We hear it so often, don’t we? ‘Practice Makes Perfect’… But is that really true?

When it comes to learning to draw, practice is obviously a very important part of that, but practicing alone is not enough.

Think of it like this… You are brand new to drawing and you want to be able to draw a face. So, you have a go and it goes horribly wrong. So, you try again, this time it’s equally as bad. But you’ve heard that practice makes perfect, so you keep trying. Somewhere along the way you start finding better ways to tackle certain areas and there is a mild improvement, but it is one step forwards and three steps back. This is a very slow process and you’ve no idea what you are doing wrong.

So what does make perfect?

In order to improve quickly, along with practice must come ‘active learning’. You need to look at drawing books and watch tutorials along the way. By doing that, it will help you to understand the reasons behind what you are doing and you will improve far more quickly than by practicing alone.

Don’t try to run before you can walk.

If you are new to drawing, by starting with a face you are likely setting yourself up for failure. First you need to learn the simpler things, known as the fundamentals. Start with something as simple as a ball. Now watch a tutorial on how to make the ball appear as a 3D form. Then go off and practice that. Once you’ve mastered that, you can try more complex shapes.

Really it’s not about learning how to draw, but rather learning ‘how to learn’ to draw.

It’s easy to be impatient, but by learning those basic fundamentals first, you will be building your foundations. By doing it this way, you will become a much better Artist in the end.

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