Beginner Art Lesson: Shapes
Here is an art lesson specifically designed for people who have never drawn before. Following the worksheet and these steps will help you grasp some of the basic skills of drawing while having fun.
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We will start our drawing journey by following these stages of practice, this is what we go through in the worksheets above.
Stage 1. Shapes
Here we draw some fun shapes and practice the feeling of making marks on the page. We want to develop the habit of drawing with confidence and we can do that by first taking the time just draw some shapes.
Do this without any pressure and just have fun, approach this with curiosity and playfulness
Stage 2. Faces
Now to make this extra fun lets add some cute and goofy faces to some shapes. Start with the shape first and then add the face by drawing two dots and a curved line.
Stage 3. Noses
Let’s take our fun little faces a step further by adding some noses. Feel free to use triangles and circles to draw these noses. You can also play around with different expressions if you are feeling extra ambitious.
Stage 4. Basic Shapes
Now let’s take a step back and practice the 3 basic shapes which are the triangle, box (squares and rectangles) and the circle. We need to be comfortable with these shapes to help us draw more complex things.
Stage 5. Construction
We can combine the basic shapes to create more complex ones by drawing them on top of each other and erasing away the overlap. This is how you can take a detailed subject matter and break it down into simpler shapes.
Stage 6. Constructed Faces
Now we can combine what we have learned and draw some faces using construction. Note that you don’t always have to use construction, its just one tool to help you along the way.
If you are able to draw the shapes without construction you can always do that.
Practice
Take the time to practice these basics in your sketchbook or on plain paper. Make sure to have fun and experiment, drawing can be challenging at first but if you put the effort into having fun it becomes much easier.
Once you complete this lesson you can move onto Lesson #2 where we go over the basic forms.
Continue Drawing!
You are making great progress! the next step is learning how to draw Forms, follow the lessons below so we can learn some more together but also take your time at this stage. There is a temptation to rush through these lessons but remember that its about enjoying the process, slow down and fall in love with making art!