Practice drawing lines of different lengths, thicknesses, and textures. Try to produce wavy lines, zig-zag lines, and tangled, scribbly lines. After you get comfortable with lines and curves, try drawing shapes. For instance, you might try filling a page with two-dimensional shapes such as circles, squares, or triangles. For more information on drawing a straight line, check out How to Draw Neat Lines.
For instance, you might imagine that there’s a lamp shining down from the top left corner of the page. In that case, the top-left area of your shape wouldn’t have any shading. Just below that area, add light shading then progress to very dark shadows in the bottom right corner of your page. Try blending your shadows with your finger, an eraser, or a cloth to soften them. To learn more about shading, check out How to Shade Drawings. You can also read about more advanced shading techniques in How to Cross-Hatch and How to Stipple.
For instance, if you have a bowl of fruit on a table, the table will cast a shadow on the floor, the bowl will cast a shadow on the table, and the fruit will cast a shadow inside the bowl. Use your finger or an eraser to blur the edges of the shadow so it looks more realistic. Check out How to Draw a Shadow to learn more!
For instance, you might draw 3 vertical lines and 2 horizontal lines to make a 4x3 grid. It’s okay if the squares aren’t the same size on your source image as they are on your paper. You’ll naturally adjust the size as you copy the picture you see in each grid. This technique is often used to resize a drawing.
Perspective means that objects that are up close seem to be larger than objects that are far away. Simple perspective drawings only have one vanishing point, although more complex drawings might have two or even three. Understanding perspective will also help your shading and cast shadows look more realistic. Learn more by checking out How to Draw Perspective. You can also read How to Draw a 3D Box for another way to study the concept of perspective.
You can practice by taking an image—such as a photograph from a magazine or newspaper—and outlining the different shapes directly on the image. For example, take a picture of a car and outline the rectangular shape of the windshield, the circular shapes of the tires, and so on. [7] X Research source Once you’ve sketched out the shapes that make up your image, shade them in to create depth. To create a more finished drawing, connect the different shapes with lines to build a coherent whole. You can then erase the outlines of the individual shapes that you sketched in.
Make a game of it by trying a continuous contour drawing—try to connect all the outlines of what you see without lifting your hand from the page or going back over what you’ve already drawn.
For instance, if you’re drawing a flower, you might start by sketching out the lines of the petals and stem. Once you’ve done that, you might start adding details like the center of the flower and the curves of the leaves and petals. Finally, you would add shading and any intricate details that are left.
These lines will help you balance the proportions of the person’s face. Draw them lightly, since you don’t want them to show in the finished drawing. If you’d like to learn more, read How to Draw a Face.
Imagine a line halfway between the bottom of the nose and the chin, then place the mouth on top of this line. From here, you can fill in details like the person’s eyelashes, pupils, and hair, along with shading and other details. Erase the vertical and horizontal lines when you’re finished.
Females tend to have a narrower chin, while males often have a wider jawline. You can still use the crossed directional lines from a close-up drawing to help you keep the proportion as you fill in the features of the person’s face. Draw these lines lightly so they don’t show in your finished drawing later.
If the person’s neck will show in the picture, draw a narrow rectangle reaching from the person’s head to the core. If the person is standing still, the rectangle should be perfectly up and down. If they’re leaning slightly, tilt the rectangle a little, or tilt the rectangle dramatically to show that a person is bent over or in motion, like someone who’s sprinting.
Draw the lines and circles lightly since they’re just meant to help you visualize the person’s form. You’ll erase them after you add detail to the drawing.
Remember, the further away a person is, the less detail you need to include. Focus on silhouettes if you’re drawing a large group of people. For more tips on filling in details, read How to Draw Clothing, How to Draw Realistic Hair, How to Draw Shoes, and How to Draw a Hand.
If you’re drawing a human figure, try drawing a line through the center of the figure, going from the top of the head to the weight-bearing foot. Build the rest of the figure around it, sketching in other lines to indicate the angles of the hips and shoulders. [10] X Research source Keep your hand moving, and don’t worry about details or accuracy.
According to the Rule of Thirds, your picture will be more visually interesting if you place the horizon line a third of the way up from the bottom or a third of the way down from the top of the page. [13] X Research source If you draw your horizon further up the page, the viewer will see more of the ground, and if you draw it further down, they’ll see more of the sky. In a typical landscape picture, the paper is turned so it is wide, rather than tall.
For instance, a small patch of bright yellow flowers at the base of a stream would likely catch the viewers’ eye if the rest of the colors in the painting are more sedate. A large shrub in the foreground of a painting could act as a focal point, as could a towering mountain in the background. It’s helpful to try to find a reference photo or a natural angle with a focal point already included. However, you may need to select just a portion of a larger picture to make it interesting. For instance, you might focus your drawing on an area with an old tree, rather than trying to capture a whole park.
For instance, if you’re drawing trees, the tops and bottoms of the trees in the foreground can stretch up to the edges of the paper, if you like. However, as trees recede into the background, the tops and bottoms should line up with an imaginary diagonal that angles toward the vanishing point.
For example, you might draw a few wispy lines to indicate that a fir tree is covered with needles. Some detail is okay, and this will vary depending on your style of drawing. If you’re drawing a stony pathway, for instance, you might fill in the details of the rocks in the foreground of the picture, then gradually start spacing them out until you’re only using a few circular shapes spaced along the path. If you are practicing a hyper-realistic drawing style, you may choose to include as many details as you can, and that’s fine too. However, that’s a more advanced drawing technique, so if you’re just starting, you might want to include just the details on your focal point, and let the rest of the picture be more simple.
Try to draw what you see rather than what you think the objects should look like. This is harder than it sounds! To do it, try outlining the negative spaces around and between the objects rather than the outlines of the objects themselves. These are called still-life drawings, and they are commonly used in art classes for practicing techniques.
Focus on your main character first, then create different backgrounds, supporting characters, and props for your cartoon to interact with. Also, play with your character’s facial expressions and pose to convey different emotions and actions. You can also create realistic-looking fantasy drawings from your imagination. For instance, if you have a clear idea in your head of what a dragon would look like, you could try drawing that! For more tips, check out How to Draw Cartoon Characters or How to Draw Cartoon Animals.
Drawing animals can be hard! Pay attention to light and shadows if you want to make your picture look realistic, or emphasize the animal’s most notable features if you want a more cartoonish drawing. Check out How to Draw Animals for a more in-depth look. If you want to draw a specific animal, try reading an article like How to Draw a Dog, How to Draw a Cat, How to Draw a Lion, How to Draw a Fish, or How to Draw a Bird.
