In our previous blog here, we detailed why art tutorials won’t help you learn art. So you are probably wondering what will help you learn art. In this post, I am going to detail several routes you can take that will help you on your path to becoming an artist. 

Firstly, let’s focus on the fact that all artists need foundational skills and knowledge of drawing and painting. Using this, they can go on and create their own inspired artwork. 

Therefore, one needs to learn basic drawing and painting skills. To do so, you need to understand the process of drawing and painting, and the way to do this is not by just completing 100 different paintings through art tutorials. 

So let’s focus on drawing: the best way to learn drawing is from another artist who can teach you the fundamentals of how to observe an object in front of you and know how to draw it with value and form and accurately. You also want to learn how to draw from an image accurately. You want your brain to draw what you see, not what you think. 

You can also do this from books, this one is a good one-https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Drawing-Atelier-Instructional-Sketchbook/dp/1580935125 but you need to make sure the books are teaching you the process and understanding behind what you are drawing. 

Once you’ve learned the skills you need to draw, it’s about practicing every day. The more you draw, the better you will get just as with any skill you are looking to master. 

With painting, the process is a little bit trickier. I believe the process of painting is about understanding how to paint with layers, how to mix colors accurately by determining its hue, value, and intensity, and then making sure you’re colors are harmonious. 

But one could learn all these skills, but still not be confident in their skills with painting. The reason for this is that painting is a bit like passing on a tradition. Every artist has their way of painting and an accomplished artist, will have much more understanding of painting from their many hours of painting than a beginner. That’s why, learning from an expert artist is the quickest and most effective way to learn painting. It’s like getting in their head and getting all that knowledge that they’ve learned over their many years of painting. 

Many people underestimate the power of studying under practicing artists who are further ahead in their art career than you, but its ability to give you much better tools and skills is immeasurable. 

This is not to say that self-taught artist are not good enough or their art is bad, but often just learning some hacks, and tricks or getting some well-worded critique will give take their artwork to the next level. 

In every profession, one is taught to keep on learning and with art, there should be no shame in seeking out guidance from those who know more than you. 

So to summarise, one who wants to learn drawing should learn the foundational skills of line, shape, volume, value and form and then use that knowledge to keep on practicing drawing every day. To learn painting, one needs to understand the process of painting and color theory and then learn under an artist who can guide them, critique them, and teach them hacks and skills that an experienced artist has from years of experience. You can then go and take all that knowledge and use it to create your own uniquely inspired artwork, with the skills gained. 

This formula is the one I took and I have seen how much I have gained and learned from studying under practicing artists. I do not know where I would be without having learned under professional artists and I am eternally grateful that I had the opportunity to do so. 

I also use this basis, teaching basic skills, and then guiding students through their own artwork to teach the next generation of artists.