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A Beginning Artist ...um... Zerinan's thread.
Zerinan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I dunno if I need my name in the thread, but it seemed like others had it. Anyway, I've been drawing "seriously" for about three months now, but I've doodled off and on for like a year or two.
Landscape I drew from reference in a summer drawing class:
Shoe! Another reference drawing from the summer class:
The final for that class was a pen drawing with three objects of our choice. I went with Fallout stuff:
Drawing from a screen cap of Coraline:
Drawing from a screen cap from the 9 movie trailer:
Original picture inspired by a They Might Be Giants song:
Recently got Prototype, and tried my hand at drawing Alex Mercer from a screenshot:
And the next few are original characters of mine that I've draw in the last week or so:
And this is a semi-comic page I drew today:
Landscape I drew from reference in a summer drawing class:
Shoe! Another reference drawing from the summer class:
The final for that class was a pen drawing with three objects of our choice. I went with Fallout stuff:
Drawing from a screen cap of Coraline:
Drawing from a screen cap from the 9 movie trailer:
Original picture inspired by a They Might Be Giants song:
Recently got Prototype, and tried my hand at drawing Alex Mercer from a screenshot:
And the next few are original characters of mine that I've draw in the last week or so:
And this is a semi-comic page I drew today:
Zerinan on
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This is important.
In any case, you might want to stop drawing anime style characters for a while. If you want to use a variety of styles later on, drawing too much in one style can hamstring you. Also, everyone and their mom does it, so you wouldn't stand out very much.
They're pretty awesome and will help you to no end.
At the moment, I would drop doing colour. It's not improving you in anyway right now and will be better tackled when you have a more indepth understand of perspective, construction and values. Also get yourself a sketchbook and a mechanical pencil and draw everyday. Also, welcome to the forums, we may seem like a bunch of assholes but honestly, everyone is here to help and sometimes we need to be dicks doing it. I guarentee you though, if you work hard and pay attention you'll get a lot better. I was around your level 2 and a bit years ago and have learnt pretty well much everything I know from the people on this forum.
The more you study from life, the more it will benefit you.
When it comes to figures/people, start looking for the gesture in a pose. Try and follow the curve of the spine to get a good feel of the rhythm and flow of the human body.
I'd tell you to do quick box studies, but I don't have a proper example of it with me.
As for the actual construction of a drawing, I gave Loomis's Fun With a Pencil a run-through today and would suggest going through that before touching his other books. Try not to be offended by the hilarious racial stereotypes.
Also, the link in the discussions/tutorials thread needs to be fixed as this link has all six books, as opposed to Grifter's four
The download weighs in at 150 something megs.
He's got some wonderful summaries in there that are much easier to digest than "Iron Sides" Edwards, and the examples aren't bad to boot.
I have no idea what kind of art I'd like to do, it's mostly just for fun anyway. And yeah, I know everyone uses an anime style, but it's basically what I started with, and just kept working on it. What would you suggest I try?
Yeah, I've basically been using color to try and distract from the drawings themselves. And, I've been using your average HB pencil to draw, is mechanical a better tool to draw with?
Don't worry, I've been hanging around with the bunch in Critical Failures for quite a while, so not really new to the forums, or the people in 'em.
Some prefer them, I hated them to start with, but have switched in the past 5 months. However, mechanicals are great when you're on the go because you've always got a sharp point. As of now, I'm drawing with a HB or 2B mechanical and I keep a regular 6B pencil for when I need some dark values.
Just what Godfather said- draw from life.
there is a HUGE hate for anime style here
and YES lots of people who draw exclusively in an anime style do not tend to improve much on certain things. It is easy to get stuck in a rut when you draw exclusively in a certain stylized way. Good stylization uses life as a reference. it manipulates that which is real, so in order to be real good at manipulating it, you have to understand the real thing first... does that make sense?
but there are certain WELL respected artists (even on here... coughcoughwakkacoughcoughsonic) who started out drawing shitty ass anime crap and you can still find it in happy little corners of the innernet
you said this is your hobby, so draw what makes you happy.
It shouldn't be something that stresses you out.
It's something you can improve upon in your leisure.
A lot of people on here are drawing with the strict aim of improving. If it's your hobby, it should always remain your hobby, so don't let it get you too down (it still will... it always does.)
some good advice in here on some books you can try out if you wanna improve a bit, and do try to do observational drawings. They ARE the bread and butter of improving in drawing.
but for the love of god... do not stop drawing the things that make you happy.
Very few hobby artists just sit there doing observational life drawings. they are not as fun to most people as drawing their favorite characters, or made up scenes or...whatever floats your boat.
Enjoying drawing is just as important as doing all the studies if not more important. this is something I have grown to learn over the years and didn't always understand.
When I started out, I did not do studies. I drew little creatures and shit... I'm sure they still exist on the internet. I developed a love of drawing by drawing things I liked, and KEPT doing that and STILL do that as well as doing the life drawings and stuff to keep me interested and happy!
but from what i see from you, you HAVE been doing observational drawings as well as the fun stuff, so you're on the right track.
Also, I'm going to recommend you continue to use color.
i don't believe in the thought that they should be mutually exclusive and that you should become really good at one, then start doing the other.
more often than not, artists who don't experiment with both end up not being able to finish anything in color because they get great at drawing, but don't know the first thing about color... so they just stop at the drawing because they don't want to ruin it with their shitty color job.
if you were to go to a formal art school, they teach you both color theory and drawing at the same time. no reason to stop coloring.
also, it's like the funnest part, seriously.
Also, I use a mechanical pencil. they're awesome. it just takes a lot more effort to get a good range of values out of them. You get great smooth lines though since the point's always sharp, so i guess get mechanical and regular pencils, play around with them till to you find something you're comfortable with.
I use cheapy bic pencils, they're just as good as any of the fancy ones, especially if you put nice leads in them (you can buy nice lead packs at your local art store)
have fun!
i think you're doing well for a beginner artist
it's a lot of fun and really rewarding if you keep with it.
I'll second this. The book doesn't take all that long to go through, and has some really useful advice (even if the scientific information is bullshit). It sets a good foundation for drawing from observation, but be aware that if you'll need to work beyond these basics if you want to get really good.
You might find this beginner's tutorial helpful as well.
Y'know you might have a really good point here, I think I might be stuck in a "sucking at colour" rut right now because I have been too focused on values and construction.
i think there are a lot of artists around here who are in the same boat as you.
they do lots of great black and white line drawings.. nothing in color because their color work tends to be lackluster.
double edged sword
I draw on my own experiences. I started doing both at the same time
I don't know if I'm shying away from doing colour (I hope not) but I certainly haven't been focused enough on it.
you have to learn them both by practice and studying
they don't split it up that way in art school, you learn it all at once
so why fragment it for yourself?
i guess i can understand the time thing? i guess?
QFT
I'm living proof! *anime-x_x facial expression*
also, i'm going to go ahead and make a mully post real quick
I... I don't know how that's helpful.... at all.
...how else would you like us to phrase it? Make it longer, give it an obvious handle (not just a grey box). Look up some sword references to get a good idea of what one actually looks like....
Oh you'll find we are pretty big on insulting each other....it means we like you......or hate you, I can't remember how that goes again.
Actually, I have all six books in my link too. Though, having them separated out is not a bad idea to do along with the combined .RAR file. Please, check my link again. I took a look at it this afternoon to verify what you said but it seems that you're mistaken.
Well, now I know what it takes to get you to post in the AC.