In this article, we will show you the 5 most common mistakes when you learn to draw, at the time of starting, or during the course of a drawing.
There are several mistakes you can make, but for that, we explain in detail, what issues you should stop doing, to make your drawing a great work of art. Continue reading!
DRAWING / ILLUSTRATION
When we decide to take our first steps in drawing, we are presented with an infinity of methods to follow. It is possible that we see works and authors who have managed to capture wonderful and immense worlds.
So, we immediately wish to achieve this or that effect, or to be able to draw the same as that artist we admire.
That is no longer a problem, there are tips, videos, and a variety of drawing techniques that will make your work easier.
Currently, there is a great variety of drawing techniques that we can easily find, from videos, to online books, through traditional methods, to more modern ones, with more specific solutions or tips.
We can learn how to draw anatomy, landscapes, faces, still lifes, surreal images, organic or inorganic elements, etc. The list is endless.
There is something that we must keep in mind, for whatever our artistic purpose is, it happens that, no matter what style we choose to follow, there are certain “manias” very common when drawing.
This, can become counterproductive, since, then they become habits and become more difficult to change.
Here are the 5 most common mistakes when learning to draw.
The 5 beginner’s mistakes
Attention, correcting them in time will help you to improve your drawings remarkably!
First Mistake: Not sketching
It is very common that, when we start a drawing, we want to see it as we imagine it, that is to say, we go for the final result.
While this is not wrong, we must know that there are a series of steps that will lead us to capture what we want, and these steps involve corrections. This is where the sketch comes into play.
What does it mean to sketch a drawing?
To sketch a drawing means to make a simplified approximation of what we want, it is a matter of putting the most generalized information, and thus, to be able to locate the elements well, before going deeper into the drawing.
Omitting this step, we may get to finish our illustration and find things that are not proportionate, or elements that we have forgotten.
Imagine that you buy all the furniture for the room, but, you have forgotten to see the size of the place, and it turns out that nothing fits properly.
All these “accidents” can be solved with one or several sketches beforehand.
Second Mistake: Going straight to a single detail
When we finish our sketch, we may be anxious to get to the most interesting part of the drawing.
You have just sketched a wide landscape scene, with a character in it, and, the first thing you are looking for, is to go to the detail of the face and the perfect eyes. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as you look at the rest of the image.
It is normal that once we satisfy our need to mark the face, the rest of the body and even the landscape are forgotten.
In this way, we must pay attention to the whole image continuously, so that the total of our drawing, goes advancing at the same time, and not disproportionately.
Third Error: Hardening the hand
In the process of starting to draw our body, it adapts little by little to the postures and forms that we find more comfortable, according to our space and needs.
Unfortunately, it is our hand (or part of the body that we use) the one that seems to suffer more pressure, since it is the one in charge of carrying out the task of holding the tool.
Because of this, it is very common that we have an inclination to harden the hand and wrist, pressing the pencil with fingertips and fingers to achieve precision in our stroke.
Don’t worry, however, nothing is further from a precise line.
The stroke must be fluid and natural, because if we force our attention on the line rather than on the image itself, we lose part of what we want to achieve.
Of course the line matters, but it comes from fluid practice with a relaxed hand.
Think of a soccer player, who first learns how to handle a ball with his legs, and then how to shoot at the goal, do you understand?
Fourth Mistake: Looking for the perfect line
After the previous tip, we find the next one, the tendency to a single universal, absolute and very marked line.
Just as we saw that we must relax the hand, we will do the same with the line of our stroke. This means that the figures that we are going to compose can use one or several lines in their structure.
What we see in the illustrations finished with perfect strokes, are the result of a series of sketched lines, which were superimposed, to give rise to the desired shape.
It does not mean that we should always use a “hairy” stroke for our forms, but it is advisable to start this way and then refine the line, rather than the other way around.
This way you exercise both your hand and your eyes, since we are modeling the figure with our eyes at the same time as the pencil.
Fifth Error: The short sight
When we start a drawing, we may take our attention to the maximum in the process, until we achieve the final finish, in this way, we will see how it is taking shape, correcting, and redrawing. In this way, it will be as close as possible to what we want to achieve.
Carry out this process, with the greatest possible attention to what we are doing, however, it can derive, in that we are too immersed in the sheet. Therefore, we will shorten the view of what we are doing.
Once the drawing is finished, we observe certain things that we did not see before. For this, it is advisable to make brief pauses at certain moments, to contemplate from afar what we are doing.
These moments of observation are of utmost importance, since they can lead us to discover things that we have not noticed, or even to awaken new ideas.
Conclusion
These were the 5 most common mistakes of beginners. It is possible that it happens to you, logically, no one was born with built-in knowledge. With this article, you have the advantage and the possibility to know what these mistakes are, and thus modify them.
If you concentrate on the 5 points that we offered you during the post, there is no doubt that you will have fewer and fewer errors, until you reach a point where there are no more.
Try it, put into practice these simple drawing tips. You will see how not only your work will improve, but you will be able to acquire new techniques more easily – guaranteed!
Avoiding these mistakes is the basis for any illustration.
