Trust your eyes! The trick to drawing is to just create what you see. Sometimes you need to take a step back and really look! Don’t just smell the roses, study them! Ever detail and create what is there. There are no tricks. Cast away your judgment and take in everything in front of you. Here are a couple tips on drawing what you “see “ for success!
Break it down! Compartmentalize it! Transform it into simple shapes first, silhouette style. Once you have the biggest shapes you can add in smaller shapes and finally the details. What IS the exact shape of a butterfly wing? Keep it fun, outline it only, then add all the pretty parts later!
What is value? It is the shades of dark to light in something and can apply to color too not just black and white. Having a hard time “seeing” value? Squint your eyes! Believe it or not it will help you blur shapes and detail so you can see the light, dark, and shades in between much more easily.
Create some drama! Put your lightest lights next to your darkest darks to add contrast to your drawings. Shading also add depth and volume not to mention realism!
Pro tip: Use more contrast near your “focal point” that’s the place in your work where you would like the viewer to look first.
Don’t Forget the Color! My favorite! You can express what you see through blue that glows when it is right next to the illuminating orange colors.
Color creates form and detail too! Travel around – sketch book in hand – there are mini ones and mini pencils that can always be with you as you take in the scenes! Great for summer travel too – so you can be create all around the globe! Cheers from down under this week.
