I love drawing, and I want to become an artist.
But I have no experience—how should I start? What should I draw? Why are so many tutorials so hard to follow?
These were my exact thoughts when I first dreamed of becoming an artist. If you’re having similar worries, I hope my experiences and tips in this brief drawing guidelines for absolute beginner artists can help you on your journey.
1. My Struggles as an Absolute Beginner Artist
I consider myself an art lover. I've loved drawing since I was four years old. As a kid, I could spend hours every day at my desk sketching. Back then, my favorite subjects were cartoon characters, and my childhood dream was to become an artist.
However, life took me in a different direction. When I started university, I stopped drawing entirely. From that point until 2023, I barely picked up a pencil—over a decade without drawing.
But deep in my heart, I never gave up on my childhood dream. In 2023, burnt out from my corporate job, I decided to quit. Initially, I had no idea what career to pursue, and what field should I invest my time and energy into to build a career. I struggled for months, but by the end of the year, I rediscovered my love for art and decided to give it a proper chance.
Starting again was daunting. I had no idea where to begin, and becoming an artist—or building an art career—felt like a mystery. Since no one around me shared my interest in art, I turned to the internet for advice.
I searched for beginner drawing tutorials but quickly became overwhelmed by the sheer volume of resources. Many tutorials on YouTube felt too advanced for someone with zero experience like me at that time. I didn’t understand how others praised these videos or how some claimed to progress so quickly—from drawing nothing to sketching detailed objects like human hands within weeks!
It made me wonder: Was I doing something wrong? Was I just not talented enough?
2. My Self-Taught Process: Drawing Guidelines for Absolute Beginner Artists
Despite my doubts, I found a method that worked for me. Here’s how I approached self-teaching art in my 30s:
Step 1: Drawing Basic Shapes
I started with the simplest of exercises: circles. My first practice sheets were filled with imperfect circles of all sizes—some looking more like ellipses.
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| You don’t need a tablet to draw—just a pencil and paper are enough to start. |
This simple exercise helped me get comfortable with holding a pencil again. After years of typing on a keyboard, even writing felt foreign to me, let alone drawing.
Step 2: Copying
At first, I didn’t know what to draw or what my style was. Since I loved animals and kids, I tried sketching from real photos. But my early attempts were disastrous—I couldn’t capture any details.
Feeling lost, I looked back at what I enjoyed drawing as a child: cartoon characters. I decided to start by copying the work of other artists. Initially, I worried this approach might stop me from finding my own style, but after three months, I realized copying taught me valuable techniques and kept me inspired.
Step 3: Practicing Daily
After a few months of copying, I began creating my own drawings, starting with simple objects like leaves and simple animals. At this stage, I mostly used pencils and occasionally added color with colored pencils.
To improve, I studied color theory and light and shadow through online resources. Progress was slow, but I stayed disciplined. No matter how often I felt like giving up, I made time to practice every day.
Eventually, I transitioned to digital art, which came with its own challenges. I watched countless YouTube tutorials to figure out which brushes worked for me and experimented until I found my own art style. I have shared my detailed tips of how I learned from other artists’ advice to find my own art style in this following video. Hope that it may give you some useful ideas as well.
The journey wasn’t easy, I always feel that my art is not good enough. But every piece I created—even the imperfect ones—became a testament to my growth. They remind me that I haven’t given up.
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| You can find all my digital illustrations on Instagram: @ad_phann |
3. The Purpose of This Blog
Pursuing your passion is wonderful, but the beginning is always the hardest. I know how overwhelming it can feel to start your art journey, which is why I created this blog.
Here, I’ll share simple drawing exercises for absolute beginners, progressing from easy to intermediate levels with detailed step-by-step instructions. I’ll also explain how I break down reference objects into basic shapes—a technique that has made drawing much easier for me.
Here’s an outline of the exercises you’ll find in this blog:
Level 0: Drawing circles and ellipses (and their applications)
Level 1: Drawing leaves, fruits, and vegetables from reference photos
Level 2.1: Drawing dolls (animals) from reference photos
Level 2.2: Drawing dolls (kids) from reference photos
Level 3: Drawing animals from reference photos
Level 4: Drawing humans from reference photos
Each level contains multiple exercises, except for Level 0, which starts with a single, simple task. You can find all drawing exercises at the Blog Navigation.
My goal is to make the starting phase of your art journey easier. With consistent practice, I believe you’ll be able to draw whatever you want and gain confidence in your abilities.
Now you have already read my simple drawing guidelines for absolute beginner artists. Let’s begin with our first exercise in Level 0—a small but essential step to get comfortable with drawing again.
Click here to start your art journey.
Thank you for reading, and happy drawing!
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