Q&A for How to Draw Without Taking Classes

Rather than drawing what you think something looks like, take time to observe your subject and train yourself to draw the shapes you see.

Start drawing every day so you can get in practice and improve on your technique.

It may take months of practice to see noticeable progress, and years to draw really well. Keep practicing and you will get there. Keep your drawings from now and compare them to your drawings a few months from now - you will surely notice some progress. If you don't like your drawing, think about what exactly you would like to improve and work on improving that particular aspect for a while. You can also get someone else to give you feedback on your drawings and your progress. Sometimes we are too critical of our own work.

That's fine, as long as you keep at it. Set a time every day or every week where you focus on drawing, and go at your own pace.

Many artists do "fast draw" challenges, and there is definitely a place for that in art. However, like all things, practice makes perfect, and you might have to redo the drawing multiple times before it looks good. Cultivating some patience will take your artistic skill set to the next level.

Either anime isn't your style, you are being too critical of yourself, or you just need to develop it more! For example, try different eye styles for your characters, or try using pastel instead of pen. Remember, some people take 2-3 years to develop their style, so maybe you are one of those people.

Practice, practice, and more practice. Don't be afraid to use "cartoony" or unrealistic art styles at first. Use a picture or something to serve as a model in front of you to draw. To have a realistic drawing, you have to add textures, depth, and shading. Imperfections are the way to get your art perfect.

Practice. Copy other popular works and then experiment with your own style. Over time, you will get better.

Start a blog about drawing and see how people review your work. You can also look for a job in advertising or as an illustrator for comics. For that, you need to make a portfolio in which you can show pictures of your work.

Compliment them first, and then give them suggestions on how they could improve. That way you are just telling them how to make it better instead of telling them to change the whole thing.

Of course, but a child might might how-to-draw books more engaging and easier to use.

Look around you. Choose something nearby to draw. The simpler, the better.

Sure, as long as you're not copying someone else's drawing and using it for commercial (monetary) purposes, it's fine to trace. Some people find it useful, others don't. If it helps you, feel free.

First, visualize what you want to draw. Try making a simple sketch of what you have in your imagination. Then, build onto your simple sketch until it reaches what you imagined. Of course, it may not be exact, but even if it's close it's progress. The more you practice, the more you will be able to make your drawings match what you imagine.

Messing up is normal, and even professionals do it sometimes. If you keep practicing, you're bound to get better.

Just draw on anything, except for your neighbor's wall or anything illegal! If you can find a cheap notebook somewhere, that will be great. Great artists don't always start with the best equipment. As for art style, just keep experimenting until you find something you like. Feel free to browse the Internet for some inspiration.

Practice! Ask yourself what you want to improve and work on that. It can take a long time, but you will improve if you keep trying!

Gesture, the essence of the pose, solidity and anatomy. You should also focus on practicing consistently and constantly, as that is the best way to learn and improve.

Use anatomy books found in the art section that show musculature and bone structure, then practice over and over again.

wikiHow has some articles on drawing eyes that you might find helpful, but I would start with this article that details two different techniques for drawing eyes.

If you're trying to get better at realism, then I would suggest constantly surveying your environment, studying shadows, light, folds, facial anatomy, etc. There are some great books that you can purchase, too. If I were to recommend just one, I would choose Bridgman's Guide to Drawing from Life.

When gesture drawing, you will want to use quick, long lines to capture movement and mass, not fine detail. There are many free online resources for gesture drawing now. You can search online for 'gesture drawing tool' and find websites which will give you a randomized reference image to draw from. You can usually adjust the drawing time to your liking. A great way to practice is just going out somewhere in public and drawing gestures from real life. This will force you to work more quickly, since the people around you will be going about their lives, not stopping to pose for you.

It's fine, don't sweat it. Like many things, developing your art and style takes time. Don't doubt yourself, and set some time out of your day specifically to study and practice drawing. Try sketching things you see around the house. Practice makes perfect, and you can't expect yourself to become a professional artist in just a few days or a few months. If you don't enjoy drawing, it may not be your thing, but if you really do want to become better, keep doing what you're doing and practice!

Yes, many! It's all about how aesthetically pleasing you find the art. You can always look at DeviantArt and YouTube to discover new artists. There are digital artists, traditional artists, and those who manifest their art in other ways, such as sculpting.

It's not the best idea since you will most likely mess up and will need to erase. Unless, of course, you have one of those pens that have a special eraser that erases only pen...

Lots of practice or use something to trace around, like the bottom of a cup or a bottle top.

Try keeping your hand on the paper and moving fast. This is a continuous line drawing. You can however try making a bunch of rapid lines for a drawing that captures movement. This is better done with thicker lines. There are many other ways you can stylize a line drawing, so hone your style. As long as you only use lines, it'll qualify.

Just like anyone else, children start drawing with practice. You can search up simple how-to-draw videos that would be easy for children to comprehend or maybe get a sketchbook and let them build off of their imagination.

Look around. Plants are a good place to start. Faces are a challenge as well. Animals. birds, eyes. Basically anything. Look around, look ideas up, draw something from a dream. There are many ideas around.

Practice and you will get it, but first use shapes, try to imagine how the picture will look with shapes then finally make the best out of it.