Drawing for Painting

'Evening Light, Exmoor' Acrylic Watercolour and Pastel

Drawing is an essential part of painting. To make the appropriate marks on your support which all come together to form the finished work needs some degree of drawing skill. Whatever the subject you chose, even if it is an abstract, it requires the ability to put the right marks onto the support.

Many people think they can’t draw and give up without realising that drawing is a learned skill. After all you learnt to write, it wasn’t something you were born able to do. So similarly you can learn to draw and the more you draw the better you will become at it. Drawing is similar to writing. Both are marks on paper, they just have a different purpose.

There are many very good books available and there are evening courses held in most towns where you can learn to draw and to paint. You will most probably find details of these in your local library. You can also sign up for free lessons at some sites on the Internet. A link to one such site is given in the list to the right of this page.

Go to it, have fun and most of all practise. Then do some more practising.

Get into the habit of carrying a small sketchbook and a few pencils. Then, when you have a few spare moments, draw something, anything – just draw. These jottings are for your benefit alone. You don’t have to show them to anyone. They may at first not look too much like the subject you are drawing. It doesn’t matter. The more you draw the better you will become. In the end the items you draw will look like the subject and you will be surprised at just how soon that will happen if you keep practising.

Go on, draw something now.

That’s it for today. Until tomorrow, take care.

Tony