Drawing Lessons for Beginners

For great painters, drawing probably was what came naturally to them. These were legends, like Vincent Van Gogh and Michelangelo who were perhaps born with an invisible painting brush in their hands or something like that! Undoubtedly, they were born with that germ of art in them. But some are not as lucky as these greats were, who knew what their calling was from the word go. Some have to develop this art of drawing and painting from a young age and then they can aim to be like Pablo Picasso.

Drawing for Beginners

The Basics: Grips for Pencil Sketching
This is the most fundamental thing when it comes to drawing lessons. Hence, we begin using a pencil, which is known as pencil sketching. To draw a sketch a pencil needs to be held in a basic tripod grip. To put it simply, it is the grip with which we normally hold a pencil. In this grip, the position of the pencil is upright, which is better suited for sketching than the side of the pencil. This is mostly used while sketching. But there is another grip which is used to add more effect to your sketch, which is the extended tripod grip. Here, although the way you hold the pencil is the same. The difference is made by where you hold the pencil in this grip. This grip involves holding the pencil further ahead, approximately near the midpoint of the pencil. The triangle formed by the fingers and thumb is the same in this grip as in the plain tripod grip. However, this grip gives you more flexibility. This grip has the advantage that larger movements of the pencil tip is facilitated even by smaller finger movements.

Another grip which exposes the side of the pencil tip is the underhand grip. This grip involves holding the pencil lightly against the fingers supported by the flat of the thumb. This is the perfect grip for shading and when the drawing surface is vertical. It allows free and expansive marking. The last grip is the underhand grip. The pencil is held between the 'V' of the thumb and palm, supported by the index finger, which controls the tip.

Doodling Away
These were the ways in which you hold the pencil for adding different kinds of effects to your sketch. Now the next step is to doodle and scribble on paper using these grips. If you have a new pencil, you need to now what all it can do. Thus, scribble away to glory on a sheet of paper. Get the feel of the texture of the lines or doodles made by you using that pencil. This is called mark making. Exploring the medium is the basic objective here. After this, try wire drawing. This is a fun activity where you do not have presumptions about what you are going to draw. For this, grab a piece of scrap flexible wire, unwind it and mold it in any 3 dimensional shape you want without hurting yourself. Draw as you see this wire. Perceive it as a line in space and draw it. It can be completely flat, as long as you get the hang of the abstract shape. While drawing keep your lines as continuous and relaxed as possible.

Blind and Pure Contour Drawing
Now we are getting into the crux of the matter here. Blind contour drawing is meant to improve hand-eye coordination. It is primarily making the outline of the subject without looking at the paper. The outcome does not matter till you observe minutely. Observation, you would realize is the key. Try this by starting off with observing and drawing your own hand. On the contrary, pure contour drawing has clearly defined edges, by looking at the paper. Here the lighter lines and sharp lines imply a lot of things. Line weight is a crucial factor here. One more variation is cross contour drawing. It involves vertical and horizontal lines traveling across the form. These lines help us visualize the basic form or texture of the surface of the object. The three dimensional aspect of the surface is portrayed in a 2 dimensional manner by this method.

These are the things, you start of with, with regards to drawing. To talk about coloring, well, you can experiment with mediums like crayons or color pencils on various surfaces like a water color paper, matte board and so on. Observe the different texture of colors and hues created on each of these with the same crayons and experience the magic of these colors.

Apart from all this, you have an allied subject to drawing and that is painting. But I am not going to go into that, because I want to keep your enthusiasm alive to try out these tips. But, you would know more about drawing in those online classes, which would definitely include free classes. Painting lessons are also available online, however, it is better to just have a go at the brush and the paintings and go to a teacher for honing your skill.

There are umpteen things involved in drawing as said and practicing is the only way you would uncover the thrill of it. At the end, this prompts me to put across a quote by the great Van Gogh himself which goes like, "If you hear a voice within you saying, "You are not a painter," then by all means paint... and that voice will be silenced."