How To Draw. Basics of drawing for beginners and all categories of learners

A drawing no matter how complex it should be must make use of some underlying principles. These guiding principles being talked about here are not in any sense minor or unimportant but on the contrary, it is on them as the foundation that a meaningful and proper drawing can be made. 

Think of these shapes rectangle, square, circle, ellipse, trapezium, parallelogram, cylinder etc.

Tricks in drawing offer some fundamentals to getting ready for the process of professionality in drawing.

What is a shape?

A shape is obtained when a moving point referred to as a line or (s) meet and enclose a space. When lines meet, they form what we call a shape and it should be noted that a shape is two-dimensional (2D). All the many shapes we can talk about were derived from some basic three shapes and it will be interesting to look at now.

These are the

• square
• rectangle
• circle

Square

It is formed from four lines of equal length. It has all sides equal.

It has all interior angles equal (90 degrees)

Rectangle

Has two opposite sides equal.

The interior angles are each 90 degrees

Circle

Circle is actually a shape that can be derived from a square. Let's see how.

The circle has total angle of 360 degrees and the axes of a circle are equal.

What then is an ellipse?

It is a distorted circle to be put shortly. This means that one of the axes is shortened hence making it have axes of different lengths. Thus a minor axis and a major axis.

From the centre is  circle and moving to the sides, the circle is being distorted into ellipses as shown in the diagram above

Drawing a cylinder

A cylinder is drawn from the combination of a rectangle and two ellipses. The kind of ellipses given to a particular cylinder will depend on where and how it is viewed. For instance, a typical object that takes the form of a cylinder can be a milk tin. If a viewers views it at a close distance, the ellipse will appear as a circle as compared to where it is viewed from afar that it will look as an ellipse because there will be the occurrence of fore-shortening.

Procedure 

• First draw the axis or imaginary line of the rectangle and then measure to draw the rectangle. We draw the axis and also measure to get an accurate shape.
• Proceed to draw the minor axis of the top ellipse of cylinder followed the bottom one.
• Draw arcs to join the ends of the axes to form the ellipse.

Above is a cylinder drawn by adhering to the rule of first drawing a rectangle and then adding the ellipses.

What is the necessity for learning all these when your hands are so itchy for straightforward action?

Designers work by planning that needs to be done to solve a problem before the start of a work. Without knowledge of these basics, a drawing might just be a drawing without any significance depicted in it. For in-depth explanation of this, we will look at a practical demonstration of how to apply a knowledge like this to draw an object.

Question: Draw a polytank.

First we try to think about the shape from which a polytank is taken and that shape is cylinder.  So we draw a cylinder first, then we create the polytank out of it.

Can you see the polytank?

Drawing with this approach where you understand the simplified form of whatever object is before you makes the whole process to be easy, enjoyable and not difficult or stressful as it might be perceived by others.

Note: In trying to achieve mastery over drawing, it is advised that a person uses the free-hand and not always the use of ruler as using the free-hand builds confidence. Try not to put eraser by your side as you draw and believe that no mistake will be made and even when you make, move one.

When to draw for effectiveness

I do not think that anyone would have a perfect answer to this but the only thing for now is that the more a person enjoys the drawing, the more the desire to continue doing it everyday and as it is done, the person's desire is not only satisfied but the development for greater works is also taking place. Unlike sometimes that a client will require a work to be done within a certain time frame, you can choose to draw when you want it.

Layout in drawing

Planning is involved in the pre-design process of any design work and so the need for thorough insight into how careful planning can be of help to the designer. Layout in design defines the arrangement of the elements of design in a design work or piece. Layout is one of the keys for effective communication designs which helps to avoid noise in sending of information across.

Noise here is anything that can be sourced from the design work itself or any other thing that will hinder a message from being fully understood to effect the intended change.

When composing elements in drawing, painting, designing, the elements need to be arranged and breathing room also created for them. A design work that has so many elements occupying every space becomes so obstructive to the receivers of the message. Henceforth, simplicity is always the best approach of organizing elements in a very appealing manner or effective communication.

Drawing can be a thing of enjoyment and fun just by adhering to some basic principles and also developing love for it and you are good to do amazingly in drawing because drawing provides the avenue for many huge opportunities and careers both in indigenous certain and also in the technological field.

How To Draw Anything

Some people who are into drawing might have the talent but from a personal experience and engagement with professional illustrators and artists, drawing can actually be learnt. For anyone who has the desire to draw, you will become better at it with determination and passion. To draw accurately and effectively also, one needs to get the basics of drawing guide provided above in this article and also be observant to look at details in objects so that you can know how objects are in reality to be able to depict them in a two-dimensional space.