Drawing for kids — is very essential for their cognitive development. It allows them to communicate expression to the outer world.
There is a number of studies that show how drawing can enhance the kid’s motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It’s a skill that can be helpful for almost everyone.
But after deciding to learn the skill of drawing – where to begin can be the biggest hurdle, so to make things easier we have compiled the whole thing into 5 sections.
Mastering these basics can uplift you in the game of drawing. Let’s begin drawing by learning to hold pencil. To make a good drawing, it’s necessary to have a good grip of the pencil.
By learning to grip a pencil, One can set about to make drawings. The size of the pencil tip and the way of holding it has an important role in your drawing.
1. Holding Pencil
Below, you will learn 4 different ways to hold a pencil.
(i) Tripod Grip:- Tripod grip is a basic grip. Most people use this grip for drawing & writing. To learn tripod grip use thumb, index finger, and middle finger supported by the ring finger & last finger (pinkie).
In this grip — hold the pencil too tightly or straight. The grip has a benefit, using it you can easily add detail and small strokes.
(ii) Extended Grip:- This grip is similar to tripod grip but here you have to hold the pencil from the top. It gives extra freedom to make sketches.
The advantage of this grip is that it makes shading easier. This grip has another upside too, you can produce larger movements of the pencil tip with just little action at the pivot point. It makes shading more efficient.
(iii) Overhand Grip:- This grip is famous for quick sketches. One of the main advantages of Overhand grip is that it gives you the flexibility to draw live sketches.
It permits you to draw with your whole hand which helps produce better lines. For overhand the tip of the pencil should be long from half-inch to an inch.
(iv) The Underhand Pencil Grip:- In this grip, the forefinger and the middle finger helps to move the pencil and the thumb holds it lightly. The grip is highly used for board sketching. You can comfortably draw on large sheets using it.
2. Basic Lines
The line is the pillar of drawing. You can construct anything using lines. The main five types of lines in the drawing are
(i) Vertical line
(ii) Horizontal line
(iii) Diagonal line
(iv) Curved line
(v) Zigzag line
How to Practice the line?
- To practice try using light pencil.
- To draw curved lines use an overhand grip.
- Draw the line with fluency and confidence.
- Draw two dots & join them with a proper line in any direction.
- Practice is the only way to make the correct lines.
3. Basic Shapes
Shape builds the basic (fundamental) structure of the drawing. Which makes it easy to make a sketch. There are five basic shapes you can use that square, rectangle, triangle, circle.
To make a circle draw 4 dots and connect them with each dot, but the line should be in motion & clockwise So that the circle is well-formed. Repeat this exercise again & again.
And one day you will be able to draw perfectly. Draw the different shades similar to the upper part of the exercise. Draw three dots & joint them with a straight line for the triangle.
4. Shading
Shading isn’t just for look & beauty. Added to the beauty it also has the ability to showcase even a depth or distance of the subject.
Shading Techniques
Here’s a list of pencil shading techniques in drawing that every beginner needs to know.
(i) Hatching:- You can draw at any angle. And the lines which go in the parallel direction. Its lines stay straight and nearby each other. This technique is also called Rain From Haven.
You can practice this technique horizontally or vertically. Practice this exercise repeatedly.
(ii) Cross Hatching:- The horizontal & vertical lines intersect each line. Uses of cross-hatching create a value and texture of your drawing. You can also make it as a grid.
(iii) Scribbling:- This is a relaxing technique. It is also known as a warm-up exercise. Let’s start working on the warm-up exercises. Hold the pencil & close the eyes then start to make scribbles on the notebook. It’s used in making trees or hair.
(iv) Dot:- To make a dot drawing take your pencil upright making a right angle with the plane of the paper.
(v) Blending:- This is a common shading technique most artists use this technique to make drawing smooth. Slight pressure should be applied while shading.
Specially design tools are generally used to doing this purpose. Practice increasing & decreasing value. Learn making stronger and lighter value. Another name of this technique is smudge.
5. Understanding Color
Color is an element of art that creates visual perception to help distinguish the nature of the subject. It creates mood & has a great impact on the viewer’s emotions.
There are three main types of color.
(i) Primary Color
(ii) Secondary Color
(iii) Tertiary Color
For instance, bright colors like yellow, red can make you feel happy and activated. On the contrary darker colors like deep red, burgundy can evoke sadness.
Using color with the right idea would help you convey a lot about your art. The correct combination of color, hue, and value is used to create an illusion of depth that makes the artwork life-like and meaningful.
Colors are also used for emphasizing a certain part of the artwork. All these reflect, how crucial the understanding of color is for an artist?
Keep Drawing!