5 Essential Skills to Develop as an Artist

These skills will give life to your work

In my previous two essays, I discussed the 7 Elements of Art Every Artist Should Know and 9 Essential Principles of Drawing Every Artist Needs To Know.

The concepts talked about in those essays work in tandem with learning the necessary skills to become a great illustrator. By understanding and practicing these fundamentals, you build a strong foundation for your art.

1. Mark-Making

Developing control over your drawing tools to create various lines, tones, and textures is the first essential skill to creating art.

You want there to be confidence in your mark-making. To have control over the lines you make and shape the art you are creating.

2. Observation

Learning to see accurately and notice details, shapes, forms, and values is the foundation of good drawing.

It’s the second skill to develop because of its importance to art. Even when you draw things from your imagination, your observational skills will bring those images to life. Learning to observe is essential to illustration.

3. Deconstruction

Breaking down complex objects into basic geometric forms to understand their structure can bring life to your art.

Learning to simplify complex objects works hand in hand with observation. When you can deconstruct objects you observe into simple geometric forms, you can learn to draw just about anything. And that’s important for what you have cooking up in your imagination.

3. Gesture Drawing

Capturing the essential movement and energy of a subject quickly.

Learning how to gesture draw can help you capture movement in your art. It can make your art more dynamic and expressive, giving character to whatever you are drawing.

You aren’t too concerned with anatomy but with the movement and energy in your sketches.

5. Understanding Anatomy

Knowledge of underlying bone and muscle structure to draw the human or animal form convincingly can liven your art.

The majority of art, after all, either contains humans or animals. So learning how anatomy works for most living things can even help the fantastical creatures you have in your head.

Conclusion

As an artist, you should be working to develop these five essential skills.

It won’t be quick. It won’t be easy. Often, I find myself frustrated with my own work because I can’t draw the way I want to draw.

But I’ve been seeing progress in my skills as I focused on developing these five skills.

Just keep with it and practice every day.