Hi everyone!
I am back this week with a new video, and this is very special because this video is
sponsored by Skillshare.
So I want to thank Ethan over at Skillshare for reaching out to me about this opportunity.
I’m sure you guys have heard of Skillshare or the videos by other YouTubers, this is
definitely one of them, but if you don’t know what Skillshare is, it is an online learning
community for creatives taught by creatives.
That means, you can take a class, or participate in class projects, or you can also teach your
very own class.
And they have a variety of online classes that ranges from teaching drawing techniques
to teaching business and marketing techniques.
So this video is basically a compilation and kind of a teaser of what you can learn from
Skillshare by signing up for their online classes.
So you can sign up for free and get access to the free classes available, but those are
limited.
If you want to be able to access all of their classes you can go premium for $10 so that
starting price is $10 USD per month, or you can use the link or code in the description
box below to get 2 months free.
So in this video I will talk about 5 drawing exercises or activities that you can do in
your sketchbook to help improve your drawing skills.
And I will also list down the relevant classes that I found helpful for this video, which
I hope you will also find helpful.
And the main thing that I hope you take away from this video is that drawing from references
and drawing regularly are really important practices to help improve your drawing skills.
I know that’s like an overused advice, but there’s a reason for that.
So set yourself a challenge of drawing from life because this helps practice your technical
skills, which will allow you to draw a variety of things, from people, to animals, to places.
So grab your sketchbook and the art materials you want to use and we’ll start drawing.
If you don’t know what to draw, simply grab a random object near you draw that.
So let’s get started with the activities!
Start by simplifying the object into basic shapes
This activity trains our eyes to see objects into basic shapes, because that will help
us approach drawing an object that we’ve never drawn before.
Since shapes are something we learn from a very young age, they are simple and straightforward;
it makes sense to kind of start there.
And if you are intimidated in starting this activity, you can take a picture of the object
and print it out.
Then draw the shapes you see on top of the printed image.
And once you become more confident, then you can look at the object in front of you and
instantly tell what shapes make up the drawing, and then you’ll also be able to draw it
down on the paper.
A good class that you can watch on Skillshare that explores this simple concept in depth
is a class by Yasmina Creates called “You Can Draw Anything!
In 3 Simple Steps”.
So I would recommend watching that and it is linked in the description box.
Draw the negative spaces
This activity trains our eyes to see complex shapes – shapes that don’t have names.
And because they don’t have names, we also don’t have any preconceived ideas of how
these are meant to look like, and therefore that will help us draw the object in front
of us more accurately.
But of course, the first try of this won’t be our best, but that’s alright.
What I learnt from the classes if that if we have these preconceived ideas of how this
bear for example looks like, then we end up drawing what we see in our head instead of
what we see in front of us.
This is honestly something that I still struggle with, but I found that drawing negative spaces
help me focus on the individual lines instead of the object as a whole.
And that is why it’s included in this list.
Draw without looking at the paper
Now this is a fun activity that once again helps us really look at the object, and focus
on the object, and focus on what we see.
And because we’re not looking at the paper, there’s less pressure for whether or not
the drawing looks right.
But the aim in this one is not to create an accurate drawing but to capture the lines
and shapes the way we see it.
Draw in one continuous line
So this is another fun activity and it makes us think about the marks we create on the
page more carefully.
And it’s also a great exercise for observation because it helps us see the relationships
of the individual lines and shapes, how they interact with each other that pretty much
ends up creating the object.
Another good class that also explores this in depth is by Mandar Marathe – I don’t
know if I’m pronouncing that right – called “Practice and improve your drawing skill:
5 unique exercises”.
And he talks about more exercises that you can do, not just this one.
And then there’s another five more that he talks about in a separate class, which
you can also use for all of these activities that are mentioned in this video.
And what’s really great is that these exercises can all work together, and you can combine
all of them to really advance your drawing techniques.
Lastly, set a time limit
Draw for 5 minutes, 1 minute or 30 seconds.
It’s up to you.
This really helps us immediately pinpoint the dominant shapes of the object.
So we sometimes get distracted by the details because we want to achieve accuracy – which
isn’t a bad thing – but it’s nice to be reminded that the object wouldn’t be
recognisable without the dominant basic shapes.
So for example in 30 seconds, aim to achieve a drawing that can be recognised as the object
right in front of you.
And yeah!
These are the activities that you can practice in your sketchbook.
And what’s really cool is that you can also combine some of them together to make it more
interesting or challenging.
So for example, maybe you can draw without looking at the paper, and you only have to
draw in 30 seconds.
Or you can also drawing the object without looking at the paper, and you have to drawing
a continuous line and you have to draw in 30 seconds.
So yeah!
Hopefully this will help you draw a variety of things from people, buildings, landscapes,
animals, cars, and etcetera.
And hopefully you will no longer feel intimidated by drawing new things because when you have
a solid foundation in your technical drawing skills, it’s a lot easier to approach new
subject matter.
And really seeing things in shapes and lines is a great ability to have as an artist, because
it helps with our observations, which then helps with our drawings.
And so I hope you found this helpful.
And I hope that you also consider Skillshare as another useful learning resource to help
you with your creative growth.
Once again you can get two months free of unlimited classes by clicking the link or
using the code in the description box.
That is it!
I hope you enjoyed this video.
Don’t forget to like and share this video.
You can also subscribe for more videos, and check out my links in the description box.
And if you want to be the first to see my future videos, simply click the bell button
to receive a notification.
And yeah!
Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next one!