how do you draw better?

Draw.

I mean, there are a lot of exercises and practice, but the most important thing is to actually draw. Often. If it looks bad, look at it critically, assess it – then draw more.

If there's something you don't like to draw or find hard, draw that. Again and again. Remember to take breaks and to assess your bad habits critically (and/or have someone else do it) so you can change them. But keep drawing. Don't stop for too long, just enough to assess and reset.

Basic shapes. Everything can be broken down into basic shapes. And everyone can draw a rectangle, circle and triangle.

They don't have to be perfect just roughed out.

And most importantly as UB said; draw, draw, draw. Let the wrist and hand go for it. Loosen up and just see where it leads.

A lot of people when they start out drawing are too stiff. I know this is going to sound jedi- but let the lines flow. Even draw from the elbow and shoulder rather than the hand and wrist to let the lines flow. I used to warm up by drawing trees. Not leaves or branches but as shapes and lines.

And just draw.

Oh and let yourself trace. Get a pad of tracing paper and find something you want to trace and trace it. See how the lines come together to make things. Dissect the image into basic shapes. There's also grid and copy.

Take a drawing, put a grid over it and copy each bit into each little box to see how little things come together to make shapes and an image.

There's also coloring. Lots of adult coloring books out there. Use markers or pencils and fill in the images. Again you can fill in the basic shapes as you color it. You can also play with shading and look at the movement. Flow and use the whole arm as opposed to locking into the wrist and hand.

And draw. Sketch, doodle. See the lightest line you can draw and play with it. See the heaviest line you can draw and build something. Start simple, like that Amazon box that just came– or you computer monitor.

Hello leemccarthyn,

There was a documentary about the comic book industry on the television not long ago that featured an interview with Stan Lee. His suggestion was to draw everything that you could. Learn to draw fire hydrants, cars, everything.

Best of luck.

— Rick Rudge

I have learned a lot from Schoolism.com they have a sale that lasts until January 16th.

(Note: I have no affiliation with them other than being a customer)

Constant Practice and don't be deterred at first, always keep your old drawing, at least sketch 4 different subjects a day, and observe your flaws and don't be negative toward them

just know that starting out your art will be- no way around it or about it just- it will be shit, and when you accept that and learn to be okay with making mistakes can you start to learn from them

practice, yes, but apply your effort in practice to actually improving your art, as stated above, try to asses your art objectively, things that are wrong and things that could be better. dont just keep drawing and making the same mistakes over and over, if youre wanting to improve you have to take a step back and think about what you could be doing better.

channels like ethan becker on youtube and sycra were tremendously useful to me, ethans talks are especially inspirational, and his advice goes beyond art and into general living philosophy and how to tackle challenges.

most importantly- just do it- if you like it ofc- try to forgive yourself for your shitty art and keep on improving, its hard, but i did it, u can do it to , not to say that my art is all that great or anything but its definately better than it was

and i just want to stress tutorials online and on youtube are invaluable for drawing knowledge and general motivation, but at the same time i need to stress that you cant just crunch through a million tuts and be good, you have to draw, apply what you learn