I've been taking art classes for a few years now, and i realized that i've learned some of drawing tips that a lot of people don't know, so i'm going to share them here.
1) always use a reference.
obviously it's okay to draw things out of your mind without a reference, but you'll find it easier to make these drawings look how you want if you also practice using references. it's really easy to find fun and easy references to use almost anywhere in real life or online.
2) draw what you see.
another tip about using references is to always draw what you see and not what you think is there. when you're looking at a picture of something you're drawing, if it's something you're familiar with, like a flower or hand, your brain will want you to draw what you think is there rather than what is actually in the picture, so try to focus on what you really see. one way to do this is to turn your reference and your drawing upside down. this can help your brain to not recognize the subject.
these next tips are about coloring!
3) shadows aren't black.
most things that look black in a picture aren't actually true black, but rather a dark brown (unless the picture is in black and white.) you can create these shadow colors by mixing complementary colors. for me i like to use orange and blue mixed.
4) use complementary colors.
complementary colors are good to use for more than shadows. they make each other look brighter and more vibrant when they're next to each other. if you don't know what complementary colors are, they're the colors that are across from each other on the color wheel. the 3 main pairs are orange and blue, red and green, and yellow and purple.
that's all i have for this post! i might make a part two in the future. i hope this helped, and remember to be patient, creative, and have fun
