1.

Master the drawing line

To draw step by step, the first thing you have to learn is to master the line. It seems like a child's question, but it is not. It
is one of the most important drawing exercises!
And why should we start with the line? Because it is much more than a simple stroke. The line is the basis of any
drawing and practicing it will only improve your pulse when drawing. This should be your first goal if you want to be a
professional and get a job as a cartoonist.
A good line is characterized by being firm, dynamic, one-way and smooth. If you notice that your line seems a little stiff
or lacks continuity, don't worry. The fear of a blank page can be overcome with practice, and by following some tips:

 Try not to rest your wrist on the paper.

 Relax your arm. Before drawing, make circular movements with your hand. The idea is that you draw with
ease.

 Avoid short or choppy strokes. Sometimes, we believe that this way we will be able to obtain a better
proportion of our drawing, but it is not true. The result is the opposite.

 Do not highlight the lines you previously drew. This will take away dynamism and clarity from your drawing.

Steps to Master Line Drawing

1. Take a blank sheet of paper and make random strokes, that is, draw several lines on top of others. They can be
numbers, letters or random shapes.
2. Take another blank sheet of paper and draw parallel lines diagonally, horizontally and vertically. They don't have to be
perfect, but try to make the lines without lifting the pencil from the paper.

2. Control direction with points and lines

For this drawing exercise, you must draw several dots on a sheet of paper randomly , however you like! Then, join
all those dots with your pencil. To level up, you could try doing it without lifting the pencil off the page or placing more
dots.
This drawing exercise allows you to improve the control you have over the direction of your stroke, which helps make
your line more precise.

Also, by connecting the dots, you train your hand and wrist to be in different positions and feel comfortable in them.

3. Improve the precision of your drawing with repetition

This is one of the drawing exercises in which you will have to make drawing strokes step by step and with a lot of
concentration. What are the steps to improve drawing accuracy?

1. Draw a straight or circular line with little pressure.

2. Try drawing on that same line again.

3. Finish with a third stroke along the same line with a little more pressure.

Try to draw with different strokes and without going out of line. Concentrate as much as you can; You will realize that it
is not so easy to draw on the same line three times in a row.

Why do this drawing exercise? To gain precision in your strokes and have greater control over the lines you draw. Don't
let it seem like it worked out for you by pure luck!
4. Practice with geometric figures

Drawings of flat geometric figures are the basis of pencil drawing techniques. There are many exercises to draw and
improve your lines that begin by recreating these geometric patterns together.

Now it's time to draw the basic shapes we learned when we were children: square, circle, triangle and rectangle. We will
start by drawing only its outlines.

However, as we know that objects have shape (depth and volume), in this first exercise of geometric drawings we
propose to adapt the shapes of the basic figures that you previously made, to new 3D style figures.
 Square = cube.

 Rectangle = cylinder.

 Triangle = cone.

 Circle = sphere.

With these new shapes, you can now achieve other basic drawing elements. For example, a pitcher and a soda can are
cylinders; an orange and a ball are spheres; a nightstand and a box are cubes; and a funnel and a party hat are cones.
5. Combine geometric figures with basic shapes

Once you have finished the drawing exercises with geometric shapes, it is time to combine basic figures and shapes, and
start drawing step by step. We leave you some ideas!

If you combine a square, two circles and a triangle, you can shape a foot.

If you combine three ellipses and a cone-shaped figure, you can get a cactus in a pot. Very easy, right?
6. Reduce objects to simple figures

To do this drawing exercise for beginners, take a minute and observe: how many sphere, cylinder, cube or cone-shaped
objects can you identify around you?

What follows is to reduce these objects to simple figures. How to do it? Think, for example, of a book, an orange and a
jug. Follow these steps.

1. Draw a rectangle, a cylinder and a circle. Define the contours and add lines to give them relief.

2. Add the details: draw the dots and indentation of the orange and round the spine of the book.

3. Finally, erase the lines that served as your drawing guide at the beginning.
Other examples of this exercise
 To draw the bottle, start from a cylinder.

 To draw a vase, start from a sphere.

 To draw a desktop computer with speakers, start with a square and three rectangles.

A good way to continue practicing this exercise is to start a drawing notebook-diary. We suggest you draw one object
from your house per day, what do you say?
7. Apply the light and shadow technique in the drawing

As mentioned in the book "Light and Shadow in Drawing", light, or the absence of it, constitutes an essential condition
in any graphic representation. So, if you already know how to draw objects and are perfecting the skill of sketching with
geometric figures, it is time to improve the management of light and shadows in your drawings.

One of the best drawing exercises to learn how to shade and to know where to place the shadow is to illuminate the
object you are drawing with a lamp or flashlight.
Image: Pinterest

For example, if you are drawing a bottle with the drawing exercise in the previous points, shine a flashlight on it. From
the side, from behind, from above, everywhere.

Note the direction of the shadow as you move the flashlight around the bottle. Also look at the density of the shadow:
it will be darker the closer it is to the object.
Now, recreate the direction of light and shadow in your sketch. First, define with some lines the path where the shadow
falls and, then, trace its density.

These lighting techniques will be very useful until you improve your light management skills in drawing.

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8. Draw the head and face with a circle

If what you want is to know how to draw faces , drawing exercises with geometric figures are also of great help.
Did you know that there is a widely used method to draw the head and face? We are referring to the Loomis method ,
named in honor of its creator: the illustrator and animator Andrew Loomis.
This American from the 1940s proposed drawing something as simple as a circle, to be able to draw the head and face
in perspective. It is one of the most used techniques for drawing faces due to its effectiveness.
If it wasn't very clear, don't worry. We leave you this Drawing Guide from scratch to learn the steps to draw a face and
a head in a simple way. And if that's not enough, you can also check out this video:

9. Draw the human body with geometric figures

How to draw the human body with geometric figures? With the right shapes and lines, and the correct perception of the
body angle, the human figure can be drawn with geometric figures, from head to toe.

For this drawing exercise, we start drawing circles and lines. We leave you the steps:

1. Make a circle for the head, upper torso, and hip.

2. Then smaller circles for the limbs.

3. All these circles, join them with lines as in the following image.
Image: Kelly Stefany
Considerations about this drawing exercise
To draw the human body, we recommend that you start doing these drawing exercises with the body facing forward
(not in profile). Once your line has improved, you can use your own body poses (from a photo or looking in the mirror)
to draw the lines of a moving body.
By the way, this drawing technique based on geometric figures not only works for human figures. If you are interested in
learning how to draw a dog step by step or any other animal, you should also start with drawing exercises with
geometric figures. This technique works for everything!
10. Structure of human drawing

Once you have managed to draw a person with sticks and circles, it is time to give it body.

To draw body mass , you also need to do drawing exercises with geometric figures. In this case, ovals, circles and
triangles that, little by little, must come together and begin to shape the human figure.
Notice that in the following sketch of a female figure. The oval shape is used for the torso and a more triangular shape
helps define the hips and back.
Image: Practice yourself

11. Short strokes instead of long ones

Do drawing exercises in which you have to define long lines or circles from shorter strokes . That is, instead of
drawing a line in a single stroke, press the pencil lightly and draw short strokes that allow you to get the longest line.
Long shapes and lines are difficult to draw in a single stroke and are less easy to handle than short lines. This drawing
exercise will get you used to guiding the pencil in the direction you want through short strokes, without losing the
coherence of the drawing.
Animation: Design.tutsplus.com

12. A look at the drawing of the human body

Maybe it's too early for you to start drawing the human body . However, we believe that this guide will help you know
and explore in advance one of the different canons of proportion of the human body . In this case, the one created by
Andrew Loomis.

For him, for example, the key is to measure everything based on the proportion of the volume of the head. Keep in mind
that human figures can be very different from each other , you should try making different human body shapes.
Drawing Guide from Scratch: The Human Body
In this Drawing Guide from Scratch we will review the figure and proportions proposal of Andrew Loomis, an
American illustrator and animator, whose methodology and academic work are considered the basis of
modern illustration. According to Loomis, the key idea is to measure everything based on head volume. Learn
more about this methodology in this Guide for you.

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13. Free the hand and the strokes

Do you find it difficult to draw parallel lines? Does it happen to you that the second line always goes in the wrong
direction? This is one of the drawing exercises that you have to try. Follow these steps and draw a circle snake!

1. It begins with a row of circles, each smaller than its predecessor. End the row with a point.

2. Connect the ends of the corresponding diameters.

3. Increase the difficulty: do the same as before, but leave more spaces between the circles.

4. Reconnect the circles. It may be more difficult now, since you will need to draw the arcs.

Continue doing this drawing practice, varying between the types of snakes: make them longer or shorter, straight or
curved, and using larger spaces between the circles.

Image: Design Tutsplus

14. Control the proportions of the drawings

If you have problems with proportions, there are some drawing exercises that can help you.
When learning drawing, the first thing you must understand is that proportions are not a particular distance but rather
define the location with respect to others. In this sense, you will always need two or more objects to be able to better
analyze the proportions.

In order to train your sense of proportion, you must learn to see proportions everywhere. According to the Design
TutsPlus blog, a good drawing exercise is to look around you and ask yourself:

 How long are my fingers compared to the palm?

 How many heads can be placed consecutively on my dog's back?

 What element of the face should fit perfectly between the eyes?

Image: Design Tutsplus

15. Draw small

This is, perhaps, one of the most ignored, but most important drawing exercises. It is about starting to practice drawing
techniques through small illustrations.

Many times, you may think that making a large drawing is easier since the margin of error regarding details will be
smaller. However, when taking the first steps in your drawing career, the key is to avoid too much detail in your
drawings and start with small, simple drawings , doodle style.
And later, when you want to make large-scale drawings, this technique proposed by the Trazarte blog will help you:

“Every time you are faced with a detailed drawing, in which you are going to invest a lot of your time,
make a drawing of it but first in small, in the corner of the sheet on which you are going to paint or on a
separate sheet” .

Image: Archzine

16. Draw with different perspectives

Another drawing exercise that can help you learn to draw is to practice with different perspectives. That is, instead of
making a drawing in which you capture the view you have of the objects from the front, you can try and draw them with
different views.

We recommend starting with some drawings with geometric shapes and using at least three types of views . The
most useful perspectives for this type of drawing exercises are parallel perspective, oblique perspective, and aerial
perspective.
You can also choose an object to draw that you have close to where you are, it could be a bottle, your cell phone, the
computer, or anything else. Surely if you think about that object when you draw it, you will have a single view of it,
from the front . The idea is that you can develop your skills to draw it in any position.
To learn to draw with perspective, move the object and observe it from different positions, after this, take your drawing
notebook and make a small sketch of the first image that comes to mind about the object, then make another sketch of the
same object but from another perspective, and another sketch with a third perspective to finish the exercise.

This is one of the drawing exercises that will have the most effect on your drawing abilities, mainly because it
allows you to have greater knowledge about the things you are going to draw , and because it helps you have a
visual record of how they look under different conditions. perspectives.

Image: Pinterest

17. Make drawings with a single line

At this point, the drawing exercises that we discussed should have already developed your drawing skills, so we can
move on to practice with things that may be more complex.

This exercise consists of making the drawing you prefer with a single line, that is, moving the pencil on the paper
without lifting it, and creating a drawing that is totally connected. You can make simple drawings like a house, where
you only need a square and a triangle as a roof, or you can try more complex things like a face.

If you want to make drawings with geometric shapes, you can look for some references online. You can also draw freely
and try to see what comes out. The steps to draw with a single line are very simple, you just have to start by making
a line on the paper and don't stop until your drawing is finished .
This exercise to draw with a single line is very useful for developing creativity, learning to manage distances on paper,
and understanding the relationships that exist between each of the parts of a drawing.

In addition, it will not only help you learn to draw, but you will also find it very fun because of the drawings you
will get using this technique.

Image: YouTube

18.Combine images from more than one drawing

If you want to learn to draw, you also have to practice the exercise of combining different elements within the same
drawing. For example, you can take two or more images and take elements from each of them to create a single
composition.
This is one of the most effective drawing exercises to learn how to draw and apply scales.
If you want to start trying this drawing exercise, try drawing a car and adding a drawing of an elephant. The challenge is
to get an idea of the proportions of both drawings and make the results as realistic as possible.

By doing this you can also have some fun, especially because you can let your creativity free and combine everything
you can think of in a single drawing . If we had to classify it, this would be one of the exercises to start drawing
professionally.

Image: Dimensions

19. Redesign a drawing by moving its elements

Continuing with the drawing exercises to learn to master proportions, we recommend you practice making drawings
in which you change the location of the elements, in which you can exaggerate the proportions of the objects and
in which you can highlight the differences between one and the other. object .
The idea is that you can transform what you see into something you imagine, and that you can develop your skills to
learn to draw without having any reference in sight.
When you have several objects in the same drawing, it is easier to recognize the differences and understand the
proportionality of each object , however, you can try something more risky and modify the parts of a drawing. For
example, you can draw a cat with a head smaller than its body, or a horse with legs that take up most of the drawing.
20. Draw the outline of the objects

To draw, you don't have to start with the most difficult part, so if you find it difficult to draw an object with all its details,
you can practice just making its outline. In this, the last of the drawing exercises on our list, we recommend putting
into practice the blind contour drawing technique, or blind contour drawing , as it is also known .
The idea is to draw an object, making its outline, without stopping to see it. That is, you must choose an object to draw
and be guided by what you see in it, without checking how the drawing is looking on the paper. But why is this exercise
ideal for learning to draw?

To learn to draw step by step, you need to know very well the shape of what you are drawing and its relationship
with space , and drawing without taking your eyes off the object you want to portray helps you better capture the details.
In addition, this is one of the drawing exercises that works best for the development of observation and coordination
between the eye and the hand. If you practice it enough, you can develop your skills to draw anything you come across.
Image: See the light art

By putting into practice the 20 exercises to learn to draw that we share with you in this article, you will be able to
advance from a beginner level to an intermediate level. The most important thing of all is that you are constant and look
for new techniques to draw and expand your knowledge.

It is also a good idea that you add some resources to these drawing exercises for beginners with which you can go from
theory to practice, which is why we recommend that you stay attentive and keep reading, because we are going to share
four free resources that will help you. They will be of great help for drawing.

Free resources to draw better

Practice makes perfect: you will see that by sketching daily you will be able to improve your pencil drawing technique
and become a professional.
For this reason, we bring you these downloadable resources so that you can complement the basic drawing exercises that
we shared with you before.

Guide to transform a realistic face into a cartoon

Nowadays, the cartoon style is very popular among professional illustrators and cartoonists. What do you think if you
join this artistic movement with exercises to draw cartoon-style faces?

This type of portrait aims to imitate the individual features and personality of the model, but in a simple and non-realistic
way. With this guide you can learn to draw step by step in the cartoon style. And there will be no shortage of clients
asking you for work with this technique!