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The drawing thread (anime or other)

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R

Ruzbeh

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Ok. Soooo. I wanna learn how to draw stuff, doesn't matter what. All kinds of things. I've never really learned to draw, but I'm pretty skilled with pencils and pens (I have a good handwriting). Sometimes I just wanna draw some cool stuff when I see some other dude's cool drawings on the internet or where ever.

Anyways. I'm wondering if there's any tutorials or something on the internet? Or you can just recommend me some books or how you think that I should go learn to draw stuff. I like anime and stuff, but I don't necessarily want to do anime. I want to learn all kinds of stuff really. Also, please post some of your drawings or something here if you're good, I wanna see. :)

By the way, once I had to do this test thing where you had to draw and color this coca cola can, and I was real nervous about it, but I did it with the best of my ability, and it turned out pretty damn good with some realistic shading, so I think I have some hidden, unexploited talent here. Gotta help me out, mang!
 
Hmm.

If you want to get better at drawing, draw from real life. Kind of like that drawing of the Coke can you did.

Even if what you want to do is cartooning, knowing the 'rules' of real-life drawing is important.

And of course, it takes lots and lots of practice. The best thing to not do is to get flustered at your own artwork if you don't think it's good enough. Just figure out your mistakes and make necessary adjustments.

I recommend visiting deviantart.com. There's some pretty good tutorials there.
 
Man, what's up with all those drawing wings tutorials on deviantart.com? I can't find any good ones for n0obs. But I think it's a damn good idea to start drawing random stuff, like SonicMegaDrive said
 
Ruzbeh said:
Man, what's up with all those drawing wings tutorials on deviantart.com? I can't find any good ones for n0obs. But I think it's a damn good idea to start drawing random stuff, like SonicMegaDrive said
Click to expand...

Yeah, drawing random things is good. Partucuarly people and cars. If you can get good at drawing realistic people and cars, you can pretty much draw anything else.
 
The drawing from life suggestion is a good one and a basic foundation. However be creative - for example, if it's not convenient to sit and draw real people, work from photographs that show off anatomy, like muscle magazines. Examining real people is important as well of course - but never forget you have a real body with you all the time. Yourself.

One of the keys of learning to draw well is to figure out how to break things down into their basic shapes. You can do this with everything - block in the human figure with boxes, spheres, and cylinders. Learn how to draw poses first by drawing a "stick figure", adjusting the proportions, and then constructing what is called the mannequin over it - a boxy figure of boxes and cylinders to figure out the proportions. Do this with other objects as well. One trick is that drawing a wide variety of stuff in different ways trains your brain; it alters the way you perceive things very slowly. This accounts for how you'll "just get better" with practice, aside from the mechanical skill of your penciling.

There are a few books on drawing figures and anatomy I'd personally recommend. Some realistic, some classical, some comic style.

Drawing Dynamic Comics by Andy Smith
Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth
Drawing the Living Figure by Joseph Sheppard
The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren

There are also some decent tutorials online for a few styles of art and working with digital tools and art. Try websites such as:

Polykarbon
The Julie Dillon Tutorials
Gfxartist.com tutorial section

There's a lot more than this; it's just a few off the top of my head.

If you're looking for personal art, I have a website with some of my own. It's still under construction, so is a bit spazzy:

http://drakenfluegel.org <--- there's some stuff up in the gallery section.

But, in the end, the best advice is to just keep working. Art is the epitome of "you get out what you put in". The more time, patience, practice, and part of yourself that you put into it, the better it's going to be.
 
Like everyone said, learn anatomy and form and practice. Fill sketchbooks upon sketchbooks, draw from real life, mix it up with creative ideas and fun, but get back to form again and again. Drawing is something cool, sure, but it's also an insanely refined craft. Surely not something to take for granted or to be jealous of someone's talent. Nearly anyone who is good is so from a massive ammount of time put in, and work. What I'd recommend though? This is INSANELY good for someone starting out. Read and follow these books you can read page for page on

www.saveloomis.org

Good luck.
 
I recently had the same sort of idea you, Ruzbeh. I allways scribble things on the sides of my books but I've never actually learnt how to go about sketching something. I've been using a book called

Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy
The Ultimate Reference Guide for Comic Book Artists
By Christopher Hart

It has some really detailed anatomy stuff with a lean towards comic book style (americany rather than japanesey).
I've found it really helpful for drawing anatomy stuff (like hands!), when i get stuck I just open it up for reference.

I think you can't rely on a book too much though, otherwise you just end up copying a style rather than exploring what you actually want to draw like.
 
Ruzbeh said:
Man. So it's a lot of work.

I'm just gonna go draw some stuff before I try out any tutorials.
Click to expand...

Tut tut!

Not work. Fun! Drawing is fun, and any good artist got to be good got that way by enjoying what he does!
 
I think I'm gonna go take drawing lessons or whatever. Seriously, I can't concentrate in my own room or something. Or if there isn't someone telling me to concentrate. I just went and drew a few circles and tried to draw some stuff I saw but I quickly got distracted or just got uninterested real fast. The first circle I drew was a perfect circle, by the way. I just want immediate results, damnit.
 
Ruzbeh said:
I think I'm gonna go take drawing lessons or whatever. Seriously, I can't concentrate in my own room or something. Or if there isn't someone telling me to concentrate. I just went and drew a few circles and tried to draw some stuff I saw but I quickly got distracted or just got uninterested real fast. The first circle I drew was a perfect circle, by the way. I just want immediate results, damnit.
Click to expand...

heh, I know what you mean.

Actually, do you listen to music? I find the best inspiration I get comes from listening to music while I draw. Try it, it may help!
 
so did you already master Japanese and decided to move on to drawing! :lol
 
Blackace said:
so did you already master Japanese and decided to move on to drawing! :lol
Click to expand...
You so funny. -_-
SonicMegaDrive said:
Actually, do you listen to music? I find the best inspiration I get comes from listening to music while I draw. Try it, it may help!
Click to expand...
:lol No. I would probably just stop and enjoy the music!

Anyways, I think I need another go at it or something. Maybe I should get a new pencil, or use a pen, my pencil is a seriously messed up, chewed up 2" pencil. No good.
 
Ruzbeh said:
You so funny. -_-

:lol No. I would probably just stop and enjoy the music!

Anyways, I think I need another go at it or something. Maybe I should get a new pencil, or use a pen, my pencil is a seriously messed up, chewed up 2" pencil. No good.
Click to expand...

Well, why not start with something that interests you? You seem to like Rurouni Kenshin judging by your avatar. Try sketching Kenshin. Also, pencils are much better for drawing, as you can vary your thickness, as well as erase your lines.

Plus, for drawing music, I wouldn't put on rock music or something with a beat(well, I would...but I'm crazy like that). I would try something a little softer, maybe something orchestral. Got any video game soundtracks?
 
To get started drawing I used to sorta scribble randomly on the page and at some point id eventually see shapes that makes something. Of course it always turned out to be a zombie or a robot, but whatever. I was drawing!
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
Well, why not start with something that interests you? You seem to like Rurouni Kenshin judging by your avatar. Try sketching Kenshin. Also, pencils are much better for drawing, as you can vary your thickness, as well as erase your lines.

Plus, for drawing music, I wouldn't put on rock music or something with a beat(well, I would...but I'm crazy like that). I would try something a little softer, maybe something orchestral. Got any video game soundtracks?
Click to expand...
Well I thought about drawing Kenshin... But I didn't wanna because I would know it would turn out real bad. How do you recommend I draw him? Just get a picture of him and try to draw that? I could do that. And maybe I can listen to some Kenshin soundtracks while I'm at it... that could actually work. Right now I need to find a better pencil.
 
Ruzbeh said:
Well I thought about drawing Kenshin... But I didn't wanna because I would know it would turn out real bad. How do you recommend I draw him? Just get a picture of him and try to draw that? I could do that. And maybe I can listen to some Kenshin soundtracks while I'm at it... that could actually work. Right now I need to find a better pencil.
Click to expand...

Oh, of course. I wouldn't have you try to draw him without a picture to look at!

Yeah, copying other people's art...works. It sounds pretty bad, but another great way to learn new techniques in drawing is to...borrow from other artists! Especially if you're a beginner.
 
Ruzbeh said:
Well I thought about drawing Kenshin... But I didn't wanna because I would know it would turn out real bad. How do you recommend I draw him? Just get a picture of him and try to draw that? I could do that. And maybe I can listen to some Kenshin soundtracks while I'm at it... that could actually work. Right now I need to find a better pencil.
Click to expand...

Dude, the main thing is do it. Draw. Draw. Draw. You'll get better.
 
The thing when you are drawing is to keep topping your last drawing. And you can't do that if you don't ever show your art to someone. Post on art forums like CG Talk or Conceptart.org, get feedback, look at others' art, and look around you. I don't know how many times I wondered how to draw this and this, when it was part of my daily life.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
Oh, of course. I wouldn't have you try to draw him without a picture to look at!

Yeah, copying other people's art...works. It sounds pretty bad, but another great way to learn new techniques in drawing is to...borrow from other artists! Especially if you're a beginner.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And you're gonna end up with your own style. Don't always draw manga, get inspiration from all around the globe. Maybe you'll be able to draw more than Kenshin.
 
I like drawing manga style, but it's the worst to copy for beginners, since the proportions are so wack. There's a great book I use called Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters by Hale and Coyle that has drawings and sketches from, you guessed it, the great masters. This will help you a TON. The authors explain the drawings and the important things to look for and the reference section contains medical plates (skeletons, muscles). I use it for reference all the time.
 
Learn how to draw real people first, then the cartoons come next. Helps immensely. If possible, try to find some life figure drawing classes and sit in. Or, barring that, trace a picture of a real person out of an ad or newspaper and study how you drew the lines
 
To tell you the truth, I don't believe you can be taught to draw well. You can be taught how to render what you see accurately and how to use the materials or how to draw in a particular style, but how well you draw in the end comes from within (natural talent). Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this but, to me, the difference between a good artist and a bad artist isn't how much time they've spent practicing.

Anyway, if you want to learn how to draw I recommend taking classes at a museum or anywhere they offer fundamental drawing classes or life drawing (I wouldn't recommend jumping into life drawing until you've taken a few fundamental drawing classes). The fact that you've already expressed disinterest in doing a lot of work suggests that you'd probably learn better in a structured environment where you are forced to draw.
 
J2 Cool said:
Like everyone said, learn anatomy and form and practice. Fill sketchbooks upon sketchbooks, draw from real life, mix it up with creative ideas and fun, but get back to form again and again. Drawing is something cool, sure, but it's also an insanely refined craft. Surely not something to take for granted or to be jealous of someone's talent. Nearly anyone who is good is so from a massive ammount of time put in, and work. What I'd recommend though? This is INSANELY good for someone starting out. Read and follow these books you can read page for page on

www.saveloomis.org

Good luck.
Click to expand...

For the convenience of others, I Magpied the books, and uploaded them to Rapidshare:

http://rapidshare.de/files/5495664/Loomis_1.zip.html (Contains Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, and Fun With A Pencil)

http://rapidshare.de/files/5495869/Loomis_2.zip.html (Contains Successful Drawing, and Drawing The Head And Hands)

Since its on Rapidshare, they'll only be there for 30 days if there aren't any downloads.
 
No hassles. Unfortunately I couldn't find any freeware programs that could batch convert the images into a PDF for easier printing, but you can't win them all.
 
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