Lumi's Draw Thread

Luminovia · February 2015

Uh, sorry if I'm dong anything wrong, but... I'm assuming that people make a separate thread for their own artwork to post. I'm right, r-right?? You have no idea how bad I am with instructions, even if I've read them 5 times over.

Um... Anyway, if that's correct, I guess I'm making my own little thread for myself and stuff I make. I've been drawing for a good 3 or so years now, but the only criticism I've really received was from my older sister or her friends, or just some random person on deviantART. I'm not sure if I'm right for this site though, because I do mostly fan art and video game concepts, but a lot of the threads seem to be just... Original stuff.

Personally, I often wonder to myself if I started out wrong with anatomy and the like and if I can even fix it.

Regardless, I'd like to see what you guys think. Again, sorry if I'm screwing up.

Two pieces of my more recent stuff, the rest isn't great:

Iruka · February 2015

Hey there!

First off, you are in the right place, no worries. Welcome to the AC. If you are looking for critique we are here to help.

how old are you/Are you in school currently?

Luminovia wrote: »

Um... Anyway, if that's correct, I guess I'm making my own little thread for myself and stuff I make. I've been drawing for a good 3 or so years now, but the only criticism I've really received was from my older sister or her friends, or just some random person on deviantART. I'm not sure if I'm right for this site though, because I do mostly fan art and video game concepts, but a lot of the threads seem to be just... Original stuff.

Personally, I often wonder to myself if I started out wrong with anatomy and the like and if I can even fix it.

If you can already feel that you aren't getting the level of critique you want, and that DA comments aren't propelling you forward, you are in a great position. You certainly aren't stuck with what you've learned about anatomy from drawing cartoons and anime, whatever time and effort you are willing to put into studying will benefit you.

We usually try to critique folks on their general skillset to help them improve an an artist overall, rather than nitpick little errors in individual pieces (though that happens to). Fanart/video game concepts are certainly allowed on the forum, So feel free to post them, just be aware that anything you post is subject to critique here (not like DA where you have to specify, or whatever goes on over there these days.)

You'll probably notice that more in depth comments come for people working on their fundamentals. I thought the biggest hurdle for new artists was convincing them to accept critiques, but more and more it seems to be that there's not a lot of clear information out there on what it means to "study fundamentals" and just to "study" in general. There is a lot of good information in Tidus's thread: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/195793/metal-tidus53s-sketchbook-revengeance#latest

I suggest reading through some threads on the board and trying to take in what information you can.

If you want to help people around here help you, here's a few things you can tell us about yourself:

What are you goals as an artist, if you have any? Is it a hobby? do you want to do it for a career?

What are your influences? What artists do you like and admire, and why? If you need help thinking about this question, we had an enrichment on it:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/190342/jun-monthly-enrichment-finding-inspiration?new=1

What sort of fundamental drawing have you done, if any?

Anyway, again, welcome to the forum. Dont be afraid to PM me if you have any general questions about using the board.

Luminovia · February 2015

Hi! Oh, good. The rules make the forums seem a lot scarier than I thought.

I'm 16, and currently still in high school, unfortunately.

Ah, sweet! I think I really do need a bit of critique. I've only ever gotten little bits of information on what on the drawings themselves I can fix. Not as much on the general aspect of my art style(s?). I added the (s?) because I seem to hop over to different styles every now and then. Thanks for linking that, I'll be sure to check that thread out.

For my goals, I... I think I kinda want to be at least average in all different areas. I don't really aim for realism, mainly because I plan on becoming a video game artist. I think my best approach would be more towards semi-realism, maybe a bit towards the anime side? For example, Fire Emblem: Awakening - http://i.ytimg.com/vi/C-XjRwIF68A/maxresdefault.jpg

This would work well, too. I've always been interested in styles like this, but I'm still trying to figure that out because I use Paint Tool SAI as a virtual medium instead of Photoshop, and I've only really seen this style used by Photoshop users - http://p2.i.ntere.st/538a275489922b5d8daaff728cc7c57d_480.jpg

It did start out as a hobby, you're not wrong; but over time, I've started to realize that maybe it is more of a talent than a hobby. So, I decided to use it towards things I like, and since video games are always there and I've always loved them, I thought it would be a good idea if I started drawing for video games. I've already done the art for one or two of my sister's games for game jams, but I'm determined I can do better.

My influences, you can probably guess, mostly just... games and anime, I think. It's usually just video game concept characters I make up and things I watch. I admire a lot of artists, though it's not really centered on a few particular people. It's more of "Oh, that drawing looks cool! *like/favorite*" sort of thing, but lately, there has been one artist. He's inspired me a bunch. He worked on 3D animation though, but, well... Actually, he died a few days ago, and I think now he's really my biggest source of inspiration. He was amazing. http://montyoum.deviantart.com/art/The-Gang-Alt-wear-483254499

I also really like this person's style as well: http://ry-spirit.tumblr.com/
As well as my sister's boyfriend: http://kylepulver.tumblr.com/post/93035778240/drawin-for-coreys-birthday#notes
And I've always liked this person's art too: http://chuwenjie.tumblr.com/

In terms of actual fundamental drawing, I haven't really done much. Maybe like in art class they would have us draw someone on your right or left or whatever, but I don't remember much about that, considering that teacher only taught for a year.

Thank you very much! Happy to be here!

Iruka · February 2015

At 16 you are in a pretty good position, if you take just a little time each day to work on your fundamental skills you'll really open up your artistic skills and be a flexible asset to a team when you are ready to get a career started.

I want to note that, a bunch of the artists around here either are working professionals or are trying to be working professionals, so sometimes the advice given seems a little more serious than the more general, positive advice given elsewhere. Personally, I ended up here when I was younger because I took it so seriously and I wanted the people around me to be honest, realistic and strait forward. That sort of critique gets heavy though, and so I think its important that you, especially at this point, try to also keep it fun for yourself. You can have fun while working on your fundamentals, so remember not to take advice as "You have to stop doing the things you like and learn to draw like Michelangelo". Everyone here is either walking down the same path you are, or has gone down one pretty similar. Keep an open mind about what you need to do to improve, and you'll save yourself a lot of pain in the future.

All that being said, a huge mistake a lot of artists make when they first start out is thinking that "learning to draw realistically" is something that is going to be at odds with whatever style they like, be that anime or more western cartoons like adventure time, but studying and improving your anatomy, construction and form is going to require you to look away from anime so you can expand your technical skills. I posted a little about it in the anatomy enrichment, I'll pull out a quote so I'm not retyping a bunch of stuff:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/187701/mar-monthly-enrichment-anatomy#latest

Iruka wrote: »

Studying from life doesn't mean you'll be stuck painting realism.
Doing still lives and anatomy studies doesn't need to 100% directly translate into the visual nature of your art. If you are planning to mostly draw cartoons, that's fine, but a master study here and there wont kill you. It is a mental exercise as much as it is a visual one. You will learn how to translate form in ways that you hadn't before, and you can apply that to anything you're heart desires. You must try to draw new things in new ways to push yourself forward.

On studying in general:
Occasionally you run into the novice artist who thinks either "This doesn't apply to me" "I COULD draw realistically if I WANTED to" or "I just don't have the time to study". These attitudes will always hold you back. I do think its important to set goals that fit with the career and and visual aesthetics that you desire for your art, but its important to not loose track what is technical study. Some parts of drawing are objective and purely technical pursuits, and they are essential for learning how to see. If you cannot accurately draw a square on a table, you cant accurately translate the crazy shit you see in your head. Anatomy can test your ability to translate movement, emotion, light, form and texture all at once. If you dedicate time to working at it, you will see benefits

Think about your end goals.
All that being said, Knowing what you want to do with anatomy its a good way to make your studies feel useful. Do you want to be able to construct Imaginary figures? Would you like to place heavy importance on nailing likeness for portraits? Would you like to focus on motion for animation and cartooning? Push yourself in directions that make sense for your artistic goals. Breaking down anatomy into geometric shapes makes for better character construction and is a nice transition from simple shape studies. Photo studies are good for trying to work on rendering, and studying materials. Skeletal/muscular studies can help with building imagined figures in a believable way, even without the most stellar reference. Drawing from live models helps you observe more directly how skin and muscles adjust to movement and stretch over bones, and give you less barriers when reading depth and form

Be accurate and be diligent, keep studying in your normal routine
A lot of times people abandon studying because they've left school. In school you take classes and push yourself to do 30 hour drawings of some perfectly rendered figure, and then never go back. If you don't need highly polished anatomically correct work in your portfolio, remember that is not the only reason to study and pursue technical accuracy. It is just as useful to do a few hours of study here and there as it is to work at a long term painting. Plot out studies in a way that make sense for you. Don't overwhelm your workload with lofty expectations, just try to maximize your actual learning and information retention.

Popular to link to on the forum is http://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals, and its a good place to start as it will give you an idea of things you can actually do, and not just abstract concepts to work on. We also have our enrichments, Character Construction is a good one for you to consider, and Simple Shapes Theres also Proko: https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV/videos

I'll also say, expand your interests. You don't have to like every piece of art you come across, but you should be looking to expose yourself to everything. Art history is something you'll want to get down with, but most highschools don't offer a proper course. I got exposed to a lot of art through super PBS ass specials like these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o437CjNWgv0
or http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/theme/1/index.html

But I did take for granted how being exposed to the idea that art was more than the manga I was consuming as a kid would help me grow as an artist later. I didn't always respect what I was looking at for what it was, but I would often go to the national gallery (since I lived near DC) and just look. If you have any galleries near you, go to them. Find outlets that will throw new and different kinds of art at you (http://beautifuldecay.com/, http://supersonicart.com/, http://www.wikiart.org/ ) You can only be as original and interesting as the pool of media you take in, so don't limit yourself to videogames and anime. Push yourself to draw from history and the world around you, and you'll see all sorts of improvement on your work.

ruzkin · February 2015

This comment by Angel_of_Bacon in the thread Iruka linked is very relevant. I was told something similar about 4-5 years back when I started taking my art seriously, and it fundamentally changed the way I practiced.

Why? Because you're at a point as an artist where you are clearly simply enamored with novelty- those little things that make a "unique style"- while the foundation skills you need to work on- construction, perspective, light and shade, proportions, etc. - are not about novelty. Novelty is the single least important aspect contributing to a drawing's quality. To someone without a lot of experience, these surface novelties seem like they mean everything, they are the be all end all of what makes a drawing great; an experienced artist looks past that surface, and sees primarily how the foundation serves to make the work great.

The reason the novelties of the styles you keep bringing up actually work, is not because of their differences so much as all these foundational things- the things they all have in common. Without that core foundational skill, all your heroes would draw no better than any other person on the street.

A novel style that works is a cool costume being worn by someone- the person it is designed to fit around is the foundation. Without that foundation to rely on, you end up sewing a costume that wouldn't fit anyone- so it falls down to the floor unworn, and all you are left with is a useless, loose clump of clothes laid in a disheveled pile.

Enjoying the styles of art you enjoy and wanting to draw in a similar style is totally okay, but you won't get there merely by aping those styles. Begin at absolute ground level (which is where I rebooted my own failing art practice only a month ago). Watch Proko's videos but more importantly apply his lessons. Challenge yourself. Do what is difficult, not what is immediately appealing. Always seek to learn and expand your practice, not narrow it down to someone else's style.

Luminovia · February 2015

I checked out Proko's spine video and tried to experiment with both the way the spine is used and the shapes he uses when making simple sketches. That'll help me understand posture better, I think, which I still have a lot of work to do in as well.

I also looked at the shapes thread and tried to test out basic shading with a green-colored ball/sphere.

I do remember taking a trip once or twice to the Metropolitan Museum over in NYC. I was at least a year/a year and a half into art by that point, so it was a bit of a wonderland for me. Unfortunately now, I'm homeschooled, so I don't have the chance to take those class trips anymore. I'd like to go again but it's over an hour from where we are. There might be some smaller museums near us, though I doubt it'd have anything like you'd see in the Metropolitan, but I'll see if I can learn anything from observing them.

Also! Another thing, I've always been pretty interested in human body perspective (i.e. an outstretched arm, a view from below or above, someone holding a camera) but I've always been crap at it. I learned a bit of it in former school art classes, mostly having to do with buildings/tables. I'm assuming it'd be better to understand basic anatomy first, though?

Iruka · February 2015

Luckily, in this age of the internet you can still look at tons of art without museums nearby, but if your parents are into it, a trip to the museum can be fun for everybody.

Nice getting in on the shape study! Proko has a video for that as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3WmrWUEIJo

Also remember that you aren't stuck with one brush in photoshop, its a good idea to get used to changing out your tool, I know I've seen packs of SAI brushes out there. You want to use your tools to really problem solve. Drawing an egg is a good exercise since the object is actually in front of you. You can observe it easily and really ask yourself if what you have on paper is looking like what is on the table.

One of the /r/artfundamentals is drawing ellipses, which is another good exercise: http://imgur.com/ZqWa5Bq

I would also suggest trying these on paper, because sometimes the tablet adds an unnecessary level of disconnect. I did the vast majority learning to paint digitally, but when sketching and inking, pen and paper still provides me with better results, despite having used my tablet for years now.

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