What are some exercises you can do at home to sharpen your drawing skills.

Answer 1

Well, for drawing exercises I recommend gesture and figure drawing as a start. Drawing both people and animals will help you understand how they move in real life, then you can take that knowledge into other medias like character designer or animation. Don't be afraid to look up picture references as well or even taking pictures of yourself in a pose and tracing over it. Try and find the over all structure without worrying about the details. If you have a pet, trying drawing them as the move around the house. Something else you can do is draw random shapes on a piece of paper and try to make a face or character out of it. There are so many ways to improve your drawing and these are just a few that you can do at home. I hope this helps!

Answer 2

Practice contour drawing, the outline of an object, using the “check back method.” When you practice, you want to be sure you’re drawing what you see, not what you think you see. The “check back method” is done by counting to 4.

1, 2 (look at what your going to draw)

3 (look down, begin to draw)

4 (keep your pencil on your paper and look at what your drawing)

Repeat the count, until you’re finished. This method should become second nature to you, when you draw anything.

Frequently hold up your drawing, an arm’s distance away, to check your angles, curves, and shapes. Practice value studies, every chance you get, varying in size and length. You should be able to go from dark to light evenly. Practice hatching and cross hatching keeping your lines straight and at an equal distance apart.

If you practice contour drawing, using the “check back method,” compare what your drawing and what you see, value studies, hatching, and cross hatching, you will immediately see results!

Answer 3

To start, pick any object and practice drawing it. Draw the item from different angles. Once you have the basic shape down, consider shining a light on the object from one side. Practice adding shading to the object to help its three dimension form.

Another thing you can do is draw your environment. If you are in a room draw what you see. Where to the lines meet. Understanding perspective is really important. Notice the angles and where those lines lead.

People are the very hardest to draw so I suggest practicing other things first. When you want to try the figure start by noticing the shape of the spine, the angle of the shoulders and hips, and the directions of the limbs.

There is no substitute for practice when you draw. The most important thing is to just draw as much as possible and you will improve. Good luck!