Because drawing is often self-taught, you tend to keep making mistakes much longer than when a teacher is available to help. Here are the 10 most common mistakes beginners make when they learn to draw.

1. Drawing With a Hard Pencil

If you don't have very dark shadows and the whole picture is rather pale, check your pencil. Are you using a Number2 (HB) pencil? These are too hard to draw with (though they are handy for light shading). Get a B, 2B and 4B for darker values.

If you are just starting out, the low-cost, quick solution is to choose a 4B, 2B, HB, 2H, and 4H from a reputable artist's range. A serious beginner might want to go for a full set in a tin, or try clutch pencils. Pencils are relatively inexpensive, so experiment to find what suits you best.

Keep in mind that B stands for Black and H for hard. B pencils will give you the darkest shades the higher the number and H pencils will be the lighter the higher the number. You will be using 3 to 4 out of this list for each drawing to get the depth and contrast for each of your compositions.

2. Portraits from Flash Photography

This is the major cause of beginner drawing problems. Using flash photography flattens the features, giving you nothing to work with. When the person is facing you, it is very hard to see the modeling of the face as the perspective vanishes behind their head. Have the person turn slightly to one side so you can model their face, with natural lighting to give good skin tones, and a natural expression to show their real personality.

3. Incorrect Head Proportions

Because of the way we focus on a person's features, we usually draw them too big and squash the rest of the head. More about proportions in a later article.

4. Twisted Features

Because we are used to looking at a person straight-on, we naturally try to make their features look level when we draw them. If their head is on an angle, this results in strange distortions in the picture. Sketch guidelines first to ensure that the features are on the same angle as the rest of the face. More on human form later.

5. Pet Drawings from Human Eye Level

When you take a photograph standing up, you are looking down at your pet. They have to look up, and you end up with their head seeming much bigger than their body, and a rather odd expression on their face. Have someone distract them so they aren't staring down the lens, and squat down so the camera is at their head level. You'll get a much better reference photo.

6. Being Afraid of Black

Often when shading, the shadows don't go past dark gray. You are limiting the depth in your drawing if your value range is too restricted. Put a piece of black paper at the corner of your drawing, and don't be afraid to go dark. Really dark. This will give your drawings a more realistic effect and really make them pop.

7. Outlining in Value Drawings

When value drawing, you are creating an illusion with areas of tonal value. When you use a hard drawn line to define an edge, you disrupt this illusion. Let edges be defined by two different areas of tonal value meeting (i.e. shadows).

8. Drawing on the Wrong Paper

If your drawing is pale, it might be the paper. Some cheap papers have a sheen on the surface that is too smooth to grab the particles off the pencil. A thick notepad has too much 'give' under the pencil to allow you to apply enough pressure. Try a basic photocopy/office paper, or check the art store for cheap sketch paper. Place a piece of card under a couple of sheets to give a firmer surface. If you are trying to do even shading, some sketch papers can be too coarse, giving an uneven texture. Try a hot-pressed Bristol board or similar smooth drawing paper.

9. Scribbled Foliage

Don't use circular scribbles to draw foliage. Use more convex shaped scumbling (like crescent shapes and scribbly calligraphic marks) to draw the shadows in and around clusters of foliage. Your trees will look much more realistic.

10. Wiry, Pencil-Line Hair and Grass

If you draw every hair or blade of grass as a pencil line, you'll end up with a horrible, wiry, unnatural mess. Use feathery pencil-strokes to draw the shadows and dark foliage behind areas of grass. More on this subject on a later post.


*Remember*
No one is born knowing how to draw. It all comes with practice. You will see that after reading these Don'ts, you will approach your drawings in a different way ultimately leading to progress and evolution in your art. Just make a conscious effort to pay more attention to the world around you. Notice the shades, shadows, and highlights. Nothing really has a hard edge; it's all about light (or tonal value).
Just have fun with it!