Think of it as fun

Yes, you really can! Many people think that learning to draw is difficult, if not impossible. In fact, it need not be. If would-be artists treated the subject as fun and went about it in the right way, it could be possible for nearly every one.Like when learning to drive, at first it may seem hard, but it isn’t, if the basic instructions are correct.

Once you have discovered how to draw landscapes, animals, people, illustrations and all other things you should have no problem at all in managing to draw any subject.

Expect mistakes

When tackling any new skill it is common sense to expect and accept that lots of mistakes will be made. It’s part of the learning process.

It is not unusual for students with no previous experience of draughtsmanship to suddenly discover that they can put down accurately what they see. It requires just three things for this to happen.

1. The ability to look properly.
2. Self-confidence.
3. The capacity to remember and carry out basic instructions.

I believe the term ‘gifted’ is too lightly used in respect of the artist. Only one in every million or so can be truly said to be gifted. The rest of us are craftsmen with different degrees of skill. If you can write your name properly then you have enough talent to learn to draw.

Start with landscapes

It is always easier for a beginner to start with simple subjects like landscapes, still life and pen and ink, line drawings.

We’ll start with a reminder about how useful a pencil could be to start drawing. The pencil by the way, can be used to give a good idea of the slope and angle of the subject to be drawn. Just hold your pencil at arm’s length by one end and shut the eye, which is not your master one. Hold vertically or horizontally as appropriate. Squint along the straight line provided by your pencil against the subject.

Then you can see if the line which you want to draw should be vertical, horizontal or sloping. This will be your aid to a successful drawing. Drawing pencils, graded 2B and 4B are ideal for sketches. A soft eraser is necessary. The person who makes no mistakes, makes nothing! An A4 size cartridge drawing pad or good quality kent drawing paper which is cheaper to buy in sheets should enable you to get going.

To start with, I suggest you draw black and white line drawings. Black and white drawings have a special charm and power indeed. Here is a roadside sketch shown as Figure 1. Its an outline sketch drawn from a road side. Draw this either straight off with pen or pencil. Figure 2 is the same picture shaded and completed. Notice how thin, close lines are used to break up the white area of the sky. Leaves are suggested on the near trees, then lightly shaded over by diagonal lines. A few extra lines denote clefts in the rock in the foreground. The lines used for grass are more detailed but they fade into dots and dashes further away. By now you will know this ink illustration takes time and patience rather than great talent.

Be bold and confident. Ignore minor mistakes; indeed expect them and take them in your stride.

T. rex bigger than thought

Tyrannosaurus rex grew faster and weighed more than previously thought, suggesting the fearsome predator would have been a ravenous teenager, researchers said recently.

Using three-dimensional laser scans and computer modelling, British and U.S. scientists "weighed" five T. rex specimens, including the Chicago Field Museum's "Sue," the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton known.They concluded that Sue, who roamed the Great Plains of North America 67 million years ago, would have tipped the scales at more than 9 tons, or some 30 per cent more than expected.Intriguingly, the smallest and youngest specimen weighed less than thought, shedding new light on the animals' biology and indicating that T. rex grew more than twice as fast between 10 and 15 years of age as suggested in a study five years ago."At their fastest, in their teenage years, they were putting on 11 pounds or 5 kilograms a day," John Hutchinson of the Royal Veterinary College in London told Reuters.

A huge appetite means T. rex would have needed extensive territory and they were probably relatively large. Their rapid teenage growth spurt also suggests they must have had a high metabolic rate, fuelling the idea they were warm-blooded.

A large body mass would have come at the expense of agility and the lower-leg muscles of T. rex were not as proportionately large as those of modern birds, indicating a top speed of about 10-25 miles per hour. "

The latest research, published online in the journal PLoS ONE, adds to the body of evidence that has made T. rex among the most intensively studied of all dinosaurs.

The researchers, led by Hutchinson and Peter Makovicky of the Field Museum, used scans of skeletons to build digital models and then added flesh using the structure of soft tissues in birds and crocodiles as a guide.

-Courtesy: Reuters