Where to begin?

Art is large subject to take on. So, like anything, it's best to understand it at Its most basic and simple core before moving onto the more complex aspects. It could be argued that everything in art begins with the line. As children, we would draw flat illustrations of what we thought we could see, in it's most simple line art form. More a symbolic representation of the object or person we were drawing than an attempt at realism.

An adults (mine) attempt at a child's drawing :/

But really, in order to accurately portray something in a realistic, conceptual or expressive fashion, then form becomes the most important thing you can learn in order to understand how to draw or paint something. So then what is form?

The image above displays the most basic examples you can get of form. Every physical object is made up either of these shapes directly, or some kind of variation. The more complex the construction, the more variations and 'shapes on shapes' will be. But you can't understand something by diving headfirst in to it. By far the best approach is to learn to simplify something so that your brain can wrap it's head around it (er..that conjures up a disturbing image actually...), and understand it's shape in a 3 dimensional platform. Every object we can draw is made up of, or can be broken down into, basic forms. Let's see if we can find some examples...

Cubes make up the majority of our urban landscape. Other forms are in red.

The ribcage can be simplified into a box, while the hips resemble more of a trapezium. The legs and arms are obviously cylinders.

They're a little crudely drawn, but hopefully you get the idea. I'll go a little more in depth on this subject in the future, specifically in regards to anatomy and facial features. If we learn to simplify forms, we can better understand them and begin drawing from our heads. Even better, once you've mastered the basics of applying light and shadow to simple forms, that understanding can translate directly over to complex and realistic figures and objects, allowing you to visualize these goings on in your head and throw them directly onto the paper!

So now that we understand *WHY* we are learning something, next is to actually perform the exercises that will teach us how to draw. And since we're starting at the beginning, that will be basic perspective and learning to draw forms in perspective. And that will hopefully be my next tutorial blog post :) Thank you for reading!

All photos are taken from either wikipedia or character design. All drawings were done by me. The eye I painted was used from reference, with permission from DeviantArt user AFKBrandy. Thank you AFKBrandy :)