to learning beyond what you already know! Some key questions are:

• What has already been done successfully?
• What advantages are there to learning it this way?
• What happens when I try something else?
• Can I use this in future paintings?
• What new styles can I derive from this subject?

There are many potential answers to these questions on the road to drawing like a professional. You may even come across the same questions over and over again until you find a suitable answer.

Moreover, you may discover multiple answers to the same questions. Regardless, asking questions is the biggest learning concept that you should learn and master as an artist improves by leaps and bounds if they are able to critically think through concepts and compositions!

Why? It's because you want to minimize the conceptual stage as much as possible since you most likely will be paid only for the final product. By critically thinking about your art, you can save a lot of time in the planning phases.

Speaking of critical analysis, this leads into the last few stages of drawing development that you should do every time you finish a project: self evaluation and repeating the process.

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Learning drawing techniques through evaluation

So what if you already answer your own questions? What good will those do when you don't have a way to know if it's right or not? That's why you need to learn how to mark your own progress!

Through your drawing exercises, it's important to know what works and what doesn't work during the experimental phases. For instance, some techniques may give good effects but is too time consuming to do. Are there better ways to get the same effect or can you use another effect altogether?

It's been known that you judge yourself harder than how people judge you. Use it to your advantage! Start with a goal in mind.

For example, I want to learn the human form better. I would then split it into categories like movement, shadow, lighting, and proportions. Then, I would rank them in order of importance.

From there, I would put my own grading system in. What techniques have you learned, experimented, and discovered that will help you achieve those goals? What will be your level of achievement that will give you an 'A' in those categories?

And when you do succeed, you will discover that these four categories will form a positive loop!

For example, as soon as you learn to draw something really well, you begin to imitate your own techniques. Then you will ask yourself questions about ways to improve on the techniques. Eventually, you will re-evaluate it.

Basically, it's a positive feedback that will further improve your basic artistic foundations. But perhaps the most important thing to learn is that all this is possible when it's fueled with persistence and motivation!

Take your time and plan out how you are going to learn and improve yourself. Just think of it as the 80/20 rule: 80% of your learning is focused on how you plan to develop your drawing techniques whereas 20% is when you actually do it!

Make it count and you will save a lot of frustration in the near future. There are a lot of drawing lessons on this site that you can start applying and learning new techniques right away. So what are you waiting for? Be the profitable artist you can be because I know you can do it!

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