Tag: Learn to draw

5 Basics Skills for Drawing Realistically

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realism

Drawing realistically is easier said than done. But at the same time, realism is something that can bring life to your creations. There are five basic skills that you need to master drawing realism. They are:

Identify the edges: One should be able to identify and differentiate two objects when they see their reference image. For this, they have to recognize the edge of these objects.

Identify shapes and spaces: While observing an object, one should be able to differentiate between object and space. For example, in a chair, the wood forming the body of the chair is a part of its shape, and the intentional voids in its design are spaces. 

Understand proportions, perceptions: To understand proportions, use your thumb or your pencil as a ruler.  Perception occurs when you view an object from different angles. For example, a wheel appears elliptical as we view it at an angle and a long straight road appears to merge at a distance.

Identify lights and shadows on your object: Study the basic tone, the dark tones, the darkest tones or shadows, and the lightest tones or highlights.

The last skill is the ability to use and practice all the above steps to enhance your skill and draw one final picture. Observe keenly and Practice these skills to draw realistically.

5 Tips for drawing cloth folds and wrinkles

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cloth folds and wrinkles

Clothing is hard to draw as it has a number of odd folds and wrinkles. It can take random shapes depending on the form on which it falls. So, a few factors are to be kept in your mind while drawing clothes.

The material of clothing: Thicker material and thinner materials results in lesser folds and more folds respectively. Stiff material clothing would have triangular folds, whereas softer material produces rounded folds.

Cut and fitting of clothing: Loose fitting clothes are influenced by gravity. Tight cut clothes, however, wrap around the form.

Movement of the subject: When in rest, the shape of drapes depends on gravity. But during motion, folds are influenced by the direction of the force and external factors like wind and rain.

Pulling point, or point of tension: Folds are mainly formed due to points of tension. These are mostly joints of the human body, like shoulders, elbows, knees among others.

Shadows and highlights: Depending on the direction of light and the type of material, the reflection of light varies. Smoother clothes have brighter highlights.

Follow the above steps to visualize the cloth folds and wrinkles in your imagination and give life to them.

How to draw landscapes: Tips You Should Know

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The major challenge while drawing landscapes is that you have to illustrate several different textures and compositions in your drawing. 

Today, let’s see the different steps to draw a perfect landscape composition.

To begin with, observe your references closely. Draw and practice different textures you see in it. As a second step, plan your drawing. Choose an angle that will give depth to it.

Use basic shapes like ellipses and polygons to make a rough sketch first. Arrange the lighting and shadows in your rough sketch to have a clear idea about the same in your final work.

Recreate your rough sketch on a canvas. Start with rough linework using lighter pencils when you do this. 

Then add details with textures. If you’re using pencils, cut the lead at an angle to get the perfect tool for texturing. If you’re using paints, using a variety of brushes at different angles can do the trick.

If you’re using pencils, pens, or watercolors, build the drawing from lighter shades to darker shades. However, if you’re using a bit more opaque medium, feel free to accentuate the highlights at last.

Art Block: How to Get Over It

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Art Block

Anyone who has experienced an art block would know how badly it affects their creativity. Art block is essentially a lack of inspiration to create art. Let’s see some ways to overcome the art block.

Keep drawing: No matter how small or imperfect it feels like, it can stimulate your creativity to make something bigger and better.

Change your media: Try using new media. For example, try oil paints if you usually use acrylic. Be adventurous.

Try a different style: Find new artists and explore their art style. Try to follow their art style for a change.

Visit a new place: Go somewhere you have never been before. Unfamiliar sceneries and people can always inspire to create new art.

Keep a journal: Writing a daily art journal can help you be consistent with your works. Jot your ideas down in the book so that you can refer to it later when you need the inspiration to make a new piece of art.

Art block is almost unavoidable at times. But, following the above steps can help you to get through them relatively better.

Drawing Pen Art: Tips That You Should Know

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pen sketches

While drawing with a pen, even a small wrong stroke can create undesirable blobs and marks that could ruin the whole drawing.

The common mistakes committed while working with pen and ink are detailed below.

Lack of control over the medium when compared to other mediums: Instead of anticipating an error in each step, learn to convert that error into a unique feature. When drawing realistically, the wrong values can make the picture look unpleasant. To solve it, practice consistently. Draw from observation and train your eyes to absorb each detail.

Prevent mistakes at all costs: It’s hard to correct mistakes and even harder to maintain workflow when errors happen. Prevent possible mistakes using a pencil underlining. 

Smearing is never a happy accident: Make sure your ink is dry before moving your drawing around. Using waterproof ink is also ideal for preserving the work.

In case any of the said mistakes happen, it can be corrected in the following ways:

  • Try to make the mistakes a part of your drawing.
  • Use inks, gouache, or acrylics to cover your mistakes.
  • Use gel pens for correcting smaller mistakes.
  • Remove the mistakes with a blade.
  • Avoid this mistakes to master pen art.

Keep these tips in mind before you start with your work.

Shading and 5 Elements of Shading

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Elements of shading

Shading is used in drawing for depicting different levels of darkness. Applying more densely with a darker shade for darker areas and less densely with a lighter shade for lighter areas is the basic idea.

However, there are some details that you should know. For instance, Shading has five elements. The five elements of shading are:

Cast shadow: It is the darkest part of your drawing because in this part light is completely blocked. Draw this area as black as possible.

Shadow edge: This shading is also known as turning shadow. This area corresponds to a dark grey tone.

Halftone: This is the true color of your object. This area of a drawing is not affected by light. 

Reflected light: This shading element is lighter compared to other shadows. But this will still be seen on the darker side of the object. The reflected light is always seen on the edges, rims, or lip of an object.

Full light: This is the area that receives the most light and the tones fade gently into the white of the paper.