The Practice Drawing This Newsletter Archive, Dive Into The Vast Treasure Trove Of Ideas And Drawing Exercises For Artists

Free Friday Newsletter About Drawing

#109 - The Five Stages Of Skill That Every Artist Goes Through

And what it means for artists.

You enthusiastically lunge off in the wrong direction.

#108 - Make a Photo Of Your Art To See Your Art In A Different Way and Notice New Things About It That You Want To Fix

Improve a piece of art by critically examining if it is ready for public view.

I’d go back into the drawing and fix things, take a new photo and post it.

#107 - STARING At Your Favorite Artist As A Way To Become A Better Artist

Become better by observing other artists in action.

Eventually, I realized that made them much better at drawing! They could see the art on the others’ boards and be challenged to do as good or better.

#106 - Book Review - The Talent Code And What Artists Can Learn From Top Performers In Other Fields

What artists can learn from people who became good at sports and playing music.

Reading the book was a life-changing experience for me.

#105 - The Effect A Deadlines Have On How You Experience The Creative Process While Making Art

Wouldn’t life without deadlines be bliss?

Creating without deadlines, just tinkering is fun! But you often don’t end up with finished pieces. You might drop something to work on something else, for example. But it’s more fun.

#104 - Draw With A Thick Pencil First To Get The Big Shapes Down Before You Go Into Detail

Don’t fret the details.

This helps me solve and fix problems early: get proportions and expressiveness right.

#103 - Making It Easy To Start Drawing Every Day Is A Good Way To Make A Drawing Habit Stick

Hemingway did this, and visual artists can, too.

You can also decide on a short daily warm-up drawing exercise, as these are generally easy to start doing.

#102 - As A Drawing Exercise, Fix Mistakes Other Artists Made - But Keep It To Yourself!

But do keep it to yourself!

We all make different mistakes. This is true for drawing, too. You can spot mistakes in someone else’s drawing, and the other can spot them in yours.

#101 - Draw The Same Thing Over And Over Again And You Become Better At Drawing That Thing

You can become better at something through repetition.

Try this: select an image you love for reference, and draw it repeatedly, looking at what is wrong and fixing it in the next iteration until you get it right.

#100 - Things That Are Easy Or Hard To Draw -Trees And Female Faces

Things that are easy to draw versus hard to draw.

We have to get the details right up to fractions of millimeters, or else it will look wrong.

#99 - This Common Wisdom Is Not True! It Is Not About Doing Something For Ten Thousand Hours

Even though it sounds reasonable, it is not.

The problem is that you will only be able to do it for ten thousand hours if you are motivated on a daily basis.

#98 - What Happens In Your Sketchbook When You Tell Yourself You Will Not Show The Sketchbook Pages To Other People

This is how you should look at them.

I love pouring over sketchbook pages by other artists.

#97 - Artists, Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone, but Not Too Much! Stay NEAR Your Comfort Zone

But do come out of your comfort zone if you do not want to become bored.

Find your “happy place,” your comfort zone, first. Find out what you can draw well, and go from there.

#96 - Drawing Portraits Using Online Sources For Reference

Another idea for using online reference for artists.

Most are full of character and formed from beautiful shapes, unconventional beauty. Truly a great source of reference to use while drawing.

#95 - Collaborate With Your Child - Use This Novel Method To Introduce Fun Into The Art Creation Process

This is a fun thing to do!

It’s special to do something together. Let them finish your drawings; you’ll love how it comes out.

#94 - Drawing Is Not Writing And This Has Consequences For How You Should Hold Your Pen Or Pencil While Drawing

There are different ways you can hold pens and pencils!

But drawing is not writing; drawing can benefit from holding a pen or pencil in other ways. Here are a few things to try:

#93 - A Website With All-Ages Appropriate Pose Reference For Artists To Use To Practice Drawing The Human Form

Another great online resource for artists.

Jookpubstock is a website with all-ages-appropriate pose reference images you can practice drawing from.

#92 - The Advantage You Have Over Rembrandt - What Would Rembrandt Have Done With All The Art Resources We Have At Our Disposal Today?

Advantage modern technology provide that we artists do not make enough use of.

And look at what we have! We can access almost any image ever created, all online, and study them.

#91 - A Free Online Drawing Class As An Alternative To Live Model Drawing Classes

An alternative to live model drawing classes.

An important reason to keep doing it is to remind yourself how different we all look. You develop mannerisms if you don’t draw from a model for a while. You draw every figure with the same nose, the same hands, et cetera. Drawing from changing live models reminds you how different we all are.

Plus Drawing Exercises