If the third Art Tutorial of Cubetoons helped you, you're in for a treat! In the fourth installment, JKR takes you through even more useful exercises to help you build your artistic skills. The main point to remember is "Practice. Practice until your hands fall off." Well, not that far, but a lot. So grab your pencils and paper and get ready for more drawing!

More than anything else, if you want to become an expert at art, you have to practice. Sometimes it is the hardest part of being an artist, even more so than those long, dark nights sitting alone in front of your computer with more caffeine than medically safe flowing through your veins as you try to finish a piece to meet your morning deadline. (And of course it doesn't help that the darn keyboard won't hold still at those times.)

Here are a few key exercises to help you practice your way to being the next Monet, Da Vinci, or Amend:

Practice Exercise the First: The Art of the Artist

For this exercise you're going to need a mirror. (Guess what for!) Since art is all about emotion (for it is emotion that every artist strives to invoke in the viewer, or some jazz like that), it is important to be able to capture human emotion. Stare into the mirror and make an emotional face. Angry, sad, gleeful, tired, deceptively repenting with a hint of tolerance, or whatever. Then try to pick out the major aspects of your face that show that emotion, and draw only those parts.

I was like "Grrrr" and then I was like "Huh?" and then...

For example, making a happy face you might pencil down the broad smile, dimples (if you're one of us so blessed to have them, for those with dimples are truly princes/princesses of the earth), and high eyebrows over slightly squinted eyes. Angry faces certainly can contain furrowed brows, crinkled noses, and sharp jagged teeth (if you're one of us so blessed to have them, for those with sharp jagged teeth are truly an advanced race of shark people). Try to make and draw as many different emotions as you can, and label them underneath as you go. This will help you get a better grasp when drawing people or characters.

Practice Exercise the Second: Simple Forms

Next find a few objects that are generally simple in shape and design. Perhaps a soda can, or coffee mug, or computer mouse. What you want to do is set the object apart from any other clutter (and if you're an artist, chances are good that you've got quite a bit of clutter) and draw it from different angles. If you are drawing something like a soda can, first draw from the side, then top, then at an angle, then laying on its side, etc.

Draw from as many angles as you can.

The point of this exercise is to get a better idea of three dimensional form. Since you want your art to have some depth (yes, even if you are doing two dimensional art) it will help to view an object and draw it from many different perspectives. Plus, it is a great way to practice your basic geometrical shapes, which is always a good thing.

Practice Exercise the Third: I'm sorry, your honor, I don't know what plagiarism is, honest.

An interesting thing about artists is that almost all of them are filthy thieves. Now, before you get the wrong idea, I certainly don't mean they go into grocery stores and steal loaves of bread because they are too poor to buy their own. Stealing things other people worked hard to obtain is NOT something you should ever do. (Seriously, just don't do it. I'll be pissed. And if you're that son of a biscuit who took my Magic cards in the 8 th grade I swear one of these days!) No, what I mean is that nearly all artists take pieces of other artist's work and modify it to make their own works. In the art world, we call this being "inspired" by another artist. In the writing world, they call it "you're going to jail now."

At any rate, those that have come before you have gotten a lot of practice in the art of borrowing styles and ideas from people who have come before them. Who better to learn from than the experts themselves? So, for the purpose of PRACTICE (and I can't stress that enough!), find a work by someone you admire and try to recreate it yourself. And no, going to the local 7/11 and photocopying it does not count.

Look out Mr. Peanut! A giant mouse!

By recreating a work of art you respect, you will pick up small bits of knowledge that no amount of Cubetoons tutorials could teach you. And by attempting a piece over and over, you will probably improve across the board at your drawing skills, until your work is very close to the original. And of course that is the point where you log onto eBay and- oh, uh, I mean- So anyway, give a shot at drawing Craigaroo, or some other character or piece of art, and see how it changes your own methods. Chances are good that after a few rounds of this exercise, you'll be well on your way to creating a brand new style of your own.

All that practicing sure makes an artist tired. But no naps now, we've got to move on to the next section.

Coming soon Lesson 5: I'm sick of drawing random crap.