Everybody can draw

Drawing is a skill, not a talent. Artists try to express themselves through art. I‘m an illustrator and try to make two-dimensional representations of real world objects. The only art in here is the level of abstraction. Drawing is in us completely naturally. It is like playing, whistling or humming, we just do it. The more we do, the better we get. Do what you like.

Basics

Start simple. You should be able to draw lines. With lines you can draw rectangles. With a kind of understanding we are living in a three-dimensional world, we can make from these rectangles boxes. This is already the tricky part. Another thing is circles. These need some training. It is not a problem to draw ellipses at first. I still do it. You can work that out.

Tip #1: Prefer markers over pencils

„We don‘t make mistakes. We have happy accidents.“ – Bob Ross

Matt the matchstick guy

Yes, I call him a guy, but actually he is genderless. I personally always try to put boobs in when I think it‘s a girl. But this is my problem and I work on that!

It‘s a matchstick guy for a good reason. Matchsticks are all the same length. You need 13 matchsticks and be already good to go.

With this in mind and the training from the boxes, you can place this little fella in any pose you want.

This works out for xkcd and cyanide and happiness.

Symmetry vs. asymmetry

Make it a whole symmetric person is good to learn the mathematics behind this drawing. But if you want it to look alive: Make it asymmetric.

Swoosh - Movement in a picture

If you not only want something to look good, but really fill it with live, draw the movement first.

Flesh and clothes

Okay. Let‘s put some flesh on the bones. Now it is extremely helpful, if you have a degree in medicine. You haven‘t? Hmm… okay. Try common sense combined with you perception(?).

Now he is still naked. Put some clothes on. That‘s better.

But, still the face is missing. It is a whole new topic.

Faces

To you degree in medicine it come in handy if you also have a degree in mathematics. I‘m talking about nothing less than the golden ratio and Fibonacci.

Faces are only so difficult, because we are so used to look at them. This is not only what it makes it tricky, but also something we can use.

Two dots, one line will automatically recognised as a face. And it is totally generic.

I‘ll just show you important lines in a face. Knowing them helps you to draw better faces.

  • circle
  • line in the middle for the nose
  • other line in the middle for the eyes - This is how nature works. For humans the eyes are the most important sense and need the most protection. So it they are put in the middle of the head, which is flexible on the next. Side fact: The nose stands out a buffer-bar and is meant to be broken and take all kinetic energy on any impacts that might happen. Nature!
  • golden ratio to end of nose
  • use the distance to put the end of face
  • the nose is mostly as broad as the eyes.
  • triangluar the wings of the nose.
  • place the mouth
  • show the ears will end where
  • place line for where the hair starts
  • now see all the helpful lines
  • try it with a picture or photograph, then with a real person. It is difficult, but find the important measurements first. So it will not stress you, if the person is keep moving.

*Bonus: You can make the chin softer to make a woman out of it. You can place the eyes lower to make a kid out of it. You can make nose and ears a lot bigger to make it an elder.

It is fun. But with everything else, you should have fun in the learning itself. I want to know how to playing the guitar, but I don‘t want to learn it. So it will never happen. I can live with it.

Next hard topic

Hands

Something that is also very (very, very, very) relevant to humans are our hands. We can not have more useful tools. Thank you nature. You rock!

Make a palm. Make a circle around and place the fingers. Think of if fluently. It becomes a mantra to everything nature made. It is fluently connected.

Funny fact: Hands in comics have four fingers, because it takes more time to draw five fingers and it is just cheaper to draw four fingers. In The Simpsons only God has five fingers.

Comics

This is a whole big huge topic I could give a talk on it own. Ask me, if you are also interested in this topic.