How can I get better at drawing?

Question from Zawar A.

“I copy pictures and I draw them, but I don’t really feel good about it because I want to draw characters, figures and everyday objects from my imagination. How can I get better at drawing?”

Dear Zawar,

Many thanks for your question.

The reason you haven’t found your artistic sense yet is because as of now, you cannot draw from memory and imagination. So far, you have only learned to copy from photos and from someone else’s artworks. This is not an art; it is a reproduction, which requires a different set of skills than creative drawing.

It is very good that you want to do figurative artworks. These are some of the most complicated subjects to draw.

To be proficient in figure and portrait drawing, you need to know many disciplines: constructive drawing principles, human body anatomy and proportions, tonal rendering techniques and so on.

All of these topics are covered in the Drawing Academy video course.

Kind regards,
Natalie Richy and Vladimir London
Drawing Academy tutors