Drawing Tips And Techniques

Here are some things I've found some things that has helped me draw better.

All these techniques and tips are based on Win Wengers principle of Image Streaming. Image Streaming is very useful, and I've found it especially useful to improve myself.

The Brain

Before I begin, I want to say something about the human brain. It's quite important to know what your brain can do, and what it does in order to learn to your full potential. I'm still learning more about the brain but here are some things that I've learned.

More Pleasure, Less Pain

Your brain steers away from pain, and goes towards pleasure. Most of you probably know this already, but I'll give an example anyway.

I'll give homework as an example, because everyone loves homework =D. Some people dislike doing homework because it causes them pain (ie. Boredom, confusion, other things that you don't like), but enjoy drawing because it brings the creative juices into play, and the brain is engaged, in other words pleasure. But you end up doing your homework anyway because you don't want to feel the pain of parents yelling, teacher yelling, detention, test failing etc.

Repetition, repetition, repetition

Another important thing about the brain is that is that You get more of what you reinforce". Very important rule. Example, the more you procrastinate your homework, the easier it will be to procrastinate. The more you visualize your pictures, the easier it will be to visualize it next time.

Oh yeah, fear and stress shuts off vital parts of your brain, including your creative side. So you need to be calm when you draw (though some people draw just to express themselves). Generally you do better when you approach things playfully and with curiosity (beginners mind).

Last note, everyone is unique in their learning and what they prefer. This is what has worked for me, but I know everyone is different. So I encourage people to experiment.

Enjoy Yourself!

First and foremost, you MUST ENJOY YOURSELF! =) It might sound trivial, or even common sense, isn't that why you're drawing in the first place?

But you'd be surprised of what people think when they draw. Examples of this are "I gotta make this picture good so I can show my friends", "I gotta make this good otherwise people will put me down." and another which is border-lining: "I gotta make this good so I'll be happy with my pictures". You mustn't have any fear! I know this sounds cliched but so many people fall in this trap of fear and stress and they wonder why their pictures aren't good. Though saying must might not be a good thing to say, because people may fear of fear, which happens =).

You might think this is a little stupid, but think for a moment. This "fear" is the innate fear of pain. It's this uncertainty, uncertainty to move forward, because running away is a solution to not getting pain too. This is also where the "you get more of
what you reinforce" quote. The more you run away, the easier it
will be to run away and so on and so forth.

You might lose interest after drawing for long time too. If that happens, come back to it later. But remember go back to it. If you think about it, do it. And if you don't... well you know what happens =) Of course, if you think about it and you have no easy access to it, you can visualize yourself drawing drawing. Just imagine yourself drawing, feeling the pencil and the paper.

Imagine!

Imagination is also very important to your human brain. Imagination is your brains playtime, so you shouldn't hinder it =). As a child, your imagination roams free without being hindered. Until you get "taught" at school.

Through traditional schooling, yes your conscious mind gets trained and it gets trained to focus. But your subconscious mind, the one that comes up with all these images from drawing (plus other very important information) is hindered. That is because we were all told to pay attention in class.

This meant that you had to "squelch" your unconscious mind in order to focus, as the images that come through do distract you from what you're doing.

So your wonderful mind is forgotten, and some people even "forget" how to draw up images from mind after traditional schooling. So remember, if you see something strange and some images appear, don't squelch it, let it flow and it will encourage your creative mind to keep doing what it does best.

You can read more about it here:

Two GUARANTEED Ways to Profoundly Improve Your Intelligence

Drawing Tips
Finally we're up to the good stuff! Why did I ramble on about the
human brain? This is Drawing and art, right? not Psychology? Wrong! Of course, the human brain is vital to your drawing skills. Depending on your mood and condition of your mind, you can draw brilliant images, or fall into a slump or a art block. I'll tell you how to get rid of these later.

So basically, in order to draw better, knowing how the brain itself works, even a little can help. I can write a whole article on what I've learned so far on the human brain, but most of you wouldn't like that, right? =P

Anyway, if you'd like to find out more about the human brain,
Remember, don't read it because you have to, read it because you enjoy it. It makes things so much funner, and you learn more too.

Getting Rid of an Art Slump
Many people know this, and know this well =D For those people who don't know what I'm talking about, an art slump/block is when you can't draw a thing, or can't draw properly and you know you can't, so you don't.
There are a couple of solutions to this: 

• One, it might be that you're not having fun. Surprisingly, some people might have blocks, similar to the block that people have for maths. You know that one that makes you say "Aaah~! I don't like maths, I always stuff it up! Waaah~!". This statement about yourself is quite true, but thats only because its a self-fulfilling prophesy. You made yourself think that by just saying it. Funny how the brain works =). Other reasons are probably because from a (or lots of) bad experience/s (like getting a low mark for a test, the teacher going so slow that you get bored and don't understand or ie. Someone severely criticized your work and made you feel bad). Though drawing may not be as blocked as maths, it might be there, and it's stuffing up your drawing. A way to do this is to do the Noise-removal technique in Win Wengers article - "How to Unblock Blocks and Undo Phobias". I've found this technique very useful, especially for maths =P. So if you have this artist block, use the noise-removal technique on it, and it should clear up.
• When you have a burst of inspiration, stop what you're doing IMMEDIATELY, and start writing (or draw) things, about your inspiration. It can be an excellent picture that you have in mind, a sudden insight on how to draw clothing, or drawing in a specific way. DO THIS! It will encourage the spontaneous, creative side and it will be easier to get rid of that block. Remember "you get more of what you reinforce" =P.
  
  If you can't draw it or write it down, describe it out loud to yourself (or in your head). Or use your powerful tool, imagination. Imagine drawing it, or watching the events unfold or whatever.
  
• One last thing, an easy way to get unblock yourself is to get inspiration from different sources. It might be from TV, an Anime, looking at pictures, a person, or even some trivial object like a tree. Waiting for this inspiration is also an option too (but it might encourage yourself to stop drawing at every slight block that you encounter, which isn't a good thing =P)
  

Tips on Drawing while Drawing

Here are some things I've found that has helped me a lot while
drawing.

Creative Drawing

Sometimes when you're drawing, you have an best reaction.