Not everyone has the artistic gene in them, but no bother, you can always try to be an artist one step at a time. At the very least, it's something to do during the lockdown and hopefully, something to try as a family during Christmas this year. There are some ways you can quickly learn techniques and try them in practice. In the modern world, you can use videos online and also, watch and follow along streams that have large audiences around the world.

So here are 3 beginner artistic endeavors you can try.

Sketching basics

Learning how to draw lines, shapes and shading is all part and parcel of sketching. It's something that is taught to artists in specific art schools, as their very first introduction to practical drawing. You can try this by following certain sketch guides online and also, watch long on YouTube. Sketching involves rough well...sketching. You will not be concerned with detail, just shapes, sizes, and getting the lines right. What do we mean this by?

• Lines: these are literally straight and curved lines that will be used to form the shape and design of things you draw. So focus on how you hold the pencil, the pressure you use, and the overall finesse of your technique.

• Shape: this is when you learn how to get the right shape of the things you draw. This concerns proposition, distance, and making sure that what you see is translated into the right kinds of basic shapes on the paper. An apple can be drawn as a circle, but what about a pear? Some say it's two squares, two circles and others say it's a cylindrical shape in terms of sketching. 

• Shade: quite evident, you’ll learn how to draw light, but drawing shadows.

Make it easy

If you would like to begin painting but don’t want to do complex pictures, you can just try these easy things to paint. These are some simple pictures, which you can paint and come to grips with the colors. It's something that is fun, but also informative. The pictures will already have chosen the kinds of shades and the paint involved. You’ll learn how to mix colors and get the portions just right to get the right shade. This is something that most of us want to know because we tend to have trouble making the right color for our own paintings.

Landscapes introduction

If you follow art in the news, you’ll notice that a fad has reached climax online. Bob Ross painted landscapes and he would have a show for half an hour, teaching beginners how to create vast landscape portraits. You can follow along online, on Twitch where it has a 24-hour stream. About 4-6,000 watch this stream at any one time, and they follow along because his instructions and techniques are so easy.