New to photorealism?

Are you new to photorealism?

Whenever anybody picks up pencil and paper to draw anything, they want their drawing to look accurate. And look indistinguishable from a high quality photograph.

Artists like Heather Rooney and Mark Krillen have earned recognition thanks to their awe-inspiring skills.

So, how exactly do you start to draw like them?

It's simple actually. You just have to think before drawing. Not just proportions, and shapes but overall composition of your drawing.

Many things might be missing but here's a quick summary to getting drawings come to life:

Acrylics/Air pastels/ Water color/ graphite are some mediums to get started with.

i) Draw mindfully. This is very easy to forget. Look at the reference photo every second, everytime you draw a line, a shape or any shadows and highlights. Don't draw it the way you think it should be. Draw it the way you see. Even if it is awkward to draw.

ii) Though some artists actually draw shapes by themselves without any grids, most usually trace or use a LCD projector or a grid to get the outlines correct. It's not cheating when accuracy matters.
If you don't want to trace, work out the shapes perfectly so that it resembles the reference closely.

iii) Always keep a light hand when drawing outlines. Gradually darken the lines in layers. Keep a good composure and be patient. Extremely detailed drawings take weeks to finish!

iv) Be open to criticism. Keep your lines to a minimum. If your drawing has contrast and apt shading, it will automatically look photorealistic.

v) Invest on quality tools. A good cartridge sketchpad, mechanical pencils and blending stump. You could get them easily at any local art store.