Sketching

If you are a beginner and dont know where to start, start sketching. This is where art begins.

• Sketching - A very basic step to learn painting is sketching. If you know how to sketch properly, then any painting will look good, but if you have wrongly sketched the scenario but painted it beautifully it will still look odd.  What I believe is(well I am not a pro here offcourse), sketching is like a skeleton of a painting. Imagine a human body without a skeleton or with wrongly placed bones, one hand with long radius and ulna and the other one with dwarf bones, how will it look? Therefore sketching is the foundation of any visual art. 

• Start with a pencil and paper (ANY) - For sketching all you need is a pencil and a plain paper. you dont have to buy an artist quality sketching pad or pencils for it. 

• Sketch anything and everything  - It won't be quite fair if as a beginner you will try to sketch a flower or a building and end up creating a mess. Therefore take it easy and for starters try sketching any object like a  bottle or even a box. Slowly move on to more complex objects. But try to sketch anything and everything. 

• Firstly focus on shape - Try observing an object. You will see the surfaces that create a shape of the body of an abject, the curves, lights and shadows. But for now only focus on shape, forget about the light and shadows. Try to capture the image on paper . Don't bother to do it correctly. Just do it.

• Don't give up - First few sketches won't look awesome or good or they might even look miserable but don't  be upset and don't give up. These sketches you are doing are going to define your own artistic style.  Every artist have its own style. The way you have done your sketches will be your own unique style. While learning different techniques & copying different methods ( whinch we often do) you might loose your style. Therefore these practice strokes will help you to preserve your style. And also always remember there is nothing wrong in art whatever you are sketching is not wrong, it is just your view. 

Want to become an artist?

So, you desire to become an artist but whats pulling you back is that you think you are not a Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci born with an artistic hand or you think you dont have any hidden talent or may be the tallent is way too much hidden. But after all, the real question that matters is do you really want to become an artist? If the answer is yes then I would say you can. Yes, you can become an artist, in fact what I believe is everybody can become an artist unless you are willing to spend a considerable amount of time and sincere efforts on it.

Whatever I am saying comes from  my personal experience, my own journey from a hobbyist to an amateur artist. It took lot of effors, time and patience, but what you gain after all is the pleasure and happyness to present yourself as an artist in front of the world.

So, whatever you are a hobbyist artist or the amateur one, dont give up on yourself. Try as hard as you can and as long as it takes, because the pain is worth it. And I will be with you in this journey and share my knowledge and secrets I have gained so far.

Happy Drawing