Thread for the beginners
Because we should not have to make new threads or post in draw threads with our fundamental exercises. Feel free to post even the smallest exercise you have done to show you are still trying, do not give up.
Do not forget to PLEASE RESIZE and crop your images before uploading them. 1kpx is fine.
→ → → → Before asking "what should I read/view/study/learn," Read the f*cking sticky, it's there for a reason: >>1579290 → → → → → →
Questions go in the QUESTION THREAD
This is for posting studies & getting critique.
>Thread study: Try to draw/paint the opening or any other following images.
Feel free to post your original works as well if you're a baddie.
TRY TO BE MORE ACTIVE AND GIVE PEOPLE SOME FEEDBACK - many studies are left unreplied, which is a bit sad and can be quite demotivating for the people that try their best to improve, but are left directionless. (hint: post a cute anime girl if you would like replies)
Respect those giving you advice and if you s*ck know that you'll never make it™.
Old thread >>2365246
some references
>>2373699
>THREAD FOR THE BEGINNERS
kek
>>2373734
shit i forgot to add a title to the thread
can the mods edit and add a title please
I did pic related in mspaint
decided to take up drawing again
Working through Keys to Drawing at the moment and wondering if I should move on to Fun with the Pencil next, or move straight on to figure drawing.
Is it a good place to start even with me having worked through KtD by then?
roast me pls
and how to get out of this mspaint look?
>>2373699
Not anime, but breasts and a katana? My god, the curve of the blade is bad...
>>2373801
Install your drivers
>>2373801
you need to learn how to use edges to create form
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQNadGEPBU
there are better tutorials than this
>>2373753
you need to work on your "symbolic drawing"
see pic
>>2373782
you can start learning from whatever you like, as long as you keep persist with it
if you worked a bit on your observational skills through KtD, you could start Fun with the Pencil or any other figure drawing books,
but as you study these you should have basic perspective skills
im speaking from experience
>>2373801
Check out asaro heads and learn their planes.
Use brushes that blend to get rid of the mspaint look.
>>2373832
Great, thanks for the help. I'll work through FwtP before moving on to other figure drawing books. Does practising that help with observation/general drawing skills in general?
>>2373826
Is there any reason the blade isn't actually resting on her shoulder?
Do you guys draw the head first? If not, any tips for attaching it? I usually go for the Loomis cutting the ball thing but I find that difficult if you're going from body to head.
Also I realize the torso is blocky, this is mostly for practice so I'm not going to polish it entirely, probably anyway.
>>2373986
nevermind its in the vid
i tried to get the emotion in his face and i couldn't do it
hands are hard but it's the eyes that fucking kill me
>>2374019
Opps forgot the file.
>>2374021
I should be more careful before I post sorry for the two extras. Resized.
>>2374021
Grind Vilppu, Loomis, Peter Han's lessons, and Hampton. And watch Jeff Watts' yt videos.
Also, stop smudging.
>>2374019
give that girl a hamburger, shit
>>2374038
Dumbass.
What are good alternatives to loomis? His explanation is rather dated, although study material is rather good. Prob is I'm feeling stuck during many figure drawings. I'm now at page 45 of FDfAIW and drawing a figure in perspective is kind of hard. I spend a lot of time trying to measure correct proportions.
trying to overcome symbolic drawing
>>2373981
not always, sometimes the torso is more appealing to draw first.
if you got problem with attaching the head to the torso you can skim through vilppu drawing manual or hampton, they give some good examples on how to.
>>2374014
keep on trying anon!
>>2373838
Lol
I just posted this in the question thread but it pertains to studying.
Keys to Drawing, on chapter 3. The projects keep asking for live models but I have no friends and people think I'm weird. What do I do?
>>2373981
>when loomis becomes symbol drawing
>>2374436
it's called internet and the best thing is it's free!
or you use yourself as model
>>2374464
I've been doing that with random pictures, but I heard you don't get the same perspective if it's not in real life. Should I just use the drawings I referenced in my check list?
>>2373699
Should I avoid zooming in while drawing digitally? I mean I'm using SAI and one thing that fucks my shit up is when I zoom in to draw something (usually face features and other smaller things), and when I zoom out I realize it looks like crap, because I don't see things as a whole I guess. Should I just avoid that entirely?
trying to get better at rendering
>>2374463
these tyoe if posts are why i'm reluctant to post on /ic/ anymore, i used to use this thread a lot but recently it's just been unhelpful replies
>>2373826
Legs slightly too long; ribcage too short; arms too short; hands too small
any resources/tutorials/methods for drawing backgrounds and correctly placing objects in scenes so they don't look like they're floating/in the wrong perspective?
i've tried laying out a grid in perspective to base the ground off of, and it's better than trying to wing everything, but i'm wondering if there are alternative ways i could explore.
>>2374536
plan things out first; once you're happy with the big ideas then move on to smaller details (zomming in while doing so)
this CTRLpaint video explains it pretty well: http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/sketching-lines
>tfw I like drawing in the abstract and love the idea of being able to express my ideas on paper, but become extremely frustrated and disheartened anytime I draw because of the discrepancy of what I see in my minds eye vs what I can actually draw
Any other beginners know this feel?
skull studies are always comfy
>>2374920
norling, perspective made easy
i havent read through this one yet but the perspective chapters in how to draw, scott robinson are solid too though he uses more 'scientific' methods and more technical vocabulary
I went into one of those random pose generators and I can see the power in spitting out a pose every 30 seconds but in a matter of 3 minutes I've filled up a page in my sketchbook. How do you guys deal with those? Suck it up and buy more textbooks or draw smaller poses?
>>2374928
I don't want to be a party pooper, but this never really ends. If you reach that point it's actually a bad thing because it means you're stagnating.
>>2374928
Soldier through it. In my experience it took me like four months until I started actually enjoying the process rather than hating my life because I could never do what I wanted.
While >>2375108 is half right, you'll reach a point where you can be pleased with your stuff eventually. You'll always want more, though. Most artists don't reach a point where they go "I made it. I'm exactly where I want to be."
Lots of stuff that inspires you now will seem less impressive once you reach it.
Personally I think getting good at doing studies is a good confidence booster. While being able to copy a ref shouldn't be your end goal, you can get pretty proficient at it within a year and it's a good way to let yourself know you can do it.
Guys, please help me.
I want to get into digital drawing and painting, but it's so god damn frustrating because none of my lines seem to match up with what I'm doing with my hand. Doing it on paper is so easy compared to this, but maybe I just need some practise. Doing it digitally is so much more convenient, after all.
Any tips on how to make the shift between paper and digital?
>>2375135
practicepracticepractice and watch ctrlpaint vids
>>2375135
I think there will always be a bit of a gap between the control you have digitally versus traditionally, though I suppose a cintiq or other display tablet can negate it a bit.
Most of it is practice, experiment a lot with brushes and approaches and see what sticks. You'll eventually find a way you like.
Personally I think digital lends itself better to painting than clean linework, but plenty of people do really nice lines digitally, it just takes time.
>>2375102
>those
that*
Also here's a pic. Not sure what size is optimal for 30 second sketches. I guess Vilppu levels of line quality also come only with practice, mine aren't great.
Hey beginner friends! Looking for help on the design and feel. Any other help is also appreciated
>>2375208
I like the colors. I would personally see what slightly pushing contrast and adding more highlights would look like, but I'm not sure.
>>2375141
>watch ctrlpaint vids
not him but any specific ctrl paint videos?
>>2375208
nc colors m8
>>2375252
All of them.
There's plenty of great videos for figure drawing, but what about landscapes? I can't find any good videos for landscape drawing.
>>2375208
I don't have the eye for that, but something buggers me about legs/hips area. I think that they fuck up a lot, make a piece too static. IMO they should follow the the asymmetry of the claws, figure should exert strength towards viewer's right. IMHO creature's right leg (from our POV left) should be more inclined and the other leg more bend in the knee.
It's just personal opinion though, I don't draw anything but ellipsies and semi-straight lines.
>>2375208
The texture you're doing on the surface is a bit flattening, try make it appear to curve around the forms.
Practicing Strokes with a pen nib. Gotta ask, when does one know when to move on? I know I can't humanly get these down perfectly, but when is it time to move forward onto shading and/or other strokes?
I'm currently practicing drawing straight lines. Does this help me getting better at drawing or am I just wasting my time? I know there are rulers.
>>2375735
drawing straight lines does help with line control and smoothness, but you should also be practice drawing different types of curves smoothly
>>2375731
you always move on. do the next step, draw 3d shapes, if you feel your lines are bad go back. practice
always try to draw the things you want draw, things that you think you are not good enough to draw, you need to try
>>2375735
drawing straight lines is something basic that you need, but if you want to draw figure you should on more things
>>2375731
Whenever you want. If you find when you're doing an actual piece that your hatching and linework isn't cutting it, do more exercises. You need to apply it to properly learn it.
starting CTRLpaint's brush control exercises. how am i doing?
I know it probably gets asked over and over, but how does one practice with any level of efficiency? Ive been starting to try and draw on a more regular basis but I don't understand how to get any better at it. I feel like I'm just drawing things wrong over and over with no real idea of how to actually improve.
>>2374014
to me his lower lip should be covered with more hair like the reference to make it look like it sucked in more
>>2376028
draw what you want to draw, and have a lot of things you want to draw, improve any specific thing you need to while drawing each one
>>2376035
>improve any specific thing you need to while drawing each one
That's what I'm not understanding though, how do you actively improve what you're doing? If, say, you can't judge proportions or lengths worth a fuck (which I cant) how do you actually mentally/mechanically improve that instead of just getting stuck drawing crap proportions over and over again?
more CTRLpaint stuff
>>2376056
every time you practice something, after you're done, look at it and try to see what went wrong. initially it'll be hard and you'll really have to concentrate, and i think that's where outside input helps the most.
once you're able to consciously reflect upon what you need to improve on, figure out how to get better at it. change something in the way you draw something if it never looks right. experiment.
what's helped me when it comes to proportions is flipping things either digitally or holding something up to a mirror
I was exercising on geometric figures but it's boring as F
I want to learn to draw cute little anime girls...
Is this ok or should i just stick to basic geometrics for now?
>>2376123
if you cant draw a cylinder, nor draw a line without chicken scratching, i would recommend you keep practicing geometry. Of course, you can do both. If drawing is still something you do for enjoyment, then draw cute girls as much as you want, but dont forget the underlying geometry
>>2376126
I'm more confident in drawing little girls lol
what if i draw "exploded" little girls?
>>2376126
Basically this.
You can draw little girls, but make sure to work on your fundamentals if you want to see improvements. The more you work on fundamentals, the faster/larger the improvement.
However, it just sounds like you placed yourself in a comfort zone. You gotta challenge yourself.
Critique?
>>2376145
i started drawing 2 weeks ago (a part from high-school scrabbling)
for some reason i took out my weeaboo era tablet and started doodling again and lurking here...
i still want only to draw cute illustrations of little girls but i actually want to improve in that
Ah, another thing:
I CAN'T DRAW THE FUCKING HAIRS for some reason while drawing hairs i go full autistic...
And i see horrible drawings with more natural hairs than mine...
what is that? why? where or how can i learn? (
moe style hairs)
>>2376167
>>2376170
Calm down.
Just learn your basics.
Draw the hair in shapes. Look up realistic hair (don't matter who. Look up models and shit). Then learn to draw a very basic it, Loomis Head to Hands or Proko can help with that.
Draw out that very basic head, and place the hair on it. But make sure the hair is in basic shapes. That's all it is.
Actually, Loomis heads to hands will help you understand "cute". If you want your anime girls to look kawaii, loomis goes over features that adds "cute" to people. This will explain certain exaggerated features found in... a lot of anime girls, actually.
>>2376174
thanks! lookin up right now
btw, is this better? (about the chicken scratch thingy)
>>2376192
Anon, those shapes look awful.
For one, you need to understand perspective. Then from there, understand how to draw them from a technical point so you know how it looks fucked up.
In the long run, you're not gonna draw them 100% accurate from imagination (more like 90%), but you need to first learn And understand how it looks 100% so that way you can get closer to it.
>>2376197
theyre not awful they do look rushed though, take your time even if they're simple shapes. And most importantly try to establish the shapes in space, e.g put them on the same plane or surface
>>2376210
copying is encouraged,
>>2376210
I was just about to tell you to copy well made stuff, like K-on any other well animated cute girls show, just make sure you try to understand the proportions, and eventually study facial structures. Copying is the best way to get a feel of what looks good and will help your imagination stuff in the long run. Alot of famous artists started copying stuff when they were young
>>2376028
Is that a scene from your house? Nice taste.
Perspective seems fine but you could definitely push values on certain planes of the objects, and map out your occlusion shadows, you also have very wobbly lines and you keep outlining certain things to show the seperation when you should be using dark and light values to seperate them.
>>2376223
>>2376218
then i'll keep copying and making geometric lolis for a while lol
thanks anons
>>2376223
Basically this.
There's a lot of pro artists that usually show their work when they were younger. It's usually a really shitty looking character of some kind, then fast forward to 6 years later, it's a much better drawing due to learning fundamentals.
>>2376245
It's a corner in my living room. I was intending to get a taller section made up to get the full height of the lamp but it took me the better part of two hours to get to that point and I eventually just got fed up and abandoned the rest.
I find myself stuck drawing and redrawing most of my lines 10, 12 times, it completely bogs down anything I try to do. It's glaring clear to me when something is 'off' but I can't for the life of me understand how to replicate it properly in linework in a manner that doesn't involve literally attacking it through raw trial and error.
>>2376161
is she riding a phantom horse ?
I've posted this in 3 other boards, but who cares? Critique my OC.
>>2373701
doing the homework, grade?
lighting wise why is the very tip of cleavage rendered brightly sometimes? is it just a lot of reflected light bouncing around? is this true for all bowl shapes?
So my girlfreind want to start drawing fanart of her favoirtie anime /manga.
I want to buy a kit for her
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Drawing-Kit-Sketching-Box-Set-Artist-Art-Graphite-Pencil-Sketch-Charcoal-Pastels-/252249473912?hash=item3abb3d8378:g:QxYAAOSwWKtUsfD6
Is that good enough?
>>2376383
Buy her a Loomis book.
>>2376346
first off don't post something so fuckhuge here if it isn't highly detailed/intended to be fuckhuge
besides that i'd suggest you learn the fundamentals of anatomy (pretty obvious you're hiding the hands because they're hard) and linework (you're chicken scratching a lot which doesn't look too good, especially on the head.
honest opinion? she's kinda meh. anthropomorphic animal with a scarf's been done a lot.
>>2376368
you've symbol drawn a bit when it comes to the eyes and lips. his right eye needs to be angled more away from the viewer because right now it makes the eyes look like they're on a flat plan separate from the head.
the edges of his lips aren't that strongly defined in the reference photo, so i'd say to use subtler, softer lines for soft edges like the lips, the ear details, and wrinkles
>>2376369
sort of a style thing but boobs do tend to be pretty smooth...
Gave the study a shot
Didn't come out great, but I'm glad I stuck with it until the end
>>2376401
Sorry about the scaling, I'm on mobile and can't resize/crop without losing resolution. But thanks for the critique, and should I just cruise the st/ic/ky tutorials?
>>2374820
see the video in >>2373832
>>2375007
that nice anon
did you use color picker for the colors or did you try to find them with your eyes?
>>2376487
the colors are too dull
you need more saturated colors and more contrast between the shadow and light parts
but it's a really good try anon
>>2375870
>>2376064
those are pretty smooth
what kind of tablet do you have?
http://drawabox.com/
Thoughts? I want to start here. Is there a better place to start?
>>2376519
abstract anon, you're cool.
>>2376513
>tablet has anything to do with smooth brush strokes and blending
>>2376524
Thank you for being a saving grace
Keys to drawing and Fun with a pencil are the go-to noob books, right?
Crits?
>>2375210
>>2375502
>>2375617
>>2375644
>>2375661
Thank you for all the help. I took everything you said and tried to apply them to it.
>>2376611
i love it, that looks fucking awesome. huge improvement
lower body especially looks way nicer and has great depth
I get really shaky hands when I draw, bordering on Parkinson's level shakiness. What can I do to remedy it?
>>2376626
youll soon come to realize that the quality of your strokes is almost irrelevant to the quality of your work unless youre going for that in particular. If you keep struggling even after doing the exercises ( straight lines, circles, etc.) and dont see improvement, just focus on painting.
TLDR doesnt matter, but if it does matter, paint.
>>2376313
For perspective it's very difficult to grasp certain focal points of objects, I'd recommend doing multiple sketches from different angles and referring back to them to understand the horizontal/vertical endpoints of an object.
Am I supposed to be always drawing from the shoulder?
Look at my pic, I'm so bad at drawing circles from the shoulder. I'm trying to do drawabox.
>>2376633
The quality of strokes is hugely important to drawing unless you intentionally stylize with wobbly lines.
Painting is a good alternative, however. You can have the shittiest underdrawing in the world in terms of line quality as long as it's fundamentally correct and you as the artist can read it well enough to paint over it.
>>2377059
It really depends on the size of what you're doing.
Doing something tiny from the shoulder isn't efficient. Minute details with the wrist are fine, but when you're getting into larger things and doing your lay-in, you should focus on elbow and shoulder.
Looking at the size of your circles there it's likely they're just too small for using your shoulder to be at all useful. Still, try at least to use your elbow and see how that goes for you - IE move your forearm and keep your wrist locked.
>>2376626
Make fast strokes, don't tense up, and try not to think about the shaking
Digital drawing beginner here. I messed up a bit in the sketch and had to correct the ear and other things (obv is not finished)
>>2377065
if its so important, how is it i can draw better than a lot of people within ic, with my left hand when ive never trained for it. Line quality is almost irrelevant as long as you have proportions and start light.
>>2376520
>I want to start here
Then start there.
>>2374038
fat american detected
trying turnaround to make some angles i never make
Holy shit it's hard
also never done from behind and side...
on the other hand i feel more confident about hairs now (the anon from yeasterday)
What should i work on?
>>2376611
Oh fuck yeah, this is what I was talking about. A lot more dynamic and reworking legs helped a lot! I'm so glad that you did that! Also volumes are much better. Good job.
>>2376611
Much better! Question though, why does he have splashes at both his feet? Wouldnt it be just one? Unless he moves by hopping.
>>2377653
>What should i work on?
Anatomy.
If you knew a little more about the human figure, these would come out to look so much better. Remember, you're learning anatomy to make your character "believable". Learn how to create the skull of the face, the rib cage, etc etc.
I never get my questions answered about how to properly hold a stylus for a tablet.
>>2377813
is this kind of stilized skeleton enough to start working with?
(apologize for them being bad, i'm going to sleep soon so i sketched them really fast also picked a male skeleton for mistake damn me.)
>>2376552
I really like how your cross hatching looks, but the arms are a bit odd to look at.
>been drawing traditional most of my life
>improves enough to draw objects fine, but cant draw a proportional figure correctly
>anon decides to try digital art
>gets drawing tablet for birthday
>been 4 years since then
>still cant even draw a normal figure
kill me
>pic related drew it just now
vilppu give me strength
Needed a way to differentiate my tools from everyone else's lol... Whatcha guys think?
>>2377909
Holy shit! Sorry it's so big, my phone sucks dick...
>>2377906
lol 4 years ? either your not trying at all or your just complete trash
What tool do you guys use to draw gestures?
I love posemaniacs, but with some of their more unrealistic humans and crazy perspectives, it's kind of hard for a terrible artist like myself to get the gesture down, and I end up just doing quick scratchy contour. It doesn't look terrible, but I know that's not really what you're supposed to do when making gestures.
Is their an alternative to pose maniacs? Is it fine for gestures? I mean I'm probably just shit, but it's not that much of a stretch to imagine a beginner having trouble finding the motion in a giant slab of meat from a crazy angle.
Advice is appreciated.
>>2373699 First post. Just need some real honest critique. No one I talk to can help much. Help me /ic/. Redline or just honest critique appreciated. Been drawing for a couple months now.
>>2376633
I'm not finding this skating exercise to be particularly difficult to do... which means I'm probably doing it wrong somehow.
>>2377906
>4 years
What the flying fuck have you been doing all that time?
>>2378028
youre supposed to perfectly trace over the previous line.
I think I'm very slowly getting better? Some 10 minute gestures from reference.
>>2373701
I started about a month ago and was just doing figures. Should I go back and do something like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain?
I'm picking up the pencil and reading through Loomis' Fun with a Pencil for the first time (both of them).
Any tips for a beginner? How long should I practice a day?
>>2376210
If you want to draw cute anime girls, then look up cute anime girl drawings and copy them. A drawing by a "master" has all the problems solved. Imagine being a blacksmith apprentice and the master just hands you all the equipment and science notes and leaves you on your own to figure that shit out. That's not how it's done. The apprentice copies the master, he does not reinvent blacksmithing. So go out there and copy the masters.
>>2377972
http://artists.pixelovely.com/
http://www.quickposes.com/
http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en/
http://www.onairvideo.com/croquis-cafe-photos.html
http://www.scott-eaton.com/category/bodies-in-motion
http://digilander.libero.it/guido_1953/main.htm
>>2377997
I have a problem with this piece. You are better than me, so my eyes can't pick up faults easily and some things might not be faults at all.
It's also obviously a study, not finished and stylized heavily. There's a risk of missing the point completely.
IMHO there's a problem with proportions and perspective lines, especially for lower half of the body. If you'd remove boxer shorts, one leg would be much thicker than the other one.
Main line of gesture seems to be an arc going from left feet to the head. I guess that's ok.
Hands though and gesture line that connects it. There's a problem. Perspective of hands is also very unfortunate, gloves seem very flat and left arm like it's glued at the shoulder.
I would try to change placement a bit to make it more interesting.
Generally though - I think main problem is perspective in different parts of the body. I also think that gesture could be better as well as some proportions. Volumes are secondary thing to make it look nicer. Definitely need more of them on gloves and upper torso muscles
how does the perspective on this read? also im aware that the left cliff part looks like shit
Please give me some critique . What should i focus on practicing the most for now? what are good exercises for me?
>>2378424
>>2373704
>>2378489
thats magnificent
>>2378077
those arent gestures. gestures are simple and are meant to be done in under 2 min. look up prokos gesture videos. what they are though, are figure outlines. and they appear to be quite good. though the bottom right looks like her left leg is missing. posting the references would be helpful
>>2378542
What's the difference between figure outline and contour?
It looks like all I do is geometry, not actual drawing. Some good people pointed out that after some time, I will encounter geometry which I cannot describe and I think they are true, but I don't know how to approach this conundrum.
Looks like I'm stuck. What do?
>>2378595
Hello Scott Robertson. I just wanted to say that I am a big fan and my dream is to steal your glasses and wear your curly hair as my own.
Don't mind me saving this study to my *special* folder. Proceed good sir.
>>2378077
those a pretty nice figure anon good job!
>>2378489
this is great anon
this is beyond beginner level, you can post it in the draw thread
>>2378595
That's pretty autistic, in a good way.
>>2378542
Thanks! I knew they were probably not gestures but I didn't know what to call them.
>>2374916
this is retarded advice
not every woman has the same body type, and if it's not a 100% accurate and real drawing them some dreamy proportions could be ideal for the aesthetic of the work
you're just a retarded teenage hater
>>2378602
I'm not him, though I follow his ways.
>>2378630
Yes I know. I cannot draw without rigid and precise construction, that's my problem.
>>2378595
You have unlimited options designing things when you understand geometry, with what you have there you could make a cool spaceship if you wanted too.
>>2377909
that's some very detailed stencil work
good stuff anon
a true proletariat who takes his time for quality
>>2378643
lol enjoy your obsolete skill, doing this in 3d and then draiwng over it is infinitely easier and faster
you gain nothing by learning advanced construction like this, its just a timesink
>>2378653
Values could be much smoother
>>2378426
Construction, drawing from life, everything really.
>>2378656
Hey man, that was fast. Thanks for the critique, is this any better?
>>2378643
>>2378602
>>2378595
Also to say seriously: What do you mean you are stuck?
Scott Robertson has really technical approach to drawing. I can easily say that the drawing you have made I wouldn't like to do by hand and probably wouldn't, though I'm impressed that you had patience with it.
This is the thing I would draw in Autodesk Inventor or in Catia V5 like they taught me on my studies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CBv_qXATE
I mean, sure, it's cool and all, but, hmm...why.
Example, kehe.png, down-left. It's rectangle, extrude, fillet, fillet, fillet, fillet, draw on side, rectangle, extrude, fillet, fillet, fillet, fillet, mirror by the XZ plane, done.
5 minutes of work. Add 2 minutes and I could change all dimensions with a click thanks to self-made mini-script.
Well, I wanted to say that I also just started with drawing as a hobby, but when I began being interested in it, I wanted to learn how to become creative and channel my creativity. And yes, I still grind ellipsies since I know that you need to have strong fundamentals.
But this? Maybe in long term it helps, but...well, it's advanced stuff. And there are also things like values, gesture, compositions, storytelling, anatomy etc.
>>2378683
Yeah, much better, just keep practicing and you'll get better in no time
>>2378587
figure outline is well, the ouline of a figure. outlines and contours and technically the same thing but the word contour isnt used much here
>>2374820
I'm browsing on a phone and thought your pic was definitely a photo before I fullsized. Good job Anon
>>2373699
My half-assed attempt
Almost complete beginner here, I just got started learning gesture drawing from Michael Hampton's book, but I'm worried I'm doing it wrong. Does anyone have any advice? Here's some ones I did in 60 seconds earlier.
Any tips?
>>2373699
How do you guys practice? right now I'm making a list involving Peter Han exercises and I was wondering if you guys had any tips
>>2378875
Just draw.
>>2378811
Looks like you are on the right path, but maybe try without chickenscratching
>>2378892
If I don't take it seriously i'm not going to get gud so I want to take it seriously
>>2379002
Be careful not to make a giant intense regimented schedule because I almost guarantee you you won't follow it.
Set simple goals like "work through x book", the sticky gives a good starting point.
A gradual buildup is better than trying to sprint a marathon. If you can get yourself in the habit of drawing two hours a day you'll be golden.
Still, as for "how to practice' it depends on your level. If you're a complete beginner, the Peter Han exercises are a start. Draw some basic shapes (it'll amaze you just how useful being able to draw a cube, sphere and cylinder from imagination is for drawing literally anything). The standard suggestion of Loomis is a safe start for basic construction.
>>2379017
You are very helpful anon thank you very much right now I want to combine Peter Han shapes with Perspective exercises for a while like maybe two weeks and then begin Gesture
>>2379024
This is just my two cents and some people might disagree with me, but I say don't fuck with gesture (at least not timed gesture) until you've got a fundamental understanding of anatomy behind you.
Timed gesture forces you to rush and draw on / create muscle memory. It's a nightmare when you don't have any foundational knowledge to draw on as you work. I see it recommended as a beginner exercise pretty often and I really don't understand why.
I think, when starting out, it's better to have stiff but 'correct' poses. Once you know your proportions, construction and some basic anatomy, you can start making it look more fluid and it'll feel more intuitive as well. That's when you might start seeing some benefit and 'natural' feel from speeding up the process.
>>2378932
Thanks anon!
>>2379024
What the fuck do you want to draw? Start drawing that
I did this a couple days ago, best bit I did. It's using an acrylic marker, just focused on form, rhythm and gesture.
May as well link my tumblr while I'm here: http://vulpespietates.tumblr.com/
I would post crits, but I don't feel like I'm good enough to.
>>2373699
how did you guys get good at digital art? my whole life ive gone traditional and now for the first time i decided to try digital painting and feel completely lost
>>2379235
The same way you get good at traditional art.
>>2373699
help me please
>>2378998
Smooth body lines. Like the one on the upper right.You might wanna do something with that pose.
>>2379283
cheer up. just do what the other anon said and work on form, your lines are really jagged. but there's a sense of anatomy you have in there that will improve with time.
>>2379183
I did
I want to get gud though and develop proper foundations
pic related
>>2379283
i wish i was this good
Arm study. Trying to grasp the form.
>>2379235
just gotta keep practicing then youll get good at it.
>>2379438
the guy on the right's arm is like fucking
backwards or some shit
it's freaking me out escher
>>2379080
Granted, im still shit at drawing people, but I was watching/reading some hampton stuff a few days ago and he lists proportion as the least important thing when doing gestures.
"Dont let proportion get in the way of the story," were his words. And for me its kind of a huge relief to hear that, because I have spent a large number of years pissing away time, freaking out, being angry and frustrated about things not being perfect.
It's hard to me to let go and use this method, but the permission to acknowledge that a pursuit of perfection is stopping me from progressing is a huge relief.
(you're welcome and invited to tear me a new one when i post gestures later, though.)
>>2379438
i like these a lot, but the top right one is weird like >>2379473 said.
try to look at exactly how the bicep and deltoid interact, they fold into and next to each other differently from different angles. the way you drew it there is too vague.
also the side of the bicep that is closer to the bone doesn't show that much on the outside of the arm. i suggest Bridgeman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life, and Frederic Delavier's Strength Training Anatomy
feedback please
Started reading hampton's book and am trying to learn it his way. It's a bit rough but here i go anyhow.
>>2379612
May I ask what you are using as reference? Great gestures btw, struggling with them a bit atm
>>2379473
>>2379491
Thanks for pointing that out. I still need to learn how those muscle parts interact with each other. Will check those books out kind sir.
>>2379612
Hampton book is really good, want to see how you manage to go from this to form> landmark > anatomy, post more later.
man how am i supposed to draw all these god damn feathers with a pencil. I even bought a fine 23mm eraser to try and learn to do highligts and make the white feathers butt that shit doesn't work. I finally thought i was improving but drawing this made me so angry and frustrated.
My Wacom tablet does thing thing where as soon as I put the pen to the tablet it lags. And does a circle loading thing.
It's really handicapping
>>2379672
I'm also wondering how am i supposed to make so many different shades of grey with the pencils to emulate the colours?
>>2379672
you're approaching this the wrong way
if you aren't even able to properly detach yourself from lines and symbol drawing, it'll be impossible to draw feather by feather. for example look at its feet, tail, or whatever you did in its chest, does it really look like that in the pic?
for now focus on getting proportions and the shape and value of the different shades right, the rest comes after this
anyone know if the surface 4 pro is worth drawing on?
Am I the only one who loathes drawabox.com exercise approach? I hate them. Seriously. For some it may be helpful, all I've got from attempting them - frustration and anger at my inability to draw straight lines and fucking ellipses. I've tried to draw both on horizontal surface and slightly angled mdf board. And they come out like crap. And I've attempted to do them since uh november.. Not made any progress by attempting drawabox...
I've only been drawing for a month now, and a lot of my time has been spent practicing gesture/dynamic figure drawing.
I have such limited knowledge on how the limbs connect and what their actual forms are so its hard to draw them in the right perspective, where would you guys suggest I head next, anatomy?
>>2379672
other anons are right, can't you see how off the proportions are? focus on that first.
Some tone practice, for consistency and whatnot.
>>2379713
get rid of the chickenscratch, trust me m8
>>2379743
It's something i'm aware of but I also see a few famous artists that have the same style so I haven't actively tried to fix it.. Is there a serious problem?
>>2379560
A good start. Don't follow the outside contours so rigidly, it creates a michelin man effect. Keep grinding Vilppu and Loomis.
Also, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKfsZaNrmzM
And go through the other videos on the channel. Tons of great info and inspiration.
>>2379672
First thing you do is make the photo black and white. No reason to do it hard mode and translate colors into values when you are a beginner like this.
Second thing you do is set the photo to a size that would fit on your paper. Let's say the photo is 14cm tall and 12,5cm wide on the screen. Make a square like that on the paper.
Third thing you do is measure properly. If one thing is off it's just going to snowball into dogshit you can't fix. Since you have this square on your paper equal to the size of the photo on your screen. Measuring negative space and placements of features becomes much easier. Just follow the X and Y axis and plot down landmarks.
When you get the proportions near that of the photo, then you can worry about rendering the feathery texture.
I know dude, you wanna speed through this shit. Thing is, patience is key. Measuring is tedious as fuck, but it is necessary.
>>2379754
Which famous artists chickenscratch? Other anon was right, you should focus on getting better line control, it makes everything else easier
>>2379797
David finch, he doesn't necessarily chicken scratch but he does the thing where he puts a few lines down, not necessarily contours but general lines around the area and comes in and cleans it up.
I was always under the impression all that matters is that you know what the end product is supposed to look like, but i'll definitely be putting in work to clean up my lines.
>>2379801
Yeah that's not chickenscratcching.
It's fine to be loose when sketching, but chickenscratching is very tense.
Lack of confident line will show in your finished work
>>2379801
>he doesn't necessarily chicken scratch but he does the thing where he puts a few lines down
Those are literally two different things, anon.
I guess this is why chicken scratch is so popular. People who don't know better try to mimic said artists, thinking it's chicken scratch.
What are good books/tutorials on drawing the human features?
>>2379801
>he does the thing where he puts a few lines down, not necessarily contours but general lines around the area and comes in and cleans it up
That's just searching, he's putting lots of lines down and then either picks one or uses what he has built up to decide where the final line needs to be.
>I was always under the impression all that matters is that you know what the end product is supposed to look like, but i'll definitely be putting in work to clean up my lines.
This is true to an extent, but the kind of lines you are doing show a lot of fear and uncertainty and it kills drawings. The important thing is confidence. Your lines should go from A to B without stopping, it doesn't matter if you don't get it right the first time, just keep building on it until it's what you want.
This whole video is worth watching but I've timestamped it at the point where he explains the difference between chicken scratchy uncertain lines and confident lines. If you consciously try to draw lines the way he describes you will stop chicken scratching almost instantly and soon it'll be unconscious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07fusT-dwVE&feature=youtu.be&t=395
>>2379759
thanks bro
>>2377784
shit lol, thats actually a pretty big oversight on my part. good point
>>2379635
Thank you, friend. It is also a struggle for me, but its making more sense than the last time I tried this.
This anon here listed some good sites that I use.
>>2378174
Those specific gestures in the last post were from http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en/
I also follow some vintage pinup blogs and ballet blogs on tumblr to use for gesture drawing sometimes.
>>2379644
They are! If I go any faster at this point then I end up with actual stick figures, and any longer then i start ignoring hampton's instructions (oops.)
>>2379653
I also want to see how I manage, thank you anon.
>>2380106
How far are you into Hampton's book?
>>2373699
today i tried
>>2380169
You didn't draw the shell as it appears. Before you worry about any details or rendering, the first thing on your mind should be getting every single shape represented accurately. You really need to put in the time measuring and making sure what you're drawing is accurate to what you see.
>>2380189
Thanks, i was just practicing shadows but thats true. I need more exercise
>>2380106
How good was your knowledge about drawing fundamentals prior to giving hampton's book a try?
I'm asking because I've attempted to study from that book but I couldn't understand gesture at all.
>>2376135
>>2376123
This guy here.
Third week
I'm staaarting a liiiittle to understand how to make hairs... but still a long way to color them
(Truth: It's boring to color hairs)
Other than that:
This is my last study on heads, hairs and expressions What should i work on?
Practicing after watching vilppu's anatomy videos.
I'm having trouble communicating volume, and orientation. And proportion.
Just starting, first time actively drawing something instead of doodling spirals.
How long should my practice sessions go for? I've heard people say anything from half and hour to three hours.
I'm not really getting this stuff about negative shapes. If I can't draw lines worth a fuck how is it supposed to be 'easier' to draw an unrecognizable shape as opposed to a recognizable one?
>>2380888
how ever long you want too, obviously longer ios better but try to apply yourself and understand what you are doing.
>>2379653
what do you mean by landmark
>>2379560
same guy as this. would love too get more feedback on additional figures i drew.
>>2381063
they are points and anatomical features on the body that helps the illustrator navigate human anatomy and construct a figure, eg anterior superior iliac spine, bony protrusions above your hips, good for showing tilt of the hips, and then some.
Maybe I'm a huge retard, but if I'm not drawing from reference, isn't everything I draw a "symbol drawing"?
may be a stupid question, but do you first draw a sketch and colour it, like pic related OR just draw whatever you want in colour?
>>2381212
saved a thumbnail
>>2381142
i think it depends on current skill level vs what they were trying to go for. if you draw a realistic portrait and it isnt lacking in any major details its sort of hard to call that 'symbol drawing'. when someone finishes their drawing/painting you can get a pretty good idea of what theyre strengths and weaknesses are. on the other hand if you youre drawing a mountain and you use only three fucking values then yeah, symbol drawing
is this face constructed right? i cant make the nose at this angle for fucking anything which leads me to believe the perspective or something might be off
>>2381253
Try to contruct while using ref. It's usually easier at the beginning.
>>2381253
>Why should I learn perspective, I'm just drawing people
how the fuck do I draw fat people
I kind of get most of their body but I can't even get placement of the chin and sides correctly during the construction phase.
>>2379713
anyone?
>>2381103
I think you should try to create more compression. Like in the first figure, really jam the pevlis into the ribcage on the left side.
>>2381319
>>2379713
Take a break from studies and try making some work for fun. See it all the way through to the end, and when you're done - try and evaluate where you fell flat. Take your time and use whatever resources & references you need to take your personal work through to competition.
Don't fall victim to the grind of non-stop practicing. Repetitive studies are best done in between work that you really try hard on.
Good luck!
>>2381213
depends on style and experience. some watercolorists draw everything in pencil, then fill in with color, and ive seen oil painters color blocks, then do details
>>2380200
Decent. I wouldnt hop into the beginner thread for anything else but figures, I don't think. However, with figures - its been a lifelong failure and I am not really building off of any figure drawing fundamentals here. I am very much struggling, and often frustrated. I'm pretty sure you can very obviously see the level of frustration on some of these gestures, actually.
It did help it start to click, with hamptons stuff (book + videos), when I started to really pay attention to what he was saying with the spine. I'm definitely struggling a lot but I can also tell that I'm learning from him.
