When deciding to start drawing and painting as an absolute beginner in this new hobby, one initially looks for some tips that can help get started.
In our blog post, we want to support you with 5 tips & tricks to take the first steps.
Here are 5 useful tips & tricks to help you start your first practice:
1. Choosing the Right Drawing Materials
To find out if drawing is the right hobby for you, you can start by using what you already have at home. However, if you are sure you want to draw more frequently and ambitiously, specific materials can be helpful.
We recommend investing in good quality paper. Drawing or sketching paper is preferable to printer paper or notebooks. High-quality paper offers a different drawing experience compared to those not designed for drawing.
For a good start, you will need the following equipment:
- Lightly textured drawing paper
- Pencils or mechanical pencils in different grades; starting with 2B is sufficient for beginners
- Kneaded eraser
- Utility knife or simply a carpet knife (a precision cutter is especially suitable for cutting paper and cardboard, and it can also be helpful for sharpening pencils, but caution, it's sharp!)
- Sandpaper (for sharpening pencil tips)
If you are unsure where and which materials to obtain, we recommend art supply stores like Gerstaecker or Boesner. You can easily order online from these art specialty stores or fully immerse yourself in the shopping experience at their physical locations.
2. Overcoming the Fear of the Blank Page and Choosing Your First Subject
Many people who convince themselves they are not good enough are afraid to start. But no journey begins without the first step. Therefore, just start! In the beginning, the result is not important, but rather the practice itself.
A good starting tip is: "Choose a simple subject!" However, someone who has never drawn before cannot easily judge what is a simple subject and what turns out to be more difficult than initially thought.
Generally, subjects composed of few simple shapes and minimal details are the easiest. When drawing a subject, always begin by breaking it down into basic shapes.
Once you master this, complexity increases by depicting light and shadow, which creates a 3D effect and makes the drawing look realistic.
Basic shapes include circle, rectangle, square, and triangle. Initially, the representation is 2-dimensional (2D). Adding 3-dimensionality (3D) transforms these basic shapes into spheres, cylinders, cubes, and cones.
To depict this 3D effect, shading with light and shadow is crucial. You'll need a graduated value scale of your pencil from the lightest to the darkest value. This is referred to as tonality. More on this in the next tip.
3. Tool: Creating a Value Scale
Prepare a 2B pencil, kneaded eraser, and lightly textured drawing paper. Now draw a step-by-step gray shading with the pencil from white (as light as the paper) to the darkest shading achievable with this pencil. Your scale should roughly look like this at the end:
Draw 9 equal-sized squares on the paper as depicted above. Leave the first square as white as the paper. It's best to start with the last square, the 9th one, and shade it as dark as you can. However, take care not to press too hard or pass over the same spot too many times with the pencil, as this will overlay too much graphite and make the area shine in the light – which we don't want. Even though the exercise may seem simple, please do it with great care.
Ensure you proceed gradually from light to dark or vice versa. Each square should be shaded evenly. To achieve this, always work with a sharpened pencil.
With this template, you have created a tool and practiced shading. A "Value Scale" can be used if you're unsure how light or dark to go in your drawing. Place your "Value Scale" next to the image you want to draw and estimate in which range the gray tone should be.
4. Handling the Pencil
With writing instruments (fountain pens, ballpoint pens), we are accustomed to holding the pen as close to the paper as possible. The pressure you exert on the pen and thus on the paper is much greater than if you hold the pen higher up. Logically, this means that the hand hurts faster.
Another disadvantage is that you block your view of the paper when holding the pen at the lower end of the barrel. The result among students has often been that they bent tightly over the paper to see past the pen. This promotes back pain and posture problems.
Ideally, the pen should lie loosely in the hand, and the hand should cover the entire length of the pen. The thumb and index finger should not lie at the same level on the pen, but the thumb should be a little higher. For a little more precision in drawing, however, the thumb and index finger can move closer together.
5. The Talent Myth and Managing Expectations
Talent is not a necessary requirement for learning something – and learning to draw is no exception.
Some people have talent and find it easier to learn something new; others simply need more practice and achieve the same qualitative results. In principle, practice makes perfect! Regardless of whether you have talent or not.
Often, one is their harshest critic. However, one should not be too self-critical. Your expectations must be realistic in relation to your abilities. What matters is how you deal with mistakes. A drawing can go wrong – because only those who allow mistakes can learn from them and develop further.
For some, seemingly unattainable role models can be a great motivation killer. Of course, the reverse is also possible. In essence, it's good to seek role models who impress you, inspire you, and whom you want to emulate. But don't forget that even your role models didn't come into the world with their fully developed skills and immediately created masterpieces. The artists we admire took years to train their skills. In general, one develops throughout life.
If you are interested in learning more tips like these with us, visit one of our workshops. Click the link to see an overview of our workshops: Workshop Overview.
You can also find tutorials and more tips on our YouTube channel.