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[2012 Resolution Thread] Draw Every Day!
NibCrom
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So how do you become a better artist? Practice! And that means drawing every day, no matter what.
A sketch, a doodle, a full-blown painting — it doesn't matter! Just draw something!
Sign up by making a post stating that you want to participate. Feel free to also list any art-related goals you have for the year (draw hands better, learn perspective, study color theory…).
Participants (in order of appearance):
MuddyParasol
"My goal is to stick with it no matter what life throws my way."
square
"My goals: learn proper basic anatomy and some digital painting."
skyturtle
"goal: draw from life practice"
XAL
"Goals:
-Fill all the empty sketchbooks I own.
-To not be a coward when it comes to value (darker darks, etc).
-Master copies.
-Produce more finished work.
-Learn how to use that damn tablet finally."
egaku
"Goals more specifically:
- drawing people, faces, anatomy in general
- digital painting
- colors (how do they work)
- hopefully make something interesting"
Roman
"Goals: Color, Better digital painting. Finish 100 full figure studies."
F87
"Goal: Post 7 drawings in this thread every Saturday."
akanekun
"Goals: Finish more pieces, learn more painting, revamp portfolio"
hadoken
"Goal: -Enjoy myself drawing stuff with pen.
-Draw recognizable real world objects (starting with dolls and teddybears)
-Also fix my scanner.
-play less Dota and draw instead."
Killatron008
"Goals:
-Sketch more frequently
-Gain a better grasp on natural anatomy
-Adjust to using drawing software other than Photoshop from time to time"
SaintElmosWire
"Goals:
-Work on concept artish style character and level sketches
-Get better at integrating illustrator and Photoshop
-Draw more!"
Golem
"My goals are to grow as an artist, I have a story I want to tell and I want my art to reach a level that I can tell that story and have people enjoy it. I want to increase the artistic styles I have available to me, as such I want to practice real life drawings, Penny Arcade Style Drawings, Bill Watterson Style (ie Calvin and Hobbes Style Drawings) and Beserk (ie gritty manga style)
Avraham
"I'll sign up to post sketches and doodles. I can be impatient and lazy to get to that perfection of practiced skill, so I want to make myself draw every day!"
Smof
"Ok. I guess my goal is just to learn to draw. Used to do it loads but gave up 5 years ago and now want to get back into it in a serious way. I feel like a lot of what I draw is flat and stiff so I primarily want to work on making solid looking forms with movement. Also better line work, learning to shade and learning anatomy. I think that'll do to start. "
Deko
"Goals:
-Actually fill all the pages of my sketchbook (a feat I have not yet accomplished despite having owned dozens of sketchbooks)
-Develop a better working habit and draw every day
-Complete 15-20 full-color digital illustrations for my portfolio
-Get enough practice in before I begin work on my comic book"
Rules
What if I fail?
First, stop thinking like that!
Second, your art can be as easy or difficult as you like. If a week is particularly hectic, ship in a bunch of stick figures and keep your resolution alive. Remember, quality does not matter, just do your best with the time you have.
Third, we can't legally admit to looking over your shoulder every hour of every day. If you don't do anything all week, then create all 7 art pieces on Saturday, no one is going to call you on it. Except your conscience.
And if you do turn into a Faily McFailington, you can always come back next week and try again. Just don't say you're going to "make it up later." You can't. When you miss a week, you miss a week.
What About Crits?
This is not a good place to discuss a particular piece of work at length.
If you would like criticism and feedback, it's best to create your very own personalized thread and link to it on your Saturday post.
Although criticism is very important to improving, the focus here is on motivating you to be an artist each and every single day of 2012.
But... but... I Don't Know What to Draw!
Beavotron's advice:
Slacktron's advice:
Nibcrom's advice:
Like last year, I will be drawing every day, but I will not be taking the time to scan them and post them in this thread due to some upcoming responsibilities.
Previous threads:
2011 Resolution Thread
2010 Resolution Thread
Some text stolen from Beavotron and Slacktron.
A sketch, a doodle, a full-blown painting — it doesn't matter! Just draw something!
Sign up by making a post stating that you want to participate. Feel free to also list any art-related goals you have for the year (draw hands better, learn perspective, study color theory…).
Participants (in order of appearance):
MuddyParasol
"My goal is to stick with it no matter what life throws my way."
square
"My goals: learn proper basic anatomy and some digital painting."
skyturtle
"goal: draw from life practice"
XAL
"Goals:
-Fill all the empty sketchbooks I own.
-To not be a coward when it comes to value (darker darks, etc).
-Master copies.
-Produce more finished work.
-Learn how to use that damn tablet finally."
egaku
"Goals more specifically:
- drawing people, faces, anatomy in general
- digital painting
- colors (how do they work)
- hopefully make something interesting"
Roman
"Goals: Color, Better digital painting. Finish 100 full figure studies."
F87
"Goal: Post 7 drawings in this thread every Saturday."
akanekun
"Goals: Finish more pieces, learn more painting, revamp portfolio"
hadoken
"Goal: -Enjoy myself drawing stuff with pen.
-Draw recognizable real world objects (starting with dolls and teddybears)
-Also fix my scanner.
-play less Dota and draw instead."
Killatron008
"Goals:
-Sketch more frequently
-Gain a better grasp on natural anatomy
-Adjust to using drawing software other than Photoshop from time to time"
SaintElmosWire
"Goals:
-Work on concept artish style character and level sketches
-Get better at integrating illustrator and Photoshop
-Draw more!"
Golem
"My goals are to grow as an artist, I have a story I want to tell and I want my art to reach a level that I can tell that story and have people enjoy it. I want to increase the artistic styles I have available to me, as such I want to practice real life drawings, Penny Arcade Style Drawings, Bill Watterson Style (ie Calvin and Hobbes Style Drawings) and Beserk (ie gritty manga style)
Avraham
"I'll sign up to post sketches and doodles. I can be impatient and lazy to get to that perfection of practiced skill, so I want to make myself draw every day!"
Smof
"Ok. I guess my goal is just to learn to draw. Used to do it loads but gave up 5 years ago and now want to get back into it in a serious way. I feel like a lot of what I draw is flat and stiff so I primarily want to work on making solid looking forms with movement. Also better line work, learning to shade and learning anatomy. I think that'll do to start. "
Deko
"Goals:
-Actually fill all the pages of my sketchbook (a feat I have not yet accomplished despite having owned dozens of sketchbooks)
-Develop a better working habit and draw every day
-Complete 15-20 full-color digital illustrations for my portfolio
-Get enough practice in before I begin work on my comic book"
Rules
- You are to submit one drawing per each day this year, starting… now! It can be as big or as small as you want, in any medium, any style. For photographers, one picture. It must not be something you already made. It shouldn't be something you did for school or work, it should be a drawing you made to help you reach the goals you set out to reach in this thread. (but if it doesn't pertain specifically to one of your goals, it still counts.)
- Do not submit your drawings each day. Saturday is the last day of the week, Make a post and dump all 7 drawings from that week into a post. Don't spoiler it.
- For the sake of sanity while loading this thread, keep the file size as small as you can (400x600 works pretty well), you can always link to the super-huge-sized original.
- You're invited, but not required, to include any reasonable commentary with your Saturday art post, AND for those who do post on Saturday, you're allowed one (1) feedback post on the following non-art weekdays (yes, that's Sunday through Friday). This isn't a thread for crits and advice, but it's all good fun to high-five after a job well done.
What if I fail?
First, stop thinking like that!
Second, your art can be as easy or difficult as you like. If a week is particularly hectic, ship in a bunch of stick figures and keep your resolution alive. Remember, quality does not matter, just do your best with the time you have.
Third, we can't legally admit to looking over your shoulder every hour of every day. If you don't do anything all week, then create all 7 art pieces on Saturday, no one is going to call you on it. Except your conscience.
And if you do turn into a Faily McFailington, you can always come back next week and try again. Just don't say you're going to "make it up later." You can't. When you miss a week, you miss a week.
What About Crits?
This is not a good place to discuss a particular piece of work at length.
If you would like criticism and feedback, it's best to create your very own personalized thread and link to it on your Saturday post.
Although criticism is very important to improving, the focus here is on motivating you to be an artist each and every single day of 2012.
But... but... I Don't Know What to Draw!
Beavotron's advice:
Here are some assignments for people who are stumped:
Observational Drawing:
1. Put together a still life and draw it from 3 different vantage points.
2. Take a striped piece of cloth, arrange it however you want and draw it, paying attention to how the stripes move with the folds along the cloth
3. Take a complex object, like a bicycle, in your mind frame off just a section and draw that section, paying attention to composition.
4. Go to the local museum and do some drawings of various skulls and bones
5. Go to your local park or cafe and do gestural drawings of people
6. Find a local life drawing meet up or course and sign up
7. Do some gestural drawings from http://www.posemaniacs.com
8. Cut a cabbage or other vegetable in half and draw what you see. pay attention to line variation
9. Draw only the negative space of a tree or chair (or both)
10. Take a trip to the zoo, draw some animals
11. Take a trip to the library, dig through some art books, or scour the internet to find some work that inspires you and try to mimic it. Pay attention to what makes it good.
Character Design:
(taken from "Prepare to Board" by Nancy Beiman)
1. Take a human character and transform it into an animal, showing one step in between
2. Make 4 numbered lists, in the first list put 20 different species (animals, human being, aliens..whatever) in the second, genders (male, female), third time periods (1400s, jurassic period) fourth age groups (infant, toddler, tween, teen, adult, elderly) Now using a random number generator (lots on the internet) pick random numbers from each list so that you're left with a species, gender, time period and age.
so for example, for one of mine i got kangaroo, male, roman period, teen. Now draw that character.
3. Create a pair of characters that contrast large and small
4. Draw characters that illustrate a single line from a nursery rhyme
Environmental Design
1. go to http://wikitravel.org and click "random page" you'll get a random place. Do some research and come up with some sketches based on this place.
2. To add another dynamic to the above task, do a series of lists, one with time period, another with colors. use a random number generator, and from these lists, get a time period and a main color that you have to incorporate into the enviro
for example: Belize, 1400s, blue
3. Do another random list thing, this time, make a list of places (open space, mars, under the sea, antarctica), type of environment: (landscape, castle, room interior, bathroom etc) time period: (jurassic, 1980s etc)
so for example, I did one and got: open space, bathroom, 1980s. So you gotta draw a bathroom floating around in open space with 1980's stylings haha.
Observational Drawing:
1. Put together a still life and draw it from 3 different vantage points.
2. Take a striped piece of cloth, arrange it however you want and draw it, paying attention to how the stripes move with the folds along the cloth
3. Take a complex object, like a bicycle, in your mind frame off just a section and draw that section, paying attention to composition.
4. Go to the local museum and do some drawings of various skulls and bones
5. Go to your local park or cafe and do gestural drawings of people
6. Find a local life drawing meet up or course and sign up
7. Do some gestural drawings from http://www.posemaniacs.com
8. Cut a cabbage or other vegetable in half and draw what you see. pay attention to line variation
9. Draw only the negative space of a tree or chair (or both)
10. Take a trip to the zoo, draw some animals
11. Take a trip to the library, dig through some art books, or scour the internet to find some work that inspires you and try to mimic it. Pay attention to what makes it good.
Character Design:
(taken from "Prepare to Board" by Nancy Beiman)
1. Take a human character and transform it into an animal, showing one step in between
2. Make 4 numbered lists, in the first list put 20 different species (animals, human being, aliens..whatever) in the second, genders (male, female), third time periods (1400s, jurassic period) fourth age groups (infant, toddler, tween, teen, adult, elderly) Now using a random number generator (lots on the internet) pick random numbers from each list so that you're left with a species, gender, time period and age.
so for example, for one of mine i got kangaroo, male, roman period, teen. Now draw that character.
3. Create a pair of characters that contrast large and small
4. Draw characters that illustrate a single line from a nursery rhyme
Environmental Design
1. go to http://wikitravel.org and click "random page" you'll get a random place. Do some research and come up with some sketches based on this place.
2. To add another dynamic to the above task, do a series of lists, one with time period, another with colors. use a random number generator, and from these lists, get a time period and a main color that you have to incorporate into the enviro
for example: Belize, 1400s, blue
3. Do another random list thing, this time, make a list of places (open space, mars, under the sea, antarctica), type of environment: (landscape, castle, room interior, bathroom etc) time period: (jurassic, 1980s etc)
so for example, I did one and got: open space, bathroom, 1980s. So you gotta draw a bathroom floating around in open space with 1980's stylings haha.
Slacktron's advice:
Tell stories with pictures.
Nibcrom's advice:
Start a larger project like a comic or story and work on art that supports that project: character designs, environments...
Like last year, I will be drawing every day, but I will not be taking the time to scan them and post them in this thread due to some upcoming responsibilities.
Previous threads:
2011 Resolution Thread
2010 Resolution Thread
Some text stolen from Beavotron and Slacktron.
Iruka on
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Posts
Twitter
My goal is to stick with it no matter what life throws my way.
Goals:
-Fill all the empty sketchbooks I own.
-To not be a coward when it comes to value (darker darks, etc).
-Master copies.
-Produce more finished work.
-Learn how to use that damn tablet finally.
Goals more specifically:
- drawing people, faces, anatomy in general
- digital painting
- colors (how do they work)
- hopefully make something interesting
OP has been updated. If you guys haven't started drawing yet, start today!
Sign ups are still open.
Goal: Post 7 drawings in this thread every Saturday.
-Draw recognizable real world objects (starting with dolls and teddybears)
-Also fix my scanner.
I'll try to scan a drawing of Simba on sunday if I fix the scanner, this will be fun
-edit- I forgot, play less Dota and draw instead.
Goals:
-Sketch more frequently
-Gain a better grasp on natural anatomy
-Adjust to using drawing software other than Photoshop from time to time
9th January
10th January
11th January
12th January
13th January
(First sketch with my new tablet)
14th January
Get to posting, people!
Random guy in a chair.
Just some loose sketching.
I love drawing eyes, they're what I draw when I can't think of something.
A character sketch for a friend's comic.
Experimenting with the watercolors in OC.
w1d2.
w1d3.
w1d4.
w1d5.
w1d6.
I think my draw from life will be all hands and my dog.
And tile art for a game I am making.
Sun
Mon
Lots and lots of gestures
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
1.9
1.10
1.11
1.12
1.13
1.14
-Edit-
Screw, Canon.
I started on
Wednesday - Drawing of a young Simba plushie
Thursday- Trying out anatomy drawings using only sphere shapes
Friday- Drew a set of bridgman hands
Saturday- Lots of Contour drawings as suggested by Nicolaides
Sunday (today) - Did both a countour drawing and then tried spherical thingy on a naked lady.
Sorry that I can't scan at the moment, but this idea is working at least
I'm going to be throwing each day's drawing into one image. The last one this week was actually a texture/color experiment that I made into the background.
It's not too late to sign up either. This thread is all about forming good drawing habits and improving your work!
I tried several self portraits without looking at the paper. This was my best attempt.
Mon
Lots of gestures.
Tues
Wed
Thur
Ref a knight statue on my bookshelf.
The pose leaves a lot to be desired.
Fri
Sat
Did more blind contour drawings and then i booted up my old megaman X games and tried drawing the sprite art.
Missed the last three days due to a lan party.
Mon
Monday seems to be working out as a good day to do gesture drawings
Tues
I've made a goal of practicing 100 hand drawings. This is number 1/100. Might as well start with the bones I figure.
Wed
Some doodles for a card to a sick friend.
Thur
Didn't have much time Thursday.
Fri
I did gesture after gesture of hands.
My attempt at figuring out the dimensions of my hand
Sat
It was suggested that I do some tracings of hands to get a better feel for the construction.
Will be going more serious this week.
Goals:
-Work on concept artish style character and level sketches
-Get better at integrating illustrator and Photoshop
-Draw more!
A old corridor and a crappy batman since I'm playing Arkam City
Currently at 37/100 hand drawings
Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
Now back to drawing...