Get Better Drawing Skills without Trying
Want to Improve your Drawing Skills - with EASE? Want to get better at drawing no matter where you are and spend less than 60 seconds?

This tip is a BIGGIE!
(Now it doesn’t sound like a BIGGIE, but trust me, it is!)

Draw a little every day.

“What”, you say. “That’s it! Too simple”
Then I hear you add….. “When am I going to fit THIS into my crazy, busy schedule?!!

….. Remember the field trip from my Beginning Drawing Classes?

“Artists Do It Without a Pencil”
While you are standing in line at the supermarket, the post office, or waiting for your coffee order, trace subjects and/or people with your eyes.

Once you have traced a subject, close your eyes and “draw” the subject in your mind. When done, open your eyes and retrace your subject to see how much more detail you can remember. If you still have time, close your eyes and draw your subject again in your mind. (NOT recommended while sitting in traffic - unless you are a passenger!)

In a dull business meeting? Trace the speaker while they talk. (They’ll believe that you are really intent on what they are saying and love you for it….. shhh… it’ll be our little secret). Funny thing about doing this though, you may find that whenever you see them again - you’ll remember what they were talking about. Give it a try!

Most of the time you will find that you spend 60 seconds or less each time you do a tracing.

Now here’s the kicker
Even if you go for months and ONLY draw with your eyes – taking 10 minutes a day (you can rack that time up waiting on the phone, standing in line, sitting in a dentist’s office…)…. Let me repeat this…. EVEN if you go for months and ONLY draw with your eyes YOUR DRAWINGS WILL IMPROVE DRAMATICALLY!

How do I know? I actually had gone for a few years (yeah, I said years *ouch*), without lifting a pencil (while corporating in the corporate world). I thought for sure my skills were wasting away. Then, one day, after I’d begun drawing with a pencil again, I looked back at older work and realized that I was better! … and not just a little better, but WAY BETTER! Yeah!

How simple is that? Can you fit this into your schedule? Do it for a week (on purpose) and after awhile, you will do it automatically.

Know Why?
Because you are training your MIND to SEE. Learning to draw is not just a matter of training the hand to draw. The hand cannot draw what the mind cannot see. (Make that a mantra)

Add a Little More Umph:
Try adding in a blind contour while you are waiting on the phone. You don’t have to have a professional pad to draw on, use computer paper, napkins (yes, I’ve drawn my date on napkins while waiting for the food to arrive and they always ask to keep the memento…), lined notebook paper, brown paper bags - any scrap will do!

Nor do you have to have a specific subject. Start anywhere, a corner of the room, a hand resting on a table, that jumble of books & bottles, just draw. Keep your pencil moving from one subject to another. You don’t have to finish either - stop when you run out of time.

What is a Blind Contour?
Write and ask - I’ll be happy to explain! - In fact, write me with ANY questions you have! I LOVE hearing from my friends.

There you have it! If you draw with your eyes (or with a pencil) in those spare minutes of waiting each day, you will be amazed at what a difference it will make. Just a little each day will sharpen your skills QUICKLY and EASILY!