I need to learn how to draw?

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Hi! I own multiple websites and I don't have people working with me, so I have to create my own artwork for them. Basically, the way I have done this in the past (for the artwork I have now), is I have either drawn it on parer in real life, then scanned it... then lined/colored it in Photoshop... uploaded it. Or, what I usually do is sketch it in Photoshop, then line and color it and go from there. I'm having a LOT of problems no matter what way I try. I -think- I have the software and supplies I need. I have 2 Wacom tablets with pen pressure (though I do have some trouble getting the pen pressure to work most of the time), I have Photoshop CS2, Adobe Illustrator CS6), Adobe Elements 8, and Corel Draw 7.0. I have purchased all of the software myself... some I bought at garage sales, the Photoshop CS2 I actually broke down and bought when it was brand new and first came out online when I was way younger. Anyway. What I am asking is... how can I draw in general? I want to draw multiple things. First off... I need to draw cats and dogs. Especially the legs... I just can't! And if I can draw it okay (which I can't), on paper, once I scan it and start to line it in Photoshop, the lines look corny, and all bad. I'm not as bad at drawing the objects as I am at drawing animals... with animals I just plain CAN'T! I have looked at dozen of tutorials on the internet, and cannot afford books in the store, as I am financially tied up right now. I'm not sure what to do. These sites need artwork, and I feel if I could become better at drawing, I feel I work work on my sites more and they would be released into the public much faster. Another thing I don't think I will ever master, but I feel I must ask anyway, is... I need to re-draw a map I have drawn, which has multiple buildings, and needs roads/trees, okay. As of right now there are no roads or trees, just buildings on the grass. The grass was "drawn" with a pre-made Photoshop brush, (I would like to draw the grass myself), and the main problem is: the buildings look like they are floating on the grass... they just look like they were just pasted there. I can't get to understand the depth perception and shading to make them look like they actually BELONG there. I also would love to put roads in the map! I tried to, after working on roads for about an hour, I zoomed out and they looked so, so BAD! Like the lines were all just not right looking, so just used the pre-made grass brush and created a new layer and just drew the buildings on there. Can anybody shine any light on this topic or point me in the right direction? YouTube videos or articles/pages will be helpful please! If you would like me to, I will be more than happy to post the map I have now, and several of the animals and objects I have on both of the sites for examples of what I mean! Thank you in advance to anybody who is willing to post! Thank you!

Go back to square one when it comes to buildings, and get yourself a few straight edges. Draw a horizontal line and a square that will represent your building (preferably on one of the sides so you can see the side of the "building"). Draw lines from your focus point to the four points of your square. Keep doing it until you can grasp depth perception. It'll come to you.

My advice on animals would be to look at real-life references, like a photo. Also practicing the shape of an animal's legs helps.

For the most part: Practice. There's plenty of websites out there that host art and provide a critiquing function, so others can provide helpful input. Hope this helped a little bit.

Hi! Thank you for your reply. No matter what, I still can't draw. I'm thinking of giving up at this point. I'm not sure what to do. I've even looked at coloring book images to see how they draw their images. I don't like the idea of copying other people's art, so I don't trace anything. I remember back when I was in girl scouts, we went to this art museum class "thing' (lol)< and they took us to this art room, and we each were given an object to draw, and I remember the teach kind of picked on me and told me that my drawing didn't even match well at all with what I had to draw. I felt kind of bad, like I was being picked on. I also remember the same exact day, we did draw buildings, and mine came out bad. I guess I'm just bad at drawing, and it's just a dead end for me. :/

Like I said before, it takes a lot of practice. Mostly over the course of years.

I've been drawing for about ten years and have only recently gotten the results I wanted. It just takes time and a lot of consistent practice.

I'm pretty good at drawing. The first thing I can tell you is forget the idea that people know how to draw specific things. If you can draw, you can draw everything, it doesn't matter what. I recommend the book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I don't know if the brain thing is true, but this book is genius, it's how I learned. It's better if you forget what you are drawing. You aren't drawing a hand, you are drawing a particular pattern of light and dark or the edges of things. See things in the abstract, as collections of lines, all you have to do is copy those lines, giving them the same relationship to each other that you see in the object. Also, start drawing from life, keep a sketchbook. And don't worry if they don't look good. It isn't about the end product, but about the process (also don't sign them). In the book I mentioned, one of the exercises is drawing from a picture, but upside down. What people tend to do is look at something like a hand, then realize they have to draw a hand, then call up their mental picture of what a hand is supposed to look like. Forget that. This is what kids do, they see a face, then call up their "symbol" for an eye, their "symbol" for a mouth, instead of seeing what the mouth actually looks like. Another good exercise is blind contour drawing. Time a session for 5 minutes and draw something without looking at the paper once. Pretend the pencil is following the actual contour. Do hundreds of these, without regard to how coherent they look. Eventually you will get a feel for drawing what's hitting your eye, not the symbols generated by your brain.

I wouldn't worry about computer tools until you can get this on paper.

try learning graphic design too - there's probably a web based course out there somewhere