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How to Become a Better Artist means embracing constant growth — evolving your skills, refining your techniques, and daring to push past your current limits. Artistic improvement is not a destination but a lifelong process, one that may lead you to reinvent your style or even transform your entire creative approach multiple times. Every stage of this journey deepens your connection to your craft and brings greater fulfillment as you build upon the foundation of what you’ve already mastered.
Part1. Stocking Up
1. Buy All the Essential Art Supplies
Before you can begin your artistic journey, make sure you have everything you need — from drawing pencils and erasers to sketchbooks, paints, and an easel. New tools and mediums can be incredibly motivating and help you discover fresh techniques. Start with a beginner artist-grade set, which often offers better quality and ease of use than cheaper student-grade materials.
Begin with an affordable sketchbook that has plenty of pages, along with a sketching kit that includes a kneaded eraser and a variety of graphite pencils. Many sets also feature charcoal pencils, graphite sticks, and tinted sketching sticks in brown, gray, or red hues — all essential for exploring tone and texture.
When choosing pencils, remember:
- H and 2H–4H are hard pencils, great for fine lines and light marks.
- F and HB are mid-range, perfect for general sketching.
- B–6B pencils are softer and darker, ideal for shading and depth.
These subtle differences will help you control contrast and texture more effectively.
🖌️ Subtopic: Start with Quality Tools
Choosing good supplies early on helps you build confidence and develop proper habits as an artist.
🔗 Reference & Resources:
2. Explore “How-To” Drawing Books
Learning from others is one of the fastest ways to improve your craft. Invest in how-to drawing books focused on subjects that fascinate you — animals, portraits, landscapes, or anatomy. Try to complete one drawing per day to maintain consistency and track your improvement. Display your finished works at home to keep your motivation alive.
If you’re unsure which book to buy, borrow a few from your local library first and see which inspires you the most. Once you find a good one, follow each exercise step by step instead of rushing through. Progress comes from patience and focused repetition.
📚 Subtopic: Learn Through Structured Practice
Daily drawing builds discipline, while varied subjects broaden your skill set and creative flexibility.
🔗 Reference & Resources:
- Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – Betty Edwards
- Proko Anatomy & Drawing Lessons
- Free Drawing Tutorials – Line of Action
Part2 Progressing with Your Art Skills
1. Practice Daily Sketching
Keep a daily sketching habit, even with short gestures. A five-minute gesture sketch is just as valuable as a detailed half-hour drawing. Multiple short sketches in one session often provide better practice than one long effort. Focus on consistency rather than perfection — repeated practice builds recognizable, confident drawings over time.
✏️ Subtopic: Consistency Over Perfection
Short, frequent sketches develop observation, speed, and hand-eye coordination, laying a strong foundation for more complex work.
🔗 Reference & Resources:
2. Choose Subjects and Observe Life
Select subjects you love and observe them closely. Whether it’s pets, flowers, objects, or people, repeated drawing from life or reference photos helps you understand shapes, proportions, and details. Start with still life indoors for stable lighting, then move to animals, landscapes, and people outdoors. Life drawing, gesture sketches, and observation from multiple angles strengthen your skills and speed.
🌿 Subtopic: Mastery Through Observation
Repeated practice of your favorite subjects deepens understanding, while sketching from life teaches you to capture essence, motion, and realism.
🔗 Reference & Resources:
3. Explore Perspective and Details in Art
Study perspective, architecture, and landscapes to expand your range. Books, exercises, and outdoor sketching teach spatial awareness, depth, and realistic composition. Capture large shapes, shadows, and textures before focusing on details. Also, explore micro perspectives in nature, such as insects or flower textures, to gain inspiration and improve observational creativity. Quick sketches and careful study of light, shadow, and proportion help you become a more versatile artist.
🖌️ Subtopic: Expanding Artistic Range
Combining perspective, large-scale observation, and small details develops both technical skill and artistic creativity.
🔗 Reference & Resources:
- Perspective Drawing Guide – Artists Network
- Landscape Drawing Tips – Artists Network
- Macro Drawing Inspiration – Wikimedia Commons