Drawing at home | mysite-1

Drawing at home.

On this page you can find ideas, tips and resources to help you start drawing at home.

You will need (recommendation only - don't worry if you don't have everything!):

Use whatever paper or notebook you have - you don't need an expensive sketchbook.

A pencil, pen or even a biro are fine to start with.
As you get more confident you can start building up materials.
Start small - aim to try for at least two minutes a day.
Start by just making different marks. See how many different kinds of marks you can make with each material.
Draw what you see - it can be anything from the view from your window, to a cup or spoon.
If you can only use one hand, tape your paper down with masking tape.

Top tip for watching videos: on YouTube you can turn on subtitles:

This is what you see at the bottom of the screen

Click on this icon to turn on subtitles:

Here are some helpful videos:

Making marks in pencil
Making marks in willow charcoal
Making marks in a range of materials
Drawing a vegetable
Drawing wildflowers
Sketching people outdoors
Drawing portraits from life

Drawing rules: watch this great video for some drawing rules here!

If you are interested in drawing from nature have a look at Jack Muir Laws's website and videos

1) Exercise of the day:

Draw your hand without looking at the paper! Here is a video to help you. Here's another one.

Remeber: don't look at the paper! Do at least 5 drawings like this.

Tips:

Your eye will follow the shape of your hand, your drawing hand will follow your eye.
Don't take your pencil off the page.
It doesn't matter what your drawing looks like! You are training your eye to look closely.

2) Exercise of the day:

Draw an egg on a plate. Find an egg and put it on a plain plate.

Here is a video to help you. Here is another one. Make 5 of these drawings.

Try our different materials.

Tips:

Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect!
Practice practice practice
Try a drawing with just light and shade, then another with just line

3) Exercise of the day:

Draw some objects from your house

Look closely at things around your house.

You can find some more useful drawing tips including how to use your hand in this very good series part 1 here and part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here. There are some more episodes which we will look at in the coming weeks.

Tips:

Lots of things that you don't normally notice are interesting when you draw them: shoes, scissors, plants, jugs, glassware, cups and saucers.
Remember the exercise where you drew your hand? Keep looking. Look up all the time so you are drawing what you see, not what is in your mind.
The more you draw, the more you see.
Use your materials in different ways: you can use the side of pencils and charcoal, use a brush and water with ink or to 'wash' the charcoal, use your finger or cotton wool to smudge.

4) Exercise of the day:

More Light and shade practice.

Choose something interesting but with a strong, simple shape and put it in strong light so that there are some shadows.

Tips:

Use pencil or charcoal.
Try out different marks.
Apply more pressure to build up dark areas, less pressure for light areas.
Use a range of pencils to create light and dark. Pencils that are marked 'H' are harder and lighter, pencils that are marked 'B' and softer and darker. The higher the number for 'H', the harder the pencil, the higher the number for 'B', the softer the pencil.
Use your finger, cotton wool, or a brush and water to smudge or blend.

You can find videos to help here, here, here and here.

5) Excercise of the day:

Contour drawing.

Choose an object with an interesting shape such as a dining chair, a bike, a ladder, a cup, a vase, a shoe, your hand or flowers.

Draw the outline only. Think of the space around the object as solid and draw that shape.

This is called negative space.

Tips:

Choose something with a strong outline.
Draw slowly and carefully, and make sure you keep looking closely at the object.
Try and draw in one continuous line.
Try a few different objects.

There are some videos to help you: here, and here and here.

* Be inspired! Have a look at some work from The National Gallery in London here. Thanks to The National Gallery, Jayne Lindsay and Abi Roper for this great tour.