/r/learntodraw

Photograph via snooOG

New to drawing? Let us help you learn how to get started!

Drawing is a skill, not a talent. It doesn't matter if you can draw or not, with practice you can be the best. We welcome you to our community. Learn with us, the future artists of reddit.

We don't believe in talent, we believe in DRAWING.

Message the mods

  • Questions

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  • request or nominate someone for "Quality Poster" flair (poster gets a blue flair)

New to Drawing?

DAY 1: First day of Drawing? Start here!

DAY 2: Grid Drawing

DAY 3: Still Lifes

After that: have fun, set goals & draw every day!

If you want to follow a beginner's book, try

"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" (referral link to Amazon)

Trick to learn drawing cartoons in 30mins: https://www.ted.com/talks/graham_shaw_why_people_believe_they_can_t_draw?language=en

After Your First Week: drawabox.com

FAQ

Quick & Dirty Drawing FAQ

  • Do I need talent?

  • How do I develop a style?

Free Resources

Loomis:

Free Art Books on drawing humans (pdf) - Beginners: "Fun with a Pencil" (free pdf in link above) - Intermediate: "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth" (free pdf in link above)

Proko:

Free Youtube Tutorials on Drawing Humans

Proko paid courses

Ctrl+Paint:

Free tutorials on digital art

Drawing Discord Chat: open for suggestions!

Leave comments for other posters. Have fun!

Rules

  1. No HATE

  2. No SPAM

  3. No porn, extreme gore, hateful/political art

  4. tag NSFW for nudity/gore after posting

  5. No ages in posts

Filter by Flair

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CLEAR FLAIR

Related Subreddits

Doing Art:

/r/ArtFundamentals [QUALITY RESOURCE]

/r/RedditGetsDrawn/

/r/ArtProgressPics

/r/DigitalArtTutorials

/r/Drawing

/r/Work_In_Progress/

/r/ArtBuddy

Seeing Art:

/r/SpecArt/

/r/learntodraw

2,584,536 Subscribers

0

Why would I bother learning when it's going to take so long?

I wanna learn art and how to finally materialise all the things I see and create in my head but I'm finding it hard to find motivation to even begin when supposedly it takes 5-10 years to become good at drawing. Why would I do this regularly and put so much effort into it for YEARS just to master it when I'm like almost 30. Even learning a hard language could be done quicker than that

Edit: by good I don’t mean absolutely amazing, just something that I can actually admire and looks nice and somewhat how I intended. Google makes it seem like you’ll only be able to do that after half a decade or more

18 Comments
2024/12/01
10:52 UTC

10

Haruki went to kiss Kazusa by the shore

1 Comment
2024/12/01
10:23 UTC

1

Looking for video series’s for beginners

Looking for something that would mainly focus on drawing a face(thanks in advance!!)

1 Comment
2024/12/01
09:51 UTC

74

been practicing designing imaginary game menus <3

5 Comments
2024/12/01
09:49 UTC

6

Shading+Hair+Clothes practice, what do you think? I need your critiques

1 Comment
2024/12/01
09:33 UTC

121

How do y’all avoid burn out in big projects?

I deal with wanting to rush my projects which leads to poor results fairly often. I’ve really been trying to focus on drawing only when I want to rather than to chase after a finished product.

Size is 22X30 I’m using charcoal for this one.

What are your tips and tricks to avoid burn out?

31 Comments
2024/12/01
06:16 UTC

1

Hello, i am looking for a book to stick with for my learning journey. I like drawing a lot, and i want to improve, but also having fun. So, i need to keep things simple, i am done with Youtube.

Youtube drives me crazy. I did not find anything useful yet. And there is a lot of clickbait. And ruins my stillness.

So i need to keep this as simple as i can, just one author (not hundreds of youtube channels) no background tutorial music (of course is a book), and more focus (since You Tube recommended videos are too hard to not check).

For example. I drew Titanic yesterday (i uploaded it and i am very grateful for all the support you gave me), focusing on the proportions, it took me long time but i think i figured it out, i ended being very happy with it.
But then i think, for the next, i want to make it better, but how?

But today i liked to draw a girl face from a videogame i like (3d). I tried doing things like this very few times in my whole life, so i started doing the same thing with Titanic, making the limits of the space i want the draw to be, and checking the proportion i will have to consider (these pages are always a half of what i see on my computer screen, so i try to always get that exact proportion).

But then i started to doubt. because i know there is suggested way to face this kind of things, i have the memory of people making like ovals at first and then giving them shape step by step. So i went to Youtube and put in the searchbar "how to draw faces" but then there are a ton of videos and different points of view.
I found a reel of one artist saying "why you should learn how to draw skulls first, to get better at drawing faces (or smt like that). "

It makes me kind of anxious finding so much content. Or titles like "How do I draw faces", like, only you?, or there are different methods?. So much content makes me really doubtful, what if this video wont help me that much as this other? or, maybe this one just want us to copy what he does because its easier and less "boring" than explaining actually why he does what he does..

Maybe i am too obsessive. I don't know, but i prefer simplicity. Always.

4 Comments
2024/12/01
05:46 UTC

14

Trying a new brush and coloring style

1 Comment
2024/12/01
05:41 UTC

8

Tips for third point perspective?

5 Comments
2024/12/01
05:06 UTC

8

My drawing of ssj2 Goku Black

What do yall think rate out of 10 and if so tell me how I can improve :)

1 Comment
2024/12/01
04:53 UTC

1

I am genuinely lost on where to start

First things first: Yes, I have checked resources on the sidebar of the main page but I'm still mostly lost.

I've been wanting to start drawing for while, digital in particular, and have no clue to where to start at all. The most drawing I've done is little doodles in the margins of notebooks and school papers, even then I haven't done that in a while and it's usually done out of boredom. I'm also a relatively busy student taking some hard classes right now so I can't really find time to draw, I know that you can draw for like 5 minutes at a time but I struggle with trying to process through a drawing which takes way to long. On that note, I also struggle with what might as well be crippling perfectionism which destroys my motivation to struggle through the early days of drawing.

So, where do I begin? Should I go straight to digital or should I start with traditional? Maybe some tips on coping with perfectionism? How does one convince themselves that their first drawings are not crap, but a step in a process? Things like that, I just want advice, pointers, etc. Whatever I can get my hands on.

Another note, if it helps to know what I'm interested in drawing. I really like the idea of drawing weapons, armor, etc. Futuristic, medieval, modern day, whatever. I'd also like to learn how to draw humans and perhaps humanoid robots. Maybe animals or OCs later down the line too. But primarily the armor and human aspect is what I'm interested in.

Sorry for the wall of text, I just don't know what do. I kind of just put whatever I'm thinking about art into this paragraph.

Edit: I forgot to ask this because my brain is currently fried. Is it worth investing in any art books currently? Especially with my attitude/motivation towards drawing?

1 Comment
2024/12/01
04:18 UTC

1

How to study references?

I have s problem, I try to memorize a reference (skull for example) to replicate it in the future for my drawings, but the problem is, I can't memorize it no matter how much I draw it. I can't understand what I'm doing wrong, and the muscle memory doesn't apply here either. I'm really struggling, I want to draw better so bad, but every new information I gain seem to fade away as time passes. So how do I study it properly? What is the secret, why do others can apply knowledge, and I just can't?

3 Comments
2024/12/01
04:13 UTC

1

Tutorial or guides for doing back light?

Anyone have any good reference pictures or tutorials for drawing things with a back light like this? I tried Google but guess I'm not using the right words cause I can't find anything all that good

1 Comment
2024/12/01
04:10 UTC

3

Looking for a study plan for 2025

I would like to find a study plan or course to follow for a year. I am planning to do 365 days of drawing, 30 minutes to an hour (minimum) each day, and I would like to get the most out of my time that I can.

I need a beginner course, and my goal is to to draw comic book style characters.

I did read the wiki, but I'm thinking something more structured would be beneficial. I have tried learning from books in the past, but I tend to get hung up on getting the drawings on each page perfect, and I end up getting discouraged because it takes so long to move on to something new.

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

1 Comment
2024/12/01
02:46 UTC

2

This was 2 years ago when I really wanted to learn how to draw (that passion is coming back tho). I followed tutorial for this one

1 Comment
2024/12/01
02:29 UTC

5

Let's talk references, getting good references and making multiple sources work together.

I've been working on this complex preliminary painting before I attempt the real thing and I am struggling to conceptualise all those forms unifying in a realistic way.

Is photo references the only way to make it work? How about when elements are physically impossible? Is it just a tone of guess work and practice observing life that informs you on what something should look like?

I've done a clay model of my ideas and this what you can see in my drawing but I found that the model has inherent flaws so it cannot be take as an empirical reference when it comes to proportions, textures and so on.

I am planning on shooting some photo references with a live model soon to help with the process but I am curious to see if any of you have developed any particular approach to creating work that requires blending multiple references seamlessly.

1 Comment
2024/12/01
02:21 UTC

2

Tried Practicing Digital Art using someone else's Line Art

Colors by me

Line Art by Fukahire

Disclaimer: The line art for this was not done by me. It was done by an artist named Fukahire.

I'm not sure if posts like these would be allowed but I wanted to practice using Clip Studio Paint after purchasing it through a sale. So although the line art was not done by me, the coloring and shading was done by me

I would like to get into digital art and I thought coloring someone else's line art would be good practice for this. I haven't done that much studying into colors and shading so I would like to know how this looks and where I can improve

1 Comment
2024/12/01
02:20 UTC

1

Timelapse YT channels?

Hey y'all, I'm looking for good timelapse or detailed voice over channels, I love watching timelapse but all I can find is under 20 min and are just flying through the drawing, hard to learn anything. And I really hate the amount of "learn to draw" videos that are 100% just ads for whatever....

1 Comment
2024/12/01
02:09 UTC

58

First attempt at still life

2 Comments
2024/12/01
02:08 UTC

1

Rotating shapes

Should I skip rotating basic shapes and go straight to drawing shapes in perspective then rotating shapes in perspective

2 Comments
2024/12/01
02:05 UTC

19

Portrait of Cara Delevingne. (Charcoal & Graphite). I struggled alot with this portrait, but I'm extremely proud of myself for continuing. I was about to throw it away, but I'm glad I kept it because it's another chance to learn. 🙂

3 Comments
2024/12/01
01:22 UTC

2

How Do I Learn Digital Art Without Any Traditional Drawing Experience?

Hi everyone!

I’ve always been fascinated by digital art and want to start creating, but here’s the thing—I have no experience with traditional (analog). I’m not sure where to start.

For someone starting completely fresh, how would you recommend learning to draw digitally? Are there specific tools, techniques, or exercises that work better for beginners like me?

Would it work to watch traditional drawing tutorials and practice those techniques digitally?

Any tips, resources, or personal experiences would be super appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

9 Comments
2024/12/01
01:09 UTC

0

Testi

6 Comments
2024/12/01
00:52 UTC

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