How to Draw: 7 Artists Illustrating the Way

Oh, to be 25, in Paris, and extremely talented in visual arts. Inès’s main amour is the human figure, and she regularly posts overhead videos of herself drawing clean, near-perfect figures in 20 seconds or less, barely lifting her marker from the paper. She also paints the human body, creating kaleidoscopic, abstract, overlapping patterns.

Drawing tip: Don’t start from the obvious point—As this video shows, Inès will often draw human bodies starting with arms instead of the more expected torso.

Location: Paris, France

Followers: 59.8k

Most of Laura’s inspiration comes as she’s falling asleep, and that semiconscious state infuses her people and animal figures with a hint of whimsy. You could imagine any of them animated, running around your phone screen.

Drawing tip: Use empty space to create lines inside of shapes; her human bodies are just one color, but she leaves the canvas exposed, painting over the shapes with space in between.

Location: Chicago, IL

Followers: 19.2k

The art director and interior designer really understands the impact a shape can have—furniture in a room, yes, but mostly on a canvas, as in the case of his incredibly spare, powerful line drawings. From his pen, one continuous line can evoke melancholy, seduction or longing.

Drawing tip: “You can’t be inspired or efficient every day. That’s impossible…But the best thing is to share this with a new eye. You can’t do it alone. If I’m stuck on a drawing, I’ll take a picture and I can see its defaults,” from an interview with Noctis.

Location: Paris, France

Followers: 40.4k

Beautiful and a little haunted, Tine’s work is just the right mix of medium. Morbid scrawling lines give structure to her bruise watercolors.

Drawing tip: Don’t be afraid to get a little messy; sometimes more lines equal more dimension.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Followers: 11.4k

It’s refreshing for an artist to be so candid about the dedication it takes to hone an aesthetic. Sky Kim, whose work has been all over the place, humbly shares her advice at Elusive Muse: “Being an artist takes a lot of discipline, patience, undivided focus and most of all believing in yourself because you will consistently experience frustration, disappointment, deflated self-esteem, and even anger…When 100% is required, give 200%.” She believes in working with tools “a child, anybody” could use: pencils, markers, Sharpies. She layers and combines natural shapes, dots and lines to create shapes that jump off the page. They’ve attracted the attention of MoMA’s PS1, which visited her studio here.

Drawing tip: Change up your canvas size. Sky regularly works on long scrolls, trying new styles as the work grows. See what you can do with a cocktail napkin.

Location: New York, NY

Followers: 199

Inspiration and a sharp eye is all Jamie Palmer needed in the way of art education. He’s hand-drawn his signature geometric pattern across shop windows like Unlimited’s in London.

Drawing tip: Doodle anywhere, any time. Work with an instrument you like, on nice paper, and see what happens.

Location: London, England

Followers: 1,022

As a young child, textile designer Neisha Crosland was nearsighted, which drew her to painting and drawing. She told Beyond Bespoke, “I could only see things very close up; I could see the veins on leaves and speckles on petals very clearly. Maybe this was where my fascination with pattern began.” She had what she calls a “eureka moment” at 22 when, at the V&A Museum, she wandered by 15th- and 16th-century vintage Ottoman textiles and immediately pivoted toward what she refers to as “surface design.”
Drawing tip: Even if you have a colorful idea in your head, sketch it in black and white first. Then, let the color lend a mood.

Location: London, England

Followers: 927