Ammar

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! It has been almost two years since I started my journey to learn drawing, and what I have realized over time is that drawing can be one of the least expensive hobbies if you allow it to be. But as a beginner who was in love with buying art supplies (who …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! For most of my life, I thought that the white pencil tucked away in my coloring set was about as useful as a handbrake on a canoe. 😂 But these past few weeks, I have been practicing drawing with colored pencils and learning different colored drawing techniques from artists like Chris …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! Recently, I have been transitioning from graphite to colored pencils, and one of my biggest struggles so far has been blending colors. It isn’t as straightforward as blending graphite with a stump because with colored pencils, you’re not just looking to achieve a smooth gradient of values with blending, but potentially …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! Recently, I finally convinced myself to step outside the comfort of graphite and learn to draw with colored pencils (it was about time 😂). After a long time, I’m having so much fun drawing, and I decided to write this post to share with you five of my favorite colored pencil …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! If you’ve been drawing for a while, you can probably relate to occasionally feeling uninspired, even when tackling your favorite subjects. Personally, I love drawing faces, and I can’t imagine ever stopping because I’m super hooked. Still, I find myself from time to time scrolling through the endless stream of references …

For most of my life, I have struggled to stick to drawing for more than a few weeks at a time, even though it’s something that I’ve always known to bring me joy and satisfaction. Each time I tried to reignite my passion for drawing, I felt a short burst of motivation to see through …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! Like most beginners, I initially viewed erasers solely as tools designed for making corrections. Recently, I’ve been studying how artists employ subtractive drawing techniques, aiming to use erasers more deliberately in their art process. In this post, I’ll share what I’ve learned about subtractive drawing, why it matters, and how you …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! Do you know what’s more complicated than drawing an eye? Drawing both eyes. And on a face! It does not help that eyes are the first thing we naturally notice when we see a drawing of a face, and if something is slightly off, the whole portrait looks a bit weird. …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! While I utterly love drawing people, I’ve had my share of moments when I find myself feeling uninspired by what the Pinterest algorithm suggests, and I crave to draw something that makes me feel more creatively energized. If you can relate to this feeling, I am sharing 7 of my favorite …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! As you can probably relate, learning to draw can feel overwhelming as a beginner. I started learning drawing about two years ago (time flies so fast! 😲), and it has been quite a journey so far, although not without challenges. So, in this post, I am excited to share some insights, …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! Wouldn’t it be great for our sanity if we could just zone out from all the busyness of the day and indulge ourselves in some drawing every day while vibing to our favorite music? But as life would have it, we have to adult, and be ‘productive members of our society,’ …

Hey fellow art enthusiasts! As you’re probably aware, figuring out where the vanishing point goes is crucial for drawing perspective, and messing up this simple step can make the whole drawing seem odd. So in this post, I break down what exactly a vanishing point is, how to locate it when drawing perspective, and some …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! If you’ve ever picked up a pencil and tried to draw, you’ve probably pondered the eternal question: can you get really good at drawing by learning and practicing, or is it all about having that elusive ‘natural talent’? In this post, I’ll give my take on artistic talent, whether it exists, …

Hey art friends! Over the past couple of years, I’ve been on a journey to revive my drawing skills as a beginner. Specifically, I have been reading art books, watching tutorials by experienced artists, and practicing fundamentals to improve my drawing skills. So, in this post, I am excited to share the 10 most essential …

Hey art pals! If you’ve been learning how to draw for a while, you’ve probably heard about value studies, also known as tonal drawings. They’re super helpful in expanding your value range and drawing with more depth and are widely considered necessary practice for anyone hoping to master drawing or painting. Personally, doing value studies …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! As you probably know, pushing the darks in your pencil shading can help improve the depth and realism of your drawing. But that’s something that I have struggled with a lot in the past (and occasionally still do). For the past couple of years, I have been training myself to draw …

Figuring out what makes a drawing ‘good’ is obviously very subjective, and depends a lot on the aesthetic preferences of each artist. However, I believe there are some fundamental qualities that make certain drawings more attractive to us, especially when judging a drawing from an academic perspective. To illustrate, below are two drawings created by …

Six years ago, I gave up on drawing, convinced I lacked the natural talent or the “10,000 hours” of practice required for mastery. Some time last year I stumbled upon a TED talk by Josh Kaufman titled ‘The First 20 Hours — How to Learn Anything’ that eventually convinved me that drawing, like most things, …

Hey, fellow art enthusiasts! If you’re anything like me, you love to indulge in drawing on toned papers occasionally. I particularly enjoy doing value studies on toned papers because it allows you to focus on the structure, shadows and the highlights in a drawing while the paper takes care of those tricky mid tones for …

Shading, in my humble opinion, is the most satisfying part of the drawing process. It’s where the real magic happens as you render your basic outlines into a drawing brimming with a sense of depth, volume, and form. When I got back into drawing last year, I must admit that my shading skills were seriously …

I first stumbled upon the idea of negative space in drawing while reading “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards a long time ago. It opened up a new way of analyzing shapes, edges, and space for me. Ever since, I’ve been curious to learn how I could use negative space …

Hey there, fellow art enthusiast! Shading is by far my favorite part of drawing. There’s something almost magical about watching your drawing outline transform into a three-dimensional masterpiece when you render some shading to it. Now, I must admit that when I picked up drawing again last year, my drawings looked rather flat. But I’ve …

I always dreamt of attending an art school, but unfortunately, my circumstances didn’t allow me to do so. However, since last year, I’ve been trying to make up for that by exploring different ways to teach myself to draw. In this post, I’m excited to share the six most effective methods I’ve discovered for learning …

Hello there, fellow aspiring artist! 20 months ago, I embarked on a quest to master drawing, again, after several unsuccessful attempts in the past. The journey has been quite the rollercoaster, and there is still a very long road ahead of me, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made thus far. So in this …

When you’re just starting your journey to learn how to draw, it’s easy to feel excited about what you’ll draw next. But then, every once in a while, your motivation to draw takes a nosedive. You get caught up in life, you get sick, and the weather doesn’t seem particularly nice – life happens, right? …

It has been approximately 20 months since I resumed my drawing journey following a five-year break due to an art block. Though the journey has been quite a rollercoaster, I am proud of how far I’ve come. One crucial lesson I’ve learned the hard way is that while improving your drawing skills can be an …

Earlier this year, I convinced myself to splurge on a Moleskine Sketchbook (they’re just so exquisite) and made a promise not to buy any more art supplies until I finish this one (I’ve got a history of accumulating art supplies that I never actually use). So, over the past few months, I’ve been on a …

When I took a plunge into the world of portrait drawing last year, my attempts were about as flat as a pancake, and far from convincing. To give you an idea, once I was being brave and sketching a Pinterest girl in a small cafe vibing to my favorite song thinking I was drawing the …

Lately, I’ve been feeling uninspired by drawing in the same sort of art. So, in an effort to expand my drawing repertoire, I’ve been exploring various art styles that pique my interest. In this post, I’ve put together a list of 13 art styles, encompassing both modern and classic approaches, that resonate with me. I’ll …

Hey there, fellow artists! If you’ve ever felt like you’re stuck in your art journey, I can totally relate and sympathize with you. For an embarrassingly long time, I felt that my drawing skills had plateaued at the same level despite practicing consistently. But fear not, I’ve spent the last year really evaluating what I …

Hey there fellow artists. These past few months, I’ve been diving into portrait drawing, focusing on the Loomis Method. And I have to say it’s been a game-changer for me when it comes to the art of drawing faces. So in this post, I’m excited to share what I’ve learned about the Loomis Method. I’ve …

Until recently, my drawing skills were, well, pretty average. And it seemed like no matter how much I drew, I wasn’t making any progress. But then I decided to take a closer look at my art skills, habits, processes, mindset, and knowledge. I analyzed everything and took small steps to fill in the biggest gaps, …

You know what’s oddly satisfying? Drawing glasses on faces! It adds so much character, story, and interest to the face. But as you probably already experienced, drawing glasses isn’t without its challenges. So, in this post, I’ll try to condense the process of drawing glasses on a face into seven simple steps that I have …

Hey there, fellow aspiring artists! So, let’s talk about one of my many struggles in the art world – drawing faces! Trust me, I’ve spent the past year trying to get this right, and I’ve realized that nailing those face proportions is like finding the Holy Grail of portrait drawings. So, in this post, I’m …

Hey there, fellow artists! As you probably already know, blending can be a great tool to make your drawings look more interesting and polished by smoothing out the transition of values in a more gradual and subtle way. In this post, I’ll be diving into five of my favorite blending techniques that you can use …

As an aspiring concept artist, I admit to having had my fair share of instances when I have run out of ideas for drawing and can’t find the motivation to pick up the pencil. Luckily, I frequently revisit a few things in my art journey that help me switch gears, relax, and push through the …

Let’s face it; I’m not exactly going to be the next Michelangelo. But as a beginner artist, I was determined to figure out how to make my drawings look more realistic. Spoiler alert: it was a lot trickier than I initially thought. Early in my art journey, I realized there was a lot more to …

Since last year, I have been exploring different art styles because, based on the feedback I received from other artists, my drawing style came off as too generic and lacking a creative flavor. So in this post, I share four helpful drawing exercises I have been practicing recently to study and explore the different art …

There are some things all beginner artists struggle to draw. Hands, for example, are universally accepted as one of the hardest things to draw well, even for professional artists. But a lot of what someone finds difficult to draw can depend on the artist’s personal art interests and experiences. Since I am fascinated by human …

One of the problems I faced when learning to draw portraits as a beginner was that my drawings looked flat. To compensate for my lack of understanding of what is required to add depth to my drawing, I tried a bunch of different shading techniques, but I was unable to suggest the shapes of the …

There goes a saying in the art world that anyone can draw, and anyone who can draw can always improve. I do believe that to be true, but it’s also a fact that drawing well is usually a struggle for beginners. I gave up creating art six years ago because I felt I was unable …

Six years ago, I rage-quit art for five long years because I thought drawing was too hard. And while the occasional glitch in the universe appears to cause some people to learn and master drawing so effortlessly, I think I am speaking for the majority here when I say drawing is not easy, at least …

Hey there, fellow artists! If you’ve been on a journey to master the art of drawing eyes in a semi-realistic art style, you’re in the right place. After spending nearly a year learning to draw stylized portraits by studying the process of the contemporary masters of semi-realistic art like Eliza Ivanova and Loish, I have …

This year I was particularly interested in learning to draw in a semi-realistic art style influenced by artists such as Eleeza Ivanova and Loish. In this post, I share what I have learned about drawing in this aesthetic and some tips that I have found helpful in doing so. What is a Semi-Realistic Art Style? …

Since returning to drawing last year, I struggled to draw more freely. I was too precious of my drawings to the point that it was stopping me from experimenting and getting better at drawing. And if you’re curious, listening to Beethoven while sketching didn’t seem to help either. So recently, I have been trying to …

Although I love drawing people, I get easily bored filling out my sketchbook with the same type of portrait drawings all the time. Since getting back to drawing last year, I have learned that even small changes in the art style, mood, composition, reference, technique, and drawing medium can make a big difference in making …

The eyes are arguably the most tricky part of the face to draw. To improve my eye drawing skills, I have been trying different ways to practice drawing eyes these past few months that help me understand their structure, and anatomy but don’t require drawing from a live model. Here are 5 of my favorite …

Like any skill worth attaining in life, learning how to draw can be challenging, especially for self-critical beginner artists like myself. After a long break from drawing, I decided to learn how to draw again one year ago and looking back; I can safely say this has been one of the best decisions that has …

It always amazes me how some artists can summon their creativity to draw things in a way that captures our imagination and inspires beginner artists like myself to get better at drawing. While I’m relatively okay at observational drawing, I seem to utterly lack the ability to draw creatively, which is a vital skill for …

As someone used to monochrome drawing, I got interested in learning the Trois Crayons technique this month to introduce myself to the world of color drawing. In this post, I give a basic overview of the method and share the five tips I found helpful in drawing with the Trois Crayons technique. An Overview of …

The human face is my favorite drawing subject. But lately, I was getting too comfortable drawing portraits the same way and not learning different art styles, which is essential for beginner artists like me who are early in their art journey. So to improve my portrait drawing skills, I have recently been studying different ways of drawing …

When I got back to drawing this year, I struggled to draw faces well, so these past few months, I read a bunch of art books, took some introductory drawing courses, and binge-watched dozens of Youtube videos to improve my portrait drawing skills. Here are 6 of the best tips I have learned from other …

Since returning to drawing one year ago, I realized I needed to gain some fundamental art skills necessary to create good art. I feel like I had been overly focused on drawing faces and skipped some basics that didn’t seem very interesting to me at the time. So, for the past month, I have been …

Earlier this year, I rediscovered my love for drawing as a 34-year-old adult, and I am so glad to have taken it up as a hobby. Although deep down, I want to believe that I can still make it as a professional artist one day, I do feel content in the fact that even if …

Knowing the different types of shadows is important for creating well-structured drawings that look three-dimensional and can also help improve the art composition. Over the past few weeks, I have been doing some value studies to understand how light interacts with objects to create a range of shadows, highlights, and midtones. So in this post, …

Artists use different hatching techniques to suggest form, values, motion, and texture in their drawings. And besides being an efficient and attractive way to render a drawing, hatching techniques are especially useful to show gradual tonal shifts on mediums that are not conducive to blending, such as pen and ink. In this post, I explore …

Drawing is by far my favorite pastime, but I have had more than a few days when it just feels a little boring, frustrating, or uninspiring despite listening to my favorite playlist on Spotify while I’m at it. Usually I can group the reasons why I don’t enjoy drawing on a certain day into these …

Back in 2017, I quit drawing after teaching myself how to draw portraits for about a year. And it took me five long years of not making any art (almost) to return to drawing again in January 2022, and ten months in, I’m happy to report that I have been able to draw consistently again …

Most artists go through a phase in their art journey where they feel like their art looks too generic, boring, and academic. When I returned to drawing earlier this year, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that my drawings looked plain and lacked a signature art style that others could identify with me. So I made …

Around six years ago, I quit drawing, only to start drawing again almost five years later. And while I haven’t drawn every day since returning to art, I have been able to draw consistently at least a few times every week for almost a year now, which is way more than what I have drawn …

Capturing the resemblance of a face is one of the most challenging skills to learn in portrait drawing that can take years to truly master. These past few months, I have been trying to overcome my struggles with capturing the likeness of a face by learning basic head construction techniques, including the Loomis Method and …

I must admit that most of my sketchbooks are filled with portraits of women because, traditionally, I find drawing women a lot more satisfying than men. In an effort to become a more well-rounded artist, this past week I made it a point to draw more masculine faces and study how the old and new …

The eyes are arguably the most captivating part of the human face but, without a doubt, hard to draw well. When drawing portraits, it is essential to correctly place the eyes on the face in the early stages of your drawing. So in this post, I share some tips that I find helpful in quickly getting …

I personally find eyes the most challenging feature of the face to draw, and the fact that they are usually the first thing that a person notices on a face does not help beginner artists like me who have been finding it hard to draw the eyes well. And don’t ask me about my struggles …

When I got back to drawing portraits earlier this year, I wondered what I should learn first to draw the human head properly: the Loomis Method or the Reilly Method.  My initial impression of the Reilly method was that it was too complicated for beginner artists. So I decided to learn the Loomis Method first …

Like most beginner artists, I struggled to draw faces well through most of my art journey. And let me be honest, the only way to truly get better at drawing faces, I think, is by practicing to draw faces over and over again despite being not very good at it at first.   However, some things can speed up …

When I got back to drawing at the start of this year after a long break from arts, it seemed like I wasn’t getting better at drawing faces even though I was drawing consistently. But around three months ago, I changed the way I approach my portrait drawing practice, and I am quite happy with …

One of the main reasons why portrait drawings by beginner artists such as myself can look off is incorrect proportions.  No matter how good your shading skills are, the honest fact is that if you don’t know the average size and placement of the different parts of the face relative to one another, drawing a …

The human face is by far my favorite subject to draw. But even after drawing hundreds of faces in the past two years, I still rip a considerable number of drawings off from my sketchbooks to ensure they never see the light of day. And it doesn’t help that our amazing brains can just intuitively …