Can You Give 5 Minutes to Improve Your Freehand Drawing!

Doing this will improve your freehand drawing for at least five reason which are explained in the second half of the video. But first, the value of this simple task, which was discovered accidentally, is demonstrated with actual examples. This could just be a key to improving your drawing!

[gautambarua]

My search for the perfect pen drawing tutorial on YouTube ends with your channel. I look no further. Thanks for your wonderful teaching.

[bullsquid]

A pro showing off mistakes they make, and how it happened is an amazingly helpful thing! Thank you so much.
I feel a little less like an imposter now ;)

[hauntedmilk]

As a painter - I can say that this exactly right. It is the observation that is lacking when trying to get fresh "easy" marks. Doing some little studies like this - just a few minutes worth - makes you observe these sections so much more closely! And that then relates to being able to make the marks more easily in a fresh way. Really great video!

[pchabanowich]

Observation. I could observe that word for a while. Why on Earth was (and am) I so impatient? Your deeper secret, I think, is your willingness to spend time with mistakes. You cannot believe how important this tutorial is for me. Your work has invited me back to all my 'demons', and, really, that is the job of the guru.❤

[jeffmastin]

When my final sketches look like his practice scratches

[AFAskygoddess]

I just finished a drawing class in perspective and composition. You summarized a month of teaching beautifully. Our instructor really stressed the importance of making five minute thumbnail sketches before embarking on the final drawings.
So glad that your channel was in my YouTube recommendations. Thanks from a grateful new subscriber.

[NameLikeNobodyElse]

For some reason this made me think of walking out into an area you don't know & having someone point & say 'watch your step here'. Or like being the 2nd person on a hiking trail after the first person scouted out the best way thru.

I just found your videos last night & after the first one on drawing the effects of detail, I subscribed. I look forward to watching all of your generously helpful videos.

[tracyheath]

I have a couple notebooks that are just for my practice sketches or dress rehearsal even if its just for a small detail. What I find is how fun it is to go back through those notebooks and remember the lessons learned and the struggles and even finally success at getting the drawing right. Lol others like to look at those notebooks. I had a friend once who wanted to look at my notebook, I was so nervous because they were full of mess ups, she said in a glee moment while brushing her hand across the page of many attempts " Now that's art". I was stunned. People like to see others dress rehearsals. 😊

[kathleenalbright]

Drawing complex castles or estate homes is above my skill level, however I think your suggestions will help beginners as myself to better draw even simple shapes, such as a coffee cup or vase. Thank you for a wonderful lesson.

[tsunayoshisawada]

Not only did i enjoy hearing all the tips, but i sure enjoyed the visual treat as well. Man, all those sketches are astonishing.

[sarahyip]

Framing, muscle memory, eye-hand coordination, the position of pen/pencil and paper... who would have thought all these matter! I thought perspective, angles and flow was fun when I rediscovered the joy of drawing some weeks ago (trees with awesome branch systems). I was lucky the first drawing, a slow start, was mostly on target. But your extensive vocab on the very drawing process, focusing also on how we ourselves are interacting with the task at hand, is very on point. Self awareness, "catching" ourselves in the process of it all is central to learning. Are we getting it or are we not? Why not? What do we need to do differently? By helping us to help ourselves, you are the wonderful Art teacher we never had 😊

[watercolourmark]

When I do a watercolour I will often do two little studies before. The 1st is a pen line study to observe the form. The 2nd is a worksheet on problem effects and textures, like how will I render the gradient of colour on a flower with those specks. So this way I am solving problems before hand. Going in hot, rather than cold.

[sociallyresponsiblexenomor]

I find this really great. He's an advanced artist, but just now is recounting the fundamentals of "Dynamic sketching theory" that many ink practitioners will teach you on; except he is literally just immediately adapting to the medium through his own experience and his own visual lense. I feel like this really shows the flexibility of a good artist, and how we shouldn't be afraid to experiment and branch out.

I took a class with Peter Han that actually went over a lot of these things but just with a slightly different take, but that is someone who predominantly works in ink.

Thank you for the video. This was quite interesting.

[xxcuxxxx]

Tried this recently on accident, when i was drawing some figures from reference. Instead of rubbing wrong lines, i did multiple attempts at the same pose. It really helped with getting the proportions and angles right.
The best part of it was my boosted confidence in drawing, since i already „broke the ice“ with putting the first lines down!

Ty so much for reminding, had sorta forgotten it. ❤

[primecomputer]

very productive video about freehand drawing

[cindylong]

Wonderful, thanks, Stephen. Great advice as always.

[theroadhome_Liz_Summers]

Thanks! At 68, 3.5 months ago, I started drawing. Actually, I started with watercolor but realized I needed/wanted to be able to draw for my watercolor and also for the enjoyment of drawing. So, like another commenter, I am at the "drawing my coffee cup" stage and mostly from reference photos although practicing with objects also. I put the concepts of this video into practice and am finding things a bit easier - Thank you!! The other thing I have done when I can't get the proportion/curve, etc. right is to trace from a reference photo and compare that with my tries to see where I am going wrong. YIKES ... it is the observation ... what I think I see vs what it is. Bottomline, new and happy subscriber!

[miedzystrunami]

Brilliant advice as usual, thank you so much, Steven! I'm definitely guilty of making my marks and lines too precious, of trying to get it right at the first try. I can see how quick rehearsal drawings could help here. The problem I have is that I only have a limited amount of time for drawing, and it's not every day, so I end up wanting to have achieved something, have some drawing done in a session - and because of that I put that pressure on myself to try and make it finished with a single session. That in turn makes me want to skip preparations, to go right into it. I recently thought that I could use a pencil underdrawing as my preliminary sketch, but actually it did not turn out great either - I did get the perspective right, but proportions were not accurate, and I faced having to figure out some aspects of the texture and details on the go. So I think I'll try out your suggestion next time, see where it takes me.

[lunatopia]

I've just started to urban sketch and after watching a few dozens of your videos, I can proudly said that I improved so much ! Couldn't find a better channel than yours on the topic. Thank you for your precious tips and the time saver, my sketches are so clean now !

[ranjancse]

One of the greatest and the best lessons for the life time. Thank you Stephen. I can personally feel your voice.