Learning to Draw- Lesson 2
3 Quick ways to turn your doodles into damn fine drawings!
When thinking about these little lesson blogs of mine I thought about how I wanted to keep them really accessible for all abilities and for all pockets. To that end the three methods below are all done with a HB pencil (standard) like in the last lesson and can be done with a ball point pen. This week I looked into some common things people doodle and guess what...I reckon they can make your drawings better! So get out your scrap paper, go for a walk to a bench, a cosy chair or a boring meeting (we've all been there) and try these techniques out!
1. Dots and Spots
So apparently a lot of us out there like to scribble dots and spots down. Instead of just randomly giving your page chicken pox try this. Pick something in your eye line that has a not to complex shape. I used a tube of hand cream on my desk. Then create what a dot to dot picture would look like of this object. Don't worry about any patterns or markings yet just do the shape. Here's my hand cream.
Pretty abstract right? But this is useful as it stops you mentally following your pencil line and instead concentrate on the marks your making and the relationship they have to other marks. If you ever need a straight line, you'll notice if you tried to just draw it you'd be less successful then if you drew two dots and then filled the line between them and this is why. So fill in the lines of your dot to dot and you should get a fairly accurate line drawing of your object. You can then fill out your objects shadows and patterns if you want. Here's my finished hand cream.
You can still see the dots. Have a go and get dotting!
2. Letters and words.
It's only natural that when your bored with a pen in hand you want to draw some nice squiggly letters or words. Your own name often in different ways again and again. Here is a really quick tip to get your writing to look like a professional typographer.
There is a really quick way to tell which part of your letter should be broad and which part should be more skinny and defined. It's all about the movement of you hand as your write each letter. The rule summed up is this- if you are pushing the pencil up keep it thin, if you are pulling the pencil down thicken the line. So lets break that down.
Here's my name.
Now here's how my hand moved to create the letters.
Think about tracing it and you'll follow the arrows. Because of the way I pushed and pulled the pen I can go back and fill the line out where I dragged the pencil down. Pencil isn't ideal but I'm keeping to my HB rule.
Can you see how the thicker parts of the letters mirror my down arrows and the thinner part the ones that go up? It can take some time to wrap your head around this but once you've got it, grab a nice pen and create some dreamy letters.
3. Boxes.
I totally get this one. things that look 3D are fun to doodle and the easiest way to do this is to do a good sturdy box. But here's a little way of getting boxes to help you draw more complex forms.
Look around you for a simple object and then draw a box that the object would sit in if each side was touching your object. You can then draw your object in the box. Here's a very simple iphone.
Notice the original box I made I highlighted in orange. It also works for more spherical shapes to. Here's a pot of vitamins that sit on my desk (I know I'm wild!)
The reason it works is because it allows to think of object in very simple forms and not complex shapes. You can even draw more difficult shapes by breaking them down into multiple boxes.
So have a go today! And I would love to see any of your work that's been inspired by my tips so share with me via Instagram, Facebook or twitter but most importantly, get drawing!
