How to start drawing (for beginners)

I'm often asked how someone can start learning to draw from the very beginning, so this video is those people! There are certainly fundamentals and techniques you can learn, but I learnt with a much simpler method. I hope somebody finds it helpful!

(If you buy through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you)

Edited by @chashuu0

00:00 - Intro
01:10 - Drawing from reference
01:55 - Developing observation skills
02:38 - Mark making
03:28 - Drawing from imagination
04:57 - Watching Tutorials
05:53 - It's hard to draw as an adult
07:24 - That's it... right?
08:01 - Art Fundamentals 101
08:40 - Staying Motivated

BGM
3:03PM by Sharou

[Kapuchu]

"Fun comes before Damentals"
Unironically a good line!

[eduardosolistinoco]

"Children don't have the taste to judge their drawings as bad, so they just keep going just for fun", such great piece of wisdom, not just for art, but for almost all skills. We may laugh at those cringey horrible writing fanfics we can find of the net, but those were the building blocks for a lot of them to become great authors nowadays. Practice and fun everybody, practice and fun.

[Mary-fouv]

Me who's been drawing for 7 years: ah yes I needed this

[GabriellaTatsuya]

A large group of people says "oh you wanna start? perspective and anatomy!!" and the real starts is... just starting
This is why this video its very important

[musing_quest]

From someone who started art at 36 yrs old I greatly appreciate this video 😊

[SilliestGooberEverREAL]

The "you don't need expensive materials" comment was SO TRUE. I have drawn with pens I find randomly at school and take, pencils, brush pens, broken pencils, almost fried out pens, pens from banks, ANYTHING I CAN FIND I USE. Fancy colored pencils are sometimes better than the things I listed but crayons from restaurant kids menus are entirely okay. I've also used random papers I find too. Any material you find lying on the ground somewhere or that is given to you for something, you can use. I find drawing with crayons easy, my brush pens are just as fun to use though.

[Lrar]

I think one of the most impactful learning for a beginner will be to find out what they actually like/enjoy/are passionate about.
And that’s where fanart and “just copying” art that you like comes in handy. As a beginner I often copied scenes from my favorite shows or drew my favorite Pokemon etc.

I’m 22 y.o. started taking art seriously about 1.5 years ago and just NOW realized what I actually wanna do.
But the moment you realize that, learning will become so much more easy, intuitive and fun!
So all advice I can give to beginners is:
- Start out by drawing what you like. Copy from shows, manga, games; doesn’t matter
- Experiment with different things you seem to gravitate towards (I for example always thought I liked character design in general but later found out that it’s creature design specifically that sparks my joy. But you can’t find that out if you don’t dare to be bad at something new first)
- Learn the fundamentals if you feel stuck/have artblock/ don’t know how to go on.
You’ll need those anyway, no matter what you wanna do.

And lastly:
The most impactful quote by my high school art-teacher was: “be brave to make mistakes” which can be accompanied by another saying: “don’t avoid making mistakes but make them faster” :)
You don’t need to show anyone your work, you don’t need to be a pro or know what you want/what to do the moment you touch the pencil.
You basically ‘just’ need passion. And don’t be fooled to think that passion will always be there and you’ll never be frustrated because YOU DEFINITELY WILL
And there will be moments where you feel like giving up
But in the end if you keep drawing it’ll bring you further than sitting frustrated in your rooms corner.
I always tell myself this whenever I feel stuck, frustrated or have imposter-syndrome.
Even if I do fail; at least I’ll fail doing something I love

Have a great journey y’all 🩵

[Henrykfcker]

Finally! Now nobody can stop me from drawing my anime men!!!

[orbmaniac]

idk how to write it without sounding a little cringe, but your videos inspired me to try drawing for the first time and I'm having fun. If I ever become any good ill come back and thank you again sometime.

[NcaModding]

35, no talent, 0 experience in drawing, no one can stop me, i am starting to learn how to draw right now

19/07/23: i watch marc brunet 30 days drawing practice and i can confident to draw and imagine basic 3D shapes. I also watch ilustrasee channel for slow practice (practice update every week)

25/07/23: i still practice about perspective, it's kinda difficult to combine random 3d shape with perspective, especially if it has a curve like cylinder, more observation, practice and repetition 👊

[TermoPlays]

I love the "there's too much content about art for beginners to learn, SO I MADE MORE"
All jokes aside though, as a person who started art a mere couple months ago, these are actually really good tips that I myself have followed despite not having anyone tell me so. Hearing you talk about them reaffirms that I have been doing the right thing all along!
For anyone afraid of not seeing progress, trust me. The difference between not drawing at all vs. drawing for just a month is like night and day.

[hennori]

6:51 As an adult, I really needed to see this graph. This really helps me to keep going, thank you!

[De_Gecko]

Im a Beginner too (few Months in), what i like to do is : Fundamentals here and there and for the Fun part i watch and follow along - "Draw this/ draw with me" etc Tutorials, that way i end up with Art i can feel good about and encourage me to stay active, while also learning/practicing.

Stay motivated my Friends!

[northisdead]

It's hard to stay motivated when I hate every single thing I draw. Maybe it gets easier once I'm better at it.

[AriAvian]

Who else watching this even tho they arent beginners? Or is it only me

[iiilya]

Tbh the main problem for me, is that its really hard to convince myself to draw... I mean, i like drawing and i enjoy the process when i do it but its just sometimes incredibly hard to convince myself to sit down and draw

[toyoharawarrior]

Almost 100k! Absolutely deserved! Thank you Pikat for the invaluable information and thanks to the video editor for the consistently great video quality! Let's go!

[beyondlazy]

Oh wow. You have distilled art for us mortals in the same way Sycra did back in the day
and just like him, inspired me to do art again. Thanks!!

[UncleKoko]

I'm 36 and just picked up a pencil. The "I wish I started 10 years ago" thought crosses my mind atleast once a day now 😅

[deepblueh]

"You dont need expensive materials" YESSS i've been drawing with my 6 inch phone for 3 years now and I've improved a lot hshshs (i still wish a have a bigger screen though)