Basics of drawing

There are a few basics that are very helpful to know when drawing. Many a person who inexperiencedly tried to put something recognizable on paper with a drawing pen probably failed not least because of their ignorance of these fundamentals. And if you take these basics to heart, you'll be able to draw basically all kinds of subjects.

Eye-hand coordination

For me, the most important realization was that drawing has a lot to do with eye-hand coordination, the ability that enables you to put the basketball in the basket. You don't aim with your hand or arm, you aim with your eyes, and your hand follows your eyes. In order to hit it, you have to practice it. And so it is with drawing. You look closely at your subject and concentrate on understanding what you see, pen in hand. You have to train that, too. Therefore, it is very important to practice every day for at least six weeks in the beginning, because regularity is key. Simple motifs are sufficient for this.

Seeing 

Sure, you have to look at your subject in order to be able to draw it. But how often do we really look in everyday life? We don't have to look too closely to avoid the next lamppost or to work through our shopping list in the supermarket. Rarely do we perceive the form or structure of a thing in detail. We also know what the things we encounter in everyday life look like, don't we? But if you're suddenly faced with the task of drawing something from memory, it might still work for the simplest things. But with more complicated things it's different. The result of such an attempt does not look exactly true to reality.

And even when you start drawing, sometimes you wonder why the drawing somehow looks wrong. The reason for this is that one tends to let one's supposed knowledge of the appearance of an object flow into the drawing instead of looking closely. You first have to learn to look at your motif impartially again and to recognize how a line really runs, at what angles different lines stand to one another, and to recognize the proportions of an object.

If you follow this principle, the topic of perspective loses its terror. Knowing a little bit about perspective helps to understand what you're seeing. However, in-depth knowledge of this is not necessary if you learn to trust your eyes.

Basic geometric shapes

Everything consists of variations of basic shapes such as spheres, cylinders and cuboids or circles, ellipses and rectangles. Recognizing these basic forms in your motif makes it easier to get started with a drawing. A supposedly difficult motif loses its fright when viewed with this principle in mind. Starting from these basic forms, the elements of a motif can then be further specified.

Negative space

Especially with complicated motifs, it can be helpful not only to focus on the components of the object itself, but also on the spaces in between. For example, you don't draw the branches of a tree, but the spaces between the branches. At least you balance the gaps between the motif and your drawing. In this way you can check whether you are on the right track with your lines.

Drawing is not copying

In a way, drawing is like translating, only with pictures instead of words. When you translate a text from one language to another, you are not translating words, you are translating meanings. It's the same with drawing. The lines on the paper do not copy what is seen, they represent it. You can't draw every leaf of a tree individually, you have to find a way to represent the foliage in such a way that it is recognizable as such without getting lost in details.

You also have the artistic freedom to decide what you want to include in your drawing and what not. It doesn't matter whether you draw from a photo or have a real scene in front of you.

Practice

One can hardly overestimate how important it is to practice as regularly as possible in order to progress in drawing. By practicing you train your eyes and your hand. And practice doesn't necessarily mean boring drawing exercises. Every drawing that you make, even if it doesn't turn out so well, trains your skills.