Looking for a starting point (1 Viewer)

Just goes to show how big Birdforum is that I never even noticed that we had this section! A migrant from the photography section looking to try and learn the skill of drawing a little more than stickmen

My current skill level is not much more than a chimp would achieve with a pencil and paper; sadly drawing is something that I've never really pushed myself at in the past nor something that I have ever had any basic training in (at school if you were good the teachers fawned over you - if you were bad they kept finding things for you to do till you got to GCSEs and they preyed you didn't take art as an option).

The general medium and area that I would like to begin with is basic sketching/pencil drawing with a specific lean toward wildlife/pets. People hold less interest for me, so whilst I respect the skills learnt and the fact that I will end up drawing people (most likely) at some point its toward animal subjects that my main interest is at at present.

So without further ado do any here have any advice for a good starting point for a very clean slate to learn from. Ideally some book references that I can get hold of that would give me some basic grounding skills and starting points as well as any advice on tools/set up that would aid me at this stage (ie what pencils, paper etc to start with).

Hello thanks for the introduction and stating so clearly what you are trying to do.

As an ex art teacher, I can tell you there are hundreds of ways to begin.
For my money getting in any beginning class with a live teacher is a great help. You get to see your mistakes and all the others and learn faster. If you can't do that, try starting here at the drawing class at wet canvas. You will find an online group to help you too, a lot of beginners mixed with more experienced people, it will be more fun than a book and is free.

Don't try to do animals until you can do a decent block and sphere then try some fruit, and at that point you could go for animals, tho this may seem too much work before you get to the good stuff, in the long run it will save a lot of time.

Stick with it, for a while at first you will draw like you did as a young child, but all the things needed for realism can be learned and you can, with practice, draw whatever you want. But the basics of block, sphere and cylinder make up the whole visual 3d world so make sure you can do that first.

have fun,

Overread,
welcome to this part of the forum, and like you, I come from a Black and White Landscape photographic background, who over a few years has been shown the delights of putting pencil to paper and recording what you see in another medium.
As colleen rightly pointed out, look for some local Tutors or night school courses who offer once a week sessions..This will put you into good stead by teaching you the basics, not just on wildlife, but a whole raft of different subjects. This is the route that Ive taken over the past year, and have improved no end (the latest module is learning to draw the human face properly, from a live model). It may seem frightning to cover such diverse items, but learning the basics of body shape and form,will set you in good sted for the move to wildlife.
The main thing that many people here will tell you, is plenty of practice, no matter how bad you think your doing...My 'Guru' reminds me contantly that its only paper that Im using, so keep preacticing.....and good luck with you new path

Overread,

The longest journey begins with one small step.

Welcome here!

phil

Welcome to the art bit.
Good advice upthread to which I would just add that it would be helpful to you and to us if you posted your efforts. There's a fairly knowledgable bunch loitering around here and advce will be freely offered.
As Phil says - one small step . . . .

Here's a few ideas to get you started.
-Try buying a load of A4 cheap sketchbooks from your local market stalls(99peach for me), try as many types of pencil that you can lay your hands on until you find one that feels right. -Alternatively try a .7 or .9 Pentel mechanical pencil with 2B lead in (so you can get a variety of line density.No rubbers!
-Fill the books with sketches and don't be afraid of a white sheet of paper. Try drawing from real life(hard) or copy pics and photos (birds don't move in pics so it's easier). Try drawing from the tv when wildlife programmes are on. This will teach you to draw fast!!!
-buy a can of unperfumed hairspray from Boots or Superdrug to fix your besy pics and stop them smudging!
-Get a copy of 'Drawing Birds ' by John Busby (here's a link to it on Amazon_
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drawing-Bir...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282295808&sr=1-1
This book will get you started on the right lines.
-Have a look at Lars Jonsson's books ('Birds and Light' and 'Paintings from a Near Horizon') which are inspirational.

I draw and paint wildlife using an A4 sketchbook,.7 mechanical pencil and watercolours. I draw and paint from real life mostly outdoors using an angled scope so I am looking down at my sketchpad with the other eye. Left eye on the pad, right eye in the scope and draw what I see, not what I think I see (I'm left handed for reverse if you are RH).
The brain can retain a short-term image for less than 10 seconds so continual glances through the scope and then draw a few lines then look again is the order of the day.
A big problem for the beginner is being scared of new clean pages and of what others think of your work if you are in a hide etc. If you use a ring-bound sketchbook it is easy to turn over and use in these places.

-Lars Jonsson has a good bit of advice in 'Birds and Light':-
"The sketchbook is everything. A sketchbook must be free and without any ambitions, it must not put demands on you. There has to be many pages in it, so that an unsuccessful sketch can just be left in place for the next attempt on a clean page."

Hope this helps

Your sketchbooks are for you and not for friends and family to see so just go for it and don't worry, you will improve. Try and do a bit of drawing every day.

A lot of good advice here. My own advice is first: take the first step, as Phil says. Just start. Draw every day. Get a copy of the inspirational 'Drawing Birds' by John Busby. Don't be afraid of mistakes. You have to make hundreds of them in order to learn what works. But because of that they're nothing to worry about. They don't reflect poorly on you. I always think people would be so much better off if they realized mistakes are a learning tool. The more the merrier! Good luck. You'll find this forum incredibly helpful.

All the above! Best advice is the one about the cheap paper when you're starting off, it's only paper so make as many marks on it as you like. You'll most likely make drawings that are unrecognisable even as birds, you'll scribble and scratch, you will get frustrated but these things encourage effort and you'll learn something from all of them. Then slowly and surely you'll start to see things that you like, and that will happen more regularly and than you'll look at what you're doing one day and you'll think; 'You know what...I'm getting pretty good at this!'

Keep drawing

Mike