#1 Free Sketching
Why get started this way? A lot of artists use guidelines or reference pictures in order to get themselves to draw. But sometimes, free sketching is the only way to draw something truly original. If you use a reference picture, you are bound to the models and photograhers of the world. If you use guidelines, you are bound to work within the paradigm that the art teacher set out for you. Sometimes you just need to sketch. Don't worry about how the sketch turns out. You can edit it later.
#2 Guidelines
You might be thinking "wait a minute? Didn't he just slam guidelines?" Not exactly. Artists shouldn't be confined to guidelines, but guidelines certainly are important. Guidelines are necessary when a budding artist is struggling to learn anatomy and these guidelines can be crucial when learning to draw different poses and movements. Drawing a complex martial arts fight scene would be near impossible for a novice artist without guidelines. So grab a hold of a how-to-draw tutorial and study.
#3 Reference Photo
There will be times when you just won't be able to draw without a reference picture. Its funny, but regardless of how much time to spend looking at people every day, you completely forget things like the basic structure of the human face when it comes time to actually draw one. But not only can a reference photo help you remember, but it also can provide you ideas when you are conceptualizing what your character will look like.
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