11 Tips - How to Draw Realistically: An Expert Explains (2024)

Kevin Hayler: Professional Wildlife artist, author, and traveler.

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It takes time and dedication to learn how to draw realistically. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but if you have the desire to give it a go, the rewards are worth the effort.

Drawing realistically requires a keen eye and a super steady hand, along with the ability to concentrate and focus entirely on the subject matter. The artist must master proportion and pay close attention to every detail.

We’ll begin with the basics, and go over 11 key points to help you to master realistic drawing. First things first, let’s be clear about what we mean by realistic drawing.

Let’s start.

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Realistic Drawing Explained

Realistic drawing is the accurate depiction of nature, objects, and general life, drawn in a photographic style. The purpose is to deceive the viewer into believing a two-dimensional image is 3 dimensional to the eye.

The artist attempts to make their subject as believable and true to life as possible. Hyper-realism is at the very extreme end of the spectrum, where the artist, in effect, reproduces a photograph. The skill is extraordinary, but beyond the scope of most people to achieve or even desire.

Instead, we will learn how to draw realistically to a level that transcends sketching but achieves a photographic quality. The idea is to reach a level of realism that is representational and, at the same time, retains the charm of an obvious work of art.

It’s not easy.

I love Stephens’s methods and style of drawing. You can get his realistic drawing course on Proko here. It’s an advanced tutorial and you’ll learn so much.

1. The Drawing Materials You’ll Need to Draw Realistically

Don’t kid yourself that you can cut corners. You need the right art materials if you are going to draw realistically, in the way that you envisage.

Drawing is the cheapest art form out there. There is no excuse. Don’t buy some cheap Chinese crap just to save a dollar or two. Buy the best art supplies from well-known brands. That said, don’t buy too much stuff.

Beginners tend to buy everything they could possibly need. All you need are the right pencils, paper, and a kneadable eraser.

Read these posts for more help:

• Best Drawing Pencils For Beginners: How to Choose (2023
• Best Erasers for Drawing: The 9 Eraser Types for Artists
• What is The Best Paper for Graphite Pencil Drawing?

All the rest are extras you can live without for now.

I will cover the most important kit you’ll need, based on what I use myself.

Drawing Pencils

I use two pencil brands, Derwent Graphic Drawing Pencils, and Pentel Mechanical Pencils. They are my choice but not set in stone. If you are familiar with another brand and know how they behave, stick with them.

I chose Derwent because they were homegrown (I live in the UK) and readily available to buy individually. I chose Pentel because they too were stocked locally, and they had a great range of pencil grades.

Read these posts for more help:

• Can You Draw With Mechanical Pencils? Yes, and Here’s How
• Best Mechanical Drawing Pencils For Artists in 2023

It is very important if you intend to continue drawing, to choose a brand that sells their pencils individually. There’s nothing more frustrating than running out of a pencil grade (or color) and having to buy a whole new set just to replace it.

In my experience, it’s becoming progressively more difficult to find off-the-shelf replacements in my local art stores. It’s back to buying online yet again.

If you are unsure about the grades you need, concentrate more on the harder grades and forget the softer ones. Personally, I seldom use a darker grade than a 3B.

I write more here: What Do Pencil Numbers Mean? Pencil Grades Explained + Charts

I tend to mainly use:

• Derwent Graphic Pencil Grades – 3B, B, HB, 2H, 4H, and 9H
• Pentel Mechanical Pencil Grades – 2B, B, HB, 2H, 4H

I had reservations about saying Derwent 3B because I use Pentel pencils more these days and my 3B isn’t used much these days. That said, I used it in the past and I still like to have it handy.

I use the 9H to take the white off an area, and on occasion, to score the paper when I’m drawing fur.

Drawing Paper

I’m not very adventurous with my paper. I use an A3 Daler-Rowney Heavyweight Cartridge Paper, it has a fine grain, feels substantial, and has a pleasing off-white tint.

There is no reason to choose Daler. There are other brands that are just as good and arguably better. It all depends on your style and preferred surface.

Many realists draw on Bristol board that’s brilliant white with no tooth at all. If you decide to try it out make sure it’s archival quality. Canson and Strathmore make archival pads.

If I lived in the States I’d use Strathmore paper. They are harder to obtain here in the UK and the inconvenience alone puts me off.

Strathmore Drawing Paper

Pencil Erasers

I use 3 varieties of pencil erasers:

• Kneadable Putty Eraser
• Tombo Mono Eraser Pen
• Jakar Battery Eraser

I use the kneadable eraser to remove larger areas and dab the graphite to lower the tone, the eraser pen is used to remove fine lines, and the battery eraser removes the tiniest details.

It’s important to remember that you are drawing with an eraser. It’s not just for repairing mistakes.

2. How to Draw Accurately With a Grid

Let’s get real, drawing realistically from life is way too advanced for a beginner. Besides, there are some subjects that don’t lend themselves to life studies.

An animal is not going to sit still long enough for more than a sketch. The same goes for the fleeting light in a landscape or any moving object.

You will need a reference photo and a grid:

• How to Scale Up a Drawing in 4 Easy Ways to Save Time
• Is Drawing a Grid Cheating? – Do Real Artists Use Grids?

For this grid method to work your grid must be spot-on. I like to layer a grid on top of the photograph using Photoshop. You can use Pixlr.com as a free alternative.

N.B. Update: This tool is no longer completely free. It has a very minimal daily download limit. The paid plan is $0.75 per month.

Long before Photoshop, I used to photocopy my references and enlarge them to the size I wanted to draw. I’d draw parallel lines using both sides of a ruler to get an accurate grid. I used a 1-inch wide ruler for drawing easy subjects and a 1 cm wide ruler for the difficult ones

You must make sure that your lines are super accurate. If a vertical line is not at a perfect 90 degrees angle to your horizontal lines, the drawing will distort.

I drew another light-touch grid on my drawing paper and copied my image size for size.

3. Choosing a Good Reference Photo for a Realistic Drawing

We all want to jump right in and draw the most amazing image from the outset. That’s understandable, but a few wise words of caution before you take on too much.

The best way to learn is to start simple and progress as you gain confidence. It’s far better to build on small wins than to set yourself up for defeat from the outset.

If you find it hard to make a start read this: How to Motivate Yourself to Make Art: 11 Kickass Ways to Get Going

I draw animals, mostly wildlife, and elephants are one of my favorite subjects. Now there is no way I’d ever have attempted to draw every crease, fold, and wrinkle when I first began. That came later.

You might want to see how I draw: How to Draw a Realistic Giraffe: Step by Step and Get Great Results

Think about the amount of detail you are attempting to draw. Maybe avoid close-ups for now, if not, draw less complicated forms. If I was drawing a cat, for example, it would be easier to draw plain fur, without the spots or stripes.

I use my own references but you don’t have to go that far at the beginning. You can take screenshots of photos that interest you. There is nothing illegal about that if you are just practicing.

Choose a subject that inspires you. Something that won’t bore you to death halfway through, and do make sure that there is no lens distortion.

I see it so many times. Someone does a cracking drawing but is such a slave to the reference photo that they ignore that it was shot with a wide-angle lens. Unless it’s your intention to draw a distorted image, be aware of the proportions and angles. Are they true to life?

I usually see this common mistake with pet portraits. It’s a lovely drawing or painting, but with a huge nose and super short legs.

Read this: Is Drawing From Reference Photos Bad? Are You Cheating?

Your brain can sometimes play tricks and it’s not always apparent that the image is wrong. Look at the uprights. If the vertical lines curve towards the center, they need correcting.

If you take your own shots, and I think that’s best, use a 50mm lens and that is near enough the same as the human eye. In reality, it makes little difference if the focal length is longer. It affects the depth of field, but the subject will appear without distortion.

People love realism and they’ll buy it. If you want to sell your work you should check out my guide. It has everything you need to know.

4. Drawing The Focal Point First

I’m always asked where I start first, and as I draw animals, I always start with the eyes. Why? because they are the main focus of the picture. The eyes must be right. There is no room for error

I did the same when I drew portraits. Drawing realistic faces is no different. I drew the general shape of the head as my starting point, not in detail, just as a sketch. Then I mapped the facial features, readjusting the basic shapes until everything was in proportion.

Only then did I draw the eyes in more detail.

I start with the most important feature because if that goes wrong there is no way I can save the picture. You may as well do the hardest part first, and if you screw up, you can start again without investing too much time in the project.

I also like to start with the most interesting part. The eyes are the heart and soul of the subject and in a way, the rest is padding. The best bit is always the face. You can go wrong at the peripherals or fade it out and leave it as a sketch.

5. How to Draw Accurate Proportions

It is essential that your proportions are accurate. If you use the grid method there should be no reason, apart from lens distortion, that your proportions are wrong.

All you are doing is laying in the contour lines, one box at a time. What could be simpler than that? In many ways, you might ask yourself why not trace the photo and cut out the work?

This might help: Do You Need to Outline Drawings? YES and Here’s Why…

If you want to learn, you should at check out Brent Eviston. Find his drawing courses on Udemy

Many do. If you look at most of the tutorials on Instagram you’ll see an initial tracing without any gridlines.

I’m not critical. I understand why a fantastic draftsman/woman, can’t be bothered to draw a grid and decide to cut out hours of needless labor. The end results will be identical. And they are professional, so time really is money.

For the rest of us, we have two options. Draw everything by eye, or use a grid.

If you decide that drawing by eye is the only way for you, then you can still do yourself a favor and use dividers.

There is no doubt that drawing freehand will give you much more satisfaction than using a grid. If it works. And your pencil lines will have more life and fluidity. You will also go wrong constantly, but that’s OK.

That’s not such a bad thing if you know how to correct your lines and you can do that with dividers.

The expensive option is to buy proportional dividers so you can scale your image. The cheap way is to buy a pair of normal dividers, or a quality compass, and use that to draw on a scale of 1:1

Read this: Tracing Art – Is It Good or Bad? When Is Tracing Cheating?

The easiest way to make an accurate copy is to layer a simple cross over your photo or draw one over your photocopy. They are your only guidelines. Every feature is a set distance away from those straight lines.

The guidelines help you to center the image properly on your page and to get started quickly.

Now you can measure and mark out all the most relevant parts of the image. The spacing between the eyes, their size, and level in relation to each other. Where the nose goes and the corners of the mouth.

Then it’s a matter of joining the dots. You should be able to draw the lines freehand knowing where the boundaries are. If you get stuck, use the dividers again, and see where you went wrong.

Keep the rough lines and draw the correct ones. Your drawing will look much better. The result will be realistic, not so photographic, and far easier to leave out unnecessary detail where it’s unimportant.

6. How to Draw Realistic Detail

The difference between a sketch and a fine drawing is in the detail. A sketch is like taking notes, and the drawing is the finished piece. A detailed drawing is not always the best, a sketch is often better.

I wrote about it: Drawing and Sketching: Is There a Difference?

Detail takes a great deal of time and the longer you study your subject the more you see. And if you see more, you tend to want to draw it. I sometimes use a magnifying glass to see the detail and get stuck drawing insane amounts of detail as a consequence.

That’s the major drawback of using photo references. It’s very difficult to edit the drawing. What do you leave out when you have so much information? And once you’ve started along a path of obsessive detail, how can you break away and add a flourish? It’s almost impossible.

This related post will interest you: How to Draw White Lines in a Pencil Drawing (Without Going Mad)

I use 0.3mm meachanical pencils for drawing detail. I can draw the finest lines imaginable.

When I discovered them they transformed my ability to draw realitically.

7. How to Shade a Drawing Realistically

There are many ways to shade in pencil, but realistic drawing requires the artist to have complete control. Random lines and multi-directional hatching might look very arty but unconvincing as realism.

Most representational artists will attempt to shade in a more realistic way, without visible lines. Some will use a blender and others, like me, will draw precision hatching lines with smooth transitions, that are so fine and precise that they merge seamlessly.

The key to convincing pencil shading is cross-hatching in layers

The darkest areas are laid down in progressive layers, one on top of the other. The first layer is formed with parallel diagonal one-directional hatching. The next layer is laid in the same way but in the opposite direction.

This cross-hatching will darken the tone and eliminate any inconsistencies in the first layer.

Repeat this process until you achieve the desired tone. If you apply several layers and the tone is still too light, do not press harder. Choose a darker grade of pencil and continue as before.

The advantages of this deliberate and controlled approach are threefold:

• Any gross errors can be erased without damaging the surface of the paper,
• The paper grain can be retained for artistic effect’
• It lessens graphite shine

Try these hacks: How to Get Better at Drawing: 15 Ways to Improve Your Art -FAST

Dark tones can be enriched if the grain of the paper is retained. Those tiny white speckles make the darks sparkle. If however, the same pencil tone is blended with a stump, the tone becomes matt and flattens.

Both drawing techniques are valid. There are no rights and wrongs. it’s up to the artist to assess which method will work best for them. Most artists will use a drawing technique to match their own drawing style and comfort zone.

For help with shadows read: How to Draw Realistic Shadows in Pencil (All The Best Secrets)

If you want a more visual approach to shading try this class
by Steven Zapata on Proko.

It is far easier to control your shading with Mechanical Pencils. The line stays more consistent. I like to retain a fine grainy effect as I render dark values and that is best achieved with 0.3mm leads.

I hold the pencil at a fixed angle and try to maintain that position throughout the shading. If the lead breaks or my position shifts to a different angle, the hatching lines sharpen and the hatching lines alter, and I lose line quality.

When this happens I swipe the nib over some fine emery paper and re-establish the chamfer. The hatching can be continued where I left off.

There are times when there are noticeable joins where two patches of pencil shading overlap. These dark areas can be erased by lightly touching the join with a super-thin twist of Blu-Tack

Brush a long strand of Blu-Tack over the mark lightly. Don’t rub or dab the surface. A gentle stroke will lift just enough graphite to merge the two patches perfectly. You can do the same with a kneadable eraser if it’s soft enough.

8. How to Blend Graphite Pencil Properly

If you decide to blend with a paper stump or tortillon, there is a temptation to blend everything. I’ve seen amateurs fall into that trap so many times. The result is a smudged mess.

Blending stumps help with smooth transitions but must be foiled with hard edges or the resulting drawing will lack definition. Those edges can dark or light, it doesn’t matter. It’s the contrast that works.

A good drawing has a mixture of hard and soft edges. It creates an interesting dynamic and retains the interest of the viewer. I’m not saying that I always get it right, but it is an aspiration.

Using a blender allows the artist to be less obsessed with precision hatching. That said, the tone should still be applied in layers. Heavy-handed marks will stain the paper and ruin the surface.

Whatever you do, resist the urge to use your fingers. your skin is oily and if that transfers to your paper you will never remove the smudge. Use a blender or your pencils.

Used blenders can be kept to add tone instantly and new blenders can be used to lift graphite and lighten an area.

You are not limited to paper blenders.

Plenty of artists use other tools:

• Makeup brushes,
• Tissue paper,
• Cotton buds

Others like to use graphite powder in its pure form. I have never found it that useful, and it’s very messy, but plenty of artists use it.

You can make your own powder by sanding a graphite stump. It’s a great way to make darker tones.

If Stephen Bauman’s online course is too pricey check out this class on Shane Wolf’s Drawing Courses instead. His courses are on Domestika and they’re an absolute bargain!

9. Drawing a Balanced Composition

Ideally, you make a rough outline first, making sure that the focal point is drawn accurately, and blocking in the major shapes and shadow areas.

The next stage is to refine your drawing whilst adjusting each area as you go to ensure that your tonal values are consistent.

It’s very easy to get engrossed in one part of your drawing and neglect the rest. I do that all the time and the result is a disjointed unbalanced drawing. It’s far better to step back more often and continually adjust the picture as a whole.

This is my failing. I find that I concentrate and focus on one particular section of the drawing. When it looks OK, I switch to another detail without stepping back. Before I know it, I have multiple areas, all drawn well, but totally disconnected.

All the areas are fine in their own right, but it’s as if they are stand-alone studies sitting side-by-side. I then have the task of readjusting the tonal values of each until they sit comfortably together.

That’s the problem with photo-realism. you get obsessed with tiny areas to the detriment of the whole drawing.

That is where my 9H pencil comes in handy. This is a pencil grade few artists use, but it comes into its own when unifying disparate areas of a drawing.

A 9H is so hard and faint that it glides over the entire area of a drawing with apparently little effect. Use the side of the pencil, not the point, of course.

The effect is subtle. It removes the whitest whites without removing the finesse of the drawing beneath. It’s adding another non-destructive tonal layer. This unifies all the lightest areas of the drawing and they blend together more naturally.

Of course, you will lose the highlights, but that’s no problem. A Battery Eraser will restore the paper to its original state. You can rescue the sparkle in an eye with one dot of the eraser.

This is a useful introduction to the working methods of Brent Eviston.

If the video inspired you can find his drawing courses on Udemy

10. How to Create Strong Contrast in Pencil

Perhaps the greatest drawback of using graphite is the shine. Soft graphite reflects light and that distracts the eye.

It doesn’t worry me too much, but only because that shine doesn’t appear in the final print reproduction, and that is my prime concern as a professional artist. However, I don’t like the shine in my original drawings and it does diminish some of my earlier work.

The shine is the result of burnishing the surface. Overworked areas and heavy pressure will increase the sheen. Indeed the softest grades burnish themselves on application. It means that anything over 3B is never going to be truly dark. The shine cancels the effect.

I get around the problem by drawing with lighter pencil grades. That presents one problem. Without an extreme difference between lights and darks, the contrast is less effective.

One solution for creating greater contrast is to use toned paper. The darkest values will appear darker and the highlights can be added with chalk or white Pentel leads.

Another solution is to use Mars Lumagraph Black pencils. They are made by Staedtler, a notable German brand. They vary from standard graphite pencils with the addition of carbon. This eliminates the shine and delivers a rich matt black.

Another great tip is to apply some fixative to a lighter drawing. Some brands will noticeably darken the tonal values. This can be both good and bad. If you are aware of this effect, you can use it to your advantage and darken a pale drawing or pastel.

I go into detail here: How to Protect and Preserve Your Drawings

If you are unaware and spray a perfectly good drawing, you can irreversibly alter your image. I use Windsor and Newton professional fixative. branded as ‘workable fixative’ in the US. I use it to alter the tone, I don’t really use it to fix the drawing itself.

11. Realistic Drawing Requires Time and Patience

There is more to realistic drawing than the skill alone. You may have the ability to draw realistically but have you got the temperament?

That’s quite an important aspect of the art. Can you see yourself sitting for hours on end drawing detail? It’s not for everyone.

I draw while I sell my work, and people approach me and express their frustration that they would love to draw the way I do. Almost all of those people walk away almost immediately, in other words, they didn’t have the patience to stop and take a proper look or even ask a follow on question.

There is no way someone with a brief attention span can master realism. It takes a great deal of time and concentration. You may have one, but have you got the other?

This might interest you: Hyperrealism: What’s the Point? Do You Love or Loathe it?

We live life at frightening speed and most people have no free time to devote to drawing. If we do, we prioritize other things. I understand. I can’t multi-task myself. It’s all or nothing. Even writing about art means I’m not doing it.

I’ve been blogging about drawing throughout the lockdown and now my headspace is so far removed from drawing, that I haven’t drawn anything the whole time.

Realism attracts a personality type. I’d guess it attracts people like me, perfectionists. That might be simplistic, but it does figure. I like to get things just right and I’ll spend hours slaving over an inconsequential part of a drawing that doesn’t matter and no one will ever notice. Why?

If you don’t mind being half-mad, be a realist

If that doesn’t put you off, welcome to the club.

FAQs

1. How long does it take to draw a realistic picture?

The cliched answer is the best, it takes hours to draw and a lifetime to learn.

For myself, I reckon on about a week for a realistic drawing. That’s calculated on the actual work hours I put in.

Believe it or not, I draw in between customers and rarely draw at home, so I end up drawing in short bursts throughout the day, or not drawing at all if the weather is poor.

What takes me a working week in hours spent (30-40 hours) might take me a month to complete when I stop and start all day.

This is not as insane as it sounds. My drawing is a sales hook to entice onlookers. There is no hurry to get it finished. Furthermore, I am not concerned about selling the original. The purpose of my drawing is to make it into a saleable print. That’s where the money is.

2. How long does it take to learn how to draw realistically?

I’ve read that it’s supposed to take 10,000 hours to master an art, but that may be an urban myth. It certainly takes a single-minded dedication to the craft over a prolonged period.

Can you become a very skillful artist as an adult? I think you can but it’s far harder than when you are a growing child with a sponge-like brain and unaffected as you are by time.

I remember being praised when I was very young for my drawing skills. Not just from my family, but from my young peers too. I became one of those kids in class who could draw. It became my identity and that’s one hell of an incentive to get better and gain the approval of others.

Unless you go to a top Atelier to learn your craft, art school will teach you next to nothing. You’ll learn more with an online tutorial.

Read this: Are Online Drawing Courses Worth it? I Chose 5 of The Best For You

Key Takeaways

1 Use The Best Drawing Materials

High-quality drawing materials are essential if you want to draw realistically. This includes choosing the right pencils, drawing paper, and a kneadable eraser.
I recommend Derwent Graphic Drawing Pencils and Pentel Mechanical Pencils, and Daler Heavyweight Cartridge Paper or Strathmore

2 Draw With a Grid

A purists nightmare. Using a grid really helps with realistic drawing, especially for beginners. This method involves creating a grid over your reference photo and copying the image box by box. Boring to set this up but it produces results.

3 Source a Good Reference Photo

I urge you to take your own reference photos. Choose a subject that inspires you and let rip with the camera. Avoid photos with lens distortion and be prepared to montage elements together to create your composition.

4 Draw The Focal Point First

Start with the most important feature of your drawing. If it goes wrong, you can start again without investing too much time in the project. Portrait artists should strive to draw realistic eyes as a priority.

5 Draw Accurate Proportions

Accurate proportions are essential in realistic drawing. Using dividers can help maintain accurate proportions. Measure, verify, and cross-check spacings and angles.

6 Draw Realistic Detail

The difference between a sketch and a fine drawing is in the detail. Detail takes a great deal of time and the longer you study your subject the more you see. Hyperrealists will draw the detail within the detail.

7 Draw Realistic Shading

Convincing pencil shading is achieved through cross-hatching in layers. The darkest areas are laid down in progressive layers, one on top of the other. Take note of the light source and ensure that all shadows are pointing in the same direction.
Shadow looks more realistic when reflected light lightens the shading and the edges are softened.

8 Blend Graphite Pencil Properly

Don’t overdo it. Blend with a paper stump or tortillon, not your finger. A good drawing has a mixture of hard and soft edges. Also, use different pencil grades and differences in pressure to draw gradients.

9 Draw a Balanced Composition

It’s important to continually adjust the picture as a whole to ensure that your tonal values are consistent. Step back regularly to assess your picture as a whole. Use the rule of thirds if you are unsure about your composition.

10 Create Strong Contrasts

To create greater contrast, you can use toned paper. Avoid choosing a standard soft drawing pencil above 3B because pencil shine will cancel the contrast. Choose a Mars Lumagraph Black pencil, which delivers a rich matt black and very little shine.

11 Have Patience

Realistic drawing requires a great deal of time and concentration. It’s not for everyone, but if you have the patience and the temperament for it, the results can be rewarding. I find it easier to focus in short bursts.
Draw for 20 mins and step back for a break. Draw little and often.

How to Draw Realistically: Final Thoughts

If you reached the end of this post you must have some staying power. I think you have what it takes – stamina!

Realistic drawing can be both meditative and frustrating in equal measure. Expectations have a lot to do with it. If you are drawing for pleasure, there is no pressure to get things right all of the time. You have the luxury of pleasing yourself and experimenting.

Start your journey with small easy steps and build upon small successes. Draw little and often and you’ll progress.

I hope this post helps you along the way.

Before you go, keep scrolling in case you miss something important…

If you like the way I draw and want to try things for yourself, this is my basic kit

There’s always a market for realism. The public loves it. If you want to know to sell your art, I can show you how. Take a look at this guide!

These posts may also interest you too:

• How to Find Your Drawing Style: 8 Ways to Develop Your Skills
• Prevent Your Drawings From Smudging: The Ultimate Guide
• Can You Copy Art and Sell a Painting of a Painting? I Found Out
• Drawing Ideas for Adults: 120 Cool and Easy Things to Draw
• How to Draw Water in Pencil: Drawing Water The Right Way
• Drawing Realistic Grass the Easy Way: For Beginners
• How to Draw a Forest Background the Easy Way
• Is Drawing Harder Than Painting? Your Questions Answered

If you need more help with drawing, then I urge you to check out
Dorian Iten on Proko. His course is reasonably priced and inspiring

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