DRAWING

One Step To Enjoying Drawing

If you're thinking of picking up drawing as a hobby, the first thing you need to do is take all those art books you got and put them away for now. You'll be ready for them later, but for now, it's all about having fun.

If you want to learn how to draw, follow this quick guide...

Grab Some Paper and a Pencil

There, now you know how to draw.

Okay, you're not Leonardo da Vinci just yet, but unless you're hoping to do this professionally some day, the only thing you need to worry about for now is having fun. There's a certain freedom, a joy to drawing that can be hard to find again after you've been to dozens of classes and learned all the rules, and it becomes not just a way to express yourself, but an art with simply too many rules. The more you learn about it, the more restrictive it gets, and this causes some artists to just lose interest entirely.

These rules don't have to ruin the fun of the act, the feeling of freedom it gives you, but you need to learn them at your own pace.

The best way to get better at it is to just keep drawing. You'll develop your own style with your own sensibilities. Draw whatever you want to draw, however you want to draw it.

When you think you're ready to start learning a bit more, study those art books before signing up for courses or anything. They don't teach you how to draw at the community college, they only teach you how to improve the skills you already have, so know how it's done beforehand and you'll be ready.

But most importantly, do everything as you please. As the comic artist Robert Crumb once said: It's just lines on paper, folks.

There's really no mystery to it, and there's no reason that a sketch by an untrained artist has to be worth less to the viewer than an sketch created by someone who's taken lessons. If you're not having fun, it's just not worth it, so learn at your own pace and don't worry that maybe your stuff isn't the best. If you enjoy drawing, there are no rules saying that you have to become a pro or that your drawing isn't as worthwhile as anyone else's. Just do it because you enjoy it.