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In this guide, we will discuss some of the best drawing exercises that you can do to improve your
skills. We will also provide some tips on how to get started. So whether you are a beginner or an
experienced artist, there is something for everyone here.
Contents [ hide ]
1 Drawing Exercises
Tutorials
1.1 Contour drawing
Acrylic Painting
1.2 Blind contour drawing
11 Finally
Drawing Exercises
One of the most important things to remember when doing any of these drawing exercises is to focus
on the process, not the end result. The aim is to get better at drawing, and that can only be done by
practising regularly and putting in the hard work. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the
best drawing exercises to improve your skills. Here are 10 drawing exercises to get you stretching
those sketching muscles.
Contour drawing
Contour drawing is where the artist draws only the outline of the subject or scene, without shading
any values. The focus is on the visible edges of the subject’s shape. A contour drawing exercise can
improve skills in drawing accurate proportions, form and structure in artworks, freehand without
aids.
Grab a pencil, or pen and observe and outline the main elements in your reference. Try and be
accurate with your portrayal of the subject, if you make a mistake, erase it or start a fresh.
Creating contour drawings can provide a foundation for larger pieces, more detailed works and
paintings. Many artists rely on transferring a drawing onto the canvas of their nal artwork, or using a
grid to achieve accurate proportions. However, by practising drawing the outlines of di erent
subjects, you can naturally improve the most fundamental and arguably di cult drawing skill, which
is rendering realistic proportions.
A blind contour drawing is a contour drawing that is completed without looking at the paper. This
exercise forces the artist to study their reference and improves hand eye coordination. To do a blind
contour drawing, look at your reference and outline the visible shapes. Make sure not to look at the
paper, or take your eyes away from the reference.
This exercise can feel hard and the nished results may be completely unexpected if you’ve never
tried this drawing method before. However, it’s a fun exercise that can make you pay attention to
skills that you may be struggling with, or that may be holding you back in other areas of your art
practice.
A cross contour drawing is a contour, or outline drawing that conveys the volume of the surface with
curved or straight lines spanning across the form. Lines are drawn within the outline and can be
drawn closer together or further apart to represent light and shadow.
Depending on the form of the subject, the lines will appear di erently, for example, use straight lines
to represent a at surface like a table, and meandering lines to show the curvature of a plane.
This is an enjoyable drawing exercise that highlights the volume and mass of a subject and how this
a ects the way light and shadows appear.
A continuous line drawing is a drawing completed in one sitting without taking the pen or pencil o of
the paper. The lead of the pencil should remain in contact with the paper until the outline is
completed. Try to draw the full form of the subject, without breaking the line.
Start by drawing a simple object like a cup or vase. As you draw, focus on the outline of the object
and try not to take your pencil o the paper. Try to look at your reference for the majority of the time
spent drawing, only look down at your paper to check that the proportions you are drawing are as
accurate as possible.
This is an excellent drawing exercise to not only improve hand eye coordination, but also to show
how details and forms join and relate to one another. It will also force you to foreplan how elements
will t together, rather than spontaneously starting a drawing.
This drawing exercise can take some practice to get good at, but the results are always fun to look at!
To complete a successful continuous line drawing, try to keep your pencil in constant motion, rather
than holding the pencil still for any length of time, to maintain the ow of the drawing.
Gesture drawing
Gesture drawing is a drawing method that focuses on capturing the movement, or gesture, of the
subject. This type of drawing is often used by portrait artists to warm up before starting a more
detailed drawing, or painting.
To do a gesture drawing, start by looking at your reference and try to identify the main shapes and
forms. Once you have an understanding of the subject, start drawing with quick, uid strokes. The
aim is to capture the essence of the subject, rather than drawing every detail. First, draw in lines for
the angle of the shoulders, the waist and the line of action, which acts as a spine for the drawing and
shows how the gure is balanced.
This drawing exercise is great for improving your drawing skills as it will make you think about the
forms and shapes of the subject, without getting bogged down in details. Gesture drawings are an
exercise in creating more dynamic, lively looking drawings; these skills will transfer to future portrait
pieces. Gesture drawing is also a fantastic way to loosen up before starting a more detailed drawing.
Negative space
A negative space drawing involves drawing the silhouette contours of a subject and lling in the
values of the background around it. Start with outlining the basic shape, that contains no details and
ll around the edges with the background tones.
This is a great exercise as it encourages the artist to think about the balance between di erent forms
and spaces in a drawing. Focus on the areas between objects, the layout and how you can achieve
balance with the composition of the drawing.
A value study is a drawing that uses a set variety of tones, to create the illusion of light and shadow.
This drawing exercise is perfect for beginners as it will help you to understand how light a ects the
form of di erent objects.
This exercise is all about experimenting with values. First create a value scale, or buy one. Then
decide on your range of values for your artwork. For example, you could create a drawing with just
black and white, a drawing with high contrast, a high-key value study or a low-key value study. Draw
the same reference with various di erent values and decide which suits your style best.
Speed drawing
Speed drawing is a timed drawing exercise where the artist has a set amount of time, usually one
minute, to draw a subject.
This drawing exercise is great for warming up before starting a longer drawing, as it gets you into the
habit of drawing quickly. It is also useful for improving your drawing skills as it forces you to work on
your observation skills, without agonising over details. See how much you can get done in your time
frame!
Use di erent sketching techniques like cross hatching or stippling to ll in di erent areas and details.
For example, you could use a wavy line, or a dotted line. This exercise is great for exploring how
di erent lines can change the look and feel of a drawing.
By varying the line type, you can create di erent e ects and add interest to your drawing. Try it with
di erent subjects and see what results you get!
Smudge drawing
A smudge drawing is completed to create a soft appearance. Instead of drawing lines and hard edges,
blend the pencil with a tortillion or brush so that elements appear to softly transition into one
another.
One drawing medium that works excellently for this exercise is powdered charcoal. Brush powdered
charcoal onto the paper to create gradients, blends and smooth transitions. Another great tool for
drawing with perfect smudges and soft edges is tortillions, that pair well with charcoal.
Drawing with soft edges will sharpen your skills in creating blends and it will also help you to avoid
relying on perfectly rendered outlines to create structure and form in a drawing.
Another option, if you enjoy landscape drawing is to take your sketchbook and draw en plein air. This
is an excellent exercise in drawing fast before the light of the scene, or the weather changes. You will
be able to capture the atmosphere of a landscape in a way that most photos won’t do justice.
If you prefer portrait drawing, consider going to a life drawing class. This will ne tune your gesture
drawing, speed drawing, and anatomy drawing abilities.
If you make a mistake, don’t worry! Just keep going and try to get it as close as you can. The more
you practise, the better you will become at drawing from memory.
Start by drawing simple shapes and forms, then add in details to create a more complex drawing. You
could even try drawing patterns or stylised illustrations. Remember to have fun with it! The aim is to
let your imagination run wild and see what you can come up with.
Sighting is the practice of using your pencil as a tool to measure the proportions in your reference in
relation to the proportions in your drawing.
An example of how to use the sighting technique in drawing is to measure the width to height ratio of
an object. Hold up your pencil at arm’s length with eye open so that it covers the width, mark the
width of the object you measured on your pencil with your thumb. Then, without moving your thumb
from the pencil, measure the height of the object. Now you will have a estimate for the width to
height ratio. For example, if you covered your pencil halfway for the width for the height you covered
1/4 of the pencil, your object has a 2:1 ratio. You can use the sighting technique to nd the location of
speci c details, angles and more!
This is a great way to get the proportions of your drawing just right, and it’s also a useful skill to have
when drawing from life.
Practice drawing simple three dimensional shapes using one point perspective. Draw the horizon line,
the vanishing point and parallel lines that lead from the paper’s edge to the vanishing point. Then,
using these lines and points as a reference, draw several cube shapes.
The next exercise you can try, is drawing the same shapes, but with two point perspective. Draw two
vanishing points on the horizon line.
Then, once you feel more con dent drawing one point and two point perspective, try to shade the
values on the cubes you have drawn. This is a great exercise in practising shading the lightsource on
simple shapes.
When you feel ready, try to approach a one point or two point perspective drawing but draw more
complex shapes, such as spheres.
Now you may feel prepared to approach drawing a scene, like a cityscape or a room! Give it a go and
you can always come back to these exercises if you want to practice some more.
The most basic skill you can learn when rst starting out is contour drawing, then slowly try more
complex drawing exercises, like cross contour drawing or gesture drawing. When trying a drawing
exercise you are unfamiliar with, start with simple geometric shapes like squares, spheres, cylinders,
circles and triangles, then move on to more elaborate shapes and forms, like apples, oranges or other
simple fruits. All forms are made up of basic shapes.
Once you feel comfortable drawing basic shapes, you can start adding details like texture, shading
and perspective. Remember to take your time, and don’t worry if your drawing doesn’t look perfect.
The more you practise, the better you will become!
The subtractive drawing method is when you start with a midtone surface and slowly remove
charcoal to reveal highlights in the drawing. Shade with charcoal to deepen dark midtones and
shadows.
Establish a mid tone and some of the tonal masses by by brushing powdered charcoal onto the
paper. This will lift easily with a kneaded eraser. Then gradually deepen tones with a charcoal stick or
with charcoal pencil. For highlight details, get a Tombow Mono Zero eraser to remove ne lines.
Drawing by lifting highlights is di erent to a standard approach of drawing outlines and lling in
shadow tones, section by section, leaving the white of the paper for highlights.
The e ect of drawing in this manner is expressive and almost painterly. Trying a new approach to
drawing can help you to hone a signature style, to make your work stand out.
Graphite pencils are the most versatile drawing tool and can be used for a variety of e ects, from
soft and subtle to sharp and precise.
Charcoal sticks or pencils are great for creating rich, dark tones and shadows. They can be used for
both subtractive and additive drawing techniques.
Oil pencils are perfect for creating smooth, blended e ects and can be used on a variety of surfaces.
Pastels are ideal for creating bright, vibrant colors and can be used dry or wet.
Markers are perfect for drawing bold, graphic lines and can be used on a variety of surfaces.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to drawing mediums, so experiment with di erent ones
to see what e ects you can create
If you want some drawing prompts for your sketchbook, check out our list of 70+ drawing ideas. For
digital artists, Jae Johns has a great tutorial on digital drawing exercises.
Rushing will only lead to frustration and your drawing will likely not turn out the way you want it to.
So take a deep breath, relax, and take your time.
As with any hobby, improving can feel hard. If you’re working on a piece that you are spending a lot of
time on, or that is pushing you to your technical limits, the drawing process can feel like a struggle.
It’s important to occasionally do some drawing exercises to remind yourself of why you started
making art in the rst place! Get creative, doodle, let go and make art for the sake of making art.
Finally
When it comes to drawing exercises, there are a few that stand out as being particularly helpful in
improving your skills. These exercises focus on di erent aspects of drawing, from capturing
movement to studying volume. By practicing these exercises on a regular basis, you’ll see a marked
improvement in your drawing skills.
I hope you found these drawing exercises helpful! If you have any other tips or exercises that have
helped you improve your drawing skills, please share them in the comments below. Happy drawing!
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