the best way to learn how to draw

Drawing is a skill which develops as you practice. You're not alone when you say that you're terrible at drawing; all the great artists have started drawing with stick figures at some point in their life.

Figures like this one -

​The reason why they went ahead from these so called "stick figures" to something much more, is that they had an insatiable desire within them to draw even better, every time they put their pencil on paper. This shear fact separated them from the rest, and that's the only reason why they were successful in honing their skill to reach where they reached later on in their respective lives.

First and foremost, the one great thing that's in your favor is- the fact that you are dedicated to improve your drawing. I say this because it seems that way, as you are asking this question. And this is really important because any art form can not be learned just for the sake of it; there has to be passion, interest, curiosity, and dedication attached to the process of learning.

So in your case, it seems, the biggest hurdle is over, and you can start drawing by observing things around you! Simple as that!

And in this endeavor which is stated above, the following steps that I'm about to suggest, should help you in making yourself a better artist.

But before blindly following the path below, always remember that you are free to choose your own unique path; the path which you feel is comfortable. The real objective here is to practice regularly and with an intent to learn. It's immaterial which way one chooses to start the practice of drawing.

So keeping this in mind, let me try and suggest some steps which you can adopt for the exciting journey that you're about to begin. And like I just said, you're also free to develop your own unique path after understanding these steps, as well. And that would be way more cooler, to be honest!

(Please note that each and every step mentioned below can take weeks, months, or even years to perfect. It would all depend on how really one wants to improve herself and how much of effort she's willing to put in.

Additionally, for every step given below, there’s a lot of material available online, including on YouTube. You are encouraged to check out different sources, adopt different styles, and practice whichever style that suits you the most.)

So let us just begin!

Step 1:

Firstly, take a paper and a pencil (or pen), sit down in a comfortable position, clear your mind from of all the distraction, and just focus on the task at hand.

Now try to draw a simple shape. For instance, draw a circle, and then keep on practicing it.

Then onward, every time, try to draw a perfect circle; that's it! It will keep you busy for some days or even months, if you're really serious about it.

With only using your hands, it would be a lot difficult for you to draw a simple circle than you are imagining.

Just start drawing circles and keep practicing those circles until you reach a stage where you will be able to draw a perfect circle without using any aid and only with your drawing hand.

Your attempts would start from something like this -

​​And then your hand-eye coordination would improve (after many iterations, of course), and then you would proceed to draw something like this -

​​This is pretty good estimation of circle. Congratulations! Now move on!

In similar way, start working on various other shapes like a triangle, a square, a cube, an octagon, so on and so forth.

This should again keep you busy for quite some time. Remember, it's a herculean task if your starting point is the first circle figure in this answer.

But having said that, after "x" amount of time (say 6 months or one year), once you are through that rigorous exercise, and when you are champion at drawing any of the simple shapes at will, there comes one more interesting facet.

At that stage, there are two approaches that you can adopt -

Approach 1]

To try and add shades to the basic shapes that you've already mastered, so that at the beginning of your drawing itself, you would get well versed with how to add shadows and where to put them with respect to light source, etc., in any figure you would draw in the future. (It's really simple to be honest, wherever there is light, the shadow will be at its opposite direction.) And then in this process, get a sense of how to add depth (or a 3D-effect) to the basic shapes.

Approach 2]

To build on to these basic shapes that you have mastered (with a relative perfection), keep drawing different (more complex) shapes that you would observe in your surroundings. And also, imagine shapes in the mind and try to draw them as accurately as possible.

(You can adopt any of these above approaches. It's your wish. What you find easier to adapt, you should adopt. I personally would like to take the first path as it is advantageous to get an essence of what shading is, along with learning different shapes. It helps when one tries to draw complex shapes, later on. This approach also gives an additional practice of looking at "the broader picture" by looking the object with a reference to the light source. It also gives a broader perspective of depth which is very important when it comes to drawing complex shapes with a decent accuracy.

So to move forward in this particular practice ritual, I have assumed that we've adopted the first approach. And as mentioned earlier, there's no hard and fast rule to it, you can go with the second approach, too.)

Step 2:

Now that you know how to draw simple figures with a sense of perfection to it, let's start shading these figures. (Approach 1 adopted.)

(For consistency of representation in my answer, I'm sticking to circles.)

So your first attempt of shading a circle without any understanding of it, would look something like this -

​​​Notice, even though your attempt as shown above was not that great if one considers the extent of realism to it, you were still innately aware of a fictitious light source and you assumed it towards the upper left corner, and considering that source, you drew a shadow of sorts on the opposite side, towards the bottom right corner.

And that's what is required, here. Some common sense, nothing more.

Now keep practicing this shading stuff (as it should take a few months if you sincerely want to hone this), and then you would reach somewhere here -

​​​Now the above drawing is shaded to make the circle look like a sphere or a solid object. You can shade it to make it look just a circle and not a solid object, too. You learn such nuances once you begin the practice. It’s fun and a lengthy routine.

Later in this routine, you can start bringing in the surroundings into the entire picture, to explore the shading and shadow aspect of it. In that case, the drawing should look something like this -

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​​Always remember one simple rule, which has been demonstrated in the drawing below -

​​But since it’s presumed that now you have passed this level of drawing and have improved your drawing, let's put it in a little more realistic manner, as shown below. (By this time you should be able to draw something like below, ditto!) -

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​​Similarly, I'll assume that by now you would be exploring the other shapes with the shading rituals, as well; so just keep practicing them.

During the practice, keep an eye on your shading; notice how the shades vary with the availability of the light. Look at the shade card below, for reference. Learn from this, and improve every time you draw a shape.

Keep practicing. It’s an infinite loop!

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​Step 3:

{Before going ahead, let me tell you something about the relativity concept.

There are two kinds of people who start drawing. 1] The ones who intuitively understand relativity, and 2] the ones that don't.

While reaching up to here, I presumed you knew relativity; if you don't know, though, don't you worry. Nothing fancy, here.

When an object is drawn closer, it looks bigger and if has to be shown farther, it will have to be drawn smaller; that's it. If you understand this much, you know relativity!}

That out of the way, let us understand the concept called as a vanishing point.

I’ll explain this concept with an example of a cube.

When we draw a cube, why is it that the lengths and the breadths of that cube taper towards its end, or slant inwards into the paper? Just look at this picture below for the reference and ask yourself, why would that happen? Can you see it for yourself?

​​​As you can see, in the figure above, the edges are tapering towards the right as well as the left side, as if going into the drawing paper. This relativity and adjustment gives the cube an illusion of a "3D" on a "2D" paper. And this is possible because of the concept of a vanishing point.

Now consider that same cube, again.

In the cube, we had assumed a vanishing point (V.P.) somewhere deep inside, towards the right and the left side. And that is why the sides tapered towards the inside of the paper, towards the right and the left. So if we check that same cube again, as shown below, with markings for your understanding, it traces two points on the either side wherein the tapered lines disappear and form their respective points. Those two points are called the vanishing points.

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​Now, check the green dot in the following drawing of a cube -

​That green dot is what is called as a vanishing point.

Just imagine how a cube would look without this concept of a vanishing point. It would look more like a square in 2-D.

When a cube is drawn, we always have an intuitive sense of this vanishing point, and that's why we're able to draw it differently than say, a square.

So I hope the concept of the vanishing point is clear in your mind, as for any good drawing, which is drawn after taking into consideration the space and the distance aspect of every object in it, the vanishing point concept has to be there in it by default.

Here are some more examples of the vanishing point concept, for your understanding.

Exhibit 1] A top view (or the bird's eye view):

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Exhibit 2] A horizontal view of a landscape:

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​Exhibit 3] Multiple vanishing point view (any pragmatic scenario):

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​(Thus, as depicted in the exhibit 3], in real scenarios, multiple vanishing points exist; and these vanishing points give any drawing its desired depth or the 3-D effect, and that sense of space which separates it from 2-D.)

Is it too much to handle, already?

Well, just don't panic now, all right? Just having the knowledge of this vanishing point at this stage is enough. You should just try your best to show this vanishing point everything you draw, and you need not take a scale to measure things and stuff like that.

(This "step 3" was a mere background of this vanishing point concept, just to make you aware of its importance in drawing.)

Step 4:

Now carry your supreme confidence of drawing and shading the basic shapes, and of the knowledge of the shadow effect and the vanishing point to the next level of drawing, i.e., drawing random/complex shapes.

Rules of the game remain the same.

1. Keep Practicing.
2. Observe the nuances.
3. Improve every time and try not to repeat the previous mistakes.

So to start with, how about an egg? Not that different to the circle, eh?

Let's just start. Practice till you master; that's it!

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​Okay, it seems like an egg. Now try different fruits. Strawberry, for instance.

​​Nice, that's a really nice strawberry. And look at that detailing. Voila!

(Notice, though the last strawberry looks impossible to draw, we've already developed an expertise in shading by now. It's the same thing, just at a micro level. Have some faith!)

Likewise, keep drawing some more random shapes and shade them. Put some shadows on to those drawings. Consider the effects such as reflection, refraction, translucency, etc. And just keep on practicing.

There are gazillion shapes around to practice. Try drawing two random shapes a day. It should be an entire package- Drawing+Shading+Shadow+Any other special effect. Something like as shown below -

Day 1) Drawing 1:

​​​Day 1) Drawing 2:

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​Every day, just repeat this process. You’re supposedly on a mission!

Step 5:

As we now know how to draw and shade various objects with a relative precision, it's time to draw animated objects or living organisms. It should involve their movements & their facial expressions; it's the real deal!

The foremost aspect to do this is nothing but to keep your eyes and mind wide open. You should observe everything around you.

So observe all the nuances- the peoples’ walk, a bird's flight, a dog's sleeping posture, etc. And whenever possible, create a fast, first hand drawing of that particular position, movement, expression, etc., and work on the details later on in your free time.

Draw something like this. (This is a fast hand drawing) -

​​Similarly, try to quickly draw all the different facial expressions as you see them, then and there -

​​(Observe and remember the differences in the facial lines.) Later, keep adding the shades and make them look even more realistic, like this -

​​Same goes with the trees, flowers, animals, birds, so on and so forth.

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Now that you already know this much, with some common sense and with some more fine tuning, you will achieve something like this -

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Penance, hardships, and pain would then take you somewhere here as shown below -

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​And in case of humans (a little better or worse) -

​So after this eventful journey, it's now time to wait and take a look at the image below, it's of a beautiful lady. She’s indeed looking very beautiful, isn't she?

​​And if you ask yourself, would you be confident enough to draw her, just as she is? Most probably the answer would be a big 'No', right? If so, this means you still have a scope for improvement!

You would then thus notice that your drawing is still in its infancy stage and there's a hell lot of scope for improvement.

For instance, you would have to work on your detailing of the human eye and its movement, the human hair and their shine, etc. I think you get a sense of what am I trying to say, don’t you?

So basically, at this stage, you would surround yourself with these intricacies all the time to move forward and not to get stuck at this somewhat primordial to intermediate level, which is below par.

Nobody would help you here but you yourself!

(Do such improvisations on everything- plants, animals, humans, etc., if you want to move ahead and don't want to get stuck at a particular level.)

Step 6:

As you would start implementing the corrections and after a hell lot of practice, finally, your drawing would resemble something like this -

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Your sole aim now would be to be perfect at everything!

The more you practice, remember the nuances, etc., the more real and believable your work would become.

(And I must add that even after loads of practice, some people may not be able to draw the proportionate faces, different shades, the light effect, etc. But just don't give up. Some people are naturally inclined towards drawing and others are not. But still, what makes a few people great sketch makers or artists, is more than anything else, their practice and perseverance. So don't you ever give up.

It's just that your pace of learning things can be on a slower side, but you would still improve a lot for sure. You can just look at where were at the beginning and where have you reached by now; it should be enough for you to keep yourself motivated.)

Step 7:

Now we're talking. This is the real deal, man.

Put everything together. You should start drawing different landscapes, full of people and lots of animals. You should start memory drawings by now.

(You can draw panoramas from the beginning itself, it's just that at this stage those would be more believable.)

Your drawings would be something like -

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​Step 8:

Now you would know much about everything. At least as much to develop your own interest and style of drawing.

Here's an outline of different drawings. Your style would now be unique and you should keep evolving it with a lot of practice.

Check out how to develop your own drawing style. (Please note that I haven't added much to the step 8 because it will be your own unique style. How would I know what would be your style then?)

Step 9:

This one's about perfecting to a level where your drawing would be indistinguishable from a photograph or a real image. This is an optional step, of course.

It would also require a hell lot of practice, but it's not a necessary step, I must add.

(Though the drawings which look like a photograph are hallmarks of awesome artists and perfectionists who have put in a lot of hard work, there are equal examples of awesome artists with brilliant drawings that are not be equatable to a photograph. Their drawings, too, are equally awesome as far as the concept, its meaning, and almost real appearing shapes is concerned. So you should keep this in mind, as well.)

Here's an example of a real looking drawing by DiegoKoi called as Sensazioni -

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​So in the end, I would say, it all boils down to your interest, observation skills, and last but not the least, hard work and perseverance.

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