Often times I’ve heard it said, “I wish I could [draw/paint/create], but my best is pretty much stick figures.”
And usually without hesitation, my response is “You can do it,” which is then met with insistence that there’s no way that could be.
Does it help to have skill or talent? Of course. But I maintain that while there are tricks of the trade, creation is really the practice of seeing, observing and then translating. I say “the practice” because with all things in life, the more we do something the better we’re able to do it.
The more we look at things and see them, the more familiar they become. In the process, we observe more about what we’re seeing. And then we engage in the fun (and sometimes infuriating) part of creating which is to explore a medium and experiment with it to recreate or translate what we’re seeing into something entirely it’s own. Each time, there is something new to be noticed that we hadn’t seen before and a sharpening of our skill set.
There’s no one right way to do it, but if you want to draw here’s a start: Pick up a pencil and start recording what you see in whatever fashion you can. Then do it again. And again. Or, I’ll teach you. Shoot me an email and we can do it together.
(The way light hits basic shapes is good to observe and record. But your own face is always readily available too.)
Observations from about 10 years ago, colored pencil on paper.