Beginner Drawing Lessons: The next steps on the Artist’s Journey

What classes should a beginner artist take?

In this article, we will explore the various types of classes that are best for beginners and how to research them.

YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have a ton of lessons that cover all types of art: pastels, oil painting, charcoal, portrait, landscape, and figure drawing.

Maybe you are excited by all the options and want to learn it all.

Or maybe, like most beginners, you are overwhelmed and intimidated by all the options.

Realistic portraits, seascapes, landscapes, can be hard to draw… no doubt. Those subjects require lots of practice and patience mastering. So a beginner wonders what are the appropriate steps to take.

Naturally, after studying the fundamentals, a beginner wants to advance and sign up for specific classes like human figure drawing and portraits. But unfortunately, those courses can be challenging even for intermediate artists. The first attempts usually render poor results and that’s when beginners quit and say

“I do not have talent”

A beginner may not have the skills to draw like the pros. But don’t get discouraged. Drawing takes time to master.

The pros have been drawing for years and have built up their skills. The drawings that you see them doing are the ones that worked. Believe me if you saw their sketch books and earlier drawings you’d be surprised by the lack of quality. Experts say that it over 10,000 hours of practice to render a good drawing. 10,000 hours!!

My personal experience has taught me, as long as the passion is there the skills will come with a little work and a lot of practice

A great place to start is to draw what you love. What got you interested in art and drawing in the first place?

  • Cartoons
  • Animated movies
  • Art Museums
  • Renassiance paintings
  • Other art forms

There are plenty of beginner-friendly FREE lessons both online and live.  I can recommend some great inexpensive online lessons (under $100.00) The Virtual Art Instructor offers classes in all mediums: colored pencil, water colors, pastels, portrait and animal drawings. Also,  check out Art magazines, they list courses that are inexpensive and beginner friendly.

Overall the lessons should instill confidence and passion. Be sure you understand the cost.  Sometimes the course description fails to show ALL the materials needed for the class.

How to determine if a LIVE class is Beginner Friendly

The best way to determine the skill level of the course is to ask. Try to sit in on a live class and talk to the instructor. Most classes at community centers and local colleges are beginner-friendly. Start there. The best classes are made up of both beginners and advanced beginners.

On this website, we are going to make sure that everyone acquires the basic skill set to develop drawing confidence. With hard work and dedication, any type of art form is within reach. Portrait, human figure drawing, or other detailed work can be challenging but doable. All that is needed is the basic skill set.

Don’t Try To Be Original. Be simple. Be Good Technically, and if there is something in you it will come out.

Henri Matisse

Art is not an exact science and there is no formulaic approach. Books, webinars, and online tutorials cover theory or repetitive drills that offer little insight on how to apply those exercises to actual drawings. In the beginning, it’s important to build confidence and passion.

Color mixing, shading, and proportion are challenging even for the pros. And to a beginner, those topics seem out of reach. It’s no wonder why a lot of beginners just give up.

Bottom Line: Remember why you started drawing in the first place

Picking a certain type of art form can be difficult for the beginner. The best approach would be to start with what you love and go from there. Art once learned can open up a lot of creative doorways and it’s important to maintain a positive mental attitude.

Keep drawing and keep learning.

Quality is within reach to the ones who stay the course.

Here’s to happy drawing!

Please comment and let me know what you think about the wonderful world of art.

Why People Believe, they Can’t Draw

Most adults believe that can’t draw because they never embraced their innate desire to draw.

Human beings have been drawing since they’ve walked the earth. The paintings were used to communicate the location of game, water and shelter.

Do you think that they had any formal training? Was their worked criticized?

Don’t be fooled painting and drawing is in all of us.

Kids draw all the time and all over everything. They draw on the walls, the kitchen tables, the chalkboards at schools. They use paintbrushes, crayons, and their fingers. There is nothing that kids won’t draw with. Paints, crayons, colored pencils are no match for kid’s creative talents.

More primitive drawings from a cave in Bulgaria

Castles, dragons, and fighter planes are their masterpieces. And their audience is anyone that will listen.

Supportive parents will ask them about their wonderful creations. And children will talk incessantly about their works of art.

Then as they grow older something happens. Their drawings are criticized and told that their work looks like crap. The enthusiasm for drawing fades. Then as adults, they believe that can’t draw or paint.

Maybe that describes you?

Art Books and classes don’t meet the beginner’s needs.

“Draw what you see” is the typical catchphrase invoked in art classes and books alike. A beginner is supposed to take a look at a scene or an object and begin to draw it accurately.

How?

Before you, can “draw what you see” you have to understand “how to see.” Everybody’s interpretation of a scene or object will be different. Without a proper “reference”, or the proper “vision” the beginner will be floundering around on the page trying to render the object as accurately as he can.

Eventually, frustration will set in and then the beginner gives up.

The belief:

“I cannot draw” will be forever ingrained in the mind.

The authors of beginning art books have a limited amount of space in which to write and the publishers are very specific on what is included.

Video tutorials address the step-by-step issues but they fail to show how to develop a unique style. The expert instructors have been drawing and painting for so long that they have forgotten what it’s like to be a newbie.

On this site, I know exactly what it’s like to be a newbie. I am struggling with the same issues that most beginners struggle with, but I have achieved some success. And I will show the beginner step by step how to draw basic shapes that make up more complex pieces.

Triangles, squares, cubes, circles, ellipses, and other basic shapes are used in all paintings and drawings. The beginner has to learn to see them. These shapes exist trees, mountains, rocks, people, and animals.

Once the beginner understands how to break down these objects into their basic shapes, then they can draw anything with a high degree of accuracy. For example, a human arm or leg is just a tapered cylinder with a triangle attached at the end. The human head, eyes, and ears are also made up of basic shapes.

Once the newbie combines good visualization skills with the 12 drawing concepts, there is nothing that they cannot draw. Realistic portraits of friends and family, beautiful watercolor landscapes, and detailed animal drawings are within reach of the beginner if they stick with the practice.

And soon the beginner will become a Master Artist.

Let’s bust this limiting belief ” I cannot learn to draw” and make some awesome drawings.

Did you know that Anthony Hopkins considered art as a career? Check out this interview with Anthony Hopkins

Click here to begin your amazing journey!

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