I get quite a lot of emails from people who want to learn to draw and paint better, but just don’t know where to start.
It’s a problem I identify with because it’s one I faced too when I returned to art seven years ago. I’ve had to overcome that problem myself, and I know it’s not easy.
The obvious answer is “go and do a course”. But that’s not always the right one.
Truth be told, I think it’s rarely the right one.
I’d like to offer you another option, one that might well be much more useful to you in the long run.
I don’t know where to start
If this is you, then take some heart from the knowledge that it’s a common problem.
You can see where you want to go. If you’ve done some drawing recently, you probably have a pretty good idea where you are now, and at least a vague idea of the distance you need to travel.
But you don’t know how to get there from where you are now. You don’t even know what the first step you need to take is. There’s no roadmap, no framework to follow that can guide you.
You’re stuck! Or are you?
Let’s think about this for a minute.
If we always waited for a the perfect plan to be in place before we took any action, we’d never do anything. Life is filled with uncertainty.
Yes, it makes us uncomfortable. But if we really want to progress, we need to get to the heart of that uncertainty and find a practical way to deal with it.
If you can find a practical way to cope with this uncertainty and move forwards, then you’ll be the stronger for it. You’ll also be better able to deal with uncertainty in other areas of your life.
At this point you might be thinking: “Easily said, Paul!” Believe me, I know it is. I’ve been there too. Still am, actually, and often.
I don’t think you need to have a fully realised structure for your development in place before you start. You don’t need to have the answers to all your questions before you get moving. I strongly believe that the only thing you really need to do is to figure out what your first step is and take it.
Figure out your first step carefully
A good place to start is to reframe the question. Instead of “Where do I start?” try asking, “How do I start?.” It’s a subtle difference, but it focusses your attention on the specific action you need to take. And once you’ve overcome the initial resistance, momentum will build and you’ll find it much easier to keep going.
So here’s how I recommend you start:
Create a single, simple exercise of your own and get into a daily practice habit with it.
Why creating your own exercises is a good idea
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It will be tailor made for your needs
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It will overcome the initial resistance and get you started
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As you start to see progress, you’ll start to feel more positive about your learning. You’ll learn faster
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It will build your confidence
So here’s how to do it:
Choose an area you want to improve and identify the core skills it’s based on.
First, pick an area you want to improve. It could be drawing accuracy, values, line quality, composition…whatever you fancy. Don’t get too hung up about exactly which area of your work you want to improve. There will probably be many. But pick one that means something to you, an area you’d like to see progress in.
Now identify the core skill you need to improve to get better at that particular thing. This isn’t always easy to do, so take some time with it. Here are a few examples from my own practice that might help:
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Drawing accuracy: The core skill here is reproducing the shape of objects you see on your paper.
To do that, you need to reduce them down to two dimensional shapes in your mind’s eye and copy them. That’s the essence of the ‘picture plane’. It sounds easy, it isn’t. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards has some great exercises for doing this. Sight size practice from a flat copy is great too.
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Values: A lot of people want to improve their values. One of the core skills here, the main one to start with, is being able to match the value of a given colour regardless of its hue or intensity. It’s not a simple skill to master and it requires practice, but getting better at it will start to unlock value for you.
A great exercise for this is to take some object from around your house – I’d recommend using one that’s already fairly close to grey to start with, not too bright a colour – and match its value by mixing with black and white paint. Use a simple colour isolator (a small piece of card with a hole in the middle) to isolate a patch of its surface, mix up the value you think it is and paint it onto a little swatch of card. Hold the swatch up against the object and see how close you’ve come to the value. Squint to make the comparison easier. Rinse and repeat.
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Line quality: The core skills here are sensitivity and motor control. The most intensive way I’ve found to practice this is with a Chinese brush and ink. Because the brush is so delicate, the slightest variation in the movement of your hand/arm is translated to the brush, and into the line. Start by spending a few minutes a day just drawing straight lines with the brush. You’d be surprised how hard it is. It’s a really intense form of practice that can become quite meditative. It doesn’t have to be a big undertaking, you just need to practice regularly. You can even enjoy it too.
These are just ideas, exercises that have helped me in my own development. The point to take here is that by reducing a particular area of drawing down to it’s core skill, and designing an exercise around it, you can find a good place to start that’s very relevant to you personally.
Try taking one of these exercises – or even better, design your own – and do it every day for thirty days. Not only will you see some real progress in your work, you’ll also gain a sense of achievement and empowerment from taking control of your own learning. I think that’s much more valuable than signing up for a course in the long run.
If you manage to get into a regular practice habit with your exercises, it becomes something rather more than progress in your drawing skills too. It becomes a life change. You start to feel more positive about everything and might even start to take more control of other areas of your life.
Getting into regular habits is not easy though. Here’s some advice on getting into a regular drawing practice habit.
One caveat though: You can’t go in all guns blazing with this. If you try to do too much at once you’ll find it difficult or impossible to keep your practice going. That can easily become a source of negative feelings which work against your development.
Start Small!
Once you’ve decided on your exercise, do it every day for just five minutes or so. As that becomes established as a regular habit, up the time. When you’re satisfied that you’re making some progress, perhaps it’s time to think about some other areas you might want to improve.
Posted: November 18th 2012
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Hi Paul Well as a tutor at the 4020 Art Group and the Cheyne Drawing Studio I would have to disagree wouldn’t I?
But I see the point you’re trying to make
Hehe, thanks for taking it so well Richard. 🙂 I hope it doesn’t come across as dismissive of the efforts of art teachers.
I may be overstating the case somewhat, I just want to get the point home that people don’t have to wait for input from outside in order to start moving forwards.
Good post, Paul. I, too, give drawing lessons, but what you say makes great sense. Whether someone takes lessons or works alone, a major component to improvement is finding a skill that needs work and practicing it regularly and with purpose. When a person has so many things that need improvement, it can be overwhelming, so the one skill at a time approach is a good suggestion.
Thanks Jeff.
I often hear teachers say that they wish their students would practice a little more. I think that a teacher’s real value is to introduce us to knowledge that we may not already have. It’s still up to us to take that knowledge away and make it our own through practice.
Wonderful advice that will follow keep developing the habit of drawing.
Thanks Maria-Vitória – and nice to see you again 🙂
I see what you are getting it, and agree with you up to a point. Sometimes it pays to invest money for decent art instruction, and then practice like it’s going out of fashion.
Example: For years I’ve worked on my own from art instruction books and free online resources, learning to get a grip on figure drawing. Mostly it was a hit and miss affair. I finally decided to invest money in a course (Riven Phoenix’s Structure of Man course) which I had to save up for. Long story short, within a very short space of time I’ve learned to draw the figure (skeleton and muscles to boot) with relative but great accuracy from my memory. The point is not that Riven’s teaching did it for me (any decent art instruction course will work), but that sometimes it’s worth spending money on it. As an aside, there are lots of accomplished artists on- and offline that are poor instructors, so finding one who knows how to convey complex knowledge accurately and simply is key (this doesn’t include the “just draw a couple of overlapping ovals and teardrop shapes for the muscles and you’re done nonsense”). So when you feel stuck, best to get expert help (which usually comes at a price) rather than go around in circles thinking you’re moving forward.
Thanks so much for this post! I have been stuck for a few weeks. I pick up a tool and just sit, staring & not knowing what to do. I hate that LOL
I have just recently downloaded some anatomy for artist type pdf books for a personal project. I have a medical background so this will be fun for me. I figured out yesterday that I needed to set some type of goal or create a project to get the mojo going again…
And I am now going to use some of the tips you have mentioned here as well. Thank you!
Thanks for your interesting letter, Paul. Regardless of my background, the best work I’ve done, was with the discipline of staying with Paul’s “regular practice.” Thanks, Paul, without that, no amount of books or lessons matters.
Hi, Thanks for your instructions and comments. I should like to know if you give lessons? Thanks.
Hilary
Hi Paul.
I am still in school, studying at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, where I am learning sight-size, comparative measurement, light logic, values etc. We also draw from the model, including 12-week long figure drawing poses.
Everyone is different, but I needed to have formal lessons, and to see these demonstrations in front of me. Knowing how to proceed is what is giving me confidence. Its unlocking me like a key.
I do agree with your article. Not all of us can attend classes, and whether we do or don’t, at some time, school ends and we are on our own. We’ll still need to hone our skills through daily practice and exercises, and who better to direct us than ourselves?
Hi Keith, thanks for the thoughtful reply.
I believe the structure of man course is a DVD set isn’t it?
I’m glad you’ve had a positive experience with it. I think the point here though is that you practised, as you say, like it was going out of fashion.
Signing up for a course or a DVD series may well give you more impetus to practice more, and in a more structured way. I wouldn’t disagree with that at all.
But do you think there might be other ways to find that structure without a course?
What I think happens a lot is that people sign up for courses because they need some direction and structure. The course may well supply that. But what happens when the course is over?
That’s really why I’m trying to encourage all of us to find our own structure and focus within ourselves, because I think it’s more sustainable in the long term.
Hi Sherri,
Thanks for commenting, I’m glad you found it useful.
I think we all go through those periods where we stare at a black sheet without being able to get moving. I know I do!
For your anatomy project, perhaps try setting yourself a really specific exercise, something that will make it easy for you to get started. Something like, draw one muscle in the arm every day for a week, working from the shoulder down. Something like that.
Then, when you sit down to draw, you’ll know exactly what you’re going to do. Today is the bicep.
It makes it much easier to get started if you already know exactly what you’re going ot do that day.
Hi Elaine, lovely to hear from you as always.
You’re exactly right, the practice is the key. Courses without practice are an expensive waste of time, but practice without courses is still very useful!
Hi Hilary,
I don’t give lessons I’m afraid, no.
But I am putting something together that I hope is going to be more useful than that – a private online artists’ community based around regular practice and mutual support
Part of that will include exercises, and series of exercises designed to improve skills particular areas. But the emphasis will be very much on creating out own practice schedules and structures, taking responsibility for our own learning individually.
I hope it’s going to give the necessary structure and feedback that people get from good courses, with the added element of self-directed learning and the confidence and empowerment that brings.
Hi Liz, great to hear from you again, and thanks for that thoughtful comment.
I don’t mean to suggest that there is nothing to be gained from courses A focussed, full time course like yours is going to give you a lot. It gives you a great structure in which knowledgeable tutors can impart their knowledge.
I do think you’re right that we need to find a way to sustain that within ourselves though. I think the people who generally do best at courses are the ones who still be learning and practising even if they weren’t on a course. They bring something extra to it, and so get more out of it.
Liz, can I ask you a question? Do you think it’s specifically the knowledge that you get on your course that is the real value or the structure it gives you to work within, the regular hours? Perhaps it’s a combination of both?
Hi Paul,
the path of the artist is a very tortuous road and there’s no map. It’s terrific and very exciting in the same time. So i started to explore the net and artbooks.
One day we shared about line quality and exercises, since that day i think a lot about my practice. I think i hadn’t a sufficient practice about drawing and painting. How could i do ? First, and it was the more difficult step : switch off TV. Second, i have done the same thing you said : make an habit, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and step by step i draw between 1h30 and 3 hours a day.
Because i needed a road, i created it with my blog: http://pratique-talent.blogspot.fr
Why a blog ? I need a little constraint to start and i think it was a good start and a good system to log my progress in the long run.
About where to start, i think the best advice is where you like to be. If you like to draw animals, draw animals, animals and animals again, and again and again. Because there ‘is not life manual you should create it. But it’s very difficult because you are alone and yourself are not a fair critic.
Recently, i took an online drawing course because i was not confident about my drawing practice. I needed something like “order in my brain”. Like a lot self taught artist(it’s difficult to say it about me), sometimes i need some kind of order to be confident in what i’m doing. So i took this online course.
Why ? Because i didn’t find a workshop or an annual course in Paris, France for me (there’s not a lot of course matching with my agenda). May be there is some good workshop or course but i don’t know it.
Thank you for your blog, it’s a good place to start.
Best regards,
Jerome
http://pratique-talent.blogspot.fr
Hi Paul,
I agree pretty much with all that you’ve written. It’s basically a question of having self-motivation and self-discipline to carry ourselves through from where the course or teacher leaves off to where we want to be. I think the trouble that people often encounter is their need for a plan or a structure that will give them some assurance that they are going along the right track.
The right course and the right teacher can be immensely useful in terms of saving time when learning a certain technique, but such good combinations are difficult to come by.
Learning by oneself can feel very disorientating, especially when most people have been schooled for at least 12 years and are therefore used to having a teacher tell them when, what, and how to learn. It takes much courage and self confidence to be a self-learner, ie to determine how one learns best, and in which order. Advice and ad-hoc, skill-specific taught sessions are possibly quite helpful to untangle the messiness of self-learning, but the importance of maintaining a consistent practice cannot be emphasised enough.
Hi Paul,
I tend to agree with you, big time, it is a very interesting and profound statement that you make , and I happen to think it is right. A good advise and for free!!! A Rare thing indeed! Thank you Paul, and happy painting to You.
Hi Paul. Great to hear from you again, too. Happy to hear about the online artists community you’re setting up.
Those are very good questions (what benefits me most — is it specifically the knowledge at my art school that I find of value, or the structure, or is it the hours, or a combination of both?).
I think by going to ARA, I’m gaining a very clear framework to follow. It teaches me everything that I’ll need to know to produce work of a very high standard. It’s a proven method that is calibrated to make a smooth transition to the final painting stage of the program.
It’s not so much the hours there for me that’s important. I’m there only two days a week and often I can’t make it there more than twice a month, so my progress through the system is slow. I just start where I left off, as the lessons are given individually. Working within the system and everyone there speaking the same language methodologically simplifies things further.
I’m a concept person, but Im pretty visual, and learn best through visual example.
Most descriptions of sight-size and comparative measurement on artist forums were just badly written gobbledy-gook (yours excepted). I really needed to be there to get it.
The teaching method at Academy of Realist Art isn’t for everyone. It’s slow, but this is its purpose — it allows for careful observation and copious instruction with feedback at each miniscule step. Ultimately, at the end of your studies, you are able to approach anything you want to paint with full confidence.
No question that people who do best at school are those that are self-practicing anyway. Even Annigoni and Harold Speed practiced every day. We only solidify our understanding of fundamental concepts we’re learning by working them out on paper, and by not being too precious about it.
We just need to keep up the practice. Make this as easy for yourdelf as possible. I found I was always in the kitchen, so moving my sketchbook and pencils, eraser etc there made more sense.
Fernando, my teacher recently recommended we do daily or weekly home practice by separating the light and dark patterns on faces. How well you can see this flat comic book style of light and dark separation, will determine how well you you will be able to draw realistically. I’ve recently printed off plenty of small black and white celebrity photos and tucked them into the back of my sketchbook for this next practice project.
I am presently making copies of Harold speed’s portrait drawings, so I keep photocopies of these handy as well. He’s such master of observation. Much better thwn cooying from a photograph, I love his gentle pencil strokes. I’m learning so much from copying these freehand.
We measure proportions carefully at school, so practicing sketches free-hand allows me to gauge how much more accurate my proportions and form modeling are becoming.
It all goes together, the learning at school, online, books, friends. The important thing is that you find time to continue to practice daily or even weekly. I have started taking a week on these drawings, but I work on them daily.
Your blog is great, Paul. It’s unusual to find someone following the academic methodologies on their own and sharing their process so generously with others. It really helps to pull it all together for us. Best wishes for the new changes you’ve mentioned.
Hi Jerome, really nice to hear from you again, it’s been a while.
That was a really thoughtful comment with a lot of good points. You’re a great example of what starting small and keeping going can achieve.
Starting with something you enjoy is really good advice I think. The positive feelings that come from it will make it much easier to keep going. For myself, I was beginning to tire of my regular composition practice and was beginning to struggle to keep it going. So at the moment I’m copying Rembrandt drawings. It’s a welcome change and it’s made it much easier for me to keep my regular practice sessions going.
I do take your point about having a structure to work within. I can see why we might need that now and again, and that it can be a benefit. Really, anything that keeps us focussed and moving forward has got to be a good think. Perhaps I’ve been a little too dismissive of the benefits of a learning structure.
I think I feel my next post coming on…
Hi Hwee ching, thanks very much for adding your perspective on this.
Again, that’s a good point about a structure or plan helping us to keep going by giving us confidence that we’re on the right track. If self-learning can be disorienting, then it becomes a block to progress and that’s a bad thing.
I agree it’s all about the practice – but then you knew that right? :-}
What I’m trying to do with this post to encourage people not to wait until they have the perfect structure in place in order to start. I do believe that the most important thing is simply to sit down and begin. But if that action feels more akin to jumping off a cliff, then it’s going to be much harder to do!
Thanks so much for your thoughts Hwee Ching, you’ve helped me to clarify some of mine.
Hi Mariano, really nice to hear from you! I hope you’re well and your drawing is coming on.
Thanks for the kind words too. I’m beginning to think that I was half right, but perhaps wasn’t seeing the whole picture.
Liz, thanks so much for taking the time to reply in such detail.
I’m definitely getting the message about the value of having a framework to follow. The funny thing is, I’ve been evolving one myself based on my own experiences of teaching myself to paint, what I found most useful and was fluff and wasted time. I guess I’ve been a little wary of trying to foist on people in case they can find a more effective way to do it themselves, to structure their own learning.
But I think I’m beginning to realise that the structure doesn’t have to be perfect for everyone – that would be impossible anyway – it just needs to be very, very useful!
It’s interesting what you say about everyone speaking the same language. Do you find sharing your learning process with other people on the same road as you to be a useful thing?
I love your idea about moving your sketch pad into the kitchen. What may seem small changes like that can make a huge difference to how we progress I think. It might not seem like much. But what if you now draw 5 times a week instead of 2? What if you multiply that over ten years?
Thanks again Liz, you’ve given me much to think about.
Hi Paul,
Don’t be too worried about ‘foisting’ what (in your thoughtfully considerd experience), is a very good framework to learn in.
If it covers the fundamentals of drawing and painting, isn’t too complicated and gets you from one end to the other (with an exceptional end result), then people will be grateful and follow it.
If everyone does it one way (speaks the same language), time isn’t lost discussing the philosophical or scientific virtues of this way, or that way being better. You are a all a straight arrow hitting a target.
Experience and perspectives are still shared — but they are directed to the issues everyone is following.
Can you imagine the opposite situation? Having to read up on a zillion approaches in order to be of only limited help to a few posters, while the others in the community tune out? As you work more with the one system, you can continue to tweak it until it works optimally.
It won’t be for everybody, but the serious artists in your online community would probably welcome this.
Really good points Liz, thanks very much. You’re talking me round 🙂
I do have a plan for a structured approach based on still life that starts with accurate drawing and composition and goes through values to colour to a finished result.
I’ve tried each element out with people separately and and the results have been good very positive. Perhaps it’s time I tried out the whole thing.
I hope so, Paul:))
You can split things apart, but people really benefit by seeing the whole picture in a linear way.
Having said that, by splitting a project up this way, they’ll be able to pinpoint where they are having trouble, and eventually how to learn to correct these weaknesses in their work.
You could support these stages with extra practice. Provide each exercise with examples or references they can download ie a grey scale.
I imagine it won’t matter if everyone starts at the same time, unless that is how you want to organize it, as the people who start earlier will have a bit of experience to share with people starting later, and not everyone will be working at the same pace. I would take your time with this one.
Hi Paul,
i think the more difficult thing to do it’s to start, to make the first step. I was fond of american TV show and i love drawing. it was very difficult for me to stop watching tv show and to draw. it was like an addiction. You know there is nothing interesting on TV, you switch on the button and…You don’t draw. There’s a lot of obstacle like “you must to set up your material and when you have finished you must to put back your material in the cupboard…” or something like this “it’s exausting…blablabla”. 🙂
But you want to draw because you know you feel better when you are drawing.
How can i do ? There must be an answer (there is always an answer 🙂 )
There is a book which help me a lot :
One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer
And i watched tv less. Finally i stopped watching TV. And i draw since every day.
I would like to talk about learning structure. It’s difficult for me to find a structure in Paris. Realistic drawing and painting is not very well represented in France. You have manga drawing, abstract painting, contemporary painting, “express yourself with your inner voice painting course”, etc… But i don’t find an atelier (yes there is the studio escalier but i can’t follow the schedule (3 weeks, 6 weeks or 9 weeks program )). So i follow my own road. But i found the artistnetwork university for online drawing and painting program.
Why this choice ? I don’t need a video or a book but some sort of coach to help me, to gain confidence.
But there’is a drawback about learning structure. One day, you’re fed up with structure, order, or something like this. Structure can extinct creativity. You can do always the same things like others.
I think it’s like a struggle between two extreme : too much structure there is no creativity, too much freedom there is… nothing but scribble.
Everyone can search for balance between this two extreme. No judgement about the kind of art everyone do, i think there is a place for everybody in this world. But there is some art more represented than others.
Best regards
Jerome
http://pratique-talent.blogspot.fr
Thanks Liz. What I’m currently putting together is a membership which will encompass the regular practice habit forum and exercises designed to be used in the practice, designed to stretch the core skills.
To the best of my knowledge, there isn’t anything quite like that out there at the moment. I’m trying to design what I think will be the most effective way to learn and progress – which of course means regular practice!
I’ll be announcing something here on the site and over email soon. It would be great to talk more about it once it’s up and running.
Hi Jerome,
Having to set up and then put away your materials can be an obstacle, it’s true. It’s one I have to deal with myself since little Luc moved into what used to be my studio!
I think it really helps to have a clear idea of what your practice session will be, and to have only the materials you need for that session ready to set up. Removing obstacles to sitting down and getting started is one of the most important steps in getting into a regular practice schedule I think.
Thanks for the book recommendation. It looks really interesting. That’s exactly the approach we used on the first seven day regular practice challenge, and it really does work. I need to do some more work to make it clear to people how it works I think. People tend to think – as I did at first – that simply sitting down and opening my sketchbook every day would not be enough to make progress. The temptation is to make yourself draw something, and try to make that something a good drawing.
But if you can let go of that, the approach of changing one small thing can be incredibly powerful.
Thanks also for your thoughts on structure. I agree that too much structure can be detrimental. As long as there is room for individual experimentation within the structure then I think it’s open enough not to be constricting. One of my worries about atelier training is that it’s a little too formalised, in that often people will all produce exactly the same kind of work.
I do understand that it’s about teaching skills. But I’m not sure it’s wise to leave individual expression to the student, to be addressed only when they finished the course and to deal with on their own.
Looking forward to talking more about it, Paul.
Best Wishes!
Maybe the most important reason for me to attend an art course (I’m saving money for that purpose) would be to gain confidence. For example, I’m still ashamed to take money for my works, not to mention not having the confidence to draw/paint portraits – i.e. facing the people, setting myself up as an artist.
Just a thought.
Loupe, I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt if doing a course is going to make you feel any more confident about charging for your work.
I say that because I think that confidence needs to come from within yourself, and if you don’t have it now, it’s because you have some issues with believing that you deserve what you get in return for your efforts.
I think those kind of issues go very deep. I’ve had – and still have – them myself. Improving your work through doing a course might help mitigate them somewhat, but I doubt it will make them go away.
I think that thinking through why you think your work isn’t worth paying for, where that niggling feeling that it’s not good enough comes from, might be more productive in the long run.