Art is truly a wonderful thing. It itself is a canvas that allows the artist to convey their emotions through careful brush strokes and calculated color picks. It is a beautiful medium, and it’s amazing when someone wants to explore it.
However, being a skilled artist never comes easily. That’s why I’m providing some tips and tricks to make anyone’s art better.
#1 Observing real life
One of the most important things in trying to better oneself as an artist is the study of real life. By using real people and objects as subjects, it allows the artist to understand the more complex parts of art and gives them an understanding of realism, or the fundamentals, in order to create their own art style.
When I asked another artist, Zaphon Estime, what tips he would give beginner artists to help them improve anatomy, he said this: “Well, I would tell them to find a few programs like Line of Action and Pinterest for a lot of references. Patience is always good, especially when you’re learning something as difficult as anatomy, and applying the basics like shapes and things is key. Quantity over quality basically.” This is good advice. As an artist, it’s good to take your time as well; rushing will only get you so far.
#2 Experimenting with colors
This is something that I, as an artist, also find myself frequently struggling with. Many beginner artists will find themselves sticking to more simple colors and never really branching out. But by experimenting on the color wheel and picking colors that are either close together or directly opposite, for example, it could be used to make one’s more visually appealing to the eye, or even enhancing the values and contrast.
#3 Practicing with shapes
Often done to help with shading, using shapes to practice can definitely be a big help. Breaking things down into their more simple shape forms makes putting them together easier, as well as providing a good reference for different types of lighting as well. Overall, they are a good practice option.
#4 Tracing over poses
Although it is a bit controversial, tracing is not all bad. In fact, it can be good for trying to understand the body and how to put specific body parts in more complicated poses, like if one wanted to draw a person holding a peace sign up while jumping in the air. Tracing over poses can also familiarize your brain with more difficult ones, making it easier for you to attempt more positions from memory.
#5: Drawing every day
One of the more obvious tips is that drawing every day can be incredibly helpful. Now, most artists don’t actually draw every day, but at least trying to get some sketches out is good as well. Drawing every day allows you to refine your skills, keeping them polished and making your art even better, as one does improve in small bits, even if they go unnoticed at first.
#6: Studying other artists
There’s nothing wrong with taking from your favorite artists from time to time. Nothing is truly original, and lots of artists are inspired by others. By taking from different artists, it allows you to find your own style and develop the way you want to draw.
Using this advice, beginner artists or even artists in general can have an easier way to see improvements in their art.
