Art Help Topic

[StrawberrySmiles]

Hello. I'm just putting all the information I gain in the forums here to keep everything organized. Plus, it might help others!

I draw every single day, all the time, and you guys are STILL better than me! :D

You would get better if you drew things out of your comfort zone more. I know Andrew loomis has all of his books online (not by his choice he is dead [i would like to think if he was still alive he would put them up anyways]). I spent a good 6 months studying proportion of faces and bodies and while I'm not great at them, I got significantly better.

Andrew Loomis art books:
http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/

I'm not good with drawing a circle for a head than doing all the placement on it either. D=

well then you are never going to be good at faces, period
art takes time and a lot of work. You cant just expect to be magically good. I spent 2 hours just drawing spheres with lines in order to understand the perspective of a sphere. It is all about just buckling down and practicing. I always like to think that when you attempt something new, it is probably going to be the worst draft of the thing you are drawing. After that, you can only get better.

You underestimate your skill Straw but you can't improve unless you start doing things you wouldn't normally do (like hyper-realism, men, animals, scenery).

And eyes are the easiest! Just arcs and arcs. If you look at someone's eyes, it's just curves and arcs all over the place.

Try this -- super serious -- try to draw some random curvy thing in your house. Like a piece of fruit or an old-fashioned telephone or a shampoo bottle.

Now instead of directly duplicating it, draw it using ONLY curves and arcs. If there are straight lines, ignore them. Let them be implied. Just practice arcs and curves as much as possible.

Then try to draw a person, but ONLY draw them using arcs and curves. Don't lift your hand up from the paper unless you have to. Make it one or a few continuous arcs or curves.

Here are some examples of gestures:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1366/133 ... 3f3c50.jpg
http://www.derekyu.com/images/drawing/d ... ures01.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/153/posesxs1.jpg/
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TtOi-x2fki0/T ... ture_3.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1366/133 ... 3f3c50.jpg


Believe it or not, this is how all great figure artists hone their talents. It is a form of blocking, but literally it is adapting your perception of shapes into lines -- emphasizing the arcs and curves in an object enhances its presence of "life", "motion", and implied action.

It is the next step past shapeforms. You can still DO shapeforms (and I do), however the trick is to learn both gestures AND shapeforms, then combine them when trying to detail something.

Here is an example of my own work where I did this (and left in the sketchlines): http://i.imgur.com/uakZuXw.png

I blocked out her joints, but the arcs that comprised her form were gestured (I was drawing from my memory of a real-live person).

Gestures are messy and hurried -- If you spend more than 10 minutes on a gesture, you are doing it wrong.

After you do some basic gestures, you should move on to detailed gestures. Block out where joints & sockets are.

I removed most of my sketchlines in this drawing unfortunately but if you look closely you can see faint gesture + blocking beneath the black lines: http://i.imgur.com/ygZB5oE.png
(When working with digital art I do different forms on different layers so if I particularly like a form but not its placement, I can budge it around when at the blocking stage.)

Then, after practicing that, detail the gestures even more with darker lines. Outline negative areas (like shadows, holes). Outline particularly bright highlights. Outline fainter forms, like the insides of the ear. Outline fingernails. Cuticles. Wrinkles. Fine lines. I guarantee you they will ALL be arcs (however slight).

I also guarantee that, at this point, your works will start to look like actual "fine art". Gestures are a very fine art on their own, even without detail. It is an artistic thing of beauty to be able to distill a form down to its purest, simplest shapes or lines.

In fact, you can even take this skill off in another direction, into graphic design (for minimalist logos, or typography, for example).

THEN, after ALL of that (and I am talking weeks to months+ of practice here), THEN you can attempt to "ink" them. To detail them with non-messy lines.

I 100% fucking double-dog dare you not to improve after doing all this. I triple-dog dare you.

Anyone. Anyone can improve, regardless of skill level, by doing this (the right way, without rushing or cutting corners).

I hope this helps others as much as it will help me! :D

 

[Venetia]

Here, I'll fart my other stuff here too:

And stop saying "can't" -- art is less talent and more perseverance, persistence, and practice. And experimentation! There is NO fine art without experimentation.

You CAN draw lightly. You CAN gesture. You have to teach yourself to stop drawing the way you are and change (here's the thing -- you can always switch back! Unless you have a brain injury, you can't forget how to draw what you already know how to draw)!


Imagine if someone told you that the way you are chewing your food will make you fatter. That if you chewed differently, you'd lose weight. (Not saying you're fat, I am just out of analogies)
Well, you'd WANT to chew the way they showed you. But chewing is something you've done all your life and you automatically do it.

You have to take this thing you automatically do and FORCE your body, with your mind, to do something against what it has always done.
It will feel impossible at first because your brain has become SO DEAD SET on doing this the way it's always known.
But, over time, you will TRAIN it to change. Every time you make a conscious effort to change, you will.

It's mind over matter. You're the boss, Straw. Don't let your body or your habits boss you around!

Your "muscle memory" also remembers things -- even super fine details. You have trained your hand and fingers to draw the way you have gotten down to a routine. It automatically follows those routines. It's one of the reasons why artists who don't experiment end up drawing the same style over and over (I am guilty of this as well).

Experimenting with practicing other styles or artforms not only exercises your mind, but your "muscle memory". As you practice linework, it gets easier over time, because the muscles in your hands and fingers stop fighting you, and instead work with you.

You CAN lose muscle memory over time. When I spend too long between drawings, I have to do "warm up" sketches to get my hands & fingers to play nice, and get back into the rhythm.

"Muscle memory" is the explanation for why you see any skilled person do a skilled assembly or art-related job.
Have you ever seen a factory worker assemble furniture? One that's been doing it for 10 years has those hand motions down to a SCIENCE. They can almost do it in their sleep. They don't even have to think about it anymore; their hands just do what they know. Their newbie coworker will KNOW what they have to do and HOW to do it, but the muscle memory is not there, so it is naturally sloppier and slower.


Exactly the same fucking thing with art.


For instance, I'm okay with figure drawing, but cityscapes and inanimate objects? Awful.

It's because I taught my hands the art of working in arcs. Drawing straight lines is like a traumatic experience for me! It's something I'd have to work on if I wanted to draw more landscapes and inanimate objects, though.


That's all art is. Perseverance, persistence, practice, and experimentation.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

This is all very helpful information!

Thanks a bunches Ven! Though I can tell your passionate due to the swearing. (I dislike swearing because of how angry it sounds)

Now to get out of my comfort zone! *looks around* I see a... uh...

Nothing too interesting... Maybe some cabinets or something.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Another question!

Does anyone know a great site to practice figure drawing from like rl models? I'd prefer non-nude or even underwear models!

I used to actually use model mayhem and find what size everything I wanted, but I don't see that option anymore.

Do you think for scenery and objects Google images is enough? Type in vase, etc.?

Thanks!

 

[Venetia]

Thanks a bunches Ven! Though I can tell your passionate due to the swearing. (I dislike swearing because of how angry it sounds)

I wasn't angry, I just like swearing shitfucktittysprinkles

Does anyone know a great site to practice figure drawing from like rl models? I'd prefer non-nude or even underwear models!

http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice- ... e-drawing/
http://www.posemaniacs.com/
http://onlinelifedrawing.com/fash/home (pay site but some of it is free)

Honestly the best practice is in drawing something you see IRL though (but I know this is not always easy to get).

Do you think for scenery and objects Google images is enough? Type in vase, etc.?

Don't draw inanimate objects from pictures, if possible.
Find things you have in your house or things that are outside.
Look for interesting shapes. Even in mundane stuff, like dish soap bottles or corded telephones or a frozen hamburger. Everything around you has mass and form and is affected by light, etc.
It'll also force you to gesture faster because you won't want the lighting to change with time!
The essence of gesturing is in speed and doing the most with the least number of strokes.

Also I can recommend starting with fat pieces of charcoal. It is easier to identify mass at first when working with thick media. It also looks neat if you smudge it around to imply shading.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

Yeah, I can do inanimate objects at home, sure, it is difficult to find people at home though unless it's Star or his parents. And they're always moving around so it's difficult.

XD

I tried to draw out of my comfort zone today, by the way.

 

[Arion36]

This is all very helpful information!

Thanks a bunches Ven! Though I can tell your passionate due to the swearing Taxi. (I dislike swearing because of how angry it sounds)

Now to get out of my comfort zone! *looks around* I see a... uh...

Nothing too interesting... Maybe some cabinets or something.

C'est vrai que c'est pas mal du tout mais nous aimerions tout de même voir comment tu l'as réalisé.

 

[Boyerm004]

This is all very helpful information!

Thanks a bunches Ven! solution crédit consommation Though I can tell your passionate due to the swearing. (I dislike swearing because of how angry it sounds)

Now to get out of my comfort zone! *looks around* I see a... uh...

Nothing too interesting... Maybe some cabinets or something.

Hello!
This is my first time here and I just want to say that I’m very happy to be here and to share my opinion.