How I Learned to Draw

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How I Learned to Draw

It wasn’t long ago when I learned to draw, about a year and a half now (as of December 2017). I was inspired by my daughter, who was ten years old at the time. I was so amazed at her ability to draw, at such a young age. She is very much inspired by anime artists. I, on the other hand, was inspired by fashion illustrators.

I asked my daughter if she could draw something for me, something girly, but she would tell me that it’s not her style of art. Since my daughter and I had different styles, I decided to learn everything I could about drawing, especially in the style of fashion illustration. I stumbled upon Zoe Hong’s YouTube channel, which opened my eyes to figure drawing. I had tried to learn about fashion and figure drawing from books, but I just couldn’t get it right. Once I saw Zoe’s method of teaching figure drawing, I had an epiphany moment. I finally understood how to draw the human figure. Since discovering Zoe’s YouTube channel, my drawings have greatly improved.

I wanted to learn more about drawing, that’s when I discovered Skillshare and Gabrielle Brickley’s classes on drawing. I especially loved her class titled, Start Drawing: Techniques for Pencil Portraits. Gabrielle’s teaching style is so straight forward, quick, and easy to understand. She really makes you feel like anyone can draw. I also loved her classes titled, Sketch Realistic Eyes, and Design a Female Character. These classes really helped to improve my skills of drawing a female face. Another great Skillshare teacher is Yasmina Creates. She utilizes watercolor, and ink pen. Her style is cute and colorful. She gives simple, step-by-step explanations, and makes it so easy to understand. Her class titled, You Can Draw Anything! In 3 Simple Steps, breaks down the drawing process, and shows you that you really can draw anything. Then there’s Elena Fay on Skillshare, and her class titled, How to Create Beautiful Fashion Illustrations. Her method for creating dynamic poses, is so helpful. She shares an easy method to draw a fashion figure in different poses.

Last Christmas, I received an iPad Pro 12.9 and an Apple Pencil. This, along with the Procreate app for the iPad, has been a game changer for me. I love that I can work in layers. I can draw or color on one layer, and if I make a mistake, I can erase or delete a layer without affecting other parts of my artwork. I just love my iPad Pro with apple pencil, and can’t live without it.

This is how I learned to draw. My style is not the typical fashion illustration, but more of a combination of fashion and cute illustrations. I’m not anywhere near perfect, but that doesn’t stop me from drawing. I have more to learn. I continue to learn from YouTube, Skillshare, books, by browsing online, and of course by practicing as much as I can, to further develop my drawing skills. I hope this post will help you to learn to draw. Keep learning, keep practicing, and never give up.