Drawing
Fundamentals Of Drawing
Form
The idea of form is very general but also very important. Artists who learn to recognize form see beyond the 2D paper(or screen). They’re able to create objects that look realistic because the forms look jubilant and lively.
Forms define anything with volume. The human body has a lot of different shapes and forms, especially in the face. Your ability to see and understand forms will be crucial to your success as an artist. This is a fundamental skill for good reason.
Perspective
Another must-have skill set is the ability to draw or paint in perspective. You can find lots of great articles talking about what perspective is and how it works. But there’s only so much free content out there to help you learn.
Seeing in perspective is knowing that as things move away from the viewer’s eye, things seem to get smaller. Terms like horizon line and vanishing point are basics and must be understood to learn perspective.
Perspective is something you just get better at with practice. It also connects into everything you create.
For example, the last section recommended exercises for drawing boxes and cylinders. To draw them correctly they’ll need to be in perspective, whether you understand the rules perspective or not.
Anatomy
Some may argue that anatomy is not a fundamental topic because it’s not required for a good drawing. But it is a fundamental for professional work, especially in entertainment art because it applies to any living creature that you try to draw.
Once you understand how joints work you’ll be able to see how bones and muscles move. This applies not just to humans, but to any animal or creature with a skeleton.
But anatomy is one of those topics you can study for years and still not master. It’s a fundamental concept but very difficult to internalize. But you have to start somewhere, so just start slow and try to focus on one area at a time.
Composition
Composition is harder to teach from scratch because it’s more about the finished artwork. When all the pieces come together and form a whole you get a composition.
The overall layout of a piece is very important. Artists often consider things like the rule of thirds or the infamous golden ratio. Neither truly defines a composition, but they can both go into your decision making.
Your choice of composition is defined by size, angle, perspective, and attention on foreground/background objects. As you can tell this fundamental skill really gets developed later in your artistic progression.
Value & Lighting
The subject of value is immensely detailed because it covers everything related to rendering. Your knowledge of form will prove immeasurably helpful when studying value.
If you’re brand new to value then just keep drawing and trying to render as best you can. You’ll find free videos on YouTube that teach rendering, but none will give you everything you need.
I recommend doing lots of value studies especially when you’re just starting to learn art. They can be stressful but they can also be very educational.
Start out with still life drawings and progress into portraits. Stan Prokopenko has a great portrait drawing course which can help you practice the fundamentals of drawing realistic faces and nailing the values.
(I have to post this, because the teacher told me to)
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