"The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so, in a sense, it is all about potential." ~Steve Ballmer

The Secret Of Ease.

Some draftsmen are really good  at drawing fast. They sit down and just crank their drawings out.

Watching them draw is like magic, especially when they have a special style they draw in.

When you watch those draftsmen draw, it's like a performance.  Why is that?

Well, for one thing it's practice and experience. It comes from drawing, experimenting and making lots and lots of mistakes.

BUT, there's something more-- something that I've never actually heard anyone mention and I don't know why.

Perhaps it's because no one has ever bothered to articulate it the way I'm about to.

You see, after you've been drawing for a while, and you learn from teachers and books, after you've done your experimenting and begin to get more and more confident, you start developing what I call a "shorthand."

What's a shorthand? It's what I'm going to be writing about in this post. So let's get to it.

What A Shorthand Is

Simply put, a drawing "shorthand" is the simplification of a "drawing formula."

What's a drawing formula?

A drawing formula, is the solutions a draftsman has come up with, that solve a drawing problem.

At first, drawing is difficult because you have no solutions to drawing problems. The more you draw, the more solutions you develop.  Often, times teachers or books give you prepackaged solutions.

In Kung Fu, you learn what are called "forms." A series of consecutive movements that make up martial moves. Drawing formulas are like that.

You learn these prepackaged solutions and it speeds up the drawing process.  You end up drawing better, faster. The better you get at using those solutions, the better you're drawings will be.

Once a formula is repeated so often that it becomes almost an instinct, you begin to skip steps in the the drawing formulas you use. Your mind makes a type of "short hand" out of it.  You are still thinking about the steps but are not necessarily drawing all the steps.

If you have multiple teachers or read multiple books, you end up learning MANY formulas and lot's of different solutions to drawing problems.

The trick with these solutions is to find the ones that work best for you. The ones that solve the worst drawing problems fastest. This is done through trial and error, as well as implementation of the formulas, learning the formulas well, and using them.

When you do this long enough, something interesting starts to happen. If you've learned multiple problem solving formulas, your mind begins to mix them up. You begin to combine them, mold them into something new that works even better for you.

Suddenly, you've developed a new shorthand unique to you, based on your experiences with drawing and the formulas you've learned over the years. Someone watching you draw can't really figure out what part of what formula you're using. It looks like magic.

This creates YOUR formula, your shorthand,  your voice, your style. You have a prepackaged solution that helps you speed up the drawing process and help you solve whatever new drawing problem comes your way.

You now know the secret to drawing. The thing that will help you take the fastest steps forward.

Learn the solutions to drawing problems that great artists before you have discovered. Practice them, apply them, assimilate them, make them your own.

Stand on the shoulders of giants.

Examples Formulas and Short Hand

(The links to the books below are affiliate links.)

Here's an example of head formulas.  You often see this sort of thing in drawing books.

The first example is a head drawing formula from Andrew Loomis, from his book Drawing the Head and Hands:

There are quite a few steps here. If you use the formula above enough and begin to assimilate it, you end up developing a short hand from it.

It may end up looking something like this:

All the steps are there in my head, I just didn't draw them all out.

Here's another example of a head drawing formula. This one comes from George Bridgman's book Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life:

This formula is different in that the head is made out of straight lines.

Once you master his formula, you might end up with a shorthand that looks like this:

Once again, all the steps are still there in my mind, they just aren't there on paper.

I must emphasize that you shouldn't rush to "short hand".  Always work through the full formula until it becomes part of you. You'll find the short hand will simply begin to happen.

If you rush and don't learn the formulas well, your drawings will always seem off. They won't have a solid foundation at their core.

What You Should Pursue

There is no need to get as complicated right now as the examples above.  My advice for you, right now, is simply to look at cartoons and characters you like and try cataloging their body parts.

Copy them. Make a note of their eyes, mouths ears...etc.  What strange shapes do they make. What are they made of?

It should look something like this:

They don't have to be perfect. Simply get used to copying.  Get the hang of it.

Begin to create a library of your favorite cartoon drawing solutions.

Why do this? Formulas tend get complicated. Simply copying and learning features and small body parts help you achieve "small victories" that will motivate you to move forward.  You will be training your eyes to "see" better by copying and you'll be training you hands to draw what you're seeing.

There's no better way to learn these things than copying. From this point on, you'll be doing a lot of it.

Trouble?

Q: You talked a lot about formulas but you didn't actually teach us any. What gives?  I though you were teaching us to draw!

A: I am, but I want you to learn to teach yourself first. Observe. Become independent. Experiment.

Level 1 lessons will be all about formulas. This final Level 0 Bonus Lesson was written to prepare you for what's to come.

Pro Tip

Quite honestly, my best pro tip at this point is to copy.

Copy, copy, copy.

Learn to see. Learn to make judgments. Try to find formulas.

There will be a special copying chapter in Level 1 but begin now.  You won't regret it.

Questions?

I can’t help you if you don’t ask.

What’s your burning formula questions?

Is there something you understand about formulas or short hand? Ask.

I’ll give you my best answer and, who knows, probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You’ll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

"I find a single focus in the scene and then play everything off that one thing." - Kenn Backhaus

What's Missing?

So you've learned the basics of design and you're drawing fairly decent looking cartoons.

Then you try actually drawing a picture and it looks like something a five year old drew.  You haven't got the slightest idea why. The answer is very simple.

Composition.

It's not enough to design the characters on the page, you also have to design the page. This might seem like a very odd statement but it's in perfect keeping with what I've shared with you so far about design.

This time, I'm going to share with you how to use those design principles and other principles, to compose a picture that looks cool.

This is going to be REALLY basic.  This topic, like color, is HUGE. There's far too much write about here.  In this post, I'm only going to give you a tiny taste of how you should be thinking about designing composition to get you started.

What is Composition?

The way I see it, composition is all about directing the viewer's gaze where you want it to go within the picture.  To do this you have to DESIGN the space in such a way, that the viewer's eyes go where you want it too.  So composition, is in fact, all about design.

And what is the secret to good design?

THE secret to GOOD design is harmonizing contrast and balance <= CLICK TO TWEET

Breaking up Space

Our gaze naturally goes to the center of the page. It is the easier type of compositional placement you can create. But this may cause problems. I will get to that in a bit.

As human beings, when we're drawing something, our natural tendency is to try to make everything symmetrical. Just like it was with the stick figures in Lesson 3. We want everything to be spaced out evenly and be made to look exactly the same.

This has its place. If you look at icons, symbols and early paintings, they are very symmetrical.  There's something appealing and beautiful about the balance in symmetry. The apparent "perfection" in symmetry.

There's nothing really wrong with that. The problem is when symmetry is used when it shouldn't be.

For example, our natural tendency is to put the center of interest in our drawing or even our photographs, right smack in the middle of the frame. Like this:

When we're beginning draftsmen, we do this.  We split the page in half and put the center of interest right in the middle.

This is just our natural tendency, but the problem is that, just as a perfectly balanced designs with no contrast tend to be boring, so are most drawings composed this way.

Introducing Contrast

This all gets fixed by introducing a bit of our old friend, contrast.

Let's take for  example a very basic drawing where you're going to draw a line for the ground. Where do you usually put it? Right smack in the middle, splitting the drawing in half.

Boring.

Instead, let's start by playing  favorites. Lets put the line either above the mid-point:

Or below the mid-point:

Now you have contrast. One side dominates. It's bigger, while the other side is much smaller. You have now created interest.

Breaking Up the Space with Shapes

So if you don't put your center of interest (the thing you want people to look at) in the middle, where do you put it?

Well...off center.

Depending on how big or how far off center you move the center of interest though, it can become off balance. If it's off balance, it will feel strange to the viewer and be dubbed ugly.

So for example, if you put the center of interest on the left, then you have to have something on the right to balance it out. Whatever you use to balance the drawing will often be around the same size and distance away from the main center of interest.

Very much like a scale with the center of the picture acting like a fulcrum:

If the center of interest is going to be larger in the shot or smaller, you'll probably need to balance that as well. You do this by placing the objects in such a way that, if they were to be put on a scale, they would balance:

The big object above is closer to the fulcrum while the smaller needs to be further away to balance it out.

Here's the Balancing, in Action

So here's what it would look like with actual drawings. I took these drawings from a BLACK TERROR KID comic I did for fun a few years ago.

In Figure 1 below, we have a low horizon and the two characters in the shot are both off center but are balanced:

Figure 1

Figure 2 below shows the how the scales balance the picture out:

Figure 2.

Figure 3 below is a much more dynamic angle. One character is closer to the camera making him bigger while the other is further way, making him smaller.

In order to balance out these two contrasting sizes, I had to place the characters in different places on the "scale:

Figure 3.

Figure 4 below shows the example of the scale and how the sizes balance out on them.

Figure 4.

Your Exercise

I'm sure by this point, you're drawing all kinds of things in margins, and any kind of sheet of paper you can find.

Simply what I want you to do, is when you're drawing environments or places with ground planes, DON'T split the picture frame in half.

Practice putting the center of interest somewhere other than the center of the frame and find ways to balance it with some other object in the picture.

I'm sure at this point, you're having all kinds of fun messing around with drawing pictures.

Trouble?

Q: I'm not sure about the whole using a "scale" thing. Does that mean I have to draw a scale every time I draw something?

A: No, the scale was simply an illustration of the thinking involved when you're attempting to balance a composition.  Most of the time, adjusting the balance of a composition is done intuitively.

Also, the objects that are put in balance do not have to be the same kind of object.  If you draw a character as one object, the balancing object doesn't have to be another character, it can be a house, a tree, a chair,...whatever. As long as the objects FEEL like they're balancing each other.

Pro Tip

This is not even the tip of the iceberg on Composition. The subject is too vast. I HAD to pick at least ONE thing to share with you about composition.

Here's another, very quick tip.  See the header picture up on top of my Kung Fu Character Pen Grier? Notice there's just a bunch of arrows in the drawing pointing to her face? Even her finger is pointing at her face. That's another way to think about composition:

Every element in the drawing should point to the center of interest.  Not so obviously as I did in my picture. I drew it that way to make this point (no pun intended).

If you're subtle about it, you can have everything in a drawing harmoniously point, like a bunch of arrows, to where you want the viewer to look and no one will even notice.

For example, take a close look at this picture. See if you can find all the "arrows" pointing at the character in red:

Questions?

I can’t help you if you don’t ask.

What’s your burning composition questions?

Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about composition? Ask.

I’ll give you my best answer and, who knows,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You’ll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color. Our entire being is nourished by it. The mystic quality of color should likewise find expression in a work of art. - Hans Hofmann

Why Color?

If you're into fashion, you know color is important.

If you're into interior design, you know that color is important.

If you study paintings, you know that color is important.

If you're not really into any of that stuff you're saying to yourself,

"Color? So what?"

You'd be surprised how a little color knowledge could change the way you see the world around you.  Everything is in color and those colors have an effects on your mood, thoughts and actions.

Color is a very powerful force and lots have been said and written about it.

In this post, we'll start at the beginning.  We'll simplify it down to its most basic principles. The foundations of what you need to know about color.

You've been taught about basic design and the decisions you make when applying those principles to a drawing.  But all those principles apply to color as well.  Knowing the basics of colors will give you the foundations for choosing colors that will make your drawings sing.

The Color Wheel

Color theory is a theory for a reason. None of this is an absolute. There are many theories of color. The theory I'll be writing about is the one most beginning artists learn at first.

It's the basic theory that all the other theories tend to compare themselves with.

The color wheel is the standard way most artists use to understand color and it will become clear why as we go. So let's begin:

Primary Colors

The theory of primary colors is that these three colors are the main colors that all other colors stem from.  The idea is that these three colors cannot be created using other colors. These are THE colors.

The Primary colors are: Red, Blue, and Yellow.

Secondary Colors

Mixing the three primary colors together get you the secondary colors.

Here are the mixing formulas and the secondary colors they create:

• Red + Yellow = Orange
• Yellow + Blue = Green
• Blue + Red = Purple

Neutral Grey is in the middle of the wheel because if you mix all the colors (or all the primaries) together, you end up with neutral Grey.

Tertiary Colors

Tertiary colors are the offspring of the Primary and the Secondary colors.

They often have very generic names that give away what was mixed to get the color.  Here they are:

• Red Orange
• Yellow Orange
• Yellow Green
• Blue Green
• Blue Purple
• Red Purple

Not very original names, huh?

Color Divisions

Colors are often divided into two types: Cool Colors and Warm Colors.

Cool Colors

Cool colors are mostly dominated by the Primary color blue. The feel of these colors are often soothing and calm. These colors often tend to recede in space.

Warm Colors

Warm colors are often dominated by the TWO Primary colors Red and Yellow.  This causes them to have a higher range than cool colors.

Warm colors often have  a lot of energy and pop out more than cool colors.

Color Harmonies

Color harmonies are exactly what you think they are, colors that work harmoniously together. Knowing what they are, will give you short cuts to color combinations you would like to use.

The trick with color is NOT to use ALL the colors in one drawing. Instead, it's best to limit the colors you use.  Limit colors to a small group that work well together and experiment from there.

Monochromatic Color Range

First, let's talk about simply using ONE color.

Simply by tinting or darkening a single color you can get a great value of colors.  This is the ultimate harmonious color scheme.  All the colors in this group are guaranteed to look good together.

Just be aware that, as far as coloring something goes, it can be a tad dull.

Complimentary Colors

Complimentary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel.

For example:

• Red and Green are complimentary.
• Purple and Yellow are complimentary
• Blue and Orange are complimentary

Complimentary colors are to each other what Black and White are to each other, opposites. They are called "complimentary" because, just as putting a white dot in a black background would make the white dot stand out, the equivalent can be done with complimentary colors.

So just to clarify: Complimentary colors are opposite colors to each other. They make each other stand out.

These colors are often used in moderation in a picture where you want the audiences' eyes to go.

Analogous Colors

Analogous colors are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. These colors are used when you want a larger range of colors but still want the unifying feel of the a monochromatic colors scheme.

Example

Here's a sample of a drawing I did a long time ago:

Notice how the whole picture is mostly Monochromatic, with a touch of Analogous colors in order to unify the picture.  But when it comes to the protagonist in the middle, he's wearing a red shirt, which is complimentary to green, in order to draw the eye.

Experiment

Color is tricky to wrap your  head around if you don't use it. The best way to start getting a handle on it is to start coloring stuff.

So here's what I think you ought to do: when you doodle or draw your characters as I've shared with you how to do, color them.

Experiment.

Try to color your characters monochromatic or by using analogous colors.

Color your characters using only primary colors or secondary colors. What are the results like?

Mess around, play around.  See what happens.

It's the best way to learn.

Trouble?

Q: What's the best tool to use to color with?

A: This is really up to what you feel most comfortable with or quite frankly, what you have around the house. But here is my suggestion, if you really need an answer:

Color Pencils.

They are easy to control. They don't give you the brightest and best colors, but they get the job done and you can experiment with them all you want and feel comfortable doing it.

Pro Tip

Limiting your palette is the best way to go.  Don't use every color you've got.  Think about design. Remember the whole: Harmonizing Balance and Contrast thing from Lesson 3?

What you want to do is, get a group of colors that work well together like monochromatic colors or analogous colors (Balance) and then pick a few places in the drawing to stick in some complimentary colors (Contrast). Doing this just right will result in a well designed color scheme.

Questions?

I can’t help you if you don’t ask.

What’s your burning color questions?

Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about color? Ask.

I’ll give you my best answer and, who knows,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You’ll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. ~Edwin Land

You've made it to the finish line!

So you're tired of drawing stick figures and you want to draw something that's...well, more interesting.

You want to start doing "real" drawings that LOOK like something.

Well, I've got good news for you. If you've stuck with it and made it this far, you're ready to start drawing stuff you didn't think you'd be able to before.

Here's where all your time and work pay off.  By the time your done with this lesson, you'll be able to create your own drawings and characters, just like I promised...IF you've put some Kung Fu into the process, and have been practicing.

You've got almost all the knowledge you need to do it.  All you need to know now, is what I tell you below.

So let's get to it.

Flat Shapes are Foundational to Drawing

EVERYTHING that you will EVER draw, can be broken down into a flat, two dimensional shape. <= CLICK TO RETWEET

EVERYTHING.

Beginning drawing books often start you off drawing Spheres, Cubes, and Cylinders.  ALL those things are good things to know how to draw, but not yet.

Why?

Because each one of those "three dimensional" shapes are made out of TWO dimensional shapes. In fact, they AREN'T "three dimensional" shapes at all, they are STILL two dimensional shapes that SEEM to be "three dimensional."

Let's call a Spade a Spade here.

Our drawings are always going to be two dimensional. We  can only give the illusion of being three dimensional.

Mastering control of flat 2d shapes will help you out immensely.

The Magic of Flat Shapes

Flat shapes are very versatile even without being three dimensional.  You can do wonders with them alone.

Careers have been made by artists who don't go beyond working with flat two dimensional shapes.

It's impossible for me to show you ALL the ways they can be used in drawing, SO I've chosen ONE way to use them in this post.  Perhaps as this site grows, we can investigate the other ways.

For now, let's concentrate on how to make fun cartoon characters using flat shapes.

Shapes and Design

Remember in Lesson 3 when I wrote about the harmony between Contrast and Balance? Well, when it comes to creating characters with flat shapes, this principle still applies.

If you've forgotten what I wrote or if you've simply skipped the post, I recommend you go back and read or reread it. The following is an extension of that lesson.

Remember the shapes we practiced drawing in Lesson 2?  Well, it's time to use them again.

Just like with the stick figures, when we create a character from these three shapes, it's all about creating contrast with the spacing of the proportions.

Figure 1.

BUT, now that we have shapes, there are two more elements to think about:

1. Spacing contrast and
2. Size contrast.

Spacing contrast - Means you make sure you space out the shapes in interesting way. Trying to avoid spacing that is too balanced which would make the design dull.

Size contrast - Simply means your trying to put shapes of different sizes next to each other to create interest.

So let's break down all the components including the two new ones:

Figure 2.

In Figure 2 we can see on the right how the proportions break up in a balanced yet contrasted way.

In point 1, the face favors the bottom half of the head shape and is not perfectly centered.  Also even the mouth itself favors one side of the face to another.  All the features are also very close together rather than being spaced evenly apart.

In points 2 and 3 we see an example of size contrast. The size of the circle shaped head is larger than the rectangle of the body which it's connected to.  The body is not only proportionally smaller, it's also smaller in width.

Points 3, 4, and 5 also contrast. Notice the length of the arm and hand are longer the body, and obviously thinner.

Point 4 and 5 contrast, not only in size but also in shape.  Now, this isn't something you that is done all the time but sometimes, a round shape next to a hard edged shape is a good mix and contrasts well too.

Point 6. The spacing of the legs here is something well worth pointing out.  They are NOT evenly spaced out. By which I mean I favored the outer part of the body to attach them to rather then where the green arrows are actually located.  The reason for this is, again, to add interest.

Alright now let's take a look at yet another example:

Figure 3.

Let's break this guy down:

Figure 4.

In Figure 4 we see how the head, neck, body and legs, are broken down and contrast against each other by seeing the break down on the right.

On the left, we see how the square shape of his face and body proportions contrast with the leg proportions.

In point 1, we see how his face favors the top of the head and his features are all in a very concentrated space.

Points 2, shows us the interest that is caused by not only making sure the legs are proportionally shorter but that they're also much smaller in width. The contrast is large shape vs. small shape.

In point 3, we see that the ear is not placed right in the middle of the side of the head but favors beings slightly lower.

Now, in point 4 we see the hands and arms but unlike the hands and arms on Figure 1, it's a triangle and a square.  I kinda don't like the way it looks. I prefer the triangle and circle combination.  Perhaps it's because the hand shapes in Figure 1, sharp edge shape vs. rounded shape, contrast more than two hard edged shapes in Figure 3. This might be a matter of personal taste though.

An Example of These Shapes in Real Productions

I asked fellow artist Evan Lewis to help show you examples of how these shapes have been used in actual animated productions.

There was a little kid's show called WOW WOW WUBZY. The characters were very appealing and they were all made of basic shapes.

Here's some designs Evan made up, using the "Wubzy style":

Figure 5

As you can see in Figure 5, the characters are flat, two dimensional, and cute.

Let's break them down to their component parts:

Figure 6.

In Figure 6, you can see BOTH characters are made out of basic shapes. The one on the left is made mostly of squares and rectangle with the edges rounded off while the character on the right is mostly circle and ovals.

The character of the left's proportions are subtly different. While the main overall length from the top of the ears to the neck are more clearly contrasted to the the rest of the body down to his feet.

The character on the right is even clearer. Large body length and short feet length.  Large body shape, small legs and feet size.

Now it's Your Turn

Your exercise is simple, draw some characters.

Remember this grid from Lesson 3? Time to use it again just like you did then:

Simply left click and press the "Save Link As..." button to save it to your computer. Then print it out and start drawing on it.

Like this:

If you don't want to use the grid, that's okay. Just remember to keep track and measure your proportions the way I showed you in the "Pro Tips" on Lesson 4.

Here's some examples of what you might come up with.  Instead of me, doing the example, we can see how another draftsman approaches the exercise.

Here's what Evan did doing this exercise:

Notice how Evan drew it all in ballpoint pen on regular line paper.

You can do this anywhere.

Also notice that you can see he did some light under drawing with the pen before he committed to putting down a dark final line.

At this point, you can draw! Better then most of the people you know!

Have fun.

Enjoy your new ability.

Trouble?

Q: YEAH! You said I'd be able to draw by this point but everything I do STILL looks crumby! You haven't helped me at all!

A: How much time did you spend on each exercise? Ten minutes? Thirty? A week?  Do the exercises until you get it.  Don't just do lip service to them.  That's how you fail. If you aren't being serious enough about getting it, you won't. You aren't putting in the Kung Fu.

Repetition is key. Do these things until they become second nature and then, suddenly, people will say to you,

"Wow, you're SO talented!" Which will probably make you want to slap yourself upside the head. If they only knew.

Pro Tip

Let's get a bit ahead of ourselves here.

When I was in high school, I made a discovery during Summer School that changed the way I designed my cartoon characters. I discovered the secret behind making my designs go from amateur designs to professional looking designs.

Here it is, for you to take advantage of. Are you ready?

Do everything I wrote about above, only...make up the shapes.

That's it. Simply make up some interesting shapes. Suddenly your cartoons will look like they've jumped to the next level. Because they have.

I will write more about this in a later Level.  For now, that's my tip for you. Give it a try.

Questions?

I can’t help you if you don’t ask.

What’s your burning simple character design questions?

Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about simple character design? Ask.

I’ll give you my best answer and, who knows,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You’ll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ~Scott Adams <= CLICK TO TWEET

Getting it Perfect the First Time

You can't seem to get it down the first time. You know what you want but you don't know how to get there.

You understand the concepts being taught. You're trying to apply them. You're doing the exercises but you're getting frustrated.

The truth is, when you put down a line to draw a face, a circle, or a stick figure body, you either don't know where it will end up when your done, or you do know, but it just ends up somewhere else.

That blank page has no "foot holds". You wish you had an "anchor" or SOMETHING to guide you, so that you know where to place your pencil as you draw.

Well, that's where tracing comes in.

What's that? You thought tracing was bad?

Well, it CAN be. It depends on how you use it.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use tracing to refine your drawings and your control over what happens on the page. By the time we're done, you'll know how to set down the guides that will help you control the most complicated types of drawing.

How the Professionals Trace

I know of very few professional draftsmen who can just pick up a pencil, start in one corner of the page, and magically have a finished art piece in one pass.  Those guys are the legends.

That's not us...at least...not yet.

The majority of professional, do what is called an "under drawing".

An "under drawing" is a rough pass, or trial run for a drawing.  Like a rough draft in writing. It's not meant to be perfect by any means.

The purpose of the under drawing is to explore the direction you want to take the drawing and solve any problems the drawing asks you to solve.  It's meant to be sloppy and imperfect.  It's there so you're final drawing looks good.

Most beginners never do this.  Have you been doing it? I didn't think so.

So what does this have to do with tracing?

Well, once the under drawing is done, you then draw over your under drawing, either directly, or on top with another piece of paper, "tracing" the final lines of your drawing.

There are two kinds of tracing, the bad kind and the good kind.

• The bad kind is what most people do. They take, say, a drawing, put some tracing paper over it and mindlessly follow the lines of the original drawing underneath. The end product looks like a wobbly, ugly version of the original drawing.
• The good kind is what draftsmen do.  They take that same drawing and the same tracing paper and REDRAW the original drawing underneath, using it as a guide and making confident line CHOICES. The result is a new confident drawing based on the original.

"Good tracing" is in fact, not quite tracing but redrawing. Since it's redrawing, you make conscious choices as you go. By doing so, you end up, not only refining your drawing but also your drawing skills.

When you redraw over your under drawing, you're actually choosing what final line you want from the rough mess of lines you've put on the page. The outcome SHOULD look like a drawing you finished effortlessly.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here's Some Examples From This Very Site

Okay, so remember this drawing from the "Start here" page?:

Figure 1

This is how I approached the drawing.

First I drew a really rough gesture drawing of the pose (Figure 2). I'll explain gesture drawings in a later drawing level. The point is, the final Figure 1 drawing didn't just appear fully formed. I first drew the scribbly mess that is seen in Figure 2, to get it started:

Figure 2

Once I'd gotten all the shapes and lines approximately where I wanted them I refined the drawing by drawing over it . In Figure 3 you can see what I did. I recolored the rough from Figure 2 blue, so you can tell it apart from my more refined rough:

Figure 3

Having redrawn and refined the character, I decided it was time for the final line. I took the rough I drew in Figure 3 and drew over it:

Figure 4

Figure 4 is the result.  Notice I was basically "tracing" or redrawing and refining my drawing in order to get the final result. At this point, it was more about what lines to choose and what to leave out than anything else.

Let's take a look at another example.

In Figure 5, we have the other drawing from the "Start Here" page:

Figure 5

But in Figure 6, we can see where I actually started:

Figure 6

As you can see in Figure 6, my first pass was a big mess. I was just scribbling, trying to get the shapes down where I need them to go.

Once that was done, I went and redrew on top of the scribbly mess, refining the drawing a bit more:

Figure 7

As you can see in Figure 7, I did a lot of adjusting and redefining.  It's still rough and imperfect.  I wasn't being "precious" with the drawing in anyway.

Once I was satisfied with what I had, I went in drew over the rough for the final pass:

Figure 8

Figure 8 was all about "tracing" or redrawing and refining.  Once again, this process is about choosing the right lines to keep, while throwing out unnecessary lines.

"BUT...," I hear you saying, "golly gee, it's all swell and jolly to do that with your fancy pants drawing, but how does that apply to MY drawings? I mean, I'm only drawing stick figures here."

That's a good question. Take a look at Figure 9:

Figure 9

Yup this is the rough I drew for the STICK FIGURE drawing I used at the head of the "Stick figures with style" post.

Even THIS drawing didn't come fully formed. I drew a rough under drawing for it so I could work it out. THEN I drew over it:

Figure 10

You can see in Figure 10 how I refine even a drawing as simple as a stick figure.

The result is the drawing in Figure 11:

Figure 11

Had I not just shown you what I did, you would have thought I effortlessly drew it.

I get paid to draw for a living and this is how I approach drawing.

You want more control over your final drawings? You want your drawing to start looking effortless? It's time you start putting down some under drawings.

Baby Steps

Your Exercise...

I know this seems new, and daunting and crazy...

Don't worry. Take a deep breath, we'll take this nice and easy. I've broken this down into steps.

The goal of these steps is to get you to start drawing your own things this way. First you simply need to practice getting some control and learning to make good line choices:

• Step 1. Learn to do the "good" kind of tracing
• Step 2. Learn to make good line choices
• Step 3. Try it out on your own drawings

Step 1. Learn to do the "good" kind of tracing

Below I've posted three characters. Your exercise is simple:

Trace them.

BUT, don't simply trace them, try to redraw them. Recreate them as you trace over them.

In order to do that, here's what I want you to do.

1. Download the images by right clicking on the image and pressing the "Save Link As..." button.
2. Save it to your computer.
3. Print out the image,
4. Get some REALLY low quality printer paper (they are very transparent) and trace over the drawing.

Like this:

But I've got THICK paper I can't see through, so I want to use tracing paper or better yet NO tracing paper!

Okay, that's what's why I also made THIS set of images:

These characters are specifically designed so you can simply draw over them directly.

Here's how you do it:

1. Download the images by right clicking on the image and pressing the "Save Link As..." button.
2. Save it to your computer.
3. Print out the image,
4. Trace over it using tracing paper or...
5. Trace directly onto the printed image.

Like this with the tracing paper:

Or like this directly on it:

(Yeah I got a bit sloppy with my lines on that last video. Sorry, I had the camera in one hand and was drawing with the other.)

Once you've done this, find other things to trace. Coloring books or comic books are best but anything you find is good.  Practice not simply tracing but redrawing the drawings your are tracing.  Use the drawings as a guide more than anything else.

Step 2. Learn to make good line choices

These next set of images are the actual under drawings that I used to make the cleaned up characters above:

You've gotten a chance to practice your lines, now it's time to test what you've learned.

Draw a final clean drawing from the rough drawings above.

This exercise is meant to help you learn to make line choices.  It doesn't need to look like what I drew above, it has to look like what YOU want it to look like.

Choose a line to make. See how it turns out.  It's okay if it ends up looking odd. The point of the exercise it to learn to make line choices.

Okay so here what you do:

1. Download the images by right clicking on the image and pressing the "Save Link As..." button.
2. Save it to your computer.
3. Print out the image,
4. Get some REALLY low quality printer paper (they are very transparent) and trace over the drawing.

Like this:

What's up with the flip?

Well, the paper was transparent but not transparent enough. I started flipping in order to get a better idea of what the rough looked like under the page.  As I flipped it helped me decide where I wanted to put my line.

I taped the two pages together to make sure my paper didn't move around when I flipped it.

Just like in Step 1, I also created a version you can use tracing paper or draw on:

1. Download the images by right clicking on the image and pressing the "Save Link As..." button.
2. Save it to your computer.
3. Print out the image,
4. Trace over it using tracing paper or...
5. Trace directly onto the printed image.

Like this, with tracing paper:

without tracing paper:

You can try cleaning the roughs up, over and over to practice if you want. Ultimately, the what you want to end up doing is...

Step 3. Try it out on your own drawings

Take everything you've learned so far and apply it here.  Draw some rough stick figures and clean them up.

Go crazy and get messy. Remember, an under drawing is NOT the final drawing, it's simply a stepping stone that guides you to the final drawing.

Here's some tips on how to practice doing this.

Tip 1:

Draw your under drawing, VERY lightly onto your paper.  Be messy but put very little pressure on the pencil.

Once you have the under drawing the way you want it, go back in and pick out the lines you want by making darker "final" lines over your under drawing.

Like this:

Tip 2:

If you're having trouble drawing a LIGHT under drawing, then simply draw the under drawing as dark as you want to.

When it's time to do the "final" line, use a ball point pen.

The drawback to doing it this way is that if you make a mistake with your final line, you won't be able to erase it.

The good thing about doing it this way is that, once your done, you can erase the under drawing and you'll end up with a nice, clean final line.

Here's an example:

Tip 3:

This is what most pros do.

Get a Col-Erase Colored Pencils and draw your under drawing using that.Col-Erase Colored Pencils are special colored pencils that you can erase. You don't NEED one right now. I'm just presenting it as an option here in case you happen to have some around. (The links above are affiliate links).

Once you've got the under drawing the way you want it, draw over the color lines with a regular pencil.

If the color line is too dark, get an eraser and "dim down" the lines a bit so they aren't so dark.

Here's an example:

So there you have it.

This is new and different. It will take a while for you to get used to it.  The more you do it, the easier it will get.  Once you're used to it, you'll wonder how you could have done without it.

Trouble?

Q: Yeah, I can't get a clean line. It's all wobbly. I know what I want and can almost get it but it's just not coming out right. Any way you can help me out?

A: Here's a little something I learned from a friend of mine who did clean up at Disney. Work WITH the natural pivots of your body, not against them. Here's what I mean:

Your wrist is a natural pivot point. It's like a limited compass. Your elbow is ALSO a natural pivot point.

Knowing this you can then position your PAPER and your drawing in such a way that when you make a mark, your working WITH those natural pivots. You'll find that your lines will come out looking better for doing so.

Here let me show you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qildN-ajx4U

Don't be afraid to move your paper around.

Pro Tip

Professional draftsmen are obsessed with seeing other professional's rough drawing.  Most of us would rather see that than their finished work.

An under drawing is a window of how a draftsman solves drawing problems.  By seeing those rough drawings, we hope to get tips and tricks WE could use to solve OUR drawing problems.

Now that you know what you know, you might want to start paying more attention to rough drawings as well.

Questions?

I can’t help you if you don’t ask.

What’s your burning under drawing or tracing questions?

Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about under drawing or tracing? Ask.

I’ll give you my best answer and, who knows,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You’ll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

The grace to be a beginner is always the best prayer for an artist. The beginner's humility and openness lead to exploration. Exploration leads to accomplishment. All of it begins at the beginning, with the first small and scary step. ~Julia Cameron

The Secret Weapons of Good Drawings

Go ahead, try me.

I know what you're thinking,

"To even start drawing, I have to have all those tools that artists have. I don't even know what I need.  What should I buy? How is it used.  I don't know about pencils and papers and pens. It seems so expensive. I don't have the money to be able to learn to draw."

Draftsmen walk around with, "The Arsenal."  You know the one. It's a special little art box or bag where, when opened, you see all kinds of strange pencils, markers, pens, brushes and even razor blades. These are weapons the draftsmen use to practice their art.

Not too far from that, is "The Tome".  You know it by it's more common name, "The Sketchbook".  The book of secrets all artists carry around and whip out when the whim attacks.

Here, I will tell you the secret weapons that all draftsmen use to do what they need to do.  You will learn the answer to what you should use to get good at drawing.

Behold The Ultimate Drawing Weapons

The mystery revealed.

Below is a list of ALL the tools you REALLY need to learn to start drawing.  Each one of the tools below is also an affiliate link. Yes, I get a percentage of the tools you buy through the links and it will make me rich, RICH I TELL YA! BWAAH HA HA HA!

BEHOLD the super expensiveness of learning to draw. Here are the tools you need to buy:

1. Regular Pencils- Like the ones you used in school.  Or just look around the house for ANY pencil you use to write with.  It will be fine. If you have a mechanical pencil, that's fine too.
2. Pencil Sharpener- To sharpen your pencils with.
3. An Eraser- The pink kind will do for now. If your pencils have erasers, use those but sometimes they run down too fast. There are better erasers out there than the pink ones but really it doesn't matter for you right now. As long as it erases without smugging everything, it's cool!
4. Some Ballpoint Pens- The cheaper the better.  They feel like pencils and control like pencils, but you can't erase. They're my favorite to sketch with.  You really don't need anything fancy.
5. Paper-If it's blank it's good. If it's NOT blank, it's STILL good.  Newspaper? Fine. Line Paper? Fine. Yellow notepads? Fine. Sticky note? Fine. Construction Paper? Fine. It doesn't matter. If you can draw on it. It's fine.

As you can see, I was being sarcastic when I said this was expensive.  Whatever you have around the house that you use to write with, can also be used to draw with. You DON'T need fancy drawing supplies.

Use what you have on hand. You don't have to buy anything.

If you REALLY want to, you can buy using my affiliate links.

Okay, having said ALL THAT...I WILL be talking about color later on. This means you might want to get a hold of something to color with in order to do the exercises

What you might need is: Crayons, Water colors, or Color pencils.

None of those things should be very expensive to get (if you live in the U.S., you can get this stuff at a dollars store). Just make sure that they have the colors: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange and Purple.

I will mention Color pencils in the "tracing" lesson so, just a heads up.  You don't NEED them but they are an option.

If you plan to take this serious and you're planning to do the Lvl 1 stuff after you're done with Lvl 0, you can purchase the tools I recommend at THAT level.  Be careful not to jump the gun!

There isn't a reason to, at this point.

The Myth of Tools

Here's the truth: It's not the tools used that makes a good drawing- it's the skill of the draftsman.  <=CLICK TO RETWEET

Give a great draftsman a box of crayons and his drawings will still be awesome.

My Kung Fu teacher once did a weekend workshop where he simply taught general, "less flowery" self defense. In that workshop we learned all kinds a very practical things. Including. how to protect ourselves with a rolled up magazine and how to use a pack of bubble gum as a weapon.

No joke.

Ever watch Jackie Chan movies? Ever notice that when he gets in a fight in those movies and doesn't have a weapon, he uses anything that's on hand? Chairs, decorative antlers, shopping carts, pool sticks, a refrigerator door, a rope with a horseshoe on it, an umbrella, a ladder...etc. Those aren't weapons until he uses them like one.

What did the great Renaissance masters have? Markers? Brush pens? Mechanical pencils?

No, they just had crummy brushes, paints they made themselves, quills and ink and rudimentary pencils. Yet, with these tools they did so much.

The point is, don't worry about the tools. Don't worry about getting the perfect set of really expensive pencils and a fancy sketchbook. The first thing you need to do is get used to making the pencils and pens do what you need them to do.

You can worry about getting better equipment once you feel comfortable enough with your drawing that you feel you're ready for more.

Your Exercise

Go around your home and look for any pens, pencils and paper that you can find.  These  are your drawing supplies.  Use them to start drawing.

Pro Tip

ONLY buy expensive paper when you're actually going to use it for finished drawing. For the most part, find the cheapest paper you can find and draw on that.  You're going to be drawing a LOT and none of it will be all that pretty.  The more fancy the paper, the more precious you will become with what you do. Don't be precious. Simply draw and know you'll probably throw away that paper and your drawings when you're done.

You'll end up learning more when you're under less pressure to do something fancy on fancy paper.

Questions?

I can’t help you if you don’t ask.

What’s your burning drawing tools related questions?

Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about some pencils, brush, paper, pen? Ask.

I’ll give you my best answer and, who knows,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You’ll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

LINK TO LESSON 1

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for." -- Georgia O'Keeffe

Confidence is a huge factor in the quality of your work. A lack of confidence will show your drawings. Confidence comes with practice, and at this point drawing stops being scary, intimidating or embarrassing. You simply do it.

Let me tell you a little secret about drawing: you'll never be perfect at drawing.  You will simply be more practiced.  <= CLICK TO TWEET

Those around you who are "less practiced" will see your work and think how perfect it is, but you'll know that it took practice to get there--and you'll need more of it to get even better.

Hopefully you're feeling a lot more confident about your work after the last exercise. But I think it's time to step it up a bit. It's time to for your drawings to become much more impressive.

The following lesson will increase your confidence when you draw. It will also serve as a slight introduction to design, which is the next lesson after this one.

Shapes are like Words

As all writing is made out of words, so all drawings are made out of shapes. Usually the shapes are modified versions of three basic shapes:

• Squares
• Circles
• Triangles

These shapes are as fundamental as the three basic lines I wrote about in the lesson 1.

Though more advanced drawing techniques try to create an illusion of volume and form, that's all it is, an illusion.  As artists, we work with flat, two dimensional shapes.

No matter what level of drawing skill you have, you'll be drawing some sort of modified version of these shapes. It's best to get used to drawing them now.

These shapes are also useful because of what they symbolize culturally. Depending on the culture, they tend to trigger certain subconscious feelings. Knowing what they are helps the you choose what shapes to use in  a drawing in order to get certain subconscious emotional reaction to your work.

Here's a very quick run down of  SOME  of their meaning in the western world. This is by no means an exhaustive list:

• Squares symbolize - Stability, honesty, order, rationality, formality, earthbound, dullness. conformity, peacefulness, solidity, security, equality.
• Circles symbolize - The world, feminine, protection, endurance, softness, eternity, perfection, community, integrity, safety, connection, energy, power, comfort, sensuality, love, God.
• Triangles symbolize - Stability AND instability, action, aggression, law, science, religion, The Trinity, masculinity, direction, danger, dynamism, conflict, strength, motion.

An Example of How these Shapes Used

Examples of these basic shapes can be seen in all graphic design around you. A lot of good art can be done with these basic shapes alone. It's not about how simple the shapes are but how creative you can be with them.

The power symbol is simply a circle with a gap and line going in it.

A target is just a bunch of circles.

Simple circle with line going through it can say quite a lot.

You see these in kinds of devices.  The pause button is a square with to rectangles (modified squares).

And the rewind button is just a square with two triangles.

Caution symbol is a triangle with an upside down triangle, and a circle.  Notice it's a triangle and what triangles sometimes represent.

Here's  a more "complicated" icon. An arrow. It's a square with a triangle next to it only the connecting lines are erased.

Your First Exercise - Draw Patterns

You can either do this exercise first of the second exercise first. It doesn't matter. Do which ever seems most fun.

One fun way to practice drawing these shapes is, to not just simply draw them, but come up with fun patterns with them.

At first, you may not know what patterns to do. That's okay. You can go on the internet and google up some ideas.

But don't worry, I've already done that for you. Here's me copying some patterns I found. Feel free to copy them. Once you've done that, you may try to find some yourself. Better yet, come up with some unique patterns yourself.  Who know, maybe you can come up with one that might be sell-able.

Pattern making is an art onto itself.

The idea here is to have fun while practicing.

Okay, so let's begin with some squares (and rectangles). Let's start with a plain old checker board:

Just like the exercise in Part 1, you can practice drawing these patterns anywhere, as long as you have something to draw on and something to draw with.

Your Second Exercise - Create Symbols

Just like patterns, symbols are everywhere. In road signs, on cars, at church, on clothes, on superheroes,...EVERYWHERE.

A fun thing to do is to look around for symbols that are made up of the basic shapes we're learning about and copy them.

Better yet, take the three shapes and create your own. Once you copy enough, the ideas kinda start coming on their own.

Just mess around and have fun.

Here's some example I did. Feel free to copy them or modify them to come up with something new:

These exercises are totally mobile. You can do them anywhere anytime, just for fun.

Who knows, you might come up with a great company logo messing around with these shapes.

Remember, doing these exercises is simply an excuse to practice drawing. The more you do that better, faster and more confident you get.

Trouble?

Q:  My drawings are just not working. Nothing I draw looks like what I'm copying. Nothing I draw looks like what is in my head! What's wrong with me?

A:  Let me tell you a secret. You'll never be perfect at drawing these shapes. You'll simply get better as you do them.

I don't know of any artist that is perfectly happy with any drawing he does. Our drawings never meet our more ambitious expectations. Now that you are becoming a draftsman, you will need to find that place of peace inside yourself that allows you to fail with joy.

It's okay to NOT draw perfect, enjoy the process. THAT is your reward. Eventually, your drawings will start to behave and you will begin getting what you want on the page more often than not. For now, relax, draw and have fun.

Pro Tip

If you find yourself starting to get bored with these exercises, start drawing pictures with these three shapes. Draw faces on them, create environments, modify them to get the look you want,...stuff like that.

These shapes and their more advanced "siblings", as they are or modified, are the foundation of pretty much every drawing you see.

Questions?

I can't help you if you don't ask.

Are you having trouble with anything written about shapes?  Let me know.

What's your burning drawing questions?

Is there something you've always wanted to know about drawing? Ask.

I'll give you my best answer and, who know,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to  receive more information via e-mail. You'll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.

LINK TO LESSON 3

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"

--Leonardo Da Vinci <=CLICK TO TWEET

There truly is no reason to be embarrassed about your drawing skills, especially since you've been drawing all this time and never knew it.

In this post, you'll learn to become confident and control what you put down on a page.

Imagine you're at the dinner table and you pick up a napkin, take out a pen, and begin to doodle. Your dinner companions take a look at what you're doing and are actually impressed:

"That's cool, I can't even draw a straight line!"

By the time you're done with this lesson, you'll be able to produce some pretty cool drawings and your friends will never even realize you're practicing.

Won't that be something? Are you ready to begin?

Let's get to it.

Drawing is like Writing

Handwriting is basically drawing symbols on a page.

The art of calligraphy really makes this statement even more obvious.

You've been practicing writing for so many years that it's become second nature. You put the symbols (a.k.a letters) on the page in order to create words, which are themselves symbols.

The truth is, just as words can be broken down into the letters that make them up, drawings can be broken down into the "letters" or symbols that create them.

The symbols just happen to be much more elaborate which can make them look complicated, but all drawings can be broken down into much more basic components.

The simple A, B, Cs of Drawing

All good drawing is made up of three kinds of lines:

• Straights
• "C" curves
• "S" curves

You know how to do everyone one of these lines. You've been doing them for years without really noticing.

When you write a date with dashes or slashes, you're drawing little straight lines. You even do it when you write a check after you hand write a dollar amount and put a straight line at the end.

Anytime you write a "C" you're drawing a "C" curve.

The same goes with "S"s and "S" curves. The only real difference is the length or size of these lines.

The trick to drawing is simply deciding what line you're going to use and where.

When drawing a cartoon, when drawing from life, when drawing ANYTHING, before you put down any kind of stroke, consciously decide which line you're going to put down.

This is counter intuitive at first, but the point is to make you aware of it so that you can get used to it. Once you do this enough times, it will become second nature, just like when you write words.

An Example of How Lines are Used

Animated cartoons are some of the best ways to see these types of lines applied.

In the 90s, there were a few popular superhero cartoons that used what is now called the "Bruce Timm style". This style is one of the best styles to see the lines I've just mentioned applied.

Here's a sample of what the style was like and how the lines can be seen:

Because cartoons have to simplified so much, they lend themselves to the study of lines.

Your Exercise

Here's an exercise you can do anywhere that will help you gain confidence and help you get the right hand-eye coordination.

Draw a box or a rectangle (really the shape doesn't matter), then simply draw straight lines inside the shape, in any direction you want. Do as many as you want.

Something like this:

Looks like an abstract piece of modern art doesn't it?

If you get tired of doing these, you can start doing it with the "C" curves:

Or the "S" curves:

Hey, you can even use all three lines in combination:

Darken in some of the shapes:

Or even add color:

Do these exercises until you feel comfortable doing them and believe you can move on to the next thing.  This will be different for everyone.  You are the best judge of your progress.

The point is to have fun while you get comfortable putting lines on paper and making them do what YOU want them to do. In the end, you even end up with some cool drawings. Drawings you can show off to your friends. It's a win, win.

The beauty of this exercise is that you can do it anywhere. During a boring meeting, at lunch, while you watch TV, when you're on the phone, during a boring class, while you're driving...well maybe not then but still, it's versatile.

There really isn't an excuse. It's easy and fun, so try it out.

Trouble?

Q: My lines looks all shaky and ugly. Your lines look nice. What am I doing wrong?

A: It's an problem of speed and confidence.  When you write, do you have shaky lines? No, they just look like letters.  It's because you're confident in your execution. The same goes with drawing. When you were little and learning to write, you letter looked just as shaky.  The more you do it, the more comfortable you'll get and the faster you will allow yourself to draw the lines.

It's like doing pushups. At first you can only do so many, but the more you do it, the more you could do, and the better you are at doing them.

Pro tip

Pay very close attention to this exercise. It may very well be the key to unlocking the secrets of composition, in a more advanced level of drawing.

Questions?

I can't help you if you don't ask.

Are you having trouble with anything written about lines?  Let me know.

What's your burning drawing questions?

Is there something you've always wanted to know about drawing? Ask.

I'll give you my best answer and, who know,  probably write a post about it.

Leave any comments and questions in the comments below.

Or better yet, sign up to receive more information via e-mail. You'll get extra tips and advice.  You can ask me questions that way also.