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@Muumi:

Use a Clipboard or a large book and draw the initial sketch on your lap curled up on the couch (the coloring portion you can do at your table). That's honestly the best way to get your head as close to and as level to the paper as possible.

And stylize the skeleton slightly. There are a lot of people in the world who just won't notice. (And will be drawn to a more aesthetically pleasing skelly)

Also use several references tbh, not just 1 or 2. The more you have and from more angles the better idea you'll have on shape – maybe get a book on Human Anatomy while you're at it, seeing how and why things are shaped the way they are helped me.

Found something some of you nerds might want help with – click this link

I'da posted it here but it's fairly long.

The physical artwork looks a lot better than the image here. I took a photo of my art with a phone but it didn't pick up the colors very well. For example, the two lights closer to the top are supposed to be much more green.

I'd appreciate advice on how to take better images of my art.

Here's the actual photo I based the drawing off of. Because of the room I was working in was bright enough to make certain details on the screen difficult to see I didn't add certain details (e.g. the lines of the street). I noticed this about halfway and decided to remain consistent what I could actually see in the brightly lit art room.
http://sta.sh/015mzx02upaa

Also, thank you Nima for the link.

Scan your artwork in, unfortunately without a proper camera and knowledge of basic lighting setups – the pictures will always look crap. If you don't have a large enough scanner – find a shop that can do it, post offices generally can. Otherwise if you have cash to spend I can advise you on a lighting setup.

I don't think I've ever drawn anything decent ever. The best people I can draw look like deformed Lego men with spikes for fingers. Art class used to be a nightmare before I dropped it at GCSE.

I can't help unless you post your own artwork.

drew a jungle man for art class. Thoughts?

MonkeyWrench, it looks pretty cool(though the fact that it's sideways makes it hard/annoying to see), but the muscles look a bit… boxy. I saw a video today(didn't watch it though) that explains how to make chest muscles, here is it.

Anyway, I have been practicing with drawing lately. A long time ago, I came up with a story for a potential comic book/video game/original fiction in which the protagonist is part of an alien species, but I haven't decided on said species' final appearance until recently. To solidify their appearance, I decided to draw sketches of them, but since I never drew humanoids before, I'm not sure if I'm doing well or not.

Plus, drawing limbs, hands and feet is very annoying. After countless times erasing and re-drawing(making a chunk of my eraser grafitti-coloured), I managed to overcome my errors and get it right, but I'll probably need to find a more efficient way to draw to not take as much time, and to lengthen my erasers' lifespan.

Here's the two sketches I made. I intentionally left them without shading because they're only sketches.

…in my opinion, the second one is a bit worse than the first. The female one looks like a guy, despite the best of my efforts. Must be the height.

(Funnily enough, I haven't thought of a name for their species yet.)

Please rotate pictures before you post em – takes 2 extra minutes to take it into an image editor, rotate and save.

+ Nice Pose
+ Good Composition
- Form is lacking
- Line needs to be refined
- Style is lacking
- Knowledge of basic anatomy is not there
- Proportions of limbs and body parts.
- Pretty bland looking, nothing that draws your eye.
- Done without reference.
- Drawn with wrist. Draw from your shoulder.
- No life to it.

I'll probably think of more things wrong in the morning but I don't care much right now to think too hard.

Check on the page before this – I have a ton of links to various things that can act as a starting point, it's always been my opinion that to draw well you need to know basic anatomy – why the body looks the way it is. Preferably to start learning to draw you should be starting with Figure sketches – They're on the page before this.

And to get better you have to keep drawing – even if it is just one figure sketch a day, and don't be like Calkarot, be open to criticism (No jokes he told me I was wrong about how to draw yet he's got less experience than I do and draws like ass and refuses to listen, don't be that guy)

Keep posting in the thread, as extra motivation I expect a set of 3 figure sketches every Sunday.

No criticism for me? Rude.

Just joking, I can wait. Also, here's another image I made. The hand(I guess you can call it 'claw' now…) seems pretty out-of-porpotion compared to a human hand, but at least it's better than the usual distorted hand I tend to make.

If you're planning to make a story out of it – start with a proposal, which is a small, paragraph length of the plots outline. You can then move it up to a rough story which in turn – for cartoons etc. will go into a storyboard (One thing to remember w/ storyboards is to maintain screen ratio – movies etc. work 3:4 but you can do 16:9. It's one or the other, you can't swap ratios mid-story) and also look into basic camera work – stuff like Camera Continuity is a big Must (Eg. If the shot has the character on the left, the next shot has to have him towards the left side of the camera or you'll break the 4th wall in a bad way.)

The first image:

+ Composition
- Proportions
- Line is not well developed.
- Basic anatomy is non-existent, I understand it's not a human creature – but you can only break and stretch bones in artwork once you understand each ones purpose and the way it shapes the body, this pushes a drawing from looking mediocre to top notch fine art.
- I think the design could use a lot more work – I assume it's a fishy look you have going on, maybe take some references and read up on different species of fish to figure out a look that will work, this one imo is just a teeny bit unimaginative.
- No shading?
- Positions of limbs and body parts.
- Drawing with your wrist ;c – use your shoulder – a wrist should very very rarely be used for minute details – your shoulder gives you a more stable and free line.
- The pose is boring.
- No background? Unless it's a character sheet I always include some kind of background, whether it be a background comprised of several colours of similar shade or a fully fledged enviroment.
- No references

2nd picture falls within the same lines as above really – I don't like that you didn't attempt any foreshortening with the legs, arms, feet and hands.
And again with the characters themselves, I feel like you could do a lot more if you use reference images in your work and create more defining features in the different genders, tits aren't there just for show for example – they have a practical use (and no, boob jobs are not a practical use) – Art is theft – steal from the World around you.

As I said with Monkey and look at the page prior and practice – if you want to as well, 3 figure sketches every Sunday. I'll be more harsh with the next ones but the only way from here is up – I'll probably pick up more things in the morning.

I forgot to mention – by page prior I mean Page 3

I actually based them on the Geckos from Fallout 2/New Vegas and on the Hylotl from Starbound, making them an odd mix of the two. What exactly do you mean by foreshortening, references, and "drawing with the shoulder"?

Also, the thing on the female's chest aren't breasts(especially since only mammals have those, and they are reptiles). This species is meant to be ovoviparous(they lay eggs, but the eggs stay within the mother's body for a lengthened period of time before being laid out). However, their eggs are pretty large, so most other organs need to be moved up from the belly area into the chest for there to be enough space for the egg to reside within the mother's gut without squeezing everything else.

Naturally, the organs can't fit in the chest all at the same time, so they have an enlarged chest to accomodate them – and provide extra protection from fatal strikes. Their taller height also helps in this. I'm also planning to differentiate the genders by colours – males are green, females are silver.

Im starting to realize that maybe I should stop and take a step back and relearn all of my basic fundamentals. I was drawing recently and I realize that I can hardly even draw a straight line or a circle. My hand dexterity sucks.

What are the most important beginner things everyone should learn?

I've got links for that on Page 3.

Here is some progress on my gesture drawings. Am I doing them right?

A few more from today

For gesture drawings they seem almost to detailed to be considered a "gesture drawing". Then again, when I covered gesture drawing in class my teacher would limit us to 30 seconds a drawing before switching the pose, so it seems like you are taking maybe 3-5 minutes a pose. But that's more of a nitpick, since this method seems more in line with how I start all my drawings actually.

For the drawings themselves, you seem to have pretty good control over your hand and most of the poses seem like they can easily be made into a completed product. Keep on practicing.

How do you approach gesture drawing or what would you say the best way to doing it? Ive been trying lots of different approaches and I don't know which one is best for learning.

Left: I draw shapes with an action line going down the spine. id say this one is maybe the easiest to find the right pose and proportions but it takes longer then all the other ones

Middle: I just basically put a shape for the head then scribble out the body with random lines until it makes the form. This one is fast but its harder to get the pose right

Right: I just do a few lines to show what each body part is this is the fastest but proportion gets messed up easily

I think the best way of gesture drawing is the one that gives you the best understanding of form and general proportion within the time you are given (15-60 seconds). I've always done the method of drawing the circle for the head, drawing a single line (though not always to represent the spine, as you do) followed by legs and then arms. Each method you presented has it's own merits. Personally I think that getting the shapes within the body is very important but you should do what you feel works.

One way I think you could test each method is attempt to complete the details of the drawing, working off of the gesture sketch. You don't need to time yourself for that, just see which one produces the better finished product.

I do have notes on this specifically on Page 3.

1) A figure sketch in my opinion should always be timed. You should get used to drawing things quickly and with a varying degree of accuracy.

2) A 20 second sketch doesn't have to be fleshed out, it's impossible don't try.

3) The point of a figure sketch is to depict form, if that means not drawing ever component that's fine, you're only trying to show how the body is bending – the best bits where there's stretching and squashing are generally the best ones to highlight this.

4) I personally in quick sketches don't bother drawing and arms properly, I'll indicate the calf and wider parts of the arm – the shoulder and elbow area and then digress into a line towards the hand.

5) Try to use 1 strong stroke to show a line, not multiple marks.

I will post some examples from my personal visual diary, but for the time being just look at these things that I drew on my computer very uncomfortably (It's really awful drawing on a computer imo and it shows in my work which sucks.)

I used the first image to show that you can still depict form from just lines – the second to show that you can depict a form without showing everything and via the use of crosshatching to show what's not in the foreground. And the last one just to show how they match when overlayed.

The one thing I can say is to do figure sketches for 1-2 hours a day. Preferably of figures in motion. Best bet, if you're in school or something – take a small journal with, preferably blank papers and draw people you see around you – this'll help speed you up as well.

You need to train your eye some more which can be done but I won't go into that just yet, if you post more I will. One thing I can see is that your flick rate isn't high enough – you aren't looking at your model and are working off a memory. You need to learn to trust your hand some more so I would suggest doing blind contour drawings and contour drawings in general of some Still Lifes (places some objects next to eachother and draw them).

http://www.fastswf.com/h10gR-4
I tried to make an animation for the dojo, i think it sucks but i cant seem to put my finger on whats wrong?
Does it suck? and if so how could it be better

Heres some 30 second gesture drawings (everything in blue)

The ones I've circled I like a lot, those are what you should be aiming for figure wise – pose wise they're also great because they have complexities and the drawings have attitude. I especially like the red ones. The reason that I do not like the blue ones, even though some are circled, is because they're good sketches but they're not what you're supposed to be doing.

In my last post I told you to using 1 stroke, learn to trust your hand – practice contour drawings if you don't – especially blind contour drawings of still lifes. Sketches are okay but you'll start improving a lot more on the form if you define the lines, you can still have light sketches – but not thousands of them like you have current. Work very light and when you find a line make 1 confident mark to define it.

@Sakamoto this is a thread based around learning to draw, not animate – if you want to ask me something about that then speak to me in private (ie. PM me) or make a thread, for now I will answer you. I don't mind it being stick men but it's a bit too basic for me to judge much about it, the timing is too fast and it doesn't make much sense.

Like this?

Yes, especially that first one – that first one has attitude, doesn't show everything – just enough to define the shape which is perfect, it's an interesting pose and it's not a sketch it's more confident. Use that first one as an example for future.

Should I start moving on from here and going into contour?

I figure im stuck someplace between the first and second one

I want to get here but idk how or if im even ready.

Well like I said before, Contour is for training you to trust your hand and increase your flick rate (the amout on times you look at your reference) when you do a blind contour you study only the subject and draw without looking, no lifting your pen/pencil/etc.

Figure sketching is something you will always do.

What, no I mean should I start learning features. Should I move on from gesture and flesh out the figure? Right now all im doing is gesture drawings and factual features

Also mo drawings

Oh also here are some chest beans from this video

Let me know if I did it right

I tried adding stricture. I need help… anything wrong with em?

I have a bunch of work I could submit but for the moment I want some opinions of my most recent, 93%-95% complete project. (a self portrait). Hopefully my photo is of half-decent quality.

My classmate's and teacher believe that I should do away with the pencil line encasing the my right arm (left to the viewer). I'm hesitant to remove the line without any significant contrast with the arm and the adjacent blank space. What do you think?

Additionally, on the dark edges adjacent to my body and head I faded it bit in attempt to give the fractal background depth.

EDIT: my reference photo http://sta.sh/015djw7kb6bn

I think it looks great, to see you go from your front page work to this in a little over a year is pretty inspiring

It's up to you but I would agree with them – the majority of your form is being shown with the use of shading so it would make sense seeing as the light source is coming from that direction and the line there defies that. You can completely remove it or keep a very very very light line there but not a complete one, keep it in short segments, enough to indicate form.

But as I said – it'd be best to remove it.

Figure sketches are for warming up your hand, they're also the starting point for most drawings.
Contours are also good for warmups because they train your hand and eye.

A 20 minute figure sketch should have the form detailed and features (even if just basic) should be evident. You can take it further from there.

This kind of stuff isn't a rule – it's a guideline, you can start a figure sketch and keep working over it until you get a finished product.

And just for a bit of motivation – this video analyses one of my favourite paintings;

Man, I really need to pull my shit together if I am to keep up with the progress of Conman and Methbender. You guys have improved so much that I'm getting ashamed of my own lack of motivation.

BTW, that bean video was pretty interesting. Thanks for posting that.

Anyways, do you guys have any good tips and tricks on improving consistency between your drawings?

I used to draw comics as a kid, but haven't drawn them in several years. But now I've come up with a project that I want to do (One Shot style), and might actually be able to pull it off. However, I'll need to practice on consistency, since my personal style is very inconsistent. So I'd appreciate any good tips you might have on improving on that department.

General tips on visual character design would be nice as well.

There isn't really a better way for consistent character design than to mount your basic style on your wall right in front of where you work.

Keep checking and checking as you draw the character (doesn't need to be every line, but after each element you draw in should do), back and forth between the drawing you've mounted and your current work. If something seems off, fix it immediately. That's all there is really to it.

As for character design: Hunt around the internet and find styles you like. You're not going to copy it exactly but rather save the image and compile them all into a word or paint document. Once everything is together, build a prototype.

Then take that prototype body and make a second draft. A very very squeaky clean second draft, this has to last you through the primary part of whatever production you are doing so being clean really does matter.

For costume design; just pick and Era, gather up reference material, tweak costumes to be original, and run with it. The way a character dresses has to immediately describe what they are like, so Color and Inspiration are key. And handle hair in a similar way.

However don't make something too complex since if you are making a comic you're bound to draw that character tens if not hundreds of times.

Well im not really in a position to be giving advice but id say not having a social life would help

Seriously tho that setting aside an hour or two a day actually dose help a lot.

And one other thing I wish people told me when I first started was that when you very first start its gonna suck. The hour a day is not easy when you can't even draw a box. Its fucking miserable and just not fun but it gets better. Right now its pretty easy for me to draw more then an hour once I found something I enjoyed practicing

You said you like drawing comics maybe you can spend a month learning anatomy or background design.

Simple solution.

Character Sheet.

Character Sheets include:

- Basic Construction (the shapes that make up your character + head heights)
- Front View
- Side View
- 3/4 View
- Portrait views of the above
- OPTIONAL Back and top views, depends if you have any complexities on them otherwise not really necessary but it's up to you)
- Expressions sheet (Face, hands whatever)
- Action poses (interesting poses that describe the characters personality through pose)
- Colour scheme
- Seperate sheet to describe your character (age, likes, dislikes that shit)
- Whatever else you would deem necessary to replicate the character

A good character sheet is one that can be given to someone whose never seen your character before and can use that sheet to perfectly (or close to) replicate your character. Remember A character sheet doesn't have to be done all on the same page, different poses and studies can be on different sheets.

Nima Do you do digital art?

What kind of brush do you use for inking, painting and general finishing up?

How big do you make the canvas?

Just any general tips to make my stuff look better

I don't do much digital art at all.

found this for you:

It's for paint tool SAI

So I found something interesting. Im trying to figure out how other people get their style and how they draw the figure. I got a bunch of images from different artists and I started breaking major muscle groups down into basic shapes by just using mostly ovals.

I can finally see how people proportion the figure in different ways and its a really helpful guide. Ive been drawing the construction using different artists proportions and its helping me figure out style.

Are there any other little techniques like this to help me break down an art style?

That's quite interesting. Could you possibly provide a visual example what you did?

It looks weird but I think I can explain.

This really mostly works on cartoonish styles if its more realistic then its basically just normal anatomy so there is no reason to measure it

I take an image of an art style I like and try to break it down to be as simple as possible. Im not tracing the out line of the figure but out lining the shape of the body parts. So like for the chest there I high light the entire inside chest area with an oval so it just captures the gesture of the chest and how big it is ect not just straight up tracing the actual contour line.

-First I mark the head with an oval and drop the chin down then I can use the circle part of the head for measuring the rest of the figure
- Then I put two lines for the shoulder just to see where they are
-Then I mark the inside of the chest with an oval, like I said im not tracing the actual lines just putting in a oval for the gesture. Some times ill put a line to mark a plane change
-Then from the from the bottom of the rib cage to the crouch where most people make a 'V' shape there is always an oval shape
-Then I try to find the like triangle shape in the middle of the chest and belly ovals for the sides
Oh yeah and if its digital art you can put each part on a new layer and move them around when you're done.
-Then the thy, arms, and lower legs

And it makes this figure that looks like a bunch of eggs or a balloon man. I then try to take those same proportions and re draw the figure then try it from different poses

I mean it may turn out be stupid and useless but to me its easy to break down how people draw. I know just tracing the actual full drawing is basically useless but maybe studying the figure will actual be helpful

I can see different artists using slightly different proportions and other suddle changes I couldn't see before. Like for some artists I can see the bottom of the rib cage to the crouch some people make an oval, some people make more of a perfect circle. Some times its as big as the head some times its as big as the chest some people make it more round while others pull it out. Its easy to measure how wide people draw some body parts.

I wanna try to make this more detailed and find out how to break it down even further. I think im going to study muscle groups so I can block them in as well.

I hope I explained it well enough

^ Basically it's just a way to study figure in perspective of the artist. Though it might not be the actual case when they could be using other shapes when they approach a certain body part. All in all it's going to help a lot in understanding. Yet it will always boil down to how much you understand it in your way.

It's a pretty neat way to develop your own style in the long run. Otherwise it's better to stick to basics and grow your own style, unless you were actually aiming to copy.

Im gonna cool it with this and go back to drawing from life and books. I notice its starting to fuck me up more then its helping.

Can anyone post some good speed paint artists they like.

Also can you please critique these drawings

Sorry I've not had a chance to actually crique this and still don't but what I can say is that I like content like this – where you do studies of characters. A lot of my work isn't full drawings but really just a number of incomplete drawings where I'm breaking down how things will and should look and how they work in tandem.

Keep going with this and I must push the fact that just because I don't reply to something isn't a reason to not post. You should be getting at least 10 hours of drawing in each week and I'd like to reiterate that to force yourself to do that ten hours to make sure you post some or all of those works here at the end of each week.