How To Get Started as an Artist

How to Draw Landscape Outlines Let us talk about landscapes. In the lessons before, we talked about the importance of an outline for the human body and the same goes for any drawing, painting or illustration you are working on. Landscapes outlines are just like figure outlines. The only difference is they have no structure. Sketching outlines for landscapes will be much harder. Not because of skill level, but because its easier to loose yourself in them. I like to start out blocking in the major shapes of the landscape followed by lighting and shadows. Lets take a look at some of the examples. Example 1: I found this image on Google by searching the keyword “landscape.” Now, this outline is very basic with no true detail. Its made up of lines and scribbles to show shape, direction, light and shadow. All my paintings, drawing and sketches start very loose and gestured like this. All I need to do is get down a simple guideline of what I’m trying to create. Nothing fanc...

How to Draw Figure Outlines In this lesson I want to talk more about the figure outline. Earlier we discussed how to sketch out the human head, now lets make a body to go with it! It’s the same idea as the head but with different shapes. Cross lines will help keep everything lined up. Now, this is where I put the disclaimer. If you really want to understand the figure outline, you first have to understand the human body. I’m not saying take an anatomy class, but it would help! (Maybe, find a book on the human body and use it as reference. Draw images from it to help you understand the human form in more depth). This example shows the basic structure of how I put together a body. I’m leaving out muscle structure and only focusing on the shapes I have come to use over the years of my practice. I do know there are many different ways to put together a nice figure structure so feel free to use any method that is most comfortable for you.   Remember, practice makes ...

How to Draw Outlines of the human head Today we are going to be talking about outlines of the human head. Outlines are just guidelines that will help to structure out the image you want to paint, draw or create.   These fast structure sketches are just the framework for the final image. They are not to be taken very seriously, however, they are important to help your overall finished image. How many of you start off with an outline and find yourself spending more time on it than you think you should? How many of you worry if the outline is the right shape or size (proportion wize)? These are valid concerns but are ultimately not worth the stress.   Outlines are just the idea of your creation, not the finished work. Try not to spend so much time on them. Just get the idea out and on paper. When I was young, I asked my art teacher to help me with my outlining. If you are in need of help, I will tell you what my teacher told me. “Draw as many outlines as you can, ...