>>2058
>learning how to can be daunting.
That's really the wrong way to look at it. No one says you have to learn everything about it. It's not like Photoshop requires you to pass a test before you can use it. you can use the program at it's most basic, then learn new things over time.
Just like no one expects you to master most videogames before playing them, you unlock new abilities and learn new things as you progress.

You guys all rock. My art is an embarrassment.
I usually go through small periods of drawing. It usually lasts a month or so and then the real world knocks me down. I find it harder and harder to get back up and stick with it. Anyone else deal with this?

Kudos to all the artists in this thread.
maybe I'll start drawing again.

Posted this in /mai/, too.

I was going for a cloudy, pseudo-impressionist style. I kind of like how it turned out (for once), but I think it looks too masculine and feels kind of lazy. Anyone have any experience with painting?

So apparently, I had a deviantart account I made months ago and never did anything with. I know a good chunk of the site is ass, but I recently started drawing again, and I thought it would be a good way to track my progress since I prefer the digital medium.

http://trapfanatic.deviantart.com/

I'm still lacking plenty of knowhow in a lot of fundamental areas, but this is more a dumping ground for the just-for-fun type drawings than the seriousbusiness practice type ones.

>>1471
Side note: I ended up redoing this earlier thing of mine for the profile pic (sort of).

>>2070
I did make some oil paintings over my teens (I quickly stopped, didn't like it at all; only do water based and colored pencil stuff ever since). I prefered not to point it out on /mai/ but, now that you bring it here: however good or bad this oekaki of yours might be, you're fundamentally wrong on thinking about it as anything near impressionism.

Impressionism sprung from realism (Courbet was a major initial influence), as an attempt to induce modernity in paint, understood as the (now outdated) scientific aim for objectivity: above all things, impressionism longs to paint things as they objectively look, instead of how we allegorically interpretate them; they wanted to paint images for what they really were: light (tone & color) values, instead of drawn symbols of people, horses, clouds, etc. The apparently rough brush strokes that some people associate with impressionism (as you seem to do as well) are not an exclusive trait of the movement, but merely a consequence of the same aforementioned goal; specifically: they belong to the research that culminated in Seurat's puntillism, and which attempted to pictorically emulate the scientific theory about color channels in light; they put basic (pigmented) colors in juxtaposition, so the extended gamma would apear only when looked at some distance, as the (light) colors get mixed in the viewer's eyes instead than in the palette...

So, you see, impressionism has absolutely nothing to do with doing sketchy stuff from imagination. If anything (and if done consciously and properly), that would be closer to expressionism, which includes painters that the common folk usually misunderstand as impressionists, like Van Gogh (who initiallly aimed for realism as well -failling pathetically- and whose late style owes much more to the so called japonisme and to his contact with Gauguin, so it is neither fair to look at him under the poor stereotype of a "mad genius painting things as he felt them" -that's just populace's trash).

Cubism, by the way, it's another school that tried to achieve modernity in paint, as they got influenced by those days' scientific theories about the form of the universe, based in non-euclidean geometries. Apollinaire made a contemporary essay about this.

AESOP: do not use terms carelessly.

Post edited on 24th Feb 2013, 5:30pm

>>2071
Are you by chance interested in the 'seriousbusiness practice type' of drawings?

I noticed our art styles were sort of similar. (but my drawings are worse than the Neko Sugar Girls ;_; )
I found some blog online with a few easy anatomy videos. Would you be interested in networking together and tracking each-others progress or something. I'd do it alone but I suck at developing good habits.

>>2070
It looks really flat. If I were you I'd practice drawing simple 3-dimensional shapes (boxes, spheres, etc.) to get an understanding of depth and perspective.
I'd recommend this video series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLWXmWkHnQ&feature=share&list=SP1D264418BF4A6BF9

>>2072
>No, you don't understand, it's my style.
>It's supposed to be this dark.
>Realism doesn't matter as long as it expresses the farmers' hardships.

>>2072
yeah i'm definitely seeing more expressionist in it now
Thanks.
I was initially going for legit impressionism in the style of, say, Monet's "Charing Cross Bridge", but drawing Minami instead of a bridge, but I didn't get it right so I admittedly gave up and went for something different.

>>2074
Now, the flatness in this one was intended, but I know that I can't just call it "my style" and never learn how to draw "properly". For this particular painting, it was supposed to be like that, but I don't want EVERY one to look so flat.
These videos look helpful, thanks.

>>2072
Uh, Van Gogh is post-impressionism. He did influence the expressionists though.
Oh man, this gives me the urge to make a fine art thread.

>>2076
No, it could be sort of expressionist had it been intentional and well thought, which is not the case at all. That looks like nothing: no expressionist, no anime, no girl, no nothing, just a preschool kid messing around with brushes. You can't even draw, let alone make purposeful stilizations. You're just giving excuses and deluding yourself like devians do.

>>2075
Oh Vincent, you'll never amount to anything, I'm telling you.

>>2077
Alright. Be my guest.

Post edited on 25th Feb 2013, 3:31pm

>>2073
I do them, yes, just probably not nearly as often as I should be.

I'm up for doing whatever by the way, but you're gonna need to be slightly more specific about what/how.

>>2078
>You can't even draw,
This is the "Beginning Art" thread.

>>2082
But he was being a douche.

http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

I have found this to be an extremely useful tool for understanding anatomy. I try to do 5 minutes of drawing from it a week... I often forget, but even a few minutes will help. The whole website is excellent for poses and references. I hope you find this useful.

Quit bickering about art classifications and start laughing at this shitty drawing that took 5 hours away from my life.

Where did I go wrong?.. ;_;

>>2091
The problem is that you're drawing symbols instead of 3-dimensional shapes.
Also I hope that's not the resolution you're working at? It's better to work on a large canvas and then shrink it down when you're done.

>>2098
Tanks bro,
My brain has trouble constructing shapes and drawing 3d.
Seems like I can only work well if I use a HUGE piece of paper and draw out vanishing points.
Drawing 3d stuff the the fly makes me nervous.

Is there some specific drills or drawing exercises that helps with that?

>>2100
Yes! This >>2074 series of videos is about the importance of the box shape and how you can use it for things like construction and perspective. There are some demonstrations of exercises there too.

If you're planning on moving on to figure drawing afterwards, then Glenn Vilppu's videos are great. You can find them on most filesharing sites, I think. He goes through everything from the most basic shapes, to more advanced things like atmospheric perspective.

>>2091
Were you using any references? If you use reference images done just draw what you see, study it. imagine what it looks like at different angles, try to get a 3d understanding of it. Study skulls. they help understand the way the face looks. The perspective of the nose makes it look like it's being pushed upwards.

>>2135
also, something that really helped me comprehend human perspective, try doing cross contour drawings. Like if the skin was a grid, how the lines would align.

>>2135
>>2101
I cant thank you enough for your advice. Especially for those moatddtutorials vids. I feel like my brain grew 3% after watching them.
That one part where he talks about a drawer being like a sculptor only with unlimited amount clay caused a total paradigm shift in how I view drawing.
I feel like I at least understand stuff a lot better.. even though my artistic skills have yet to catch up.

Here, have an animu school girl I was in the process of drawing a few weeks ago. It sucks, but it's still a vast improvement of what I was able to do at the time.

>>2136
I've been experimenting with adding 'wire frames' to my drawings ever since I saw that moaddtutorials guy draw a doughnut shape using them. Unfortunately I don't have as much free time to draw so my current skill level has grown quite stagnant.

>>2135
>Were you using any references?

No, I sort of have this personal phobia about using references. I'd either feel too guilty about having to use someone else's image or feel like my original idea would be compromised to some degree because I would end up relying too much on the reference. I am sort of afraid I'd become like all those deviant art dweebs who just re-trace and color stuff.

Feel free to smack some sense into me about why I should.

(I have thought about getting one of those wooden artist manikins.. Although, I wish I had a bunch of real life friends that i could pose and take photos of ;_;)

>>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.

I know the hands need work for sure, the placement of shading wasn't so great on the hair either. I also worry that her tail might not look exactly like a tail. I probably could have done a better job with everything on the clothing.

Any further critique is appreciated.