Art!!!
Does anyone have tips to be a better drawer. I really want to get better in realism with graphite.
Websearch "J. D. Hillberry", then buy his book. There are used copies out there for a pittance. You'll be glad you did.
Umm my one tip is focusing on the whole image as a who instead of as just one part at a time
@HelpinghealAlyssar1316
As an art teacher, I got a few tips.
You want to learn to draw loose and light. Before you start drawing, warm up by drawing fast and loose circles on a piece of scrap paper or newsprint. The looseness in drawing is the key to making your drawings look more dynamic and natural.
To explore graphite, make yourself a value chart- study the breadth of value you can get from a single pencil and then expand your range with other graphite #s. Do simple studies at first: just 3D shapes in different lights. The value scale and the shape studies will help create solid bases for furthering realism. After doing a few studies of different shapes in different lights, you can try moving on to simple objects- you can take photos on your phone and then set it to black and white. But, above all, keep it interesting for yourself! Even while you are practicing, choose things that you would enjoy trying to draw, because even if it gets difficult, you shouldn't feel like you are torturing yourself lol.
I know for myself that I hate still-life, but I love human gesture, so I take screenshots of dance videos and use those images as drawing practice for myself. Draw what interests you.
Another useful exercise might be to make a mark making chart- what does graphite look like when you use a stick blender? tissue? your finger? try hatching. cross hatching. stippling. There are so many different marks you can do with graphite, just look up a mark making chart and try to copy the exercise.
Once you have a mark making chart of your own, try drawing a simple object in strong lighting using one of your mark making techniques. Then draw that object again with another technique. And again. And again.
Above all, just keep drawing what you enjoy! If there are artworks that you enjoy, copy those to improve your own work- you can learn a lot that way.
@determinedSea4370 Additional tip! If you get stuck on a drawing and it just looks 'off', just flip the reference and your drawing upside down and compare the two- this way you'll see the shapes and angles for what they are rather than your preconceptions of them and this will allow you to correct your mistakes and make your drawing look more accurate to the reference.