Drawing Lesson Steps

Whether you are taking an online drawing course or a drawing lesson at a community center, most teachers will employ a step-by-step process for teaching people how to draw. This allows everyone to get a firm understanding of the basics of drawing, which will create a stronger foundation for more intermediate lessons. Even advanced teaching still tends to build, so that one technique leads into the framework of using a subsequent technique.

The first step, whether it's drawing for kids or for adults, tends to focus on creating the basic structure and shape of the subject matter. So if you are learning how to draw people, for example, then step one will generally consist of rough circular shapes for the head and body, and longer ovals for the legs and arms. To make it easier, often these separate shapes will be joined together and will overlap.

The second step of a drawing lesson is usually when the majority of work occurs. The simple shapes of step one will be partially erased and redrawn with more form and a stronger integration of shapes. The subject matter should now become very obvious, such as is the artist drawing people or apples? A lot of information is put down on paper in this stage and this is where beginners have the most trouble, as they often are unsure of all the techniques they are trying to use.

The final stage is when the pen finally comes out. Up until now the majority of the work was done in pencil, allowing the artist to correct mistakes by erasing. The drawing techniques at this stage need to be mastered as much as possible since erasing is not an option. Detail really comes into play, as the artist outlines all the necessary lines with ink and then erases the pencil drawings, and finally adds shading and other subtle markings to make a complete picture.

A drawing lesson will usually have more steps than just three, but the main movements of a lesson will almost always follow this particular process. You'll start with the basics of the image, move to manipulating the different shapes, and finally add detail and the last touches required to perfect the drawing. It doesn't matter if you're drawing people or landscapes, or anything in between. These are the steps that you will follow and if you are successful, then you'll produce an image worthy of framing.