Today I would like to give you some short drawing tips.
Without being very serious, and setting the bar very high. There are many things where we push very hard for ourselves and are “how it should be”. Things we feel we have to meet. If you also do this with your creativity, your creativity will be under unnecessary stress.
I would like to start with a thought exercise with you. Read the questions below and find out for yourself what answer comes to your mind. Without thinking about it for a long time, it can also be a feeling, but sometimes you quickly have an automatic thought:
- Why not make an ugly drawing?
- What happens if you mess up a drawing?
- Does that also say something about you and who you are?
- Can you let yourself fail at a project for once?
I hope that you can answer these questions with a lot of love and understanding for your own humanity. But with these questions, an annoying voice comes up and you think things like: “apparently I can’t do it”, or “why does it fail all the time…?” ect.
Then I would like to invite you to transform that strict voice into: “I do it for pleasure, not just for the result” and “I can learn something from a drawing that does not go the way I want.”
Try turning any negative thoughts or feelings into a positive one. Converting “I can’t” to “I can’t yet” can make a world of difference.
If you can let go a little and look at your own learning process with love, there will be so much more room in your creativity. You will have a chance to discover and try something.
I came up with the following drawing assignment with this idea.
Drawing studies
Find 6 the same things together. They can be vases, shoes, plants, books, coffee cups or anything else you can find in your home.
Don’t feel like looking? Then use the plant leaves in the photo.
- Before you start, carefully study the shapes. Which things match? Are parts the same for all six objects? What makes them different? Is it the size? The decorations or details? Or something else? If you have properly absorbed all six objects, you will start.
- Place one of the objects in front of you and draw it as closely as possible. Study the basic shape, draw in rough lines and only then work out the details. Keep in mind the similarities and differences. For example, any vases you have can be cylindrical. But also consider the differences, perhaps one vase is small and fragile and other vases have a larger and more bulky appearance.
- Extra challenge: include the different properties in your drawing. For example, because of the lines (thick or thin) or use of color (transparent and soft or very dark).
- It is not necessarily important to draw almost photo-realistic for this assignment. It is now about the similarities and the differences in the objects. You are studying them while drawing them. Today we don’t draw a masterpiece, we’ll do that another time.
- When you are finished with item 1, proceed to item 2. You also draw this as closely as possible while paying attention to the similarities and the differences between the objects.
- This way you draw all objects one by one.
- If you find it difficult, start with a simple shape such as a vase or a coffee cup, then switch to a shape that consists of different parts such as a shoe or a plant.
- When you have drawn all six objects, view all six drawings. Is there a drawing that was less successful? Why is it like that? Is it better with another drawing?
There is a good chance that the first drawing went less smoothly than the last. This has to do with practice and repetition, but also with warming up your hand and your muscles.
If you want to know more about how to warm up before you start drawing, click here.
You can repeat this assignment as many times as you want. You could also look up pictures of something you want to draw on the internet. If you think it would be fun to draw sharks, I can imagine that you can’t just take them home.
I wish you lots of drawing pleasure and I would like to hear whether this drawing assignment has helped you to look at the objects in your house with different eyes.
Have fun drawing!
Laura
