It's important because it means not letting something stop your success. If you aren't sure how to draw something, draw it anyway. If you've never tried using pen and ink - use it anyway. If you've never drawn a landscape because you're afraid of drawing trees - draw it anyway. Your first drawings may not be great, but that's ok. If you keep working at it, I'm sure you will find that the sky is the limit for your artistic talent.

But what if you are just starting - very new to drawing, and don't know where to start and aren't confident in just drawing anything? If this sounds like you, don't worry. Go and get some tracing paper and a photo. You're going to start drawing by tracing. It's not the most glamorous approach, but it works. That's how I started, and I'm sure that's how a lot of people started as kids. That's not to say that tracing is only for kids. I sometimes trace now if I am trying to draw in a new style. I don't feel bad about it, I'm not embarrassed and neither should you. We all need help - especially at the beginning and sometimes you just have to help yourself.

How to Just Draw It - A beginner's guide to drawing anything
Here's a simple process that you can use over the course of a month or several months to really get started in drawing. Recently a woman asked me about drawing flowers so we'll use flowers as the example here. For your drawings you can use anything you like, but don't try anything too complex until your comfortable with simpler objects first.

Find a picture of a flower that you would like to draw, and get out your tracing paper. I suggest starting with an image has bright colors and lots of contrast so that it is easy to see through your tracing paper. Trace as many details as you can with as much accuracy as you can. Keep doing this with more pictures until you feel comfortable tracing. What you are doing here is becoming familiar with the shape of the flower. Your brain will remember how to draw it, but you have to do it at least a few times before it will start to become easier.

Once you are comfortable with that - try drawing only the larger shapes, like the petals of the flower. Once you have traced the larger shapes take your tracing paper off of the photo and start to fill in the details. Because the shapes are already there and you're already becoming familiar with the shapes and details of flowers you should be able to draw in some of these little details.

Once you get to be familiar with drawing only the larger shapes, try only tracing the outline of the main shape, then take your paper off and fill in all of details. If you can do this, then you're drawing - you don't need the tracing paper anymore. Tracing the shapes gives you confidence, and drawing similar subject matter trains your brain to recognize the shapes and details more quickly and easily.

I hope that this helps the new artists on the newsletter get started drawing and stop being afraid. You can draw anything you can imagine, but you just need to work up to it.

Lastly I want to apologize for getting Issue #2 out so late. The last 2 months have been beyond crazy and I haven't been able to site down and put out a decent newsletter until now. I'm just one person so I hope that you can sympathize! Here are the newest tutorials on the site:


- Butterfly Drawing Tips and Techniques & Video Lesson

- Unlock the Secret of Realism with Perspective Drawing

- 2 point Perspective Drawing Lesson

- 1 point Perspective Drawing Techniques Lesson 2

- Cartoon Fire Drawing Lesson

- How to draw a cute, friendly cartoon turtle

- How to draw a cartoon sun

That's it for this issue of Just Draw It. Best wishes for your artistic efforts and have a happy Easter!