Step one: Tracing

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Yes. It may seem stupid, but tracing is actually a crucial part of learning how to draw.

It helps you see proportions in different sizes and slowly advance towards part 2: Shape seeing.

But let's not get off track! Here is one of my traced artworks from almost 3 years ago:

But let's not get off track! Here is one of my traced artworks from almost 3 years ago:

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It's not too great, is it?

That's because we aren't focusing on colors yet, we are focusing on shapes and forms.

To say the truth, it'll be hard to draw if you don't know the three basic shapes used in it:

1. Circles - Useful for heads, joints, lips, noses, toes and even earlobes.

2. Triangles - Best used for animal ears, or basic shapes in the torso of a woman. Also useful when drawing noses from the side, or chins, however not as practicle as a rectangle or trapeze.

3. Rectangles - Upper and lower torso, legs and arms (more curved around edges) Hands and feet.

In tracing, we can usually see some of these shapes, but we might not know how to put them to effect in our drawings. That's where our next step comes in!

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