What if I said there was a quick way to improve your artistic skills?
It’s true! It’s true! You can develop your drawing and painting skills much more quickly than you might think.
In today’s post, I will share 11 strategies that are effective and can help you.
- Make simple changes to your daily routine to improve your art skill more quickly.
- Your art will become more distinctive and recognizable if you improve your style quickly
- You can identify your weakest artistic skills to help you improve them.
After reading this article, you will be able to improve your art skills with these amazing tips!
1. Use Your Art Skills Everyday
I’m about to drop a bomb on you.
At least as much as possible.
No one is born with advanced techniques and skills. Even professionals began with no artistic talent.
You want to know what they did?
They mastered their craft by practicing as much as possible. To be the best you must learn from the very best.
Scheduling time to create art is one of the best methods to practice. Every bit counts, even if you only have 10 minutes to spare each day.
Diversify your practice time by focusing:
- Light and Shadow
- Colour theory
- Composition
- View the full article
- Anatomy / figure studies
- Textures
You’ll see your art improve if you invest time in improving your skills.
It only takes a consistent commitment and personal commitment to improving.
2. Study Colour Theory
You must learn about colour theory if you wish to be a successful artist.
The use of colour is a key element in how we humans perceive and interpret art.
The colours you choose for your art can have a major impact on the outcome of the piece.
If you are lacking in colour theory knowledge, then consider working on one of the sub-topics below:
- Colour harmony
- Colour temperature (temperature bias)
- Color mixing ( How to avoid muddy colors).
- Colour combinations (colour palettes)
- Colour psychology
If the colours in your artwork are disharmonious or muddy, it will not be possible to capture the attention of the viewer.
Do yourself a favor and improve your color theory skills.
3. Study Value Scales
Value is the brightness or darkness of an hue.
Every colour is available in a wide range of values, from the lightest to the darkest.
Value is important in this case because it can be used to create contrast. Many people find that visually pleasing.
Dark values create depth and shadows, while light values draw attention to areas of interest.
Monochromatic art is a great way to learn more about colour values.
You’re forced, by using only one colour in your art, to master the use of a range from light to dark values.
To help you learn this important skill, I have created a simple monochromatic watercolour lesson.
4. You can learn new skills by watching videos, books, or tutorials
Learning from different media is a great way to improve your artistic skills.
You can search Google for blog tutorials and videos that fit your learning style.
You can also buy art books or borrow books from the library to learn more about art.
When you are ready to invest in your art education feel free to purchase art books, ebooks, online courses, or other learning materials that will accelerate your learning process.
Check out these free painting and drawing lessons if you enjoy following along with step-by-step instructions using free images as reference.
- Easy Watercolour tutorials for Beginners (Step by Step)
- How to Sketch Easy for Beginners (4 Tutorials).
If you like to read about tricks and tips, then I recommend you to check out this article which shares techniques for improving a bad watercolor painting.
Both gouache and acrylic paints are water-based, so the tips shared in this article are also very useful for artists who use these mediums.
5. Learn from your favorite artists to develop your own style of art
You should first define your desired art style if you are an artist learning.
Studying your favorite artists is a great way to improve your style.
They don’t even have to be artists. These influential people can be authors, animators or filmmakers as well as interior designers and photographers.
Make a list and then explore the work of people who inspires you. It is the best way to get inspiration for your artwork.
Consider the aspects of their work which inspire you most. What is it about their work that you find so pleasing?
You’re not encouraged to copy the style of your favorite artists. I’d rather you recognize the elements of style that are most appealing to you.
This exercise will help you to better understand the elements of style that you can use in your own art.
You’ll know how to quickly improve your style of art.
6. Refer to Reference Photos
What can you do if you don’t know what a particular subject looks like?
Could you, for example, draw a tetradactyl without a photo as a guide?
I’m guessing you can’t. (Don’t worry, I can’t either).
You need good reference photographs to learn how to draw or paint new things.
You can obtain reference photos in a few different ways:
- Take pictures with your smartphone of the buildings, people and scenery around you.
- Use your smartphone to capture images of objects or people inside your home.
- Purchase a book with beautiful images. There are many good books on landscapes or portraits.
- Create a Pinterest Board. Browse through the visual search engine, and add a few reference photos to your Pinterest board.
Want to avoid all the effort? Follow my Pinterest account and explore tons of artboards that are specifically curated to provide free resources for artists.
7. Reduce complex shapes to simple forms
You may have tried to draw a complex figure, but the proportions are completely wrong.
If you want to draw something complex, it’s best to break the form down into simpler shapes.
If you are drawing someone posing for a picture, you could break down the head into an oval. The torso is now a rectangular shape. Legs and arms are cylinders.
You can achieve greater accuracy when you plan out the shapes in advance.
You can then chisel each shape until it is rendered.
Keep in mind that geometric forms convey emotions. So, think carefully about what shapes you use and how their softness, sharpness, roundness and hardness will influence your artwork.
8. Warm up before you create new art
When you have an artistic vision, it’s easy to get swept up in a new painting.
Warming up is important to achieve your maximum potential.
If you don’t warm-up, for example, your hand will not move as smoothly because the muscles aren’t primed.
Warm up for at least 10 – 15 minutes before you start creating. You’ll feel more ready to create if you warm up before you start.
You can also use this time to warm-up and doodle to get yourself out of a creative slump , since you will be coming up new ideas before starting to create art.
Give this strategy a go!
9. Improve your weakest skill
I understand that you don’t have time to improve a skill you are not good at.
If you are completely honest with your self, you know that to be a good artist you must develop the weakest areas of your talent.
Think about your current skill set and the following:
- What are my art skills?
- What are my art weaknesses?
- What art skills do I need develop to be a better artist?
Spend time on your weakest skill after you’ve answered these questions.
If you are having trouble with light and shade, for example, start by drawing 3D shapes with light sources.
10. Draw Thumbnails for the Composition Plan
Have you ever made an artwork, only to be disappointed by the distorted perspective?
Maybe the values are all wrong. Or, perhaps the composition looks weird and unattractive.
You can avoid this by sketching a dozen thumbnails and experimenting with your idea.
Drawing a bunch thumbnails is the artistic equivalent to performing a brain dump.
You can test out different compositions and values when you draw thumbnails. The thumbnails can be messy and loose because there’s no pressure or commitment to make them look good.
After you have sketched out a few thumbnails, you should be able to observe them all and determine which ones will work.
You’ll eventually end up with a thumbnail that you like, which you can use as a main reference when creating your artwork.
11. For best results, paint and draw loosely.
There is nothing worse than seeing artwork that is rigid, inorganic and lifeless.
There’s a simple way to solve this problem.
You should instead draw from your shoulder, as the wrist is less flexible.
Drawing from the wrist is more likely to cause you to choke on the pencil or squeeze too hard, resulting in rigid, stiff lines.
Drawing from the shoulder, on the other hand allows you to cover more surface area with your arm and hands.
You can create fluid, loose brush strokes and line because your grip is looser.
Try this method and you will notice the difference!
Conclusion
You have it!
This article will teach you 11 ways to develop your artistic skills at a faster rate.
What is the best part of this?
These art tips are easy to follow. You can easily incorporate these tips into your daily art routine by tweaking the way you work.
The most important thing you can take away from this article is the fact that improvement and progress come to those who invest time in themselves.
You will succeed as long as your goal is to continue to improve.
Try these tips and you will soon see how quickly and easily you can improve your artwork!