How did you get good. Did you do tutorials ? Copy pictures? Or just practice whatever came into your head? I’m trying to get good st art and learn and I’m wondering.
Thanks.
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Well I do woodburning and whittling so I do lots of YouTube. I think anyone can be a great artist but you have to get used to failure and lots of it. 
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I’m more of a crafter, but I like to watch YouTube and read blogs from other crafters. They do step by step tutorials usually.
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I did all three.
I borrowed a lot of books about basic lighting/shadowing, and about basic perspective and anatomy.
Then, I tried to copy simple pictures I’d seen, like a picture of a lotus flower, or a face seen from the side.
I also looked at a lot of tutorials and followed them step-by-step.
And finally, practice. I experimented with different styles, and allowed myself to make and learn from mistakes.
It also helped me a bit to show my art off on websites where other people could offer honest feedback. To do that, I first had to learn to take criticism. It’s not fun being told your drawings could be better if you did this-and-that, so it took some adjustment 
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I used to do a lot of drawing and other art like painting, but am now more into crafts. Tutorials are always good. I have done those to draw and also copied pics or drawn still lifes. A still life is an object or scene or set of 3 dimensional items set up. My favorite is to paint or draw what comes to mind. Another idea is to draw or paint with feeling and emotion. Good luck. Try different techniques and keep practicing and you will get there.
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@ThePickinSkunk You should post some of your work on the forum. 
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I never really focussed on being good. Just doing it for enjoyment, I started young copying and imagining cartoons and gradually built up. I just experimented! I’ve done courses where I tried different things Like acrylic, watercolour, clay and eventually came across pen and ink with watercolour and that I love doing or simply drawing with pen I don’t mind getting it wrong I trained myself to keep going until i got a result I was happy with usually at least six tries until I am fully happy or some disaster like ink leaking getting in the way. I have at times used YouTube and Pinterest tutorials but I am more free flowing I feel stupid if I can’t get it right with tutorials as opposed to going for it but that’s not for everyone. As for copying photos I do that of the family or pet illustrations from photos I have taken, landscapes are free flow for me from my head. Because I remember landscapes I have been to and their energetic rather than looks, although that is important too.
I hope you have fun learning, just enjoy it, you are not going to be perfect immediately, take it in your stride, to be good at art takes a lot of steps, you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time 
good luck!
I
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When I was younger I would draw stuff I saw. I enjoyed trying to get the gist of the scene in my sketch book. Then when I started role playing games, I would draw my character. I would look at my own body dimensions and how things look when I pose (using a mirror) to draw the picture. I would also copy a scene from a comic book by eye (not tracing), and modify it to be my character. Then I started doing abstract art. When I started getting ill, I started drawing an abstract picture that would match my mood.
I trying to learn 3-D drawing and making meshes. I am doing the tutorials for blender to do that. It seems like there are a lot of keys to memorize, so not sure if I’ll make any headway on my own.
Anyways, I wish you the best of luck.
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drawing books I learned from when I was young…but most of the time it was just doodling until later in my life and I started drawing houses for a living…that was so rewarding.
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Combine all three and you will get better.
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I started by accident. Really my brother bought me a kids drawing tablet and a cheep set of pencils.(trapped in 3rd story apt with broken foot, thats what i mean by accident:laughing:)
I grabbed my son’s Madd magizine and started doodling those drawings in the margins. Then tried some larger more complicated ones(which I promptly messed up.)
After healing up, I went to hobby store and got a $10 how-to-draw book for portraits. I learned individual features first(nose, eyes, lips.)
Next came learning how to place the features I learned to draw, rough sketch of facial shapes, and learning about toning, contrast.
During the time I was learning how to place the features, I decided to get some more supplies like finner toothed sketch paper. Also stubs and blenders and electric eraser.
I would say my skill development made a big leap after I started using darker pencils. ( most people who are just starting tend to draw in lighter shades).
So yes, I definately learned from drawing pictures. I drew from the how-to book. I also bought old books with large black and white pictures that took up a whole page so I could practice.
Tip for realism style drawings: (If your doing realism style??)
There are powder puffs used to polish and blend tones. They look like the ones in womens makeup compacts. They can be bought clean with no make up. They work great for blending.
Sponges for blending/toning- The good ones are dense and not like a cheap, light sponge material.
For blending in small areas with a lot of contrast, use a womans eye shadow applicator made of dense sponge. These are usually sold in packets of 20 for $3 at a Walmart.
There are many different tools for pencil art. Try them all. I did. Its fun. But dont be afraid to use a drawing tool just because it isnt typical or sold at an art store. Some the things I have that are not in particular meant to be drawing tools were suggested by the author in the how-to book. It is the fun, enjoyment, and finished picture that matters.
Fun fact: Even the masters practiced. Many of their practice sketches they did before the final work of art still survives today.
If you really x 1 million want to draw a certain picture, but dont like the final out come, the the 2nd time is better. I have drawn some pictures as many as 5 times. It got better and better each time. There was just something there more to learn.
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All three practice makes perfect. I’m still learning though. You can always keep improving! Just make sure to have fun 
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I started drawing at a very young age.
Throughout my life I’ve taken some college art classes.
It’s my opinion that anyone with the diligence and aspiration can learn how to draw.
Maybe go to your local library and check out books on drawing and art
Good luck! 
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I checked out deviant art. That seems to have a lot of good stuff on the site beginners can learn from.
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This was my first real attempt at a human this morning. I have been learning how to draw people and proportions. I start from stick steketon upwards. And then flesh it out. It’s just rough sketches right now.
Need to learn different poses.
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Lovely drawing qwerty…!!!
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For never having done it before it’s not bad! Humans are a pain. And proportions are also a pain. So heck yeah keep practicing!!
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I’m going to give you the most cliche response, but I’ll also analyze it so hopefully it’s more useful this time around.
“Practice makes perfect”
…And by perfect I’m referring to anything I make that I am proud of.
The reason thing works for me is SOLELY because it gives me something to compare my art to. People tend to think if you keep drawing the same thing over and over then you just magically get better. But the reality of it is if you keep drawing the same thing over and over then you get better by noticing what you missed in your last drawing. People also tend to think that comparison in art is a huuuuge no no and you should never ever do it. And as a beginner you shouldn’t compare your art to Monet or Picasso or even the kid on YouTube that just started and is already making masterpieces. That’s true you probably shouldn’t compare in that case. BUT you need to compare to your old work.
Another thing about comparison is incorporation not copying. When I’m trying to improve on something I tend to compare my work to people who are better than me BUT only in one aspect that I would like to EMULATE not imitate. For example, I’ve recently started painting. If there’s an artist that I think has awesome color blending, I will study just their style of blending and emulate it in my own piece.
I hope that helps!
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Coming from someone who has been drawing for years and originates from a family of professional artistry, this is a damn good first attempt Qwerty. Like really really good.
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practice drawing, being
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