The obvious way to improve your skills as an artist is practice.

But sometimes that’s not enough.

Or maybe you’d like to achieve your personal, artistic, goals a little faster.

In this post I’ll explain how to do this with an easy tactic one of my own art instructors taught me: speed drawing exercises.

The concept is simple. You use an object or a person, or a part of a person (i.e. their face, an ear, a hand, etc.) and draw it as fast and as detailed as you can. I’d recommend using a timer for this.

The easy part is you can set the time to be as short or as long as you want. If you’re a beginner, I’d recommend something between 30 to 45 minutes. For everyone else, try no more than 15 minutes. Of course you’re not limited to any of those times, regardless of skill level (and the object you’re drawing may be difficult), but the point is you push yourself. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Firstly, don’t push yourself to the point you feel overwhelmed. You’re only trying to improve your skills, it’s not a contest. So pace yourself, but not too much (otherwise it wouldn’t be called ‘speed drawing’).

The second thing to remember is it doesn’t matter the outcome. Your first attempt will probably look kind of messy or unfinished and that’s ok! It will eventually get easier and the faster and the better you’ll be able to draw! I know first hand.

To be honest, I hated these exercises at first myself. But it’s probably one of the many things that I learned that really improved my skills as an artist. Even though I was pretty advanced at the time, my sketching time was practically cut in half by the time the course was over. So it may be annoying at first, but it will really pay off in the long run.

 

 

I’d suggest doing one once a day. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, it’s ok to start small. But don’t get so rushed that you halfheartedly slop through it and you end up never improving. If you find yourself doing this, stop. It’s better to not practice at all in this way than to practice bad habits. You’ll just end up hating yourself and hating your art.

However, if you’re serious about really improving your skills, I highly recommend it.

Remember to pay attention to detail and to really observe what you see–given the small amount of time you have. Push your limits and you’ll be surprised at how well you’ll do! You can only get better.

 

 

Let me know what you think in the comments or shoot me an email. Don’t forget to keep up with your art challenge!

 

 

I wanted to touch on some common mistakes that I’ve noticed some beginners make. Mostly because I used to do a lot of the same things myself. If you find yourself doing some of these things, don’t feel bad. No artist was a master the first time he picked up a pencil (or a brush).

Good art takes time, effort, and a lot of practice. But, you can also practice wrong. The sooner you can recognize bad habits, the sooner you can fix them. Which will either make it easier for you in the long run (your skills will also improve faster).

 

Be Gentle

I love watching my 10 year old sister-in-law draw. She’s actually quite good for her age, but she has a bad habit of pressing too hard. I think I noticed it only because that’s a common problem for myself still. I’m not so bad at it anymore, but I slip up occasionally.

Why is this so bad? You’re not only creating more stress on your own hand but you’re basically carving into the paper. Which makes it harder to erase mistakes. You don’t want to end up with a piece of artwork that you’re really happy with—only to have a strange and distracting ghost-like image off to one side. Trust me.

How do I fix it? If you find yourself doing this, it’s really a simple fix, just don’t press as hard. Be sure too that you’re not drawing one continuous line or holding the pencil strangely (hold it just like you do when you write). Use short, light, strokes of the pencil. This not only gives you better control over the subject you’re trying to capture on paper, but it leaves plenty of room for error. Also remember, the softer the pencil lead you use, the lighter you need to press (this doesn’t apply when shading). I wouldn’t recommend using anything other than an HB or 2B pencil when doing the first rough sketch though. Stick with the harder and softer leads only when adding details.

 

No Gaps

Shading has to be one of the most difficult things I’ve noticed for beginners. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why. If you can color from dark to light, you can shade. Practice makes perfect, of course, but it doesn’t stop there either. A lot of people seem to leave gaps while shading (or go in different directions). Don’t be lazy just because you’re going to blend it later. It actually turns out smoother and cleaner looking if you take the time to color in the shaded areas completely. Then you can blend it. It simply gets rid of the pencil strokes and makes the shadows look more natural. Don’t rely on sloppy shading to get the results you want. I can say the same about shading in different directions, which I mentioned in a previous post.

 Lighting

The common mistakes made with lighting is different here, than common misunderstanding of the subject. If you haven’t read my previous post on lighting you can here. This part can only really be fixed by fully paying attention to how the scene or object is placed in relation to the source of light. It’s easy to forget where shadows go if you haven’t studied your original set up or don’t have a definite light source. Make sure you really pay attention to what you’re doing. Well, you should anyway. But if shading is a problem for you, it may be because you don’t know where your light source originates. Remember, it’s about training your eyes as well as your hands. I can say the same about perspective.

Study, study, study! I can’t learn it for you.

 

 Don’t Be Wasteful

Another mistake I commonly see is wasting paint (and art supplies in general). This isn’t always due to lack of artistic skill or knowledge, sometimes you just aren’t prepared. However, the more you are used to using your tools properly, the less likely this is to happen. Sometimes you don’t even know how to prepare for something. It’s perfectly okay to experiment. You’re going to be doing that anyway. My point is to remember to not do it needlessly. If you know what a piece requires don’t be lazy, plan it out.

Paint is most often wasted. If you are working on a painting and you want stop and work on it later, make sure you have some kind of container with an air-tight lid. This way you cover the paint blobs without them drying out. I use something like this. Or, if you’d prefer, you can squirt the paint out onto some foil or plastic and then carefully place the foil (or plastic) into an air-tight container of your choice.

 

Be Confident!

The most used statements I hear from people (artists and non-artists alike) is: “I wish I was that good” or “I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler” or “______ is the hardest for me, I just can’t do it”. If you want to learn something, then learn it. Ever hear the quote “Every expert in anything was once an amateur”? It’s true.

Also, don’t compare your skills with another artist’s skills. They may have way more experience than you. I can guarantee that every single artist did not start out naturally knowing everything. They learned it from somebody. Some people do have a gift, yes, but it still takes practice and work to get anywhere. You must have confidence in your own abilities, don’t put yourself down. You won’t get any better by giving up or feeling bad about yourself. If art is something you’re passionate about, if it’s what gets you out of bed in the morning, then do it. Work towards your goals.

Lastly, be happy with your own work. If you are not pleased with your own work, and not because you fail to have confidence, then work on the areas you’re not happy with. An art piece you create could look horrible to someone else, but if you’re happy with it, then it doesn’t matter. Celebrate the little accomplishments as well. You finally mastered a certain technique? Does that hand you tried to draw a thousand times look better than last time? Great! Those are the things that keep you motivated.

 

Now go out there and make good art.

I apologize again for not posting as consistently as I should be. I hoped to publish something once a week at least but the holidays threw me off a bit. Anyway, I wanted to go over the different types of paints and how to clean up brushes properly. As well as some tools. I’ll put links at the end of the post so you can check them out.

Oil Paint
Oil paint, as you might guess, is oil-based. Unlike acrylic and watercolor paint that are water-based. This type of paint is probably the hardest to clean out of brushes (and clothing or other fabrics). Although, it’s manageable with just about any grease-cutting soap or paint thinner. I personally prefer using a bar of soap (I use Lava brand soap) to have a surface to rub the brush on.
It’s also the paint that takes the longest to dry (up to a week sometimes). If you don’t thin it out that is. If you want to thin it out you can either use, a teeny tiny amount of paint thinner mixed with the oil paint, or Liquin. (Which you can buy at any craft store in the paint section.) Always wash your brushes after using liquin. If you don’t, it will harden the bristles and the brush will be unusable.

I want to mention that when you clean your brush NEVER mash the bristles. You will ruin the brush. Always swipe up and down, like you’re painting. Think of the Karate Kid painting the fence “up and down”. If you have liquid soap, you can rub the brush against your palm, or any other bumpy/textured surface. Just make sure the surface isn’t too rough or coarse or you could also ruin the brush. 
Another useful tool is a brush cleaning jar. You can pick one up at your local craft store, or even make one. It’s simply a glass jar with a wire coil or wire mesh inside. You fill it with water or paint thinner and rub the brush on the wire inside. I generally only use this for in-between washes while painting, but it’s still a good way to clean the brush.


Acrylic Paint and Watercolor Paint
Acrylic and watercolor paint are water-based paints. They are the easiest to clean out of paintbrushes. And well, just about anything really. Just rinse well with water and add a dab of soap if it’s stubborn. Again, don’t mash the brush while cleaning. 

I also want to add that if you buy acrylic paint and/or watercolor paint in a tube (AKA the “professional” kind of paint) that they are virtually the same. If you want to use watercolor like acrylic paint, simply don’t add water. If you want to use acrylic as watercolor, just add water. This can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Don’t be concerned if your paintbrushes stain either, the important thing is to see that no excess paint is coming off of the brush. I always dab mine on a paper towel and, if the water comes off clear, then I know I’m done cleaning the brush.

 

Happy Arts-ing!

There’s not much to say on this topic so I’ll jump right in to the example. We’re going to be drawing a “one point perspective”. You’ll need a pencil or pen, a ruler, and some paper. (Why this picture uploaded sideways on here I don’t know…)

Like this:

Now draw the lines:

 

 

Want some homework? Do research on some perspective drawings other people have done. Try a Google search, you’ll find some pretty nifty sketches. 

Before I end this post I’d like to let you know that I’ve kept this kind of watered down because I want you to be able to envision it first. If you’d like a more detailed lesson on this, or anything else, just let me know in the comments!