It is a common misperception that in order to be good at drawing, you must be blessed with some unique “talent”.This is simply not true. While it is true that some people are born with great talent or pick up artistic skills easily, everyone is born with the ability to draw. The main thing when learning how to draw, is to develop what skill you do have to the highest level possible.

The drawing tips below might be just what you need in your mission to develop your drawing skills. Give some of these a try:

• Get inspiration by browsing other people’s drawings at places like art.com. Other people’s work can often spark your own ideas.

• Keep a sketch book with you at all times. Jot down interesting things to draw, or even ideas that spring to mind. This way you can return later and it is not forgotten.

• Keep a tidy portfolio of everything you draw and don’t throw any drawings away.. This is good for monitoring your drawing progress over time.

• “Draw exactly what you see” is one of the most common drawing tips. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But it’s not as easy as you think! Drawing things upside down awakens the right side of your brain, and is a good method for forcing you to draw what you see.

• Avoid continually looking at your drawing. Focus mainly on the subject and draw what you see, with only occasional glances at your drawing. This stops you constantly judging and being over-critical view of your drawing.

• “Negative drawing” teaches you how to clearly see the “white” (or “negative”) space in your drawing. You subject is the “positive” space, and the area surrounding your subject is the “negative” space. With negative drawing you draw in the shapes that surround the positive part of your drawing, instead of drawing out the positive space with line.

• Get a new perspective on your drawing by turning your back and holding up a mirror. Viewing your drawing through the mirror in this way can highlight structural mistakes more easily.

• Try not to make your finished drawing too mechanical. Avoid keeping inside the basic lines of your initial sketch. Try to put life into your drawing by not restricting the boundaries of your finished drawing to those basic first lines.

• You can create depth in your drawings by using thin lines for objects far away and on the horizon, and thicker lines for objects that are closer or in the foreground.

• Don’t forget to warm up, just like an athlete warms up before a race. Begin to draw with your elbow raised, drawing from the shoulder. Draw some fast circles, ovals and straight lines. Draw some arcs, using your wrist as a pivot point like a compass.

The key to learning how to draw well is quite simply….”practice”. And more practice. And more practice! There really is no shortcut. And don’t forget, drawing is not a talent you are born with, but a technical skill you can develop by working diligently and gradually improving, similar to any other skill in life.

All the best – we are sure you will find learning how to draw rewarding and stimulating!