>>2144
There's no shame in doing it for practice. Hell, I even traced over photos to help me learn anatomy and proportions but of course I wouldn't act like it's my own. When it comes to stuff you want to show people, it depends on the person and how closely the end product resembles the reference. If you're really worried then try to make the pictures yourself rather than picking them off the internet. Have you thought about taking pictures of yourself somehow? (Though it's not like you're selling your art so copyright stuff doesn't matter.)

>>2144

>feel like my original idea would be compromised to some degree
Well, if you value your signature so much and want to make figurative stuff, then try using actual references: draw from the natural, not from pics, like a proud real draughtsman would. There's no plagiarism in drawing 3D objects to profit from in your 2D stuff, even if they're man-built objects; actually, there's no academicist who hadn't go through such training.

>Feel free to smack some sense into me about why I should.
So you stop drawing like a kid? We all need a fair share of academic skill to draw sexy ladies. Also, find some books of color theory cause yours is currently revolting (you're *this* close to puking rainbows).

>>2144
>>2137
Glad I could help!

Anyway, referencing people/objects and studying other peoples' works is absolutely crucial to progress in drawing. In the beginning you'll probably have to use a lot of reference even for simple things to make them look not terrible (at least I had to), but as you progress you'll need it less and less. Of course, it's impossible to be able to draw everything perfectly, so even an industry pro will gather reference regularly, and most of them will have huge collections of references.
If you're scared of plagiarizing a singular source, you could reference from multiple sources at once, which is common. But you shouldn't really worry about it, artists have been ripping each others off since the dawn of time, and there's no shame in doing it as long as you're not tracing over or stealing things and claiming they were made by you.

>>2151
>>2147
Thanks so much. I took your advice.
To tell you the truth, my interests in drawing sexy 2d women has sort of waned. I am now addicted to drawing stuff like candle sticks and wine bottles. Here is some non-digital progress from a few weeks back.

>>2161
Well, that's much better.

Now, something that might help you while doing pencil studies and drawing in general, is the notion of local tone. Say: however the light is coming, a banana is likely to be overall lighter than a pear next to it; capturing those differences through your shading will help your drawings a lot. You can even use different pencils, from harder (lighter) to softer (darker), to work among different ranges of local tones and different levels of detail in textures (which you might want to start defining as well: the rock to "feel" like a rock, the peach like a peach...); say, people normally use HB (HARD/BLACK) cause is right in the middle, but I prefer a good 3H (or even 6H) to work some stuff in very fine detail.

One more thing: you need a focal point for each and every drawing you make.

Whenever we look at some picture (or anything: whenever we see at all), our eyes don't really take the whole stimulus in one shot but instead begin to "scan" it, not continuously but through saccades; I mean, there are always points where our eyes immediately and automatically "jump" to in order to analyze and understand the complexity of any image we're presented to. Where those points are located depends on many things and there are several criteria to apply (e.g. we notice faces -or the lack them of- before anything else within a figure, and the eyes before anything else within a face). However, as a general rule, I could say that the eyes tend to make an initial distinction between "figure" and "background" and then jump to the areas of greater contrast, be it color or tone wise.

Why is important to know this?

1) Because a piece without a clear focal point (and a following hyerarchy of stationary points around it) will generally be perceived as messy or poorly done.

2) Because you need to control it wisely in order to drive the viewer's attention exactly to the places that you want them to notice the most... i.e. you need it to manipulate the viewer into watching what you want them to see and ignore what you don't. The most complex you piece is, the more difficult this organization will result and you'll need of extra theoretical results to assist you; but, however simple your piece it is, you absolutely need to give it a clear focal point.

>>2161
>my interests in drawing sexy 2d women has sort of waned
That's great, actually. Keep grinding on those basic shapes.
The world would be a much better place if people bothered to study the basics before starting to draw stylistically. Not that I am one to talk.

I know this question might have been asked thousands of times, but I need clarity on the matter. I've recently gotten back into drawing after maybe a decade of laziness and I got a bunch of guides, etc , etc. I'm just confused as to where do I start? I thought starting by practicing poses was a good way to start, but then I feel like I'm skipping an entire semester's worth of practice when it comes to body structures and bones and shit like that , I didn't even know you had to learn those too. Also, how do I know when to move on when it comes to specific material? Let's say I start with >>431 , how do I know when I can go onto much more advanced techniques? Lastly, and I know this might sound stupid, but after, say a year or two worth of practicing, I take the knowledge I know and I end up with art that is unique to me, right? It seems like following these tutorials guide you to a specific area and you can't draw anything outside of that area (if that makes any sense).

I'd appreciate if anyone can answer these questions. Everytime I see nice anime-style drawings I just feel crappy because they look so pretty and I want to create something as beautiful as it.

>>2212
If I were to create an art course for beginners it would probably look something like this:

Level 1:
- Line control, mark making, line weight
- Drawing straights and curves
- Basic 2D shapes

Level 2:
- Simple perspective
- Basic 3D shapes
- Drawing ellipses

Level 3:
- Basic rendering
- Shading 3D shapes
- Texture, shadows and light
- Still life drawing

Level 4:
- Drawing people
- Gesture drawing
- Construction and anatomy
- Life drawing

Level 5:
- Drawing from imagination
- Stylization

>how do I know when I can go onto much more advanced techniques?
You don't need to have complete mastery of the basic techniques to move on to a more advanced one, but know that you cannot construct a figure without understanding 3D shapes and that you won't be able to draw a 3D shape without understanding perspective.

>after, say a year or two worth of practicing, I take the knowledge I know and I end up with art that is unique to me, right?
Maybe? Personally, I think that actively searching for your own "style" can be harmful and destructive because it leads you to skipping crucial steps, oversimplification and repeating the same drawing patterns over and over.

>It seems like following these tutorials guide you to a specific area and you can't draw anything outside of that area
Well, constructive drawing is meant to enable you to draw anything from imagination, but I admit it can be pretty boring at first.

>>2213

Thanks alot dude, I don't think you understand how much this helps me.

Is looking at photographs and drawing what you see a good way to learn?
I'm really bad at drawing but when I do that it looks alright, I feel like I learn from it but I don't know.

>>2324
Even Mobius used reference!
Drawing from reference can be a great exercise, as long as you try to understand the form and don't trace the picture.
Almost all artists use reference for parts they aren't accustomed to drawing and it usually elevates their work.

Good luck to anyone actually trying.
I sure can't draw to save my life, I lack the patience.

Any linearting tips for someone who doesn't have a tablet?

What do you use? How do you best achieve the thin line? I also have problem with doing straight lines, I'm fine with a pencil though, I just draw with little strokes. I had most luck linearting with a ballpoint pen because it has similar feeling to pencil but had problems with the pen bleeding and the tip not being thin enough to lineart small details accurately enough.

my most recent thing, did it months ago and wanna get into this again, how is it and where should I go from here?

>>2662
Nice photobomb in the window.

Here's my most recent abomination, one of the TC user's avatars. I feel a bit better about this than my other drawings but it's still trash.

A drawing from a few weeks ago that I didn't feel like finishing. Go to town with your critique, roast it even. I need the improvement anyway. I can spot a few things I got wrong myself.

My most recent drawing of Tohno's character and another TC user. I'm a bit more proud of this one and I spent some more time on it than usual. I can spot a lot of things wrong with it on my own but some critique would be welcome.

My first completed digital drawing.

>>2748
Could use some more shadows.

I was too lazy to finish this one since I've been on it for so long and time has been sparse. I should probably be more dedicated though, for sure.

>>2762
it's cute

>>2763

But she is stabbing herself in the shoulder with a (poorly drawn) pencil.

Here is my last drawing, it only took so long because I was dumb enough to not use tabs. This is where my inability to draw proper anatomy shows the most so don't hold back anything with this one.

My most recent drawing, I got a bit exhausted with digital drawing. I also tried out a new style too. What do you think?

I'm able to critique my drawings on my own but I figure that it might help to post it here anyway. I can already see a lot of flaws myself such as the hands being different sizes, same for the boots, the hips not looking quite right as well, and the shading on her face looking like a burn scar.

Something I made a while after Tohno streamed Yooka-Laylee.

>>2835
Please add something like [3D Warning] before, not after, the hyperlink so people don't open it before reading the rest of the text.

>>2836

[3D warning]

Some anatomy practice using Quickposes.com this time, I know I'm violating a rule by linking to 3D but I'm hoping it's okay in this context since I know to give the best possible criticism on a drawing the person giving critique needs to be able to see the reference as well.

https://www.quickposes.com/assets/poses/4753a684aa95705f1d3cd5dffb509122.jpg

Thanks for the warning >>2836, I reported the post to have it deleted.

>>2837
Oh, I didn't mean you should have deleted the post, just to keep it in mind for future reference. Thanks for your consideration. I agree on the notion that context is extremely important when making an exemption, like in your case.

I feel like this one ended up more as coloring and shading practice but I tried using the airbrush tool on a final drawing for the first time and I decided to try and use the bucket tool as the base for colored parts.

I look forward to reading thoughts on this one. I'm not entirely sure if I'm finished with this one but for the time being this is all I can think of to do on this that I feel like doing.

By the way, I feel like the wisps need to also look like some kind of light source. If I failed to make them look like such and you have any better ideas on how to achieve this, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Give this guy a check. He has neat tutorials on anatomy for animatic drawings:

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

Trying to draw again and experiencing some technical difficulties, felt tip pen question:
How long do tips normally last?

I only used pencils before but some exercises are supposedly better done with pens so I bought a couple of Sakura Microns (normal 0.5mm tip), I'm surprised and discouraged by fast wearing nibs.
After 2 days it was already flattened and hard to use, tried to stick with it for a week but I ruined it to the point it's unusable- it was worn almost to the metal sleeve and ground completely flat.
I thought my paper might have caused excessive wear- cheap recycled brown paper, unfortunately it's rather rough textured so with the next pen I used ordinary printer paper however the results are similar.
I read some reviews on the pens before buying, people warned they tend to run out of ink quickly if pressed too hard so I was careful not to use much pressure. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

>>2843
I bought Sakura microns.
The first exploded the very first time I went to use it on some lined paper when I was going to be taking notes.
The other lasted a little more than week of notebook use in my pocket before it was worn to the metal and started leaking through the nib.

Never again, Sakura.
I'm smacking myself for even trying them when I know and love Pilots.

>>2844
Fuck. I really hate it, always doing my best to try and find the best possible solution for me but getting burned again and again.
Very unpleasantly surprised considering some people claim to even refill these Microns and have them last for years.
Unfortunately other popular brands (Pilot, Staedtler, Rotring, Copic etc) are either unavailable here or too expensive for me. Not willing to try less known makes with no opinions.
Anyway I'm back to not drawing so my pens will last a long time after all.

>>2845
I mean, no offence towards >>2844, but it's just one opinion. They cost like $2-3 each so you can still buy one or two and try them yourself.

>>2846
I'm both of 'them' so this opinion was formed empirically, unfortunately.

>>2848
That's terrible. Are the other brands really that different in price?

>>2850
Yes, over here other specialized art/technical brands usually cost 2-3 times more for basic models.

Stupid question, can a NEET learn and survive on art?

>>2842
Here are the drawings I made using his drawings as reference. These are the first of my attempts.

>>2842

>>2842

Should I give up?

>>2877
About drawing? No, unless you don't care about it. Just remember even the most talented people still practice dozens if not hundreds of hours a month. You won't get good with wishful thinking. You need to draw and draw and draw.

>>2878
Thanks anon. I'm kind of bored of everything else so I can keep up drawing

>>2877
Nope. Nice expression.

Might want to give these check:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHfrncvODQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCZIqbRDphs

Does Photoshop have an option to display a guide when placing straight lines by shift+click? I remember GIMP had this very useful feature enabled by default. Pic shows what it looked like, more or less.

>>2862
Probably but you would be working as an artist so no longer a NEET.
Patreon seems like a good way to do it though, to me anyway. It seems the best artists only make about $500 a month though, and they draw lewd images that I would not draw.

>>2862
As the previous poster implied - the only way to make a good living off art without working is to be a recognizable enough name that people want your commissions. That either takes lots of skill (not just in art, but in social interaction), or the capacity to draw very, very depraved images that most artists simply don't draw.