How did you get so good at drawing?

Mar 12, 20067 min read

Deviation Actions

Crazdude

Published: Mar 12, 2006

965 Views

I've been asked this a lot, and I figured I'd make a nice little journal so everyone can read it!

I've been drawing since I was 2 years old (I've been drawing 18 years...woah.) Mainly dinosaurs and some horses too! Since then, I've kept practicing and trying new techniques and styles, experimenting with new backgrounds and poses. I learned to shade, I used textures, and so on.

About 5 years ago I got my first wolf-grey+white siberian husky and got the red+white one later. I took tons and tons of photos, watched them studied them, and I started drawing wolves and huskies just over a year ago. Then I got a tablet which I used to make collage wallpapers, but never started drawing with it until I became a member of dA. Artists around dA inspired me to draw more realistically. So I kept studying my huskies' fur and tried new things on my own, only occassionally looking at tutorials. I've never needed much in the way of reference photos, just a glance from time to time for a general shape or placement of facial features.

My parents weren't artistically inclined, so I wasn't really born with it. I just followed the best path to improvement.

So that means anyone can improve with my 4-part PEAS method...

PEAS - I my opinion and from experience, there are 4 things you can do to evolve as an artist:

Practice - it's been said time and time again that "practice makes perfect". They're right, but there need to be a few other factors to make it work!

Experiment - even if you're afraid something will come out looking reeeaaally bad, try it anyway! It will give you more experience and the opportunity to see what is good about it and what needs work

The last few deviations were testiments to that. I tried splashing water for my first time, made moss on trees, a moss-covered vine, new fur techniques, birch trees, paw prints, and more! That's how I made the highly detailed wings too!

Examples of experimental art:

Ask for critique - I know it can be a drag to hear what people think about your art, but sometimes it's true. And a lot of people (like me!) won't feel comfortable critiquing your art unless you ask for suggestions first.

Sometimes you're just never satisfied with something and you know what's wrong, that works too! As long as you're aware that there's something that needs improvement, you can improve!

Study the world around you - If you see something that you want to draw, try to figure out how to translate that into art techniques. Fur is a bunch of highlights and shadows, layered over and over again with stray hairs and shadows, for example. Little did I know that all that photography helped me see things in an artistic perspective, but taking photos is a way to make artistic analysis of the world a little easier. That way you can see how things look in 2 dimensions and go from there.

If you don't have an open mind to try new things or take people's advice, you won't get far. If you're dissatisfied with your art, that's GOOD! It means you want to improve and you won't stop until you do! That's just the ambition you need!

I hope that you find PEAS to be helpful!