I've wanted to be able to draw/sketch for a long time. I've tried many many times and always get the same results, figures/landscapes that look like a 4 year old drew them

How do I learn to draw? Some people just seem to have a natural ability. A few people suggested that I just visit museums, pick a painting and start sketching it but this would be very embarassing for me. So, how do I learn to draw?

You either have talent or you don't like with writing or music. Also like writing or music, if you don't practice then your talent, whatever you have, wont go anywhere.

Take a drawing class offered as adult learning from a local juco or university (cheap, non-credit). You'll know PDQ if you have much worth developing.

B

Looney Tunes, just copy stuff like cartoons and stuff. I cant draw very well except for that kind of thing, original stuff is always harder.

Once in high school I took a drawing class. It taught me that I'd better stick to music.

My wife is a middle school art teacher. Here is her advice:

You have to learn to see before you draw. Get rid of your preconceptions about the appearance of objects and trust your eyes. Look first for outside lines and look for proportions.

Draw an object on paper without looking at the paper. Follow the outside contour lines of the object with your eyes, at the same time drawing on the paper. Your hand should mimic your eye movement.

Then draw the same object by looking at the paper sometimes.

Then begin looking for lights and darks.

Practice, practice, practice.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
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1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
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Right... You have to FEEL the object. You pretty much have to sense its proportions. You must be completely relaxed and in a forgiving state of mind. Don't get frustrated, whatever you do.

When I draw landscapes, I like to use pastels. I usually use a photograph of a landscape because that eliminates the 3 dimensional aspect of it(a lot easier...less demand on focus). Pastels are really great for shading effects and you can produce some really pleasing abstract pieces.

I tend to draw really well when I'm half-conscious!

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

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I am able to draw, and I focus mostly on animated caricatures and sometimes technical drawings, like concept car designs.

Pretty much what everyone has said, the talent is not in what you do with your pencil, but how you conceive the subject in your mind. Someone who is an artist looks at things differently than one who is not.

Taking a class helps, but it's mostly an inbred skill. So you won't become an artist by taking a drawing class anymore than you'll become Mario Andretti by taking a driving course...

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If you are right-handed, hit the ball from inside out. Should draw nicely....

Wes

I went to Columbus college Of Art And Design in Columbus OH. I started going to Saturday classes there when I was 13 and then went there for 5 years after high school.

I found that many students that showed the least natural talent became better artist than the gifted ones that tended to be lazy.almost all Art Schools offer night classes. You need not be intimitadated if your begining work dose not macth some of the other students as most artist are a bit crazy and do art for the fun of it.You also might find that you are better at painting or sculptor or any of the other forms of art..........

"A Bit Crazy" William Rogers........

Naw. Inside out (on a right hander) puts counterclockwise spin and the ball draws. Outside in reverses the spin and it becomes a slice. Don't ask me how I know....

Wes

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Jim

Well, generally my pistol is at 3 o'clock in a speed retention holster mounted with a foward cant, so I try to do it as fast as I can.

Err, yall wasnt talking about that, were you.

Umm, poorly. That is how I draw.:p

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Inside straight.

Some people have no talent and waste their money reinforcing it.

Watch Bugs Bunny: reference Yosemite Sam....

I have to agree w/ Kerry Edwards' wife, the school teacher. I have a son who is a talented artist; I am not. As I analyze drawings I've done over the years, I agree that it starts with the eye. My son sees all kinds of shades. Unless I really try, if I know that a wall is, say, light blue, I draw it all light blue. But no surface is consistant in color; the color varies with the light, its intensity, and the angle. In my mind its like a paint chip chart--all uniform. In real life it is never uniform. I did a drawing for a church many years ago to show what their proposed organ would look like. I saw the drawing a couple of years ago, and although all the porportions are right, and the perspective is technically correct, the overall impression is one of flatness. There is no variation of color.
Learn to see!