To All Artist out there!!

opailopai · 11-14-2006

Practice practice practice.... and when your done with that , practice some more.

Seriously it's the only way you'll improve or gain any ability. I was going to try to put an online beginers guide to doodling up somewhere but became awfully lazy... as I do with most things.

The basics of drawing to me are the ability to draw lines and shapes , I mean they compose basically everything else a person will draw at some level. Draw circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, triangles, 8's , hourglasses. Attempt to draw a line as straight as possible without a ruler, try to make curvy lines, jaggged lines. I'd like to think that basically anyone is capable of doing atleast this.

Practice that basic thing as a warmup before you draw anything seriously, if you can perfect the above it can be transfered to anything else. The second step would be deciding what it is you want to be able to draw. Most artists regardless of style still tend to focus on one thing first and foremost- girls, boys, men, women, animals, still life, vehicles, whatever. Given the content of this forum being what it is I'll assume girls. Those anime books do have some good advice but they seem heavily aimed at the intermediate artist. Someone who is allready familiar with some really basic drawing styles. ultimatly , how good a drawing of a woman looks comes down to consistent proportions. Sure drawing gigantic tits on a girl is fun and goes a long way to earn favour on the process' BE section but if all you have is a floating pair of breasts on a girl that looks like something out of a Dr. Katz cartoon or her arms and legs aren't the right length, perhaps even her neck was drawn the wrong size it creates some jarring artwork.

I still have proportioning issues, I consider it to the most difficult problem with drawing. That's why I recommend you get those kinks out first, the fun stuff can come later on, when you've practiced basic proportions and such with both a female and preferably a male as well you'll eventually just 'get' it. Like you'll be able to sketch up a stick figure skeliton and add shapes and lines to it to look roughlylike the outline of a human body. This is where things get much more freeform. You can go the route of many past artists and simply find a style out there you like and attempt to adapt it to your own level of ability while hopefully tweaking it to make it your own style or you can just do real life artwork and adapt it into a completly original manga look , or whatever style of art it is you wanta to be aiming for. This is the step where you want to look at details you like in others artwork, perhaps the why eyes and mouths are drawn, perhaps nipples. Regardless just look at this artwork and figure out through practice how that picture was made and furthermore how to apply it to your own style.

Being patient with this whole process is the most important part, you aren't going to go from squiggly stickmen to shehulk overnight. Also it's an ongoing purpose, any artist that says they have perfected themselves is lying to you and themselves. Once you have a level of ability you are comfortable with you'll want to keep drawing to maintain that ability, it's like riding a bike in that it'll come back quickly even if you quit but the more you keep at it the better you'll get.

11-14-2006	#19
opailopai BOOBXBOOB XIII Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 62	Practice practice practice.... and when your done with that , practice some more. Seriously it's the only way you'll improve or gain any ability. I was going to try to put an online beginers guide to doodling up somewhere but became awfully lazy... as I do with most things. The basics of drawing to me are the ability to draw lines and shapes , I mean they compose basically everything else a person will draw at some level. Draw circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, triangles, 8's , hourglasses. Attempt to draw a line as straight as possible without a ruler, try to make curvy lines, jaggged lines. I'd like to think that basically anyone is capable of doing atleast this. Practice that basic thing as a warmup before you draw anything seriously, if you can perfect the above it can be transfered to anything else. The second step would be deciding what it is you want to be able to draw. Most artists regardless of style still tend to focus on one thing first and foremost- girls, boys, men, women, animals, still life, vehicles, whatever. Given the content of this forum being what it is I'll assume girls. Those anime books do have some good advice but they seem heavily aimed at the intermediate artist. Someone who is allready familiar with some really basic drawing styles. ultimatly , how good a drawing of a woman looks comes down to consistent proportions. Sure drawing gigantic tits on a girl is fun and goes a long way to earn favour on the process' BE section but if all you have is a floating pair of breasts on a girl that looks like something out of a Dr. Katz cartoon or her arms and legs aren't the right length, perhaps even her neck was drawn the wrong size it creates some jarring artwork. I still have proportioning issues, I consider it to the most difficult problem with drawing. That's why I recommend you get those kinks out first, the fun stuff can come later on, when you've practiced basic proportions and such with both a female and preferably a male as well you'll eventually just 'get' it. Like you'll be able to sketch up a stick figure skeliton and add shapes and lines to it to look roughlylike the outline of a human body. This is where things get much more freeform. You can go the route of many past artists and simply find a style out there you like and attempt to adapt it to your own level of ability while hopefully tweaking it to make it your own style or you can just do real life artwork and adapt it into a completly original manga look , or whatever style of art it is you wanta to be aiming for. This is the step where you want to look at details you like in others artwork, perhaps the why eyes and mouths are drawn, perhaps nipples. Regardless just look at this artwork and figure out through practice how that picture was made and furthermore how to apply it to your own style. Being patient with this whole process is the most important part, you aren't going to go from squiggly stickmen to shehulk overnight. Also it's an ongoing purpose, any artist that says they have perfected themselves is lying to you and themselves. Once you have a level of ability you are comfortable with you'll want to keep drawing to maintain that ability, it's like riding a bike in that it'll come back quickly even if you quit but the more you keep at it the better you'll get.