Top 5 Art Tips for Beginners!

Article at a glance:
I am not a professional artist, just a beginner sharing what genuinely helped me improve over the last few months.
These aren’t magic tricks to get good overnight, but small mindset shifts that made learning art less overwhelming.
If you’re just starting out and feel stuck or discouraged, I hope these 5 tips help you stay consistent and keep going.

Before I get into the article proper, let me clarify where I am coming from. I am a beginner at art myself; I am still learning; it has been only a few months since I started learning for fun. I am not a professional by any means. So consider these top 5 art tips as 5 pieces of advice from one beginner to another. These are just the things that have helped me change my mentality and get better over time.

I am clarifying all this because I don’t want this article to sound like one of those many mass-produced articles out there. Everything in here is based on my experience as a beginner, and I want people to understand that you won’t suddenly get good; everything takes a bit of time and practice! Regardless, here are the top 5 art tips from one beginner to another!

One of my favorite artists of all time, byt the way, TIte Kubo, the mangaka of BLEACH.

Start with learning proper pencil sketching and shading

Yeah, start with a simple pencil and paper. Mistakes are pretty easy to fix when it is just a pencil, after all. Not only that, but just a usual old pencil is enough to teach you so many important art fundamentals, such as shading and line weight. The muscle memory and fundamentals you develop with pencil sketches are sure to help you, no matter what medium you choose moving forward. Heck, if you like it, pencil sketches are a very viable medium; a lot of good fanart I see online are just pencil sketches. Think of this as the backbone of your art.

Break complex things into basic shapes

This is going to take some getting used to. Basically, whenever you look at something, strip away all the details and try to break it down into basic shapes. Worry about the details later; first, see if you can draw the very basic shape of something. Almost everything is made up of some combination of circles, squares/rectangles, cylinders, or cones. You just have to slowly learn and figure out what’s what. And this will help with the next step too.

Study anatomy and Perpective

Look, this is the part that is going to suck the most. I am here right now, myself. I am willing to bet that this is where most people give up on art. But please trust me, these two things are VERY important to learn. You don’t need to pull out a textbook on anatomy or anything; just learn how the human body works and the body part proportions, that’s it. But yes, I know it is going to suck, but it is a necessary step.

This is what my drawing looks like, by the way, just an eye for now, but one day it will be the whole thing LOL.

Consume more art

This is going to sound bogus, but after you’ve done a bit of art yourself, it will change the perspective of how you look at other artworks. If there is an artist you like, try to figure out why you like their style and see how they draw certain things. If you can find a timelapse of theirs, you’ve just struck gold. This is how you will eventually start to develop your own style. It is fine if it starts with an imitation, you will develop your own style soon.

Practice, practice, practice

Once again, I know it is going to sound cliché, but it is the truth. You’re not getting anywhere without practice. Even after you’ve cleared your basics, never stop practicing. Yes, things are going to look bad, yes, it will take time to get results, but believe me, the feeling of finally getting something right after ages of practice is well worth it. Let this be the biggest takeaway from this article: don’t give up even when your art isn’t as good as you’d hope. All this practice will pay off eventually.

That is all for now

But yeah, those were the 5 things that have been helping me out as a beginner. As I said, I am not a professional; these are just the things that helped me. And I am writing this with the hope that it helps some other beginner out there. But yeah, those were my top 5 art tips for beginners. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on In The Clear Moonlit Dusk here!