fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3213 ]

[ SECRET POST #3213 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3213 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Downton Abbey]

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[Vampire Weekend]

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[John Green/Nerdfighters]

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[Spartacus: Blood and Sand]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 018 secrets from Secret Submission Post #459.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What are some good resources for drawing tutorials and practice? And what would you say are the most important things to focus on when setting out to learn to draw?

My favorite resources are just pictures that I love. I find it helps to go through them and take note what I like about each one so I can incorporate it into my own style. Also, whenever I see a style I don't like, I take time to think about what aspects I dislike so I can avoid them.

There are a lot of different tutorial tumblrs. What type of drawing are you wanting to practice?

For focus, I think shapes are one of the most important things in drawing. It is much easier when you can see the basic shapes in an image; it makes for a less daunting task.

Another that I do is focus on one area at a time. For the moment, I'm practicing facial features. When I am satisfied with my progress on those, I'll move on to the body.

The thing that's got me motivated to work on this now is that I'd like to try turning one of my story ideas into a comic. Of course there's a lot of different styles and I'm not sure which I want now. I'll need to play around a lot more before I get a feel for that.

But for now I'm most interested in people. I've seen a few graphics that show the basic shapes of the body, like what you're talking about, and it seemed helpful. I could use some more detailed tutorials on that.

There's an art to going from realistic anatomy to more cartoonish and stylized depictions of people that still look right that I'm really interested in too.

Focusing on one thing seems like a good idea. That's kind of how I've gone about some other skills like knitting. I pick something I want to get good at, dive in and get as much practice as I can until I feel comfortable with it, and then move on to the next thing.

If you are truly just *learning* to draw, learn the basics first. Light and shadow, shape, perspective (it's trickier than you think!), shading. Learn the colors and how to blend them.

Then just *draw*. Draw everything. Draw your desk, draw your knee, draw your bed. It will look like shite, but do it anyway. You have to get a feel for *looking* at things. Seeing the shape of things, including seeing the *negative* spaces.

And also, just to build up your confidence, to get the feel for moving the pencil or pen over the paper, how your hand and arm works, how easy or difficult it is for you to do a smooth line, that kind of thing. It takes practice and concentration, but most people *can* learn to draw, even if they'll never be a world-class artist.

I would say focus on the basics, first, then when you're comfortable with that, you figure out the kind of art you really like (painting? portraits? illustration?) and start honing your technique.

Good luck and have fun!

That looks like a good list of basic skills to practice. I've worked on some of that before but just haven't put much time into it.

I'm thinking about how I might fit that basic practice into slightly larger projects I can have fun with. I was talking about this with the anon above you. With knitting what I did was I picked something like cables that I wanted to work on, but instead of just knitting a bunch of cables on their own I picked a project that involved a lot of them so I could work toward something as I practiced and that helped me stay motivated. So I'm thinking I can find some reference photos with dramatic lighting that I can try to recreate to work on light and shadow and things like that. I'll still need to do some more basic practice before that but I've always been someone who likes to just dive in and make mistakes until I get better.

That sounds like an excellent idea. Whatever motivates you - keeping up with something that is, initially, difficult and foreign is always hard, so whatever works!

if you're just starting i'd say go for the grid technique

it will train your eye to look

I remember a couple friends of mine who took a lot more art classes than I ever did doing that a lot. I should look into that.

I think most important thing is finding stuff that you enjoy drawing, you need stuff that you enjoy so you keep at it.

Next thing is to experiment a lot. It's easy to get stuck drawing the same five things in similar poses, but you won't improve as much if you do /just/ that.

Coping and tracing are a-okay and a great way to learn when you're starting out, just don't share traces online and you'll be good. Even pro artists do studies of the master painters.

No matter what kind of style you're going for, ultra-cartoony or hyper-realistic, life drawing is vital. It builds a foundation and keeps you from coping other artist's mistakes.

Also don't stress too much about finding a style or keeping a style. Just like handwriting, it comes naturally.

I also recommend keeping a sketchbook too just doodle in. While completing the occasional piece is good, drawing just for the heck of it and drawing a lot is just as important. Don't worry about quality, sketchbooks are for fun. If you don't draw, you won't get better.

Know everyone starts out shitty and don't beat yourself over skilled artists. They've spent a lot more time than you, but if you keep at it you'll eventually get good.

Best of luck!

Oh and date your drawings too! I really wish I'd done it when I started out.

I never do this. Thanks for the tip!

Agree on your first point. My drawings have improved since I started doing fanart; it's so much fun.

Also the style thing. I used to worry about finding a style and was pleasantly surprised at how naturally it developed.

Thanks! I'll keep the date thing in mind. I never thought of that. The rest of this makes me happy because it goes right along with my natural inclinations when learning something new. I'm generally more inclined to laugh at my mistakes and keep working on it than to hide them away and forget the whole thing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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