Drawing with children. Growing a creative personality

Now there is so much information on the Internet about what you need to draw, sculpt, and do with your child. various types creativity as early as possible, which will certainly develop his abilities and is incredibly useful for fine motor skills. On this wave, I was also captured by this idea. And of course, from infancy I slipped paints to the child, and what came of it - read my story...

Of course, it’s loudly said “that we succeeded,” because Svyatoslav is still 2 years old. And the result is in this case- it does not matter.

One thing I can say for sure, up to two years Svyatoslav didn't really like to draw: neither paints nor pencils, despite all my efforts - and maybe that’s why I didn’t want to :)

The first time I gave paints to Svyatoslav was when he it was about 8 months. He carefully studied the contents of the jar of paints (finger paints), smeared them on the sheet several times, then he became interested in the brush, and in the end the whole process took no more than 5 minutes.

He was particularly impressed by what remained on his fingers - and immediately asked to wash it off. Oddly enough, I didn’t even try to taste it.

Periodically, I repeated the procedure - everything went according to approximately the same scenario.

Sometimes we drawing in the bathroom– he left a few strokes on the paper, and, in fact, that was all. And then we had fun washing ourselves off.

Sometimes I laid a large oilcloth on the floor, glued a piece of wallpaper onto it, and thus we painted. IN different days I offered him 2-3 paints of different colors.

Used brushes of different sizes: we started with large and small molar brushes, then moved on to painting brushes but with stiff bristles. We tried to paint with a sponge, but he liked it better with brushes.

Tried it paints of different consistencies: thick ones that had to be smeared or completely liquid ones - poured onto paper and blown with a tube, watching how a spot of paint spreads over the paper.

All drawing It took us no more than 10 minutes. Our classes were not regular, but rather spontaneous. Sometimes we painted several times a week, then there could be a break of several weeks.

Drawing, usually until his hands became dirty, then he immediately went to the bath to wash himself off - this is where our drawing, naturally, ended. And probably the most interesting thing was washing the brushes and jars and watching how the water changed its color.

When Svyatoslav turned 2 years old, he suddenly, unexpectedly for me, interested in our drawing. He began to smear paints with such enthusiasm, mix colors, and choose the paper on which he wanted to paint. He began to take out paints himself and spread oilcloth whenever he wanted to paint, sometimes 2-3 times a day. What caused such a dramatic change? Perhaps there is a time for everything.

The child has matured and moved to new stage their more conscious activities.

It was as if he felt the process of drawing. If earlier he was just getting acquainted with the materials - and it looked exactly like this, now he watches with great enthusiasm what comes out from under his brush.

And now my role in this is to move away and not interfere, but only sometimes offer him new materials and stories.

Adults always need to explain everything. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"

Remember why the hero leading the narrative in "" refused " brilliant career artist"? Right - adults did not understand and did not appreciate his boa constrictor from the outside and inside.

If you draw a boa constrictor that swallowed an elephant and it turns out to be a hat, then this article is for you. We invited several experts - professional artists and designers, - to answer questions such as:

Why do some people know how to draw from birth, while others cannot?
why do you need to draw?
is it possible to learn this?
if yes, how to do it?

Interesting? Welcome to the cat!

Painting - talent or skill?

Expert opinion:

Why can some people draw and others cannot? It's like asking why some people are blonde and others are dark. :) Because some things are given to us by nature, and some are not. You can learn, you can hone a skill, improve and persevere, but that’s something else. Initially, the ability to draw is rather a gift...

Elizaveta Ishchenko, art director of the Bufernaya Bay company

In December 1911, the German impressionist Lovis Corinth suffered a stroke. The artist is paralyzed right side bodies. For a while he even stopped drawing - I forgot how.

Modern scientists explain this “metamorphosis” by the fact that the ability to draw directly depends on the functioning of the brain.

So, in 2010, Rebecca Chamberlain and her colleagues from University College London decided to find out why some people draw from birth, while others do not.

It turned out that people who cannot draw see differently from artists. When looking at an object, they misjudge its size, shape, and color. That is why they are unable to accurately transfer a visible object onto paper.

In addition, the predisposition to the visual arts depends on memory. People who do not know how to draw cannot remember, for example, the angle between lines and, accordingly, translate it into a drawing.

Expert opinion:

It seems to me that absolutely everyone draws from childhood. But some are less gifted. Some people just fall in love with drawing, others don't. Those who fall in love later become artists. If, of course, they show hard work and perseverance and if they don’t let everyday worries drown out their love for creativity.

Vrezh Kirakosyan, portrait artist, hero of the column

Justin Ostrofsky and his colleagues from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York share approximately the same opinion as scientists from London. They believe that artists have a more developed visual perception and they better determine which element needs to be drawn and which can be omitted.

Expert opinion:

Actually, this is not such a simple question. Because there is another hidden thing: what does it mean to be able to draw? This is where the dog is buried. This is the main reason for disputes and disagreements. For perfectionists, being able to draw means being able to write to the utmost realistic picture, indistinguishable from a photograph. It is very difficult for such people to learn, because such a skill requires a huge investment of time and effort. It may take more than one year to learn and polish the skill, but the person will still be dissatisfied with himself and will not consider that he knows how to draw. Plus, many people over time forget what the word “learn” means when we're talking about about training the body. Adults believe that learning means reading books and memorizing information. A realistic drawing- This is a practical skill that involves, first of all, the development of the eye. It doesn't happen overnight. At first it doesn’t look very similar, weak, bad. And many find it very difficult to cope with disappointment initial stage. They quit, telling themselves something like: “Nothing will work out anyway” or “I probably don’t have the ability.” And completely in vain. Practice shows that in drawing, quantity inevitably turns into quality. In addition, there are other people who have less subject matter and more imaginative thinking. They are less demanding about the realism of the image; the transfer of state, feelings, and emotions is more important to them. Such people learn more easily, they see their progress, starting from the very first works (of course, a lot here depends on the teacher, on his ability to draw the students’ attention to strengths their work). They end up drawing. They may also be critical of their skills and believe that they don’t know how to draw or don’t know how to draw well enough. But this does not prevent them from being creative, namely in the process creative work and learning occurs. As I already said, quantity turns into quality.

Alexandra Merezhnikova, artist, teacher, author of the “Drawing Together” project

Surprisingly, long before the studies described, artist (and psychologist) Kimon Nicolaides argued that the main problem people who think they can't draw is because they see objects incorrectly. According to the artist, the ability to draw is not a talent, but a skill. Or rather, 5 skills:

vision of the edge;
vision of space;
vision of relationships;
vision of shadow and light;
vision of the whole.

Exercises to develop these skills are outlined in the book The Natural Way to Draw.

There's only one Right way learning to draw is the natural way. It has nothing to do with aesthetics or technique. It is directly related to the accuracy and precision of observations, and by this I mean physical contact with a wide variety of objects through all five senses. Kimon Nikolaidis

Supporters right hemisphere drawing method They also believe that the “secret” lies in the head. But the reason why some people are unable to draw is that in the process artistic creativity they (mistakenly) engage the left, rational, hemisphere of the brain.

The right-brain drawing method was developed by art teacher and PhD Betty Edwards in the late 1970s. Her book The Artist Within You (1979) became a bestseller and was translated into dozens of languages and went through several editions.

Edwards' concept was based on scientific research neuropsychologist, professor of psychobiology, laureate Nobel Prize Roger Sperry.

Dr. Sperry studied "functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres." According to his theory, the left hemisphere of the brain uses analytical and verbal modes of thinking, it is responsible for speech, mathematical calculations,algorithms. The right hemisphere, on the contrary, is “creative”, thinks in images and is responsible for the perception of color, comparison of sizes and perspective of objects. Dr. Edwards called these features “L-mode” and “P-mode.”

For most people, the left hemisphere dominates when processing information. 90% of people who think that they cannot draw continue to “use” the left hemisphere during artistic creativity, instead of turning on “P-mode” and perceiving holistic visual images.

Expert opinion:

There are no absolutely non-drawing people. There are circumstances - parents, teachers, society - that create situations of “failure”. A person simply begins to think too badly about himself. Undoubtedly there are talented people, and everyone else has the opportunity to draw, but the desire is repulsed. People come to my classes who have only dreamed of painting for many years, but the fear was too great. And in class there comes a buzz. No matter how much you run from your dream, it will still overtake you.

Sofia Charina, painting teacher, art club "Pilgrim"

To understand how this works, imagine that you want to draw a chair. You say to yourself: “Let me draw a chair.” Left hemisphere instantly translates the word “chair” into symbols (sticks, squares). As a result, instead of drawing a chair, you draw the geometric shapes that your left hemisphere thinks the chair is made of.

Therefore, the essence of the right-hemisphere drawing method is to temporarily suppress the work of the left hemisphere.

Thus, science leans towards the fact that the ability to draw is a skill that anyone can acquire.

Expert opinion:

All people can draw. Some people just don't know about it yet.
This is how the education system in our world works, which encourages development logical thinking and pays very little attention to intuitive creative development personality. For example, I have classical drawing skills. During classes at the university, we spent 16-20 academic hours drawing just one production, so that everything would be perfect, classical. Then I studied at the British Higher School Design, where my world turned upside down. There were people in the same group studying with me who had picked up a pencil for the first time, and they did it better than me. At first I didn’t understand: how can this be?! I am a designer, I spent so much time in drawing and painting classes, and my fellow students at that time studied mathematics, physics, philosophy, etc. But sometimes their work is more interesting than mine. And only after the first semester of studying at Britanka I realized that everyone can draw! The most important thing is to want it and pick up a pencil or brush.

Ekaterina Kukushkina, designer, teacher

Why is it worth learning to draw?

Now I fully understand why it’s worth continuing and why everyone should try it.

Why is it worth drawing?

Drawing develops cognitive functions

Drawing improves perception, visual memory, fine motor skills. It helps you look at things deeper and study subjects comprehensively.

Expert opinion:

Drawing helps you look at the world with different, new eyes, and you begin to love nature, people and animals even more. You begin to appreciate everything even more! The very process of drawing evokes incredible, delightful emotions. A person becomes spiritually enriched and grows above himself, develops and reveals his hidden abilities. You need to draw to be happy and to give the world goodness and beauty.

Vrezh Kirakosyan

Drawing - way of self-expression

By drawing, a person reveals his personal potential. Painting - it is a dialogue between the inner “I” and the world.

Expert opinion:

Drawing gives something different to every person. Some people find peace and relaxation in this process, while others find a buzz and lift their spirits. For others, it is the meaning of life. I am currently studying art therapy for children and adults. We can safely say that drawing helps solve many psychological issues: increase self-esteem, remove tension in relationships (family or work), get rid of fears, etc. For example, there is a Mandala method - drawing in a circle (it is also called a healing circle ). I tested it on myself - it works! Drawing is an unconscious process and it is always a connection with your “I”, with your potential, which is inherent in every person from birth. My advice: draw as much and often as possible, learn new facets of your life, fill every day with creativity!

Ekaterina Kukushkina

Drawing improves self-esteem

By drawing, a person becomes more confident in himself. The fear of showing your work and being misunderstood is inevitable. Every artist goes through it. But over time, one develops “immunity” to unfair criticism.

Expert opinion:

I draw simply because I like it. Someone draws for sale (here you can express the answer to the question “Why?” in a general equivalent). But the feeling of pleasure cannot be weighed or measured. I once asked this question on my website, one of the answers stuck with me: “I draw in order to be happy.” And it is clear that everyone has their own happiness. Some people are happy when they dance, others when they ski down the mountain. Someone - when they draw. But the pleasure in the process comes when it works, and if you study, it may not work out right away. However, if you overcome difficulties, then wings grow. I won’t say that this is forever, there are failures and disappointments. But the joy of what comes out is worth the effort.

Alexandra Merezhnikova

Drawing as a way of meditation

Many people compare drawing to meditation. Artistic creativity allows you to relax, to enter into. Artists note that when they paint, they “disconnect” from outside world, there is no place in my head for everyday thoughts.

Expert opinion:

Drawing is self-expression, a different reality. It is very difficult to describe the sensations in words. Every person who comes to me has their own story. Sometimes it is tragic, sometimes joyful, but most importantly, they found the strength to come. Oddly enough, the most difficult thing is not to learn to draw, but to come, start, get out of your comfort zone.

Sofia Charina

Drawing is fun

This is one of the most fun things to do. When a city or, for example, a forest “comes to life” on a white piece of paper, you experience genuine pleasure.

Expert opinion:

Drawing is a pleasure. This is self-expression. This is a release of emotions and calms the nerves. Sometimes you walk down the street, and the light is so beautiful, and the lilacs are blooming, and the houses are lined up so beautifully... And you think: “Oh, I wish I could sit here now and draw all this beauty!” And it feels good right away...

Elizaveta Ishchenko

How to learn to draw?

We asked our experts, is it possible to learn to draw? They unanimously answered: “Yes!”

Every artist you can remember learned their craft at some point. No one great artist I wasn’t like that at 5 or 10 years old, everyone had to learn. Alexandra Merezhnikova

At the same time, Ekaterina Kukushkina and Sofya Charina noted that you can learn to draw at any age, the main thing is - desire or, as Vrezh Kirakosyan said, “the love of drawing.”

It's all about desire. There are plenty of tools and methods now. Learn to be healthy! The main thing is desire and perseverance. Elizaveta Ishchenko

So, anyone can learn to draw. But how? We addressed the question of which teaching methods to choose to our experts.

Elizaveta Ishchenko advised to master the academic school and study with a teacher:

I'm a supporter academic school- sketches, settings, proportions... It seems to me that we need to start with the basics. Not with the video “How to draw a character from the movie “X-Men” in a ski suit in 2 hours,” but with the concept of shapes, geometric shapes and light.

On the contrary, Vrezh Kirakosyan considers video tutorials very useful:

There's nothing better than watching art tutorials. There is a lot of material of this kind on the Internet: from the basics to serious work.

The general recommendations are simple. To learn to sew, you need to sew, to learn to drive, to drive a car, to learn to cook, to cook. It’s the same with drawing: to learn how to draw, you need to draw. It is better to study with a teacher who can show, suggest, praise something - this is very important! But you can do it yourself. If we talk about tutorials, I liked the book “The Art of Drawing” by Bert Dodson; he gives a fairly comprehensive and flexible methodology. But, of course, everything is individual, and his method may not be suitable for some. Now the choice is quite large, you can find something that you personally like.

Draw from life - advice from Sofia Charina. This seems quite correct, given Rebecca Chamberlain's research.

For beginners it is very important to work from life. A teacher who can point you in the right direction is also indispensable. Otherwise, the process will be longer and with errors. Work done from a picture is not useful. The fact is that two-dimensional media (photos, pictures) do not fully reflect the shape of objects, and this is very important. A person, in fact, does not feel it.

Ekaterina Kukushkina, based on her experience, gave the following recommendations:

Keep a notebook and draw at least one picture a day.
This is how a person develops attention and imagination. Every day he looks for new objects to sketch or comes up with something of his own, thus improving his skills and forming a creative view of the world.
Go to a couple of group art classes - the atmosphere is amazing.
IN free time go to exhibitions.
Monitor drawing information on the Internet. Find like-minded artists, illustrators, and designers.
Study the work of famous artists.

But no need to repeat after someone! Always remember that you are unique and inimitable, your style and handwriting are you! A person who boldly expresses his style will always stand out from the crowd.

In addition, Ekaterina advises trying to draw in different techniques.

As many different drawing techniques as possible (watercolor, gouache, applied drawing, ink, pencil, plasticine, collage, etc.). It is best to draw the simplest things: fruits, dishes, interior items, etc. After a person tries several techniques, he can choose the one that he likes best and start working in it.

Applications

Anything to add? Do you have experience teaching drawing? Do you know any cool websites or apps for aspiring artists? Write comments!

I am pleased to present to you an improved and expanded manual abouthow to learn to draw. I hope that it will cover most of the questions that I am regularly asked in the VKontakte group. For example, such as:

where should I start learning to draw if I have never drawn?
How can I learn to draw people?
how to learn to draw on a computer?
What drawing books are worth studying?
How can I learn to paint with acrylic, oil, pastel, and other materials?

I have collected the most useful tips from artists from the site www.quora.com , and it turned out great step by step guide , thanks to which no one will be able to hide behind excuses like “I don’t know where to start, I can’t do it, I’m mediocre, etc.”, believe me,
you will finally find out how to learn to drawb!

Just follow this manual step by step and dedicate enough time to practice, and you can come from this drawing level

to that

Some lyrics

Drawingis a skill that develops with practice. You're not alone when you think you're terrible at drawing! All great artists started by drawing stick figures like this:

The reason they moved on from these so-called "stick figures"to something much greater, is that they had insatiable desire to draw getting better and better with every new touch of pencil to paper. This desire separated them from the rest, and this the only reason which is why they became successful.

First of all, the fact that you decided to dedicate your time to improving your drawing skills is already a great achievement. Why you ask? This is really important because in art and creativity there must be passion, interest, curiosity and dedication, without which the learning process will not be as effective.

So in your case, the biggest obstacle is already behind you and you can start drawing by observing the things around you! That's how simple it is!

The following steps that I am going to suggest should help you gain the drawing skills you want and will also show you the path that you will have to go through to become an artist.

But before you blindly follow the path below, always remember that you are free to choose your own unique path—the path that is right for you. The real challenge is to practice regularly with the intention of learning., so it doesn’t matter where you start your drawing journey.

note that each step mentioned below may take weeks, months or even years to achieve perfection in it. It all depends on how much you really want to improve your skills and how much effort you are willing to put in.

There is plenty of material available online for each step below, including YouTube. I recommend checking various sources, studying different styles and practice the style that suits you best.

Let's start!

Step 1. Learning simple shapes

First, take a paper and pencil (or pen), sit in a comfortable position, clear your mind of thoughts and just focus on the task at hand.

Now try creating a simple form. For example, draw a circle and then continue to practice it.

Try to draw a perfect circle every time. If you really take this task seriously, it could take us several days or even months. Draw smooth circle using only your hands is more difficult than you imagine.

Just start drawing circles and keep practicing these circles until you reach a stage where you can draw a perfect circle without using any assistive tools.

Your attempts will start with something like this:

After regular practice, your hand-eye coordination will improve and you will begin to draw better:

It's pretty good result. Now move on!

The same way, start working with others basic figures , such as triangle, square, cube, octagon, etc.

This should keep you busy for a while again. Remember, this is a herculean task if your first drawing was the circle from this tutorial.

But after you devote some amount of time (say 6 months or one year), once you go through this rigorous exercise, and once you become a champion in drawing any of simple figures if desired, another interesting facet will appear.

At this point there are two approaches you can follow:

Approach 1 - self-learning

You can learn to draw on your own using free online articles, YouTube videos, books and tutorials.

Easiest to digest drawing lessons for beginners I'm reading Mark Kistler's lessons from the book.

After completing all the lessons, you will achieve significant success. However, although the author stated a period of 1 month, I would advise you to take your time and devote at least 1-2 hours to each lesson, completing all the practical exercises.

Approach 2 - Enroll in an art school or online course

If you don’t like self-study, then I advise you to sign up for paid courses, where they will tell you everything in detail and show you, and also force you to work practically.

The highest quality and most interesting I consider courses and master classes at Veronica Kalacheva’s drawing school.

This school offers both in-studio and online training. There are also useful free materials , which .

This school often hosts free webinars or lessons are opened for study for a while.

Register so you don't miss them!

Veronica Kalacheva's drawing school

Another site with paid but cheaper drawing courses that I like is arttsapko.ru. You can also take some courses for free on this site. There are one-time classes that take place in Moscow.

arttsapko drawing school

Further advice will be more suitable for those who chose the first approach and decided to study visual arts on one's own. But yours creative path may contain both approaches.

Step 2: Shadows and Shades

Now that you know how to draw simple shapes perfectly, let's Let's start shading these shapes.

I will continue with the example of a circle.

So, yours first attempt at circle shading, without understanding how to do it correctly, would look something like this:

Notice that even though your image didn't turn out to be very realistic, you were already subconsciously aware of the imaginary light source and placed it in the upper left corner and, given this source, you drew a shadow on opposite side in the lower right corner.

That is, in order to shade objects you need common sense and nothing more.

Now continue practicing shading. It may take several months before you get something like this:

Now this circle looks like a volumetric sphere.

Next, you need to show that the sphere is not dangling in the air, but is on some surface, and you will begin to depict the shadows that the object casts on other surfaces. In this case, the drawing should already look something like this:

Always remember one simple rule, which has been demonstrated in the figure below:

Also, continue to practice shading and other shapes you've learned.

As you practice, notice how the shades vary depending on the availability of light. Look at the tonal scale with shading from light to dark below. You can use it as a guide when you draw a figure.

Keep practicing. It's an endless process!

Step 3. Perspective

The basic law of perspective says:when an object is closer it looks larger and if it needs to be shown further away it will need to be drawn smaller. If you understand this, you understand the basic law of perspective.

Now let's look at the so-calledvanishing point.

I will explain this concept using the example of a cube.

When we draw a cube, why do the length and width of that cube taper towards the end or slope inward on the paper? Look at this picture below for reference and ask yourself why is this happening?

As you can see, the ribs taper both to the right and to the left, as if they are going into the inside of a sheet of paper. This is what gives the cube the illusion of “3D” on two-dimensional paper. And this is possible, based on the basics of perspective and such a concept asvanishing point.

Now let's look at the same cube again.

In the cube, we took the vanishing point somewhere far from our eyes to the right and left of the cube. This is why the sides are tapered towards the inside of the paper on the right and left. The figure below clearly shows how the edges of a cube, if extended, will converge at one point on both sides. These two points are called vanishing points:

Now look at the green dot in the following cube drawing:

This green dot is alsovanishing point.

Imagine what a cube would look like without this vanishing point concept. It will look more like a square in 2-D.When we draw a cube, we should always remember the vanishing point, since it is this that gives us the opportunity to depict a three-dimensional figure.

So, I hope that the concept of a vanishing point has become more clear to you, because for anyone good drawing, which is drawn taking into account the space and distance between each object, the vanishing point concept should be followed by default.

Here are some more examples of the vanishing point concept for your understanding.

Top view (or bird's eye view):

Linear perspective (landscape):

View with many vanishing points (any real scene):

Thus, as depicted in the third example, in real scenes there are usually several vanishing points, and these points give the drawing the desired depth or 3-D effect, and a sense of space that separates it from 2-D.

Too difficult? Just don't panic now, okay? At this stage, it is enough just to understand the concept of a vanishing point. Just try to show the vanishing point in your drawings without any drawings or measurements.

This "step 3" was just a prerequisite for learning the laws of perspective, just to make you aware of its importance in drawing. Mark Kistler's "Learn to Draw in 30 Days" course has several step by step lessons to build perspective, you can start with them.

Step 4. Draw complex shapes

Now using your confidence in drawing and shading simple shapes, as well as knowledge of the shadow effect and vanishing point, proceed to next level, that is, to drawing various complex shapes.

The rules of the game remain the same:

Keep practicing.
Observe the nuances.
Try to surpass yourself every time and not repeat previous mistakes.

So first, how about an egg? It's not that different from a circle, right?

Let's just get started. Practice until you get it perfect!

Okay, it looks like an egg. Now try different fruits. For example, strawberries.

Great! These are really good strawberries. And look at this detail.The strawberry in the last picture looks quite difficult to draw, but we already have experience with shading from “step 3”. This is the same thing, only at the micro level. Believe in yourself and everything will work out!

The same way, continue drawing different random shapes with shading. Place shadows on these drawings, taking into account effects such as reflection, refraction, transparency, etc. And just keep practicing.

There are many around various items. Learn to draw what you see. This is one of the most important steps to becoming a professional artist. Don't worry if you don't do it very well at first. Sometimes when you start drawing what you see, the beginning of the sketch can look pretty terrible, but the end result can be amazing. So start doing it!

Try drawing two random objects a day. The drawing must be complete: drawing + shading + drop shadow + any other special effect.

Something like below:

Just repeat this process every day. You are on the right track!

Step 5. Draw living creatures

Since we now know how to draw and shade various objects with relative accuracy, it's time to draw moving objects and living organisms. Now it is necessary to include the movement of objects, their pose and facial expressions in the drawing, this is a real challenge!

Most main advice- keep your eyes and mind wide open. You have to watch everything around you.

So observe all the nuances - people walking, a bird flying, a dog's posture, etc. And, when possible, create quick sketch this specific position, movement, expression, etc. And work on the details later in your free time.

You should end up with something like this:

This is a quick sketch that can be completed in minutes. Go to a park or cafe and just sketch the people you come across. In this case, the main thing is not quality, but quantity. You need to see and convey the subject's pose.

Study anatomy.Yes, anatomy is the same as in biology class. You need to study the bones of the skeleton and the location of the muscles. This may seem weird and creepy, but on the other hand, it means you can draw a skeleton and skull for Halloween decorations :) This will also help in learning human proportions and body movements. The same goes for animals - read books on animal anatomy. Almost all art books on drawing animals will have an anatomy section.

Try starting with my article:

Then try to quickly draw a few different expressions faces:

Observe and remember the differences between facial lines. Later, keep adding shadows and make them look even more realistic, like this:

Do the same with trees, flowers, animals, birds, etc.

Now that you know quite a bit, using your acquired skills you should be able to draw something like this:

Persistence, difficulty and pain will then lead you here:

And in the case of people (a little better or worse):

Now it's time to pause and take a look at the image below, this beautiful woman. She really looks very beautiful, doesn't she?

And if you ask yourself, can you be confident enough to draw her as beautiful as she is? Chances are the answer is a big “No,” right? If so, then you still have some way to go!

So your drawing is still in its infancy and there is a lot of room for improvement.For example, you will have to work on detailing the human eye and its movement, human hair, its shine, etc. I think you understand what I'm trying to say, don't you?

So basically, at this stage, you have to surround yourself with these challenges all the time in order to move forward and not get stuck in the middle.No one will help you with this except yourself!

Step 6. Trying different tools and materials

It's great if you can draw with a pencil, but it will be much more interesting and useful if you also learn how to use ink, paint, markers, pastels, etc. You should try different materials , if only because you may come across something that you especially like. Add color to your sketches!

Of course, art supplies are not cheap now, so you shouldn’t buy professional materials right away, in case you don’t like them and want something else? For starters, tools from the mid-price category will be enough. Now there is a very large selection of inexpensive art materials can be found at AliExpress.

Don't use fancy art boards or moleskines. Buy a large notebook or album with white sheets. Your goal is to make as many sketches as quickly as possible without worrying about wasting expensive paper.

Also, if you decide to try yourself in digital art, you don’t have to immediately take up licensed Photoshop, when you can start with free editors, for example MyPaint, SAI, GIMP.

Author: TsaoShin

Step 7. Landscapes

Now put everything together. You must start drawing landscapes with people, plants and many animals. In this step you will have an excellent opportunity to practice your knowledge laws of perspective.

To start, you can try drawing panoramas, such as the view from your window.Try to first draw landscapes more “roughly”, for example like this:

After that, detail the objects.

After extensive training, your drawings will look something like this:

Step 8. Draw from imagination

Start with something simple, like an apple. Simply move your pencil onto the paper, only imagining that you are drawing an apple before you draw it. Then do a quick preliminary sketch to get its shape and the shape of its shadow in proportion to the page. Then start shading and detailing.

Then try to draw something more complex, for example, flowers, trees, a glass, a pen, etc. Each time try to choose more difficult objects. At this point I can give no further advice other than Practice regularly.

Step 9. Forming your own style

Now you know everything. At least enough to start developing your own artistic style.Your style should be unique, and you must continue to develop it with intense practice.

Please note that I can't add anything more to this step because I don't know what your own unique style will be. I can only advise

The internet is full of resources to help you with inspiration and ideas, such as Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube. I recommend checking these sources regularly, learning about different styles, and practicing the style that suits you best.

Step 10. Getting better

This step is about refining to the point where your drawing is indistinguishable from a photograph or real image. Of course, it is optional. But if you still If you want to develop your skills to drawing in the style of hyperrealism, this will also require a lot of practice.

While drawings that are indistinguishable from photographs are signs of the amazing skill of the artists who put in a lot of effort, there are equal examples of stunning work that Not look like the photos. So you should also keep this in mind.

Here is an example of a hyperrealistic drawing:

Sensazioni, author: Diego Coy

Step 11. Practice, practice, practice.

Artistic skills don't come with fancy sketches and pencils. This comes with practice. It is believed that in order to become a professional in your field, you need to devote a certain amount of time to it - from 2000 to 10,000 hours!

Every time, when you have free time, sit down and draw something, or practice your shading, tone, etc. There are so many things to master - you always need to practice. Draw easy objects and complex ones. Draw people in detail or rough lines. Master everything as much as you can, constantly improve your skills.

Moreover, it is desirable that practice be accompanied by feedback. It’s just imperative that these viewers tell you the truth, so mom and dad are not suitable for this role.Alternatively, you can post your work in some art community or forum. Ours could serve as such a place.

How to cope with internal anxiety? How do we depict this anxiety if we pick up a brush and start painting? If we paint our fears, the picture always turns out ambiguous and sometimes frightening. Our inner world full of fears, anxieties and complexes, and the ability to sublimate this energy gives a feeling of liberation from negativity.

Drawing by Katie, 4.5 years old. "The sun is at home"

If you feel frequently anxious, in a bad mood, or simply tired, I suggest you discover amazing world visual arts. Drawing as a hobby gives you the opportunity to look into your subconscious and interpret your true feelings.

For example, your boss has just spoiled your mood, try taking markers or pencils and choose the color that you think will best reflect your internal state, and draw any picture that came into your head as an image. All negative emotions you transfer it to paper, freeing yourself from worries. After this, hide your drawing for several days. Over time, when you look at it again, you will be surprised how accurately it reflected your feelings and attitude towards the situation that happened.

Many people think that they don’t know how to draw, so they don’t like to do it, they don’t strive to develop this skill. But the drawing itself is an image of your thoughts, consciousness, an imprint of your feelings, so that you don’t draw a still life, a landscape, or just an arbitrary picture.

Drawing as a hobby helps to discharge internal tonic excitation, conducting it through the motor skills of the hands, releasing unnecessary energies and negative emotions. If for some reason you cannot express your grievances, anger, indignation, or maybe joy or other emotions, then paper and pencil will be your helpers. Of course, such spontaneous activities can turn into a passion, a hobby, and you will already want to take a pastel drawing lesson for beginners or study drawing techniques from manuals.

Nowadays they write and talk a lot about the benefits of children’s drawings as a way to recognize the presence of problems in a child’s family and the state of his psychological health. Therefore, there are many Art therapies according to different directions, this type of therapy is especially effective for children with limited opportunities, and their inner world is very rich and interesting to study.

You can draw not only with your fingers, but also with your palm. It will be fun and interesting for the baby to see the size of his fingers and compare them with mom or dad's fingers.

For older children it will be interesting to try drawing wax crayons or watercolors, you can try painting with colored candles.

There are many more ways to show your talent through drawing, for example, painting with sand; drawings using blotography or plasticineography look cool.

Drawing as a hobby has a beneficial effect on general mood, develops imagination in children. For adults, this is a way to relieve tension, get rid of bad mood and just have fun.

Do you like to draw? And when did you draw last time? Many years ago? In childhood? And if you liked it, then why don’t you draw now? No time? This is not serious? Or are you thinking: “What’s the point in this, since I’ve been out of business for a long time? childhood and not professional artist. I already have a lot of things to do every day - there’s no time to rest, so why bother with some kind of drawing.”. And further down the list.

Why is drawing useful?

If your thoughts are moving in this direction, spend five minutes on this page. And even if immediately after reading the article you don’t rush to the nearest store for paints and brushes, you can at least show off your erudition on occasion (I’m on board). So why is drawing useful and why should you learn to draw? Find out now.

Drawing is a reliable defense against everyday stress

If we are forced to think about everything at once, regularly check our diary or look at our smartphone so as not to miss something important that is planned, our attention jumps from one object to another, because everything needs to be done in time. But no one has yet succeeded in grasping the immensity. What about drawing?

Here everything is tied to focusing on one object - the picture. Full immersion into the process - and then the opportunity to leisurely examine the result.

In the daily whirlwind, not everyone will allow themselves to do this. And if laziness or lack of interest in interesting activities, then he won’t want to.

When we become obsessed with ourselves (oh, what a Difficult life; oh, what constant problems I have; oh, I’m so tired), then drawing will show the world in other colors and will help you perceive life, focusing on the entire spectrum of colors. You will finally be able to notice frost on tree branches, or marvel at the colors of a summer sunset, or the picturesque view of a local pond.

Developing such a vision of space with its colors, shapes, distance is useful, at least in order to reduce stress levels. After all, focusing on the process visual arts, we switch from the mode of daily problems and worries to the mode of relaxation, pleasure and visible results.

Drawing is an opportunity to recharge your batteries, have a great mood, and experience amazing sensations.

We are used to spending hours looking at TV screens, tablets, laptops, and smartphones. We've been swallowed up virtual world. But by passing a brush over the paper on which the paint leaves color, we truly feel this world, we not only see, but also feel tactilely. We are completely immersed in the activity, and we are surprised to realize how much we enjoy it all! Some say that they finally experienced feelings “like in childhood.”

We create everything ourselves - from the untouched white sheet to our result, although not ideal, like an electronic picture, but alive, real. This result may not happen immediately, and may require alterations and improvements - but the effect is amazing. And the picture in our hands is completely ours. It was created by our hands.

The world around us slows down and we enter a state of creative flow. At the same time, minutes or even hours with a brush or pencil in your hand fly by unnoticed.

We experience pleasant or even exciting feelings of freedom, joy, and enjoy the action of mixing colors or shading. And even a feeling of happiness arises. If before drawing the mood was “so-so,” then during the process it changes noticeably in better side. We are surprised (and then without surprise) to feel a surge of strength, even if we felt tired before drawing.

Drawing is the way to yourself

By drawing, we disconnect from worries; creating a picture immerses us in another world. We don’t notice anything extraneous; the center of gravity is our picture. We feel like we were in childhood - we are creators, we feel good, we like both the process and the result. And this process is truly exciting. Everything is in our hands: the choice of colors, color brightness, etc., what we will paint.

We are creators and decide what and how to do. And how many! Drawing gives us the opportunity to experiment, to see from different angles; it teaches us to notice the little things in life, to be aware, to listen to ourselves - and these skills eventually transfer into everyday life.

Drawing is like a game, a test of strength, an opportunity for self-expression, a way of creative self-development. There is something childlike and spontaneous in the process of drawing. Allow yourself to pamper your inner child - you will look and feel younger. By the way, watch this video “6 reasons to start drawing from the point of view modern science", it will only take you 5 minutes.

If the benefits of drawing are so tangible, then why don’t we still draw?

We justify ourselves by being endlessly busy with more “important” things. Many people live by the principle: “How to do 100 million urgent things in a day and not go crazy.” With such a rhythm of life, by the evening you won’t forget your name! And, naturally, there is no time for your desires and creativity. Unfortunately.
We are afraid that we won’t succeed, even if we want to draw. If in early years we were criticized or generally mocked for our perhaps inept attempts to express ourselves on paper, or, worst of all, they declared that we had no artistic talent - it all settles in the depths of the psyche and is transformed into our own beliefs.
We are afraid that others will find out about our “frivolous” painting and will think that we are frivolous, just like children.
We unconsciously fear what we may discover in the depths of our “I”. If we uncover a layer of something like that, suddenly something in our life will turn upside down, making us feel, see, realize, think differently. We are afraid to see our real selves.

How to start drawing?

If you still doubt that drawing is useful or just the idea that you can draw regularly, enjoy both the process and the result, seems unrealistic, or are simply afraid to start - take three steps towards a most exciting activity.

In order for drawing to be beneficial, classes should become regular, ideally daily. The most interesting thing is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time on this - see point 2. Let everything happen naturally: if you have time and desire - draw for an hour, if you don’t have enough time - allow yourself 15 minutes. Even if you draw 15 minutes a day, but regularly, your skills will develop quickly, and you will appreciate the effectiveness of artistic creativity as a way to cope with daily stress and fatigue.

Start small. First, select a drawing format, for example, A6 or A5. When you get comfortable in this space, there will be more time, the mood will be appropriate - you can increase the format. It doesn’t take too much time to create a small picture, but you can gain experience quite quickly. A small sheet of paper helps you overcome the fear of failure and start experimenting with materials, colors, ways of drawing and conveying objects, working through ideas, and finding something of your own.

Make mistakes. Immediately understand and accept that not every painting you make will be a masterpiece. And that's okay! And if something doesn’t turn out the way you expected, oddly enough, this also has its own “plus”. It’s just that the more mistakes you allow yourself to make, the faster your skills will develop and, ultimately, the better the result. You saw mistakes in your work, drew conclusions - next time you will reach a different level of skill. Once you start drawing, you will see for yourself how much joy and delight a small picture drawn with your own hands can bring.

I want to draw!

I started drawing in 2015. And since then I haven’t been able to stop. My favorite paint so far is gouache. I so wanted other people to also experience the magical effect of drawing that I began to involve my relatives in this activity. My mother resisted at first, saying that she couldn’t do it. You should see her now! Every Tuesday our friendly family art club draws another masterpiece. But this one.

If you want to draw, but don't know where to start, find a suitable assistant ! Find your direction, take action, enjoy the process, be happy with the result! Feel how bright life is and how many interesting things there are in it. You just have to want to see it.

If you liked this article and found it useful, do a good deed and click on the buttons social networks below. Thank you!

With wishes of inspiration,

Natalya Reutova.