Help me decide what's the best way to learn to draw!

On main street at high noon.

It is always a good thing to draw A LOT, everyday, whenever you have the time. Just draw!! Take a sketch-book, sit in a café/train/public place and just draw what you see, the people, the places, objects ... Don't think about it, just take something from your environment and get started :) You soon learn to draw very quickly (because people on the street seldom stand before you and freeze for a few minutes ;D) and to focus on important things. If you have difficulties to keep it simple or lose yourself in details, e.g take a very thick pencil.
It might take a while until you really like what you drew, but soon it will be worth it! ^^ You will get a better eye for proportions, composition etc.

This is what a lot of friends of mine do (who study illustration and design). And they say it really helps.

I suggest drawing both from life and from memory, in both realistic and unrealistic styles. Consciously choose unusual angles and poses with a healthy dose of foreshortening.

I actually dislike life drawing quite a lot, it's a chore, but it ultimately benefits every artist interested in producing accurate representational art.

Draw what you see (unless you're doing it free handed). Pay attention to detail, try to measure it with your eyes, finger, whatever works best for you. And remember, it is your drawing and your style. I personally like to keep a bit of personality in my drawings, so even when I am drawing a portrait of someone, I still like to keep hints, here and there, that it is my drawing. Just make it your own.

Honestly, you've got a lot of the hardest stuff down. Making interesting poses can be very difficult, you have to kind of sit there and think of skeletal structure so you can make the pose dynamic but still realistic. It might help for you to get one of those poseable models.

As far as nothing popping, pay special attention to placement of items. Obviously bigger things are in the foreground... make sure your drawing has a foreground, a mid ground, and a background. Use atmospheric perspective... the things closer to the viewer should be bold and detailed. The things further back in the composition should be faded out and not as detailed, more so as you go further back to the horizon line.

A lot of people argue that drawing realistically is necessary to get the skills, personally I've never been much of a fan of drawing realism and have developed most of my skills in my own style. It's ultimately up to you, I don't know if one way is truly better than the other, I think it should come down to individual preference. There are so many different kinds of art and so many different ways to be creative. Yes it takes talent to draw photorealism, but that doesn't diminish the talent of other artists with different abilities.

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DRAW IN YOUR OWN STYLE

You're an amateur, that's not a bad thing you just need more practice with faces and human form. You need to learn the rules before you break them. Artists who focus on developing a style early normally hurt their skills.

Drawing from life is best but you could also use posemaniacs.com Don't use just a pencil. Use charcoal, conte, and chalk. Don't use just white paper, use black, grey, brown paper.

If you have issues with form try drawing a few skeletons. There are a few good tutorials on faces.

Head Any Angle - http://bit.ly/headangles
Eyes - http://bit.ly/draweyes
Nose - http://bit.ly/drawnose
Lips - http://bit.ly/drawlips
Ears - http://bit.ly/drawears
Hair - http://bit.ly/drawhair

Once you're comfortable enough drawing humans developing a style would be much easier.

tracing paper

Find someone who know how to draw and ask them to teach you.

draw alot... try coping other work and pictures, your stile comes as you go along... when you get confident.. start drawing with out reference.

ps never think you have masterd it.

oh and try experimenting with creating different textures

just look up as many different drawing techniqes as you can..and assign little projects to youself using them or like 1 big project using multiple..and draw alot..draw something everyday ..for proportions i like using grids always helps

I would say to try and experiment with all 4, myself.

Made to do realistic art in school (which I hated), but have drawn from a very young age and always had my own style which I've changed and adapted over the years.

Look for any little damn thing that inspires you (A pattern on a wall; a pair of knickers; someone's face/moods/thoughts/actions; a moment in a book/film/TV show; etc etc etc). Take a notebook with you everywhere you go and draw whatever comes to mind.

Are you left handed? I'm only asking you th@ because most people who are left handed are always very artistic. Being able to draw is a gift (a talent that ur born with) as is singing and dancing, so therefore I don't in my humble opinion believe thta youy can be taught to draw if the talent was there when you were younger then I promise you it will still be there just keep on practicing. xx

drunk

Practice makes perfect and take lessons.

Good Luck!

I like Penises :3

Wait you are a guy correct? O__O

Draw on your PENIS

Get a teacher or someone who can draw. I would find a picture and draw it and take another picture and draw it. Than ssee what you get keep practicing till you like what you got.

Just draw. Don't worry about techniques or lessons. You can't teach someone to be a good artist, it comes naturally.
Draw whatever you feel. How you see the world how the world sees you. Let it come from deep within. Draw a line, and just turn it into something. Doesn't have to be realistic. My specialty is abstract actually. My girlfriend and I do this thing where she draws random lines and shapes onto a piece of paper, I then connect those random lines and turn them into something and fill it in. It's a great way to jog your artistic brain ;)

Practice yes - but lessons also.

Also, experiment with other drawing mediums. Try vine charcoal , pressed charcoal, hard pastels, conte crayon, watercolor pens and other washes. These things are good for shading, expression and contrast, among other things. I find them much more enjoyable than pencils.

My mother and sister are both artists. My mother learned by studying art with proper tuition, my sister learned from books. I wouldn't say it to either of their faces but my sister is the better artist. She's frighteningly good.

I'm not saying the method influenced the result; I'm just stating the facts.

Oh, you should post some of your drawings on here for us to scrutinize :)

I know this has been said already too, but the best way to get better is to practice. I always enjoyed drawing things from anime books and stuff.

Also, you have to be consistent with your routine so that you don't get out of shape with your skills.

Send away to that little turtle drawing place.

Why don't you google stuff or get books about it. But I think continuing to practice will help greatly. I can only draw what's already been drawn so I'm no help really.