August 30, 2008
Hey Artists! - Your Digital Camera Can Help You Learn To Draw
If you are learning to draw a digital camera can be your new best friend. Some people like to draw only from their imagination but others like to have a reference to work from. Life drawing is also something you can do, if you can get people to pose for you or if you like to draw still lifes or landscapes.
If you want to learn to draw animals or you're interested in learning to draw portraits, working from a photo reference makes things much easier. And having a digital camera gives you almost endless possibilities when it comes to subject matter for your artwork. The beauty of having a digital camera is that with enough memory and sufficient battery life you can takephotos all day long and you're bound to come out with at least a handful of photo references that would make fantastic drawings.
I love to draw wildlife, so what I will do is go to the zoo and takes several hundred pictures. I know that sounds like a lot but my camera has a feature where I can hold down the button and snap four or five pictures in rapid succession. This is a great feature to have with your camera because if you are photographing an animal that is moving you can take a bunch of pictures and then pick the one that is perfect. For example if an animal is walking sometimes the legs may be in an awkward looking position in your photograph. But if you snap five consecutive pictures while the animal is walking you can get a shot with the legs in a perfect position.
Whenever I go into online forums related to art or drawing I always see threads with people asking the question "what should I draw"? If they are interested in wildlife art I always like to recommend they pick up their digital camera and take a trip to the zoo. If you want to learn to draw animals that is the best way to get all the reference material you can handle.
If you want to learn how to draw portraits your digital camera can be a valuable tool for this as well. Just ask your friends or family members to pose for you and snap away. With a digital camera you don't have to be a professional photographer you can snap hundreds of pictures and pick out the good shots. You should consider the lighting on your subject before you start snapping pictures though. You'll want to turn your flash off because the flash will wash out many of the shadows and it's the contrast between light and dark that make pencil drawings interesting. You will want your subject to be well lit so taking the photo outside in natural light may be a good option.
Once you've taken hundreds of photos of either animals or people or whatever subject matter interests you it's time to choose one of your photos to use as a reference. Then practice, practice, practice.
