Ask HN: How do I learn drawing?

[f311a]

I have been bad at drawing my whole life, but I think drawing can improve my career as an engineer. I want to be able to illustrate my ideas when writing blog posts and documentation.

Where do I start? I have an IPad and Apple Pencil for digital drawing. I tried to learn how to draw by watching videos on Youtube and by practising a lot on my own, but I feel like I'm missing fundamentals.

I want to learn both raster and vector graphics. As it turned out, drawing complex real life objects using vector graphics is not easier.

[hourislate]

Although I consider myself a hack, my family and friends think I have some God Given drawing talent. Not true I tell them, anyone can draw well. You just need this book and practice.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B005GSYXU4&preview=new...

This is probably the best book I have come across and it took me from stick figures to what my family considers awesome in about a year.

[KineticLensman]

Yes the most important principle being Draw what you see, not what you know. For example, don't draw an eye as an ellipse containing a circle, but look at the actual combination of of light and dark shapes, and draw those instead.

[Edit]. Also, drawing people is a really good test. If you draw a house or a tree, say, you can get the shapes / proportions wrong but the thing might still look plausible. Draw a head out of proportion, though, and it will immediately look wrong.

[xtracto]

That book is amazing. I got it also when it first came out years ago. Although I unfortunately did not finish it, I remember two exercises that left me marked:

First is the exercise of drawing the "column / two-faces" drawing. You can REALLY feel your two brain sides fighting while drawing that.

The second is the "upside down" drawing. After I finished that I was amazed that I actually had drawn that (I cannot draw a cup or a house or whatever).

The premise is that a lot of people who have the "left" side of the brain developed draw the "concepts" of what they see and they don't really draw what they see. So if someone tells me to "draw that house", I will be drawing "a roof", "a door" , "the walls" etc. Instead someone using the "right" side of the brain will actually see the house and draw what they see.

Pretty clever.

[mcshicks]

Yes I read it many years ago probably soon after it was first published and had the same experience. I don't draw on a regular basis but I still do from time to time and I still am reaping the benefits of going through the book over 30 years later. Highly recommend.

[musicale]

As an alternate "analytical/drafting" approach, I found "Drawing in the Digital Age," by Wei Xu to be pretty interesting. He uses triangles to divide up space and to build up basic shapes, and focuses on position, orientation, and proportion/scale. These seem like things that beginners can understand.

For constructing energetic characters, I like the Marvel/stick figure approach of "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way," by Stan Lee and John Buscema (also John Romita's book "Draw the Marvel Comics Super Heroes", which is sadly out of print but not hard to track down.)

Note that these books concentrate mainly on line drawing. Shading (or inking and coloring on the comic side) is of primary importance for turning line art into three dimensional art, and I don't have a great reference off the top of my head.

I think drawing programs with perspective grids can help as well. And lots of people use 3D software as a composition aid or to actually draw on top of. Some consider it "cheating" but remember that the old masters used optical devices like the camera obscura and wire grids (known in antiquity) as well as Renaissance optics like lenses and mirrors. I believe David Hockney tried to replicate some of these techniques with much success.

[ottomanbob]

This book is incredible. I went from “can’t draw a straight line” to realism in a week. Happy to upload some proofs, haha.

[bhu1st]

I went through the book once 10 years ago. It is definitely recommended to anyone considering drawing seriously.

It is easy to lose focus when drawing. Hang in there. Look more closely. Focus on the details. Try to copy as much details as you can.

The quote "Good artist copy great artist steal" is true in the sense that the more we focus our attention on the details of the drawing the closer we get to copy/literally steal the feel of object we're drawing.

[Igelau]

I checked this out of the library in college and it was life changing. It's a whole new way to see.

[drcongo]

I went from absolutely no ability, to limited ability thanks to this book. It must be knocking on 25 years since I read it though and I've never forgotten the things it taught me. I don't think I can say that about many books.

[k__]

Could you post the name of the book, please?

I can't open that link.

[kowlo]

can you share some of your drawings so I can manage my expectations?...!

[john-tells-all]

wonderful book!

[roberthahn]

To learn to draw, you first need to learn to see. So copy things.

Try this project:

Take a sheet of paper and divide the space into 2 equal halves. In one half make a collage of black and white images. No color - this is important. Try to fill the space if you can.

Once done, get a pencil, eraser and ruler. Your job is to copy the collage into the other half as accurately as possible.

To do this, measure where every point is on the collage - any place where 2 edges come to a point, then plot that point in your working space. With or without the ruler, copy the edges. Then focus on how dark or light the part of the collage you’re copying is and replicate that.

After awhile you will find you’ll want throw away the ruler and do it by eye. Try it. You will find yourself drawing much better.

Some tips: you have to use pencil and paper. A screen is going to throw you off. You can always try it on a second or third attempt of this project.

This one project literally took my art mark from a failing grade to 85%, and everyone after swore I had a gift. It’s not a gift. It’s just a skill that develops with hours of practice.

[systemvoltage]

This is the worst way to learn how to draw. It is a short term satisfying thing to do and produces great result.

The litmus test for someone who knows truly how to draw is to ask them to redraw whatever object they drew but from a different angle or perspective. Most people to learned by measuring and training their eye won't be able to do it.

In order to draw, you need to internalize the 3d shape. Start from basic shapes and learn to draw them in different angles and perspective distortions - surprisingly difficult.

Then increase the complexity. As you draw, you need to not think in 2d, but in 3d and it needs to be more intrinsic than just "translation". You are so into it, you forget that you're drawing on a 2d plane.

When you learn it this way, it gets easier to do follow up tasks such as shading and coloring.

Syrcra is a great resource on YT and expands on what I just summarized: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpHAxHY8zvaMOCO6zeYxq...

[chevill]

>This one project literally took my art mark from a failing grade to 85%

Was this a university course? Unless you're a fine arts major I can't imagine any teacher being such an asshole that they grade an art class based on artistic ability. Usually its just a matter of participation and putting effort into the assignments.

[frainfreeze]

Your hand-brain connection will need some debugging, but just like with engineering, exposure and practice makes you better:

  1. draw, the more the better. 
  2. practice fundamentals. 
  3. have fun.

Some resources worth checking out:

  - Lessons on drawabox.com for basics
  - Digital painting lessons on ctrlpaint.com
  - How to draw by S. Robertson and T. Bertling
  - Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
  - Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
  - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
  - Picture this by Molly Bang

Consider joining Crimson daggers forum (http://crimsondaggers.com/). Good luck!

[thraxil]

Strongly seconding Robertson and Bertling's "How to Draw". Continue on to their "How to Render" after that. They break it down into a very mechanical process that doesn't feel very "creative" but makes for a great foundation for architectural or engineering drawing and doing any kind of constructive 3-dimensional drawing.

[neetfreek]

One fun (free!) resource is DrawABox. Despite the humble name, you'll learn a lot more :)

Well structured, exercise-based, it takes you all the way from the absolute fundamentals.

https://drawabox.com/lessons

[sn9]

I've heard great things about DrawABox and the works of Andrew Loomis: https://www.amazon.com/Fun-Pencil-Everybody-Easily-Learn/dp/...

[risk]

Drawabox is excellent. What a delightful approach from first principles. I logged in to write it but I'm 2 hours late. It comes with a subreddit too learntodraw.reddit.com

[vimy]

I second DrawABox. Excellent resource to learn.

[funkaster]

yup. Highly recommend it. It's really a good resource to learn the basics and more.

[jccalhoun]

When I was a kid I watched Secret City on PBS and it turns out the guy is still around teaching drawing: https://www.youtube.com/user/MarkKistler/videos and someone has posted the episodes from the PBS show https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw8rIExNvhgV4vUDTbMdUXg/vid...

[utborin]

Oh man, this is the best news I've heard all week. I loved Secret City. Thanks for this.

[cirrus3]

omg, I have been trying to remember what this was for decades.

[macromaniac]

After watching many youtube videos, the one that actually helped me was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ufz75UvHs&t=1185s

Tldw: Do an extreme version of agile for getting better. E.g, do 1 minute sketches of a cup 12 times, trying different variations, and understand WHY some variations worked and some didn't. After experimenting, see how other people did it. And do it again.

I used to hate drawing, but after trying this approach for months I think I love it. I do not regret the time I spent learning to draw, and after putting in the hours it changed the way I see the world.

[john-tells-all]

Seconded. As developers, we're familiar with a "feedback loop" e.g. with Test Driven Development. Write a Test (high-level description of feature), write Code that makes the Test work, repeat. Same thing with drawing: do a bunch of them, compare them to what you were expecting, repeat.

Also: don't take it seriously. At all :) Just do a bunch of drawing and it's all good :)

my IG https://www.instagram.com/johnlmitchell/

[kblev]

In what ways did your world view change?

[mvaliente2001]

"The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence" by Betty Edwars.

She taught drawing classes and discovered that one reason why people is bad at drawing is that they symbolize what they see before drawing it. For example, when we see a face, we tend to focus about the eyes and mouth and ignore other features like the front. That contributes to a distorted representation that is reflected in the drawing.

She devised a series of exercises to avoid that problem. For example, try to draw a picture upside down, or try to draw an object shape using negative space (you focus on the shapes outside the object).

PS: I found that book in The Last Psychiatrist blog: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/10/how_to_draw_not_abou...

[Kelamir]

I recommend it too. Nice book.

[megameter]

Some notes:

1. Drawing as a skill does not live in the muscle memory(although it is possible to encode symbolic elements in muscle memory) but in the conversion of eyesight to concrete measurements, followed by a reproduction of those measurements on the page. If you really "get" it, the medium will not matter.

2. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain does get you the starting point of this - by giving you simple techniques to decode what your eye sees - but it does have a gap when you aim for cartoon construction and drawing from imagination - at that point, maintaining proportion as you transform the object in your head becomes the challenge.

3. A simple way of getting past the gap is to focus on graphic design and typography. Simple ratios of 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, over and over, subdividing a space or being translated to an extrusion. If your eye can see simple ratios, construction of the form proceeds by referencing the ratios and mapping them to primitive shapes with the intended relationships. Sometimes you need a lot of construction lines, other times you can see it immediately. The way in which you structure things directly affects the results.

4. Perspective is sweaty work - while you can estimate how a form looks with some rotation, it gets very hard to compute what's going to happen as you make more extreme changes with foreshortening. Professional artists are always looking for ways to cheat around attempting this computation directly, and many fall into a trope of stock scenes and poses adjusted or interpolated into each other, since those are the ones they know well. Making the scene really lively and distinctive always comes back to good use of reference.

[rolph]

It sounds like you want access to Technical Drawing skills.

there is a core skill of spatial relations modeling required for drawing in general and this needs to be developed.

blueprints or architectural plans attempt to convey; where and how objects exist in space relative to reference. such as with a frontside rightside top drawing or a cavalier [2.5 dimension] orthographic drawing.

visual artist like sketch artists are attempting to create extradimensional information to evoke 3D associations with a 2D object, so abstracting spatial relations across different dimensions along with the physical technique and media is required.

[nbzso]

Fundamentals:

1. Start with simple forms. Straight lines. Cross lines. Circle. Square. Triangle. - sketch on paper with pencil (preferably HB) - One/Two weeks period 30 - 50 sketches a day. Don't try to be perfect at all. The goal here is to create muscle memory and to get a level of comfort while drawing. Try to do circles - ovals in one movement. Avoid shading, the goal here is to draw with lines only. Try to draw by locking your wrist in fixed position and direct the movement from your shoulder. Listen to music if this is helpful to be calm and relaxed. Make it fun in some way. Enjoy the repetitiveness of the process.

2. Remove the big ideas, avoid digital tools, don't watch "how others are good".

3. After you get decent results of circles, squares and triangles - repeat the procedure with more complex objects - try to draw combinations of those elements.

--------------

This is the most simple and most important part. When you develop a muscle memory of drawing freely simplest forms, you can take the next steps. - drawing from nature cubes, spheres and cones from paper models. - fundamentals of perspective, shadow and light - fundamentals of composition

And practice, practice, practice. :)

----------------------------------------

Post credentials: I am professional designer with almost 20 years career and have a degree for art teacher.

[Jtsummers]

I realize COVID is still a thing, but consider finding a local art class. I did this a few years back and it significantly improved my drawing ability, I got direct feedback from an instructor, and the cost wasn't too high.

Many universities and community colleges have adult education programs that offer multi-week courses like this for not too much money, or you can find a local artist community.

[gdubs]

Some tips:

Try holding the pencil less like a writing pen, and a little further back from the tip. Loosen up a little.

Exercise your ability to look at your subject and not the paper. Try not looking at the paper at all, and doing continuous contours where you don’t pick up the charcoal / pencil at all. These will look silly, but that’s ok!

Learn to draw what you see, and not what you already assume is there. Make a mark on your paper - let’s say the curve of someone’s eye. Then, squint one eye and hold out your pencil and use it as a measure. You can measure the length of that mark and compare it to the distance of another mark you see in real life. Use this technique to find how far things are really from each other, whether they’re level, and the proportion of one line or shape to another.

Use your eraser as much as your drawing implement, and keep a light touch. No need to sketch over and over and over the same lines. Let each line count.

Start out with just lines - don’t worry about shading right away. Once you’ve mastered lines — how they define areas, etc, — you’ll find that the shading comes natural.

[freedomben]

I'm not an artist by any stretch, so take my suggestion with a grain of salt. I'm also a Linux guy so Apple-y tools are not even options for me.

Inkscape has been huge for me. It's a wonderful tool and there are great tutorials out there. My GIMP skills actually improved just by learning Inkscape, but most importantly I can create basic art for my apps by myself now.

I also got a Wacom tablet that works with Linux and I use it with Krita. Since it can emulate a mouse there are tons of other applications I can use it with, even Miro.

Designing and drawing simple logos and icons has been most rewarding for me. I'll never be able to produce amazing art since I lack the skills and talent for it, but I can handle logos pretty well now!

[tjakab]

It's been decades since I used it in a practical way, but "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" - https://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Comics-Marvel-Way/dp/0671530... is a surprisingly great tutorial for learning. You can ignore the bits on dynamic drawing that are more geared for comics, but it will give you a lot of foundational knowledge of composition and observing. The chapter on perspective is still one of the best writings on the subject I've ever seen. Pair it with a good life drawing book.

[taphangum]

I've been doing this for my own blog posts (https://planflow.dev/blog) of late, as well as within my book (https://gumroad.com/l/Debbg/z823cp8), and I have to say, the engagement levels are INSANE.

I *HIGHLY* recommend it.

Some tips:

- Understand that a drawing is a low fidelity synthesis of an idea.

The first skill to get good at, is breaking down what you're trying to say into its 'essence'. The most important PARTS of it.

This comes with practice, but a good way to do it is by writing, and then editing that writing, strangely enough.

- Learn the fundamentals of design

Understanding the basics of design, such as color theory, typography and layout composition gives you a great advantage when it comes to your drawing technique. There is no secret here, you will just have to learn the basics and then practice.

- Use FAST tools

I use Figma for all of blog drawings [1]. Why? because it's online, and most importantly, it's very FAST. And fast helps me speed up my iteration (and therefore 'learning') cycles. Fast is highly underestimated when learning. Fast is a superpower.

- Use templates

If you take a look at the drawings I have on my blog, you'll notice that I use similar templates for each one. In fact they all start from the same template.

Using a template gives you the confidence to get over the 'blank page' anxiety that often derails beginners. Allowing you to build up a momentum that will KEEP you drawing. And if you keep drawing, you WILL get better.

I plan to write more about this in the next few weeks, as a blog post. If you're interested in reading it, select one of the posts on the blog [1] and add your email address at the bottom! :)

Hope this helps!

[1] - https://planflow.dev/blog

[jvvw]

I think if you want this from an engineering perspective then Mark Kistler's You Can Draw in 30 Days is a good bet. It's not about how to see (unlike Drawing With the Right Side of the Brain) but if you want to draw certain types of things from your imagination, then it might do what you need and doesn't need too much equipment etc.

Ultimately if you want to be good at drawing, I suspect you have to be prepared to invest a fair amount of time - if you enjoy it won't feel like that, but if you don't then there are probably diminishing returns.

[elusivepeanut]

Check out the books 'The back of the napkin' and 'unfolding the napkin' by Dan Roam.

[rigmarole]

Quite a few answers took the “how to draw” question literally, but this is an incredible series of book when it comes to distilling and communicating information and concepts. It’s a book that goes far beyond drawing, and improves thinking and explaining things.

[eyelidlessness]

I can’t claim anything universal, so I’ll only speak for my own experience. I developed a bit as a teen, but stopped drawing entirely until my mid-late 30s, and it was a huge challenge to start again.

0. I prepared myself emotionally for failure. Knowing I might not get where I wanted to be let me get comfortable with the winding path of progress, and less likely to give up when a piece or practice didn’t go the way I wanted.

1. I got somewhere comfortable that I could spend a lot of time. At the time this was a neighborhood bar, now (when the weather improves) I’d probably choose my porch.

2. I drew. A lot. A lot a lot. I drew stuff I didn’t want to draw until I felt comfortable with the act, even if I didn’t like the outcome. And I threw away a lot. I know it’s common advice not to, but for me it was freeing to not get too invested in any one piece.

3. I drew portraits of people I cared about, as a gift for them. Another comment mentioned the importance of learning to see. Knowing the recipients may be hurt or unflattered by a poor portrayal of their person helped me take the time to “correct” my vision and how it corresponds to what I draw, and helped me really see where I could improve.

4. I shared anything and everything without hesitation—work in progress, “finished” pieces, really finished pieces—and explicitly welcomed feedback. This helped me see what other people saw in my work.

5. I prepared myself for disappointment. I’m somewhat repeating the first point because it was important for me to know my friends (and portrait gift recipients) might not always see the work from my eyes.

6. I took a sober, critical look at my work, to identify where I could improve, and kept drawing.

[cltby]

Take a serious drawing class, specifically in the classical academic tradition [1]. As a beginner, you need:

a.) theory to simplify and organize the visual information in front of you

b.) immediate and rigorous feedback on your mistakes.

The realist ateliers make a point of doing both and are incredibly effective at teaching. Don't be put off by the classicist dogma. It really is the best art instruction you can get today.

IMO the independent study route is a poor use of time. It is indeed very important to "learn to see," but you probably won't achieve this by staring at an object and trying to reproduce it. You will definitely get better if you do the exercises in e.g. "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," but you'll still be pretty bad, and what's worse, you'll have no idea how to improve.

[1] https://www.artrenewal.org/Atelier/Search

[2] https://grandcentralatelier.org (which I can personally vouch for)