How to be very good at drawing?

Most books are too scholastic and specific. They only circulate around certain tasks like "how to draw and apple with a shadow", which is just about the most uninspiring direction to start off with. The most important thing you need to do is get yourself ready to draw all kinds of objects and motives. Anything from a candlestand on a table to a crumpled-up piece of paper, an empty can, a newspaper stand. anything.

The best places to draw people, which is one of the most beneficial tasks when learning to sketch, are cafés, eat-ins, bus stops, waiting rooms and on trains or buses (if you can work around the shaking of the vehicle).

If you are really motivated and enjoy the process of creating a picture and drawing like nothing else, progress will come naturally. You will start drawing almost everyday. Use different pencils and quality paper to get good results and don't struggle with bad cheap materials, because this is one of the first sources of frustration (and it's unnecessary, good materials are affordable).

Don't get too stuck in details, when you start. Try to preconceive how much space on the paper you need for the thing you want to sketch out beforehand.

Try working with different speeds, faster and quicker lines, more generalized; and then go back to working detailed and taking a lot of time for one drawing. Try working on big and small paper. Every little change you make to your tools will get you to work differently and learn something new.

Good luck and have fun drawing! It's one of the best things to do and some drawings are even filled with more memories and more liveliness than any photo.

PS.: You might only understand this, once you are advanced: Try drawing as if you were holding a brush in your hand. That means, try thinking less in outlines (!) and more in planes, generalized shapes, weight and depth of an object. If you keep working only in outlines and contures, you will be stuck in that approach. One should ALWAYS challenge ones own skills and not get too satisfied with something you can already do well.

Practice practice practice. At 12 I was horrible, at 21 I was much better and at over 50 I can draw or paint anything. Art is the one thing that you get better at with age -young artists are not better than old artists simply because older artists have had many more years of practice. The more you draw or paint the better you become. When you don't like something try to do it better next time. Don't settle, always try to improve. A friend of mine said it takes 200 bad drawings to make one good drawings. While you might never see the artists bad drawing you do see the lessons learned from the bad drawings in the final good drawings. Who was that friend? A guy who wrote and drew a 300 issue independent comic book that changed comics forever. He is and was correct, there's no substitute for practice and learning from bad drawings.

Admittedly, my drawings at the age of 12 were horrendous. I started out copying stuff and when that didn't work out, tracing stuff. I don't care what other people say about tracing and originality but hey, you need something to get you started with the poses / anatomy.

Ok, say you've traced enough different pictures and styles, that you have a fair idea as to where eyes go and how long arms should be. Draw your own characters. Read a few books on drawing, go to a few tutorials online even.

I know they say you shouldn't compare yourself to others, but do so. That's how you learn - See what's good in the art of others and do it. See what didn't work out so well in the art of others, and don't do that. Start posting your own stuff and get feedback. Experiment with different mediums / software / styles until you find one that fits. Keep learning.

Practice, practice, practice and practice some more. Go to the library and read every book on drawing and sketching you can find; READ the discriptive information... READ and pay attention to what you read. Then, whenever possible, take orgainized classes from experienced drawing instructors. And continue practicing as much as you can. What's most important is that you ENJOY and find pleasure in what you do... otherwise, why do it?

Start practicing. Look up tutorials online to help you improve certain aspects of your art (like anatomy etc). Join art sites like Paigeeworld or Deviantart and share your art and get feedback. :)

Practice. Study. Take critiques.

Need imagination and creativity