Lots of people think they can't draw. Fact is, you probably can draw -- you simply don't draw. Most adults are scared of drawing -- if you overcome your fear and try to learn, you'll be amazed how quickly you can get the hang of it.

I'm not talking about intricate stuff here. I mean quick cartoons, capturing your ideas visually, inventing characters for stories and games, or just entertaining yourself, your friends, and your kids. These are all made up of simple shapes and lines. Once you can look at something and break it down into those shapes, you can draw anything.

In our DTP-saturated world, I've found people pay close attention to a hand drawn picture or poster, no matter how crude it is. Drawing is a skill well worth having!

Below I have collected 6 artists that have convinced me that I can draw. I found it tremendously helpful to study their work, break it down into simple shapes, and try to copy it. As it happens, 5 of the artists wear their technique on their sleeves and actually show you how to do it yourself!

Austin Kleon describes himself as a writer who draws. He blogs extensively about how he draws -- how he builds up his characters from very simple shapes and lines. Here's a sampler of his stuff...

A great use of drawing is making notes. Here's a couple of his highly visual mind maps...

His drawings can get fairly complex, but you can still see the basic "building blocks" that he describes in the face tutorial coming out in every picture.

Tom Gauld is a cartoonist for the Guardian and a freelance artist. His cartoons use incredibly simple shapes to create a world that is funny, thrilling, and tragic. Drawing on literary and sci-fi influences, as you browse his work you'll see how he adds simple accessories to stick figures to invent an infinite number of lonely characters:

I'd love to see a simple computer game based on this:

(from here)

And an adventure game based on this:

(from here)

Ed Emberley wrote a set of children's books that contain page after page of "recipes" that show how to build just about anything out of a few basic lines and shapes. His books are hard to find in the UK, but I love browsing any online pictures I can get.

And Austin Kleon shows that you don't need to be so precise when you copy these yourself:

Want the book? It's on Amazon. 

Dave Gray is more into "visual literacy" and visual thinking than straight out art. His site has some excellent tutorials for creating simple and effective drawings to get your ideas across.

Dan Roam wrote the book "Back of the Napkin: How to Solve Problems with Pictures".

He doesn't much discuss how to draw, focussing instead on what to draw. But once you've fiddled around with the artists above you'll have discovered your inner draughtsman or woman and will be ready to think about what to sketch out!

His site is here, but it doesn't seem to work just now.

Fiona Watt "wrote" (with assistance from many co-authors) 365 Things to Make and Do, an Usborne Activities book for kids. Me and my wife regularly visit a family with 3 children under 5, and when I discovered this book in their collection then reading it and trying the drawing activities was basically all I did each time we visited. In order to break me out of that habit, my wife had to buy me a copy of my own for Christmas.

There's a gallery of photos from that book below. If Usborne asks me to take them down, I will -- so look at them while you can. I'm including them to show what a great book this is. I thoroughly recommend it for children and grown ups! Buy it now: 365 Things to Make and Do.

So, do you still think you can't draw? Try copying art from each of these artists and I guarantee you'll soon be showing off drawings to colleagues and friends. When they say "I wish I could draw", you know where to send them!