How to Draw Abstract Drawing for Beginners

How to draw abstract drawings for beginners –

Art is the language many people use to express themselves. Visually speaking, there are many ways artists use to express themselves and one of those ways is abstract drawing.

Abstract drawing is the artistic expression of using lines, colors, and vague forms. This type of art does not draw or base on reality, but more so on feelings and emotion. They’re not meant to accurately represent reality, giving artists all the creative freedom and no objective rules to follow.

However, just because abstract art doesn’t follow any strict rules doesn’t mean there are no guidelines or tips that can be drawn from it (especially when considering if an abstract piece is good or bad).

How to Draw Abstract Still Life

To draw Abstract Still Life you need to learn how to draw from real life first before combining it with Abstract.

To start with, pick a reference and make two separate drawings. On your first drawing, draw your still-life subject as it is. On your second drawing, only draw the shapes that define the objects.

Once you’re satisfied with both drawings, take a third paper and this time think of a way to combine the two. As long as the object can still be recognized, you’re good to go.

It will be up to you to decide whether to balance realism and abstract or to prioritize one art form over the other. Just remember that Abstract art doesn’t exactly deal with reality or accuracy, so the more realistic your art piece is the more, the less it becomes Abstract Art.

So don’t be afraid to overlap shapes or apply different colors and textures. Abstract Art is all about artistic expression, not accuracy.

How to Draw Abstract Figures

Unlike Abstract Still Life, drawing Abstract Figures is a lot looser and easier. To draw Abstract Figures, you don’t need to learn the proper proportions or human anatomy. As long as you know the basic structure that makes up the human body, you can create Abstract Figures.

Like I said earlier, Abstract doesn’t deal with accuracy, so there’s no need to worry about body proportions.

You can draw Abstract Figures with simple shapes or with lines. You can even exaggerate or highlight certain features. Or if you want, you can take most, if not all, features and draw one very vague form.

As long as it can be recognized as a figure then it passes as Abstract Figure.

How Can I Improve my Abstract Drawing?

If you want to improve Abstract Drawing, I recommend studying artists who are known for their Abstract Art like Brice Marden and Ellsworth Kelly.

It’s always good to have a reference point, especially if you’re goal is to improve. Learning from people who have already mastered the graft can be a great way of knowing what you lack and what you’re doing right.

You can also try to improve by working on a bigger paper or canvas. Abstract art is all about emotions and it’s easier to put your emotions down on a much larger space.

Abstract Drawing Tips:

Doodle
Use a Collage
Combine Mediums
Use Different Styles of Drawing
Try Different Types of Pressure (with Pencil)
Start with Realism then Warp It
Try Single Line Drawing
Draw Blind
Try to Express an Emotion
Start with Shapes
Draw with your Non-Dominant Hand

1. Doodle

If you don’t know where to start, start with a doodle!

Doodles usually happen when we don’t know what to draw so we start drawing things absentmindedly. You can use those absentminded doodles as a warm-up or a starting point for your Abstract Drawing.

Once you’re done doodling, you can build off your doodles and start scribbling larger things. Eventually, you’ll be able to create something that makes sense to you artistically and call it abstract art.

2. Use a Collage

Take a page from Dadaism and use a collage of images to create something meaningful!

Of course, don’t just paste a bunch of pictures together and call it a day. Take bits and pieces of different images and mix and match them according to the message you want to portray.

Don’t be afraid to create something absurd. Abstract Art is supposed to stray from reality rather than represent it. So if you find yourself pasting a cat’s face onto the face of a man in a suit, go for it.

You can even add a touch of your own by drawing on top of the collage.

3. Combine Mediums

Probably the best thing I find about Abstract Art is how easy it is for artists to combine mediums when creating it.

There’s nothing more liberating than using every tool you have in your artistic arsenal and just going wild on a canvas. This type of exercise can stimulate your creative process, allowing you to create more Abstract Art in the long run.

You can also discover which medium goes well with which and what textures can be created if you combine them.

4. Use Different Styles of Drawing

Try to use different styles of drawing when creating Abstract Art and see which combination works best.

If you’re into chaos, throw in every style you know and see how it goes. By using different styles of drawing, you’re not setting a limit or any boundaries for your art, allowing it to flow freely.

Different styles of drawing also generate different visual effects. This can help make your Abstract Art look more interesting.

5. Try Different Types of Pressure (with Pencil)

On the note of making your Abstract Art look more interesting if you’re only working with pencils and no other medium, try to apply different types of pressure with your pencil.

This can vary your strokes so your Abstract Art won’t look dull or monotone even with just pencils.

You can even use different pencil grades and different pencil grips to achieve the best results.

If you’re going for fluid lines in your artwork, don’t draw with your wrists, draw with your whole arm instead. Let it guide where your pencil is going. If you want, you could even try never letting go of the pencil but still applying different types of pressure in certain areas of the canvas.

6. Start with Realism then Warp It

As I’ve said earlier, you can combine Abstract with Realism. To improve on Abstract Drawing, start with realism and then try to warp it.

This could mean making it look more rigid by drawing your subject in shapes or making it more fluid by only drawing it in curved lines.

As long as your subject can still be recognized and not totally warped then it’s Abstract Realism. However, if you just want to draw Abstract Art then take your subject and warp it completely, to the point where your subject is indiscernible.

This could result in your canvas containing just a blob of shapes and lines but that’s the point. With Abstract Art, sometimes you’ll have no idea what you’re looking at.

7. Try Single Line Drawing

Take a pencil or a marker and try single-line drawing.

Similar to my previous advice, draw with your whole arm and not your wrist. This time, however, draw in one single line without lifting your tool. Move your arm freely and let it guide your drawing.

As you continuously draw the line, apply pressure on different areas of your canvas to vary the thickness of the line. How long you draw will be up to you. This exercise can be quick or long depending on how you’re feeling.

There’s no better way to dig deep into your mind and find out what’s in there than to close your eyes and draw blind.

This practice gets you to draw based entirely on your subconscious. Because you can’t see what you’re drawing, you’re literally just trusting yourself to create art, allowing your subconscious to speak.

You may be surprised to see a mess when you open your eyes but try to remember that this is Abstract Art. It’s not supposed to have a specific form or represent something tangible.

9. Try to Express an Emotion

Abstract Art relies heavily on the emotions of the artist rather than physical objects or reality. So when you are dipping your toes in Abstract Art, try to express emotion with your drawings or paintings.

The easiest way to express emotion through art is to utilize color, light, and shadows. Try to apply basic color theory and color psychology.

Don’t forget to add contrast to your art to make it really pop out. Although some Abstract artists only use one color to express one singular emotion, feel free to express more than one. Humans are complex and sometimes they feel an overwhelming number of emotions rather than just one.

10. Start with Shapes

If you don’t know where to start when making Abstract Art, it’s always a good idea to start with shapes.

Shapes offer structure so even just putting down one or two random shapes, you can easily build off of them and create something much larger. Many Abstract Artists actually utilize shapes in their paintings, one obvious example is Pablo Picasso who is famous for his Cubist works.

Don’t be afraid to overlap and combine shapes to make your drawing. If you don’t know what to do with the shapes, you can use real-life objects as a reference.

Take a subject and break it down to its bare bones then build it back up again using shapes. You don’t have to follow or stick with the conventional shapes. In fact, you can exaggerate them to make them look interesting.

11. Draw with your Non-Dominant Hand

My last tip for you is to draw with your non-dominant hand.

Drawing with your non-dominant hand can help you to loosen up and remove the pressure of making a ‘perfect’ artwork. Because you know it’s your non-dominant hand, you won’t be so strict with yourself when it comes to shapes, lines, or accuracy.

This practice can get you to relax and focus on the making of the art instead of the finished product. Some artists even claim that drawing with a non-dominant hand can help bypass the logical part of your brain, allowing you to think more creatively.

So by doing this, not only will you find yourself relaxed but you’ll also be able to come up with more creative ideas.

What Is Abstract Drawing?

Abstract Drawing is the art of representing ideas with shapes, lines, and colors. From the definition of Abstraction itself, it is meant to deal with ideas instead of reality.

This of course doesn’t mean Abstract Drawing cannot be based on reality. There is a lot of popular abstract art depicting realistic events, sometimes even political ones.

But even though they’re derived from reality, they’re never truly ‘realistic’. That’s the basic fundamental of Abstract Art. They’re not meant to be accurate or realistic, they’re just meant to represent something.

Historically speaking, it’s hard to mark when Abstract Art officially began, but according to a lot of historians, Vasily Kandinsky was known to be the first Abstract artist.

His watercolor painting, which dates back to 1910 (1913 according to some), is just a blob of colors and lines mixed together. Looking at it, it’s obvious that there is no clear reference to reality. It’s just a painting with colors in chaotic places.

Now whether the painting has any artistic meaning or not, it’s debatable. But the visual chaos Vasil Kandinsky showed in his painting is what Abstract art is about. It cannot be objectively defined as there is no realistic basis as to what it is.

That’s what makes Abstract art.

Just as with any type of art, Abstract Art also has its variants but the variants I’m talking about specifically will be:

Type of Art	Definition
Dadaism	Is an art form that protests modernism and mocks traditional values of society. This type of art can be done by combining already-existing pictures to make an incomprehensible collage or parodying existing art like the Mona Lisa by changing a quality that adds humor to the painting.
Cubism	Is a type of art that uses hard geometrical shapes or cubes to express reality. Instead of fluid forms and curves that we often see in real life, squares, triangles, and rectangles are used. A popular Cubist artist is Pablo Picasso.
Expressionism	Is a type of art form that depicts reality based on the feelings of the artist rather than reality itself. From the name itself, its aim is to express. This could mean that the drawing could be made up of vivid or unusually dark colors and the brush strokes or sketch marks could be exaggerated or toned down. A popular expressionist artist is Vincent Van Gogh.

What Is Abstract Realism?

Abstract Realism is basically a looser and more creative form of Realism. With this type of Abstract, there is actually a need for reference as it deals with reality.

Abstract Realism combines the artistic expressions of Abstract, art drawn from no real reference, and Realism, art that is drawn from reality.

This could mean taking trees and replacing leaves with colorful swirls or taking a painting of a face and instead of accurate facial features, they are replaced with shapes.

Abstract Realism plays with reality. You could argue that this is just surrealism but there’s actually a slight difference between the two (if you squint, you see it). Surrealism is a distortion of reality whereas Abstract Realism, in a way, romanticizes it.

If you wanna learn more about surrealism, watch this video:

Surrealism

What Are the Rules for Abstract Art?

Unlike most art forms, Abstract Art does not have a specific set of rules. Because this type of art deals more with emotion and ideas, they come with a lot more creative freedom than most art forms.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is you can draw anything with no actual form or coherence whatsoever and call it Abstract Art.

That said, just because there are no rules, doesn’t mean you can’t apply principles. Different artists have different principles.

Artist and author Helen Elliot has these as her principles when it comes to Abstract Art:

Balance
Emphasis
Rhythm/pattern
Unity
Variety
Contrast
Movement
Surprise, individual voice, or soul

Of course, these principles won’t apply to everyone, but the point is that Abstract Art isn’t just throwing all heck onto a canvas and calling it a day.

What are the 3 Types of Abstract

There are many types of Abstract Art but the ones I’m gonna touch on are Dadaism, Cubism, and Expressionism. Now, these are actually separate movements of art, however, they do fall under the umbrella of Abstract Art.

Type of Art	Definition
Dadaism	Is an art form that protests modernism and mocks traditional values of society. This type of art can be done by combining already-existing pictures to make an incomprehensible collage or parodying existing art like the Mona Lisa by changing a quality that adds humor to the painting.
Cubism	Is a type of art that uses hard geometrical shapes or cubes to express reality. Instead of fluid forms and curves that we often see in real life, squares, triangles, and rectangles are used. A popular Cubist artist is Pablo Picasso.
Expressionism	Is a type of art form that depicts reality based on the feelings of the artist rather than reality itself. From the name itself, its aim is to express. This could mean that the drawing could be made up of vivid or unusually dark colors and the brush strokes or sketch marks could be exaggerated or toned down. A popular expressionist artist is Vincent Van Gogh.

Different Types of Abstract Art

All these types of Abstract Art, although different on paper, have one thing in common. The unrealistic depiction of reality. Whether it be through parody or geometrical shapes, the artistic value of Abstract Art doesn’t come from accuracy, but instead of the expression or feelings of the artists when creating the art.

What are the 5 elements of abstract art

The 5 elements of abstract art are:

Form
Color
Line
Tone
Texture

Each abstract art has at least 2-3, if not all, of these present.

Form is an important element of abstract art as it majorly depends on that to convey meaning.
- Oftentimes the figures of abstract art are incomprehensible which is why the overall form of the art is important, even if it’s just a blob.
Color of course does not apply to all abstract art as some abstract art is in monochrome.
- However, for those that do use color, it is important for them to apply even basic color theory to make sure that the drawing or painting’s colors are in harmony with each other.

Even for abstract art, it’s still vital that spectators find the art pleasing to look at and not jarring.

The use of lines is also a key element of abstract art.
- Similar to color, this element won’t always be present as some prefer to just splash paint on a canvas.
- However, for those that utilize lines, the placement and even the thickness of the lines can affect the quality of the overall painting.

Tone refers to how light or dark your art is.
- It sets the mood of your piece; the wrong tone could send the wrong message so it’s important to decide beforehand what kind of tone your Abstract Art is going to be.

Texture refers to how the surface of your canvas or painting feels, but visually speaking, it could also refer to how you mimic texture in your paintings.
- For example, if you were to paint a tree, the tree will obviously not feel like a tree bark, but depending on how you painted it, it can give the illusion that it does feel like that.

In abstract art, the texture you give your painting will play a part in how people will feel about your art. Although abstract art isn’t meant to provide a sense of reality, the goal of art is to elicit emotions from those who view it. Texture, whether present or lacking, helps in that sense.