Q&A for How to Draw a Good Picture

You can make purple color by mixing red and blue. If you add some white to it, you can get some shades of lavender.

The color wheel helps you to know how to mix the primary colors to get secondary colors. For example, you know that red, blue, and yellow are primary colors, and you get orange by mixing red and yellow.

Get a light box or find a bright window first. Place the drawing over it, then place the new sheet of paper on top. If you are using a light box, turn it on. You will see the lines from the original drawing showing through the top sheet of paper. Secure both sheets with some tape, then start tracing over the lines with a pen or pencil.

There are different ways to add details to a drawing. One is adding more lines. In the example pictures above, the cat has many lines from the pen/pencil looking like the fur on the cat. In that case, the more lines there are, the more it looks like fur. If you are using only a pencil and do not intend on coloring, shading and shadowing can give the picture detail. If you were drawing something dark, like a tree's trunk, you can shade the trunk to show that it is dark, darker that the grass underneath it or the leaves from it. The same goes for shadowing. Drawing a white cat, you can put a shadow under its belly or on the side of its face to show where the sun is and how bright it shines.

It depends what you are going to be doing with the picture. If you will be refining the line work or adding color digitally, a blue pencil would be best, as it would be the easiest to select and edit out. If you are simply doing a sketch, a regular (gray) pencil would be the best. This way, you can erase it if you make mistakes or after you have inked the final drawing.

You can draw with any kind of pencil you wish. However, an HB pencil gives the optimal line width.

Many artists prefer to use a variety of pencils to add depth to their drawings. If you only use one pencil, one with the strength "HB" will be sufficient.

Any kind you like. Blank printer paper is good, or even just notebook paper. You can also buy a sketchpad or some thicker art paper from an art supply store.

Imagine the object you want to draw and where the spots that are darker or lighter would be. Detail them with a well sharpened pencil. After, just erase anything not needed. Steps 6 and 7 are really helpful.

Check out this article on How to Draw People .

No, you do not have to use a pen. You could just use a black or dark colored pencil.

There are many good tutorials on wikiHow. Websites run by professional artists also contain helpful tips and sometimes even offer online courses.

You don't need a photographic memory. I used to look up pictures on Google and draw those and that REALLY helped me improve.

See one or more of the following for some help: How to Draw a Simple Tree , How to Draw a Real Tree , How to Draw a Tree and How to Draw a Detailed Tree .

Draw a circle, then the continents inside. Check Google images for reference. If you are talking about drawing everything in the world, that's impossible, but you sure can try.

If you're making a rough sketch, either should do just fine. But if you're trying to make an actual art piece, then you should definitely use blank white paper.

I would say you should start out drawing with outlines, and once you master that, have a crack at drawing without the outlines. It would be easier to have a reference, as you get a better understanding of where to put certain features.

There are no set instructions. Just draw or paint whatever comes to you, and it will look great.

Practice, Practice, and Practice! To become more familiar with something you are not used to drawing, look at real life examples or reference pictures on art websites. If you are more comfortable with it, go out in public and begin drawing random people you see. Following artists online can help you broaden your horizons!

You have to have a clear image of what you look like. Use a camera to take a picture of yourself, or a mirror to use while you work. One risk of using a mirror is that you may bump it while working, and the angle will be different. Remember to draw yourself honestly. You may be tempted to redraw part of yourself in order to make yourself look more attractive, but this will prevent the drawing from looking like you. Embrace your natural face when drawing to get a truly realistic representation.

Go to an art supply store. Any of the pencils there will be fine. Pencils go from soft (8B-2B), mid (HB) and hard (2H-8H). Soft pencils make dark, smudgy marks while hard pencils make precise, light marks. Buy a few and experiment.

Try drawing lighter guidelines next time. Try a different hardness of pencil. Bs (2B, 4B, 6B) are increasingly soft, which may keep the lead from scratching the paper. If your pencil is leaving smudges, try a harder H pencil.

This article has some great tips: how to draw a realistic eye .

Not at all, though both will help. If you want to draw like a pro, the most important thing is practice. Dedicate a half-hour a day to drawing (using whatever supplies and equipment you have), and as you develop your style and preferred subject matter, you can look into suitable classes. Often community education classes are an inexpensive launching-point for this, or look for free classes and workshops in your area. There are also online tutorials that can help with getting specifics right, such as proportion and perspective. As your talents develop, you'll want to experiment with art pens/pencils that suit you (though once friends and family members see you're into art, you'll likely get these sorts of things as gifts for birthdays/holidays).

Look up a nice-looking picture of Batman, and trace it (if you're a beginning artist), copy it (if you're a more experienced artist), or copy him in a different pose (if you're an advanced artist). For popular characters, there are tutorials online that give you a step-by-step.

A paper stump will help a lot. Basically, you just slightly rub it against your paper, and it blends.

First take a piece of paper and a pencil (so you can erase) and think of what you want to do. Then write it down on paper. Try adding a quick sketch to your paper. It's that easy!

Practice drawing, and look at pictures of things for reference. Focus on shapes at first, then add more details.

Different pencils produce a diverse variety of lines - for example, dark and thicker lines vs. light and thinner lines - while you are sketching your shape. Artists use different pencils depending on what they are drawing.

Keep practicing, and eventually, you'll get the good picture you want. If it's too hard, then start off with something easy, like objects instead of people/cartoons.