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Looks good, see the difference when you actually have something to reference eh?

also page get

I use figure sketching to lay a scene. You're on the right path now so keep at it.
Here's an example of something I've started recently.

That's very cool, Nima. Did you use the same couple of references for the people in the foreground? I'm also curious as to what the dark vertical marking in the background are supposed to represent. Are they placeholders for trees?

Yeah the reference for the soldiers in the foreground are Roman Triarii from the Polybian era. The title for the piece at the moment comes from the old Roman saying "Res ad triarios venit or It comes down to the triarii

Here's a slightly updated picture, not had time to continue much with foliage.



Here's one with contrast to show the skyline

Useful thread so far even outside of OP, have a feature.

A big thanks to RandomMan for featuring this thread. I hope that other aspiring artists will come to this thread for advice as well and get the tips and advice that they need.

The first drawing was a Birthday gift for Natsuru Springfield. In the second one you can clearly see where I experience frustration with multiple overlapping limbs.

Still looking better, have you tried this exercise yet?



This is Igor Stravinsky by Picasso, draw it as is upside down, it'll help you to stop thinking of lines as concepts – and for a bonus, when you're done. Flip both drawings. But don't flip it at all until you're done.

I've included this to show you how it can be developed into a full fleshed drawing,

I finished the Igor Stravinsky drawing this morning. Sorry it took so long, i've been been sidetracked/busy this week. I've also noticed the image of my self portrait on page 3 is broken. If anyone wants to see it can be found here.

I was also wondering this: If i wanted to draw a scene would it be logical I use multiple references for a single character? Like if I used one reference for the pose and used a another reference for the clothing as opposed to finding a single image that fit exactly what i intend to draw?

Well as Pablo Picasso once put it;



Use as many references as you need to get what you want. It is practically impossible to create something of the top of your head and to get something to look right it's easier just to look at a real life reference or to reference someone else's art that uses the same pose. But remember there is a fine line between referencing and plagiarising, I used 6 different references for the Triarii sketches in those ones I posted earlier.

A basic headshot, apologies for the horrid quality, I don't have a scanner.
This is supposed to be an African American man. I feel as though in my style most of the proportions and typical features seem to be on point. For reference I used Ice Cube, honestly.

I wanna ask a question, but I think summing it up in a drawing would make more sense.

I'm a mixbag when it comes to drawing. I'm good with lines and shapes, but drawing proper anatomy just kills my motives to draw. I need to learn how to draw such things properly.

@Trollanort

Not bad for a camera pic, almost rivals my scanner quality. You also seem to have facial mechanics understood. As you clearly know to wrap the wrinkles and such over the base eye and surrounding shapes..

Start with figure sketching then, check my posts on Page 3 for info and links.

I just wanted to post something that doesn't really relate to drawing, but rather to good reference and inspirational material.

I'm sure most of you have probably at least heard of the subreddit named EarthPorn, right? I've recently been going through some of the posts that seemed interesting, and saved up most of the cool stuff into a reference folder. I'm really bad at drawing landscapes, but having a big reference folder full of good stuff really makes it easier to tackle landscapes when I eventually have to.

Actually, whatever it is that you draw, always keep a good reference/tutorial folder for yourself. I've saved up a ton of good tutorials, pose references, and now finally lanscapes for further use. I guess I've gotta fill up a folder with good clothing and armor reference next.

Any ideas for places to gather good and varied clothing reference material from?

I have become a bit more erratic in my practice so I figured that i'd take a bit of a break from drawing naked people over and over and try out some Animals. I also drew a couple of flowers but I didn't do any 20 minutes for them.

Musk Deer and Dog

My least favorite.

I also attempted a mountain lake landscape but i guess 20 minutes was insufficient time for that.

Looks good but you don't have to keep to a time limit for anything outside the exercises I gave you. Those are to train you to figure sketch quickly – it's not easy drawing a scene with people walking if they aren't standing still, get what I mean?

Hi can I get some help? Ive been drawing for a months now to try and improve my skill for animation. My primary focus right now is getting faces and heads to be drawn right.

This is a small character sheet sketch I have with 3 heads and the final shading.

Ive been looking at draw with jazza and Proko as my main learning sources .I (think) I have the proportions correct, but im not happy with the way it looks. To me it just looks painfully average and feel like something is off yet its hard to pinpoint. Im trying to go for a semi realistic look. Im using this character for puppet animation which basically a majority of the characters are pre drawn before the animation process starts at multiple angles to be reused multiple times. Shows like Archer do this a lot, and I feel like if you want to do that animation style then you should make up for it with the art.

Can you give a critique of both the correctness (form, proportions, ect) and the art style?

Oh yeah, This guy gave me a critique too

"If I can be totally honest, I'm not convinced you have the fundamental knowledge to pull this off, namely anatomy, perspective, and form. Even that aside, semi-realistic styles in animation is a lot of work, that's why most are cartoony as possible, but if you're a glutton for punishment, more power to ya, might be fun to try anyway.

I did a draw over of what I think you might be going for:"

Maybe im just being stupid but this didn't really help. The draw over points out some errors but his critique doesn't really specifically point out whats wrong.

I hope your critique is a little bit more detailed then this

Well first off. I have to say the character looks very very boring, there is a lack of characterisation – he doesn't look like he has any personality. The proportions are decent but your 3/4 needs work.

I don't think you should be focusing on getting heads right at the moment. As the other guy said, it is evident that you don't have the fundamentals down yet.

As I said to Conman, the best way to get into drawing the right way is by starting with figure sketching. Buy something that you can draw in – preferably an A3 workbook. And start figure sketching the people you see around you – draw often. Look at the previous page at some of my posts, there are some useful links including some with exercises.

Try to draw everyday, figure sketches are meant to be drawn quickly, so when you start, draw what you see. DO NOT CORRECT LINES, if you make a line and don't like it – draw the line you wanted, drawing is meant to be messy and making mistakes will help you find the line you want.

So baby steps at the moment, take a look at some of the links, do some sketches and post them here and we'll work on it from there.

On a side note, look at your drawing and his. His is better because it just has more personality but that can be developed over time. At the moment, your first drawings are at most amateurish.

Like this? I mean I tried, shouldn't I learn anatomy and space before I start doing this?

Im not really understanding what this is suppose to do

Y'know you can learn more than one thing at a time hehe.

As for the figure sketch, yea that is the idea – however try to make single lines, no many, if you eff up a line, don't erase it – just keep drawing it until you get the right shape. Also use a large piece of paper, A3 or summins and draw large, you can fit 3 figures along horizontally super easy. Start to draw using your shoulder and not your wrist.

Take a look at the exercise I gave Conman

This is Igor Stravinsky by Picasso, draw it as is upside down, it’ll help you to stop thinking of lines as concepts – and for a bonus, when you’re done. Flip both drawings. But don’t flip it at all until you’re done.


As for human anatomy, you don't need to know anything special, just things such as the shape of the knuckles, wrist, fore arm, the bones that make up the elbow, upper arm, shoulder blades, clavicle, ribs, and the bones that make up your legs.

As for the head, learn the names and shape of the lower jaw, upper jaw, nose, side of your head (Front and back) and of the actual cranium.


And the hard part. Learn muscle structure.

Ive done that upside down drawing from the book its from before. I wish I can find the old one I have on my computer from months ago one to compare it to the new one. I don't know whats wrong with me, It was fine at first but I completely messed the spacing up. That's always been one of my biggest issues. Like ill draw a phone but it will end up looking to fat or thin I never know how to get it just right. I understand what this is ment to do. You're suppose to look at a line and say in your head "Ok thats an s curve, and that wiggles around and that looks it turns right really sharply" but makeing it all fit together is weird

I did more body drawings the way you told me to.

And I spent some time looking at head anatomy tutorials im trying to focus on the eyes and nose right now.
But I have one other issue. Ive asked about this before to others and Ive never been given a good answer. I suck at drawing the actual shape of the head. Mostly fat heads and blocky sharp jaw lines I know the head has lots of curves with the indent near the eyes and cheak bones but no one ever really goes into detail about it. Its one of my biggest weaknesses. Where can I learn more about constructing the jaw line and such?

And thanks for helping me. Ive always wanted someone like you to point me in the right direction

I think the reason that you can't draw the face is because you don't understand the bone structure behind it.

For your figure sketches, I can possibly link you the same resources I gave to Conman so long as you follow the same exercises I set up for him.

And maybe for the skull, try boxing your drawings, or circles and cylinders – really anything that works for you. The purpose of the upside down drawings is to force you to focus on the line rather than the shape. That's also what figure sketching does – you want the silhouette and then you build it up from there.


Maybe draw a skull for yourself and label it, keep it for your own reference






I quickly took 5 minutes just to show you what I mean by boxes and cylinders





Also here's some books that you might find helpful;

- Drawing Basics and Video Game Art by Chris Solarski (He goes in depth into a lot of things including design choices and chiaroscuro)

- The Animators Notebook by Richard Williams
-The Animators Workbook by Richard Williams


And then of course, look around on the internet for an artist you like, and study their drawings – you'll be able to pick out techniques and be able to develope your own style from there. Don't ever worry about replicating someone elses work for practice – so long as you don't trace it or try to pawn it off as your own. As I said earlier in the thread, Art is Theft. We're stealing from the world around us to make our own depictions of it.

Ok so I had a small break though last night. Reading everything you said I finally realize all of my knowledge of the head was purely from copying and I don't even know what over half of the lines are there for.

So one thing that I think might help is I tried this. I took a 3/4 view of a character I like and I tried breaking every single line down into a body part and why it was drawn in that way. Its still a work in progress but maybe this might help me understand more about the head. Ive drawn that little V shape a million times now but only until yesterday understood that was suppose to show where the brow ridge is

And Ive been working on my proportions especially my 3/4 view idk if they have gotten any better or not. I wanted to also show my processes just in case im messing something up.

-I start with a ball for the skull then put the brow line and put a line where the middle of the face will be and the end of the chin
-I cut that ball out to find the side of the head and ear
- Then I block in jaw one line going straight down for the side plane, then the chin line, then two lines for the jaw
-Then I block in the bottom of the eye brows on the brow line to find the eye sockets then block those in
-Then I draw the nose starting at the top right on the brow line all the way down to the end of the ball
-Then put the eyes into the sockets
-Then the mouth
-and lastly I block in the chin, check bones, and ear

Is there anything im especially bad at that needs work?

And Im still doing gestures every day

Sorry for the heavy read this time

Well it looks like you're starting to get it – you should do this kind of research with everything, use references as often as possible when drawing. As for you drawing it looks like it's getting better construction wise, but the proportions are still off, things like the lower jaw do not sit right along with the size of his skull and ear placement.

But it is looking better and you're still new to this. Your basic construction of eyes and nose looks correct, I think you should still look at some references for eyes. I'm including some step by steps for a very very very simple construction of the eye.














Remember this is a very basic construction just to show you as an example.

Can I get a critique on these heads?

God, I feel like im getting so much closer yet they still look extremely off. But I think im getting better thanks to all the advice. Just 3 days ago I would not be able to draw that bottom head for the life of me. His curvy face was always my down fall but its weird, knowing what every single line is there for some how makes it much easier to block them in.

Hey guys, sorry that I disappeared for such a long while, i've been bogged down by college work and what art I have been doing has been homework and projects for my drawing class. one of those projects (a self portrait using contè) should be needs to be finished by monday.

I'm also glad to see that the thread has been utilized by people other than me to get the advice they need for their art. I give an especially big thanks to Nima who's been very dependable for tips and advice.

Best way to get better is just to keep drawing, everyday is preferable but as long as it's often it works.

But it still doesn't make sense to me. There has to be a specific reason as to why look weird. I want to know why so I can work on that specific problem

Well from the drawings you posted, the bald one on the far left looks the best in my opinion. A lot of this stuff just comes with practice and studying the things you are drawing. The haired version is problematic because the split isn't positioned correctly, the Archer rendition's problem is the eyes and ear position and style.

You need to learn some stuff about the ear and its shape if you want to master it. So basically why it doesn't look right just yet is because you still need to practice – Rome wasn't built in a day.

After a long time of not drawing I did this contè grid drawing of myself being sour (or salty, one of those adjectives) for my drawing class. The position of the glasses is a bit different from my ref photo.

Critique is very much wanted.

WOAH! HOLY SHIT

I like it, charcoal is my favourite to work with, the only thing that bothers me at a glance is the glasses. Remember to analyse why things are designed the way they are – and in this case glasses magnify, if you look at a pair on someone's head at the same angle it'll drag out the face a bit – but you've drawn it connected meaning those glasses serve no purpose hehe.

But other than that I like the shading and the texture – you've gotten a lot better and maybe for next time take another look at your reference for the lighting of the right side of your face(Left side here), you've shaded it so that you have the inverse of a robbers mask but from the way the light highlights your forehead and cheek bone it insinuates that there's some sort of light that should be on that side but it isn't. It's a good drawing but that doesn't mean you can stop either – keep drawing and using those pictures I gave you. Figure sketches are one of the best ways to warm up before a drawing session.

I feel like Im slowly getting closer but the art style still looks off to me.

First off your front view is good but then you've drawn the same face in a 3/4.

- His hair, it's folding over his right eye but it doesn't in the front view.
- His right eye in the 3/4 is not positioned correctly
- His face is too long in the 3/4 and goes downwards?
- The front view indicates a strong sharp chin and cheeks but you've rounded them off.
- His forehead juts out in a weird manner and should be further back.
- The eye sizes changed along with his top lip.

Another assignment for drawing class. This was a grave yard that's about a ten minute walk from the college but I was only able to draw one of the gravestones as the others were too far away or deep in shadow to be visible in my reference photo. I used a thin tortillion, a paper clip, cotton balls, and occasionally a sharpie to draw it. It's far from my favorite piece but everyone else in my class seems to really like it.

The crease in the middle is were I tapped the two sheets together (on the backside) and were it was folded in half to fit in my portfolio.

If you want to zoom in on the image go the address below.
http://conman-the-artist.deviantart.com/art/Ink-Landscape-563814140

I seriously love it

Looks scary as hell

Here's another assignment. This assignment was to create a tile pattern. It was drawn on paper and cut up, tapped back together, scanned, and edited in photoshop. Because my paper wasn't perfect i had to do a bit of editing in photoshop on the edges to make them work.

Link looks broken

Here it is again since the image in my previous pest doesn't seem to be working.

Here's a link just in case.
http://conman-the-artist.deviantart.com/art/Imperfect-Tile-Pattern-564019766

Some pretty neat work here. Keep at it!

Something I have learned since my last tips and tricks:

Art can be boiled down into two approaches. 1. The Conveyance of Emotion and Action. 2. The Conveyance of Form.

Most Art Classes will actually focus on the latter, as it's the part that is actually hard. But what sells an art piece is that conveyance of emotion. A peice becomes a hundred times more powerful even if you are conveying something simple as becoming happy, or turning to see what's going on.

(And personally, it's something I've lost in recent years myself, so next time I start taking commissions again, I'll be trying to focus on that)

That's pretty crazy seeing the stuff on the first page compared to everything you have right now.

What kind of art lessons have you been doing?

Oh wow shit, she deactivated her account… Welp she was pretty much the only person to give me any decent personal advice

This sucks…

Nope, I had a problem with some people on the site but it's been resolved now – I'm still available whenever you or anyone needs help.

Hawaiian Shirt In a Heap

PrismaColor Pencils on textured paper.

This is my first ever drawing done entirely in colored pencil. I think I did pretty good. For some reason the drawing seems to look better to me at an angle. not sure why.

Unfortunately this piece will be cut up into pieces as part of part two of the project involving a mapping inspired abstract art. If you want to give advice to improve you better do it quick.

A Still Life I Don't Like

Drawing this made me want to break my hands. I had more stress drawing this than any other drawing. I don't like it very much but my classmates seem to like it so here it is anyways.

The shirts nice but I think it could use something to just identify it more as a shirt. As for the 2nd picture I like it but the style is inconsistent, I think it'd look a lot better if you'd kept hard lines out of it and just relied on different shades to create the scene, and then of course on top of that the perspective on the items is off but that takes practice.

This is my first ever drawing done entirely in colored pencil. I think I did pretty good. For some reason the drawing seems to look better to me at an angle. not sure why.

Welcome to my life.

Each and every time I manage to draw something, I look at it at an angle, and think "Hmm… I guess this thing turned out decent". Then I scan the picture and get a straight view of it, and notice that it looks like shit.

Every. Single. Time.

It's most likely because I draw stuff at an angle, instead of top down.


I really need to start practicing drawing again though.

I haven't drawn in a while, and every time I try, I'm unsatisfied with the results. It's made even worse by the fact that a friend of mine wants me to draw a picture for his bands new CD, and I really can't top the picture I made for their first album in this state.

I want to make a great picture, but I just feel like I can't.

Can always post it here if you want my feedback.

Perhaps, if you haven't already, you could try drawing on an easel or some other surface that will allow you to draw with the paper at a more vertical angle, that way you can better tell whether or not it looks good from straight on as you are drawing.

Well, it's not that simple really. He wants me to draw a bare humalike skeleton in a dificult pose and with other pretty difficult elements. It's simply something I cannot draw well enough to showcase. I managed to do a good skull for their last project, but even that alone took me several days of work, and a good reference.

I don't have anything to show or judge since it's all scrapped. I don't usually finish anything if it's not coming out well.

As for the drawing angle. I kinda need the support for my arm, or else my lines get really wobbly, so an easel is out of the question. I need to rest my hand against a table, so I'd need an angled platform (like animators use) to draw on, but lack the space.

Besides, it's difficult to draw anything, since I've completely lost my drive and inspiration to draw anything. Anything I try will come out forced and bad. I don't want to draw, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to disappoint a friend.