Draw Something has taken over your life. The trouble is that you aren't very good at drawing, or Draw Something. Fret not, we've got some pro tips on how to make your Draw Something experience Drawsome.

A bigger canvas

Have you realised playing on your iPhone is awful? That's because the screen is so small. To make your Draw Something gaming a lot easier, get a bigger screen. Android smartphones, or the iPad will provide you with a bigger screen and therefore a bigger canvas to draw on. Those amazing pictures your mates are sending you, a fiver says they're drawn on a big screen.

Get yourself a stylus

Remember when you dabbled in the odd bit of finger painting as a kid? Remember how your parents said it was amazing? Remember when you found that painting in the loft decades later and it was awful? Yet here you are in 2012 trying to do the same and win at Draw Something.

Get yourself a stylus to use with your smartphone or tablet and your drawing will be so much better.

 

There are several styluses available on the market. The RED5 Touch Pencil (£7.95) is a fun cheap option; the Griffin Technology Stylus colour (£11.95), is slightly more "professional" looking yet very good, as is the Wacom Bamboo Stylus for iPad. If you are looking to push the boat out, the Griffin Technology Stylus + Pen (£29.99) has - as the name suggests - a ball point pen so you can use it to write with when you aren't playing Draw Something. 

Tips from Zynga

What better way to up your game, than by getting tips from those that make said game? That's right Zynga tell us that to improve your Draw Something game you should do the following:

- Draw an arrow to help point out your word in busy drawings.

- Create an animation using the trash button. Especially good for words like "sunburn" and "werewolf" where you can create before and after images. 

- Remember any shared jokes or personal references when drawing for a friend.

- Combine two images to make words like "star + fish"

- It's hard to draw "HULK" without green. Buy the Mardi Gras package first to get the much-needed green and purple.

- Use the eraser tool to refine messy edges.

- Checkout other people's drawings and get inspiration

www.facebook.com/playdrawsomething

Tips from Jonathan Pugh, cartoonist at The Daily Mail

"Think about what you are about to draw before you draw it," Pugh, who was previously at The Times, tells us. "Things don't have to be realistic, so simplify it with elemental shapes."

Musing on what your old art teacher at school used to say probably helps too, but for Pugh the key takeaway appears to be that you need to catch the essence of what you are drawing rather than trying to be too realistic.

"Catch something of it. If you are drawing an elephant, start with the trunk."

www.pughcartoons.co.uk

Tips from Peter Brookes, The Times comment-page cartoonist

Cartoonist Brookes has won numerous awards (he is currently the British Press Awards Cartoonist of the Year) and knows a thing or two about drawing. At the start of his day he picks a subject, refines the punch line and then by the end of his day has to have it drawn and finished for the paper before he goes home.

"Keep it simple" is the over-riding feeling from Brooks when we ask for tips to make us better at Draw Something. "Keep on looking. Whatever you are drawing, be aware that when you are drawing it, you need to look intensely at what you are drawing."

If that sounds cryptic, it shouldn't. Brookes explains that the best way to draw something is to have a point of reference, something to look at and detail. There is no point just looking at something once and then trying to draw it.

Tips form Oscar Whicheloe, a fine artist

"Imagination plays a big part in the game, if you can't picture something, you find it hard to draw it," Whicheloe explains.

"Simple tricks, like letting your fingers just glide over the screen, almost taking the line for a walk, can make the brain work things out on the page, trial and error, not being afraid to make mistakes."

The most important tip from Whicheloe? "Practice, practice, practice!"  

www.oscarw.com

Your tips

Do you play Draw Something? If so share your tips in the comments below...