Your Questions

Hi,

Many thanks to all subscribers who are asking various things about art and how to learn drawing.

Today, I will answer several short queries.

If you have any questions, please submit them here »

Question from Johan

How to teach one’s brain to take a snap-shot for future referral for sketching without using pictures for copying?

The answer

A visual memory can be improved by making sketches from life on a daily basis.

Sometimes it is not about how accurately you draw what you have seen. Fine artists have artistic license to omit details or even create some from imagination.

Professional artists draw not what they see (or saw), but what they know about what they saw.

To learn how to draw whatever you want from life, memory or imagination, you are very welcome to enroll in the Drawing Academy course »

Question from Cassandra

How to draw what you feel?

The answer

There are two aspects to this question – “what” and “how”:

• “What” is the question about what you want to say by your artwork – the visual message to other people.
• And “How” refers to the drawing skills you need to have to communicate your art.

The first part comes from within – only you can express your own feelings.

The Drawing Skills can be learned.

To help students like you improve drawing skills we created the Drawing Academy course.

Questions from David

How can i train my eyes to measure distances?

Can I look at other artworks and get inspiration from it?

Is it okay to do both comic character design and realistic drawing?

I want to create art work with my creativity instead of mimicking someone else.

Answers

Making sketches is a great way to practice drawing and good for the eyes and hand, not to mention that sketches will be a good memory of places visited.

In regard to your question about taking inspiration from other artist’s art – that’s exactly the reason of my trip to Italy, to see paintings of the greatest artists of Renaissance and Baroque. I hope you have good examples to be inspired by.

To improve your characters drawing skills, you may do a lot of fast (20 seconds … 2 minutes) sketches of people from life – just strangers passing by, people sitting in cafes, and so on. Sketch different poses, people in movement, various ages, people doing different activities – walking, siting, working, etc.

When it comes to comic character design, realistic drawing helps immensely. Comic characters are most interesting when they are drawn with a full knowledge of how to draw realistically, only with some exaggerated features, which makes them so characteristic. If you start from a realistic drawing practice, you can progress to comic drawing. If you only draw comics, it is very hard to progress to realistic artworks.

In regard to originality of your artworks, you may check my answers to a similar question posted here:
//drawingacademy.com/creative-guidelines

Best regards,
Vladimir

To learn how to draw proficiently,