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Essentially shading. When using Prismacolors it’s called burnishing. A great book on how to start drawing like this is Lee Hammonds Drawing in Color Series, “People and Portraits” Edit - not OP but fellow artist and familiar with technique :-)

This many not be a very grandiose suggestion, but these cheap Bic pens have been my go-to pens for getting the smooth "feathered" look without the globs. It's something to do with how-- for lack of better words-- "dry" the tips are. There isn't a load of ink collected there at the tip so when you make the initial touchdown onto the page it doesn't leave a pool. And it doesn't take much expertise on controlling pressure with these pens, as they don't really expel much ink all at once. With very light strokes it's easy to build up to an nice, even gradation. Even going in heavy-handedly you don't have an issue with ink bleeds (although you do still have to be wary of smearing if you don't let it dry).

They aren't the best for getting dark outlines (I would switch to a more specialized, quality pen for that. If you attempt to make "darker" lines with this ink you're going to end up just making grooves in your paper) but as far as shading goes I always come back to these.

E: more words

Strathmore Toned Tan! This is my favorite brand for sketchbooks, but this is the first time I've used tan paper/charcoals. I have the 9 in x 12 in size.

Strathmore 412-9 400 Series Toned Tan Sketch Pad, 9"x12" Wire Bound, 50 Sheets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008D2TU76/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_I5NuCbBTWA36T

If your only getting into drawing now, take a class and read books like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It will help you learn good technique and not have to unlearn bad technique like I had to do, drawing since I was a kid. Yoy'll progress a lot faster.

Believe it or not this is a grey toned sketchbook. The lights in my house turn it tan in photos. They do have tan options though, but the local art store hasnt had them lately.

Nice work! Did you trace or draw by eye?

if not, is this why: https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/illustration-black-japanese-dragon-white-background_16334998.htm

The best resource I have found for learning how to draw/ progress in your skills is the book "drawing on the right side of the brain" here is an amazon link to the BOOK
But it's very easy to find this book online for free as well.
Other resources were weren't actually drawing books, but more of anatomy books. They are really helpful to teach you proportions, and shows you how the body is built up from bones to muscles, to skin etc...
I would avoid those "how to draw ___" books. They only teach you how to draw that one specific thing and its hard to transition that into drawing your own thing. The book I linked above does a good job of teaching you how to "see" what your drawing. So when you are drawing an eye, or an ear, it teaches you how to break down the subject into shapes and lines. A couple angled lines and squiggles are a lot easier to understand and draw than a full image of an eye/ ear.

It's a lot more about skill than it is about talent. Practice practice practice.

The old book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain has extremely useful exercises that will help you learn to do the most important thing when learning to draw : draw what you see, not what you think you see.

For example, if you look closely at an eye there aren't many sharp lines, it's bumpy and folded and there's crazy texture to the irises. But when you draw what you think instead of what you see you get a very hieroglyphic looking almond shape with a colored circle inside it, and a black dot in the middle of that.

Anyway, that book can teach even beginners how to break away from that and net huge progress. But you have to practice, that's the part where it all falls down for most people.

You can do it. You can absolutely do it!

Prismacolors are cheap now compared to what they were when I was a kid. When I was a kid they were 150 for a pack of 72. Now I own two sets of 72, one for me and one for my daughter, for under a hundred from Amazon. prismacolors pack of 72 for $50

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition

Price History Chart and Sales Rank | FAQ

Thank you, that's really kind! :)

I use Autodesk Sketchbook to sketch in these days, I highly recommend it! It's got a really natural feel to it and a variety of tools. I used to sketch in Photoshop for years, but it never felt right, although it's still fantastic to ink and colour with. I also have a Wacom.

first tip: don't draw on notebook paper. It messes with your perception & makes the drawing look worse than it is. Get a pack of copy paper or a cheap sketch book.

second tip: anime/manga is an abstraction of reality. You'll have an easier time & get a better looking result if you learn the basic rules of drawing realistically before you try to break the rules. Check out Andrew Loomis' Drawing the Head and Hands, you can find a free pdf through Google.

Hah honestly I'm not sure on books, so far I've done mostly just black&white graphite drawings or acrylic painting and I'm just getting in to using colored pencils.

The main book that I have is "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," which has helped me a lot with how to think about drawing, but it doesn't get in to color. I'd say just experiment with your pencils! I've watched youtube tutorials that have helped, also. It always helps a little more if I can see the full process in action.

A good thing to think about is the light values of the colors you're using, and then it's kind of an analogue to regular black&white. It's good to have something to blend with if your pencils blend well. So that there's not jarring differences between shades, you can layer shades over each other.

Draw all the time. Buy sketchbooks, pens, and pencils and take them everywhere. Sit and people watch and draw your surroundings. Draw at the mall, on the bus, on your lunch break... Study art and technique but know that there are no rules to creation. Just create! Watch tutorials from your favorite artists (you say you want to draw comics - study Doug TenNapel, Mike Mignola, Mike Oeming, Jeff Smith, Scott Morse, Chris Sanders, etc...). Read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. More than anything, though, draw because you love to.

Very nice work!

I think you're getting the impression of it being messy because the overall tone is a bit uniform. When you look at it in thumbnail form it's hard to make out the composition. I'd say allow more large areas to remain white to give a stronger composition and initial impact.

If you haven't seen her work before check out Irina Vinnik. She has an excellent balance of detail and contrast.

For real, the secret is to do it every day. It's all about mileage. You can use whatever learning material you like: Loomis, drawabox, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, /ic/'s wiki, whatever. None of that will matter much if you only put in a couple hours every odd weekend. You just gotta find that 30 or 60 minutes in your day somewhere.

You won't learn much from simply copying. The entire point of getting good at drawing is knowing why. If I asked you to draw the top image from a different angle could you do it? You would need to know exactly why each feature is like that and have a very specific reason for doing so.

 

I really don't like what the other people are saying in this thread, it's kind of the reason why I don't like this sub as it doesn't really help you and it's just lying to you so you don't get offended. I'm not impressed at all. You shouldn't follow random "how to draw x" people on Youtube, those are recipes for how to get one result. Just because you can follow the instructions on the back of an instant ramen packet doesn't mean you're any good at cooking.

 

Anyway since you copied there isn't much to say... you're at square one. But for example the bottom picture you didn't construct the head otherwise you wouldn't have given him such a long face with the eyes so small compared to his long ears. That big chunk of his hair is just strange and his upper torso is just a triangle. You also shouldn't focus on manga/cartoons. It's fine if that's your end goal but every drawing is drawn from reality. Even anime, it's just that anime is the artist's interpretation of what he has learned.

 

Take my post however you want, I don't know what you're looking to achieve with drawing or your goal. But if you actually want to learn properly I suggest starting with watching Proko's videos to get a general idea of concepts and Andrew Loomis's Fun with a Pencil book is always a highly recommended start. (Loomis is good in general so find books on him)

I like it! I'm just getting back into drawing, and going a lot off of good ol 'Fun with a Pencil' from Loomis, trying to work on faces (always my weakness). I find that when I draw Hilary Clinton, it's kind of like drawing that creepy puppet thing from the Saw movies... the underline shape of her cheeks and nose, and those empty eyes...

... also I'm just not that good at drawing faces, so there's that.

only use a 2B in the beginning, sketch the entire composition very lightly. This way you make sure that your whole image fits on the page. then start walking in the forms and shading. A professor told me that a drawing is always in motion, either adding to it or taking away. you should avoid putting in very dark lines early on, just keep it light and loose until you setup the framework for what you want to draw. also use your whole arm, try to draw with your elbow off the table. it will make you seem worse at first, but eventually the practice will pay off. uhhh..what else.. practice perspective and get a good reference book for how to draw people if you want to draw people, there are set proportions and techniques to get an accurate portrait. Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist is a good one. I prefer the spiral bound sketchbooks, like these so you can lay them flat or flip the cover completely around. but regardless of which one you get make sure to fill the whole thing then go buy another, or just use 8.5 x 11 copy paper. the point is when you're practicing and learning you don't want to treat every single drawing as the mono lisa, you'll never get anything done, just treat each one as a warm up. I find the less i care about how well the drawing needs to be, the better it comes out

Just wanted to make a mention the paper I use because I get asked, and this stuff is a good deal. It's heavy paper for laser printer and its really good at picking up marker-- although it can be a little bit thirsty on them.

Paper on amazon

and then if you cared to see any more of my art:

https://www.instagram.com/bagmanstudios/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KLW9V3E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7VONCbC60E5BF if you don't want a ten pack check out Jetpens.com

This comment is great. I am currently in the middle of the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and it is helping me understand realistic drawings so much better. Everything u/keilbasarama said is a good quick summary of some of the things I am learning in this book. Although it can be a little repetitive and dry at times I highly recommend it for anyone trying to draw better realistic art.

I would absolutely recommend beginning by reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and doing the exercises. I'd follow it up with The Natural Way to Draw, again, doing the exercises.

1836to1846 has the right idea about focusing on shapes, not ideas, and drawing upside-down while you're first training your verbal mind to get out of the way and let you draw what you see, rather than the symbols you think you see. Drawing on the Right Side is exactly about that - teaching you that you can draw, and teaching you how to get out of your own way. After that, Nicolaides' book will teach you how to practice effectively.

Practice is absolutely the key, but getting some grounding in what to practice and how to practice effectively will allow you to get more out of it faster.

My advice:

Read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Better than a real Art class. You will improve in no time, and increase your confidence.

And sit in front of a mirror and draw self portraits. Over and over.

Ignore that guy. There's a few people around here that seem overly bitter for whatever reason and can't appreciate anything and will only point out the flaws and/or diminish the positive aspects of a drawing.

I'm in your boat. Well, a little older. I'm 30 and have been drawing about 2 months, and the progress i've made has been much greater and faster than I expected. I'm working my way through a book titled "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by betty edwards and am impressed with what i've learned without a teacher.

Betty Edward's "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" has a very helpful technique. It's to flip a picture upside-down and then try to draw the image. It works really well and I recommend it.

But I would say you don't really need to buy her book. It essentially boils down to what I wrote above. The book also contains a bunch of over-simplified or just plain wrong science about how the brain works. It won't help you to draw better. Also many of the exercises require lots of material and planning and for a new comer it's a lot to ask (in my opinion).

Instead I would recommend getting a sketchbook and a permanent ink pen and just drawing what you see. Draw fast, so fast you can't think about it or criticize yourself. Just draw, draw, draw. Here is a short video tutorial about how to draw in your sketchbook and what kinds of pens to use.

If you want a book I recommend Drawing from Observation. This book teaches you how to draw in a fast, loose, intuitive way known as gestural drawing. It will teach you how to see the world when you draw.

The pen featured in the picture appears to be a Derwent Graphik (if I’ve read that right).

Looks like you can find them on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MR5IDBE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Q0MaCbADBG394

Look pretty nice but I have no experience with them myself. I’ve used Prismacolors and Copics for a long time with pretty good results. I’d love to know how these compare.

If you can print words on paper you can draw. Get the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" it'll help you learn different ways of seeing shape.

Drawing can be a learned talent - some people are naturally better than others, but despite what instagram or famous artists tell you it can be learned like anything else.

First thing I would recommend is a good book such as "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" by Andrew Loomis. By the time I took my first figure drawing class, I had already absorbed the knowledge in that book which helped me enormously.

If your drawing paper is large and you are drawing nearly life size, then charcoal sticks should not be much of a problem. However, if you are drawing on a smaller surface, then you should be using vine charcoal sticks. If you are using a small tablet, then you should be using either charcoal pencils or pastel pencils.

If the poses last only 1/2 hour, then go for the big shapes and add more detail only if you have the time. It's more important to be accurate rather than fast.

Drawing from a photo gives you the advantage of taking your time. However, nothing replaces drawing from life if you have that opportunity. It will help prepare you to interpret a photograph when you do draw from it.

As far as how long did it took to get this good, I would guess about four years. But I had to practice daily and have suitcases filled with my old drawing. That was many years ago when I was a student in the 70's. I went on to other things, but art will always be my first love.

Never be completely satisfied with anything you do. Rather than compare your work to someone else, compare it to what you did last month or last year. Then you can better judge on how much progress you are making. Lastly, study the masters. Hope this helps.

And thanks for the compliment!

It's OK to draw as a hobby, but if she doesn't work hard at improving, she shouldn't be devastated by a lack of progress. More likely however, she simply doesn't know how to practice drawing, and is frustrated by people telling her simply to "practice practice practice" without giving any insights.

I would strongly recommend Robert Beverly Hale's Drawing Lessons from the Masters, Robert Fawcett's On the Art of Drawing, and after those two, Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing. She needs to draw from life though, not from photographs or comic books, to get better. No way around that, I'm afraid.

Try the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Highly recommended. I got it out of my local library.

There's a 2 hour video version of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain on Youtube:

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

One thing I'd add to your list of helpful skills is learning perspective.

Perspective Made Easy

Always wanted to make drawing a landscape in coloured pencils work - I’ve always associated pencil art with smaller, detail-oriented pictures and never really figured out how to put those pieces together. Drawing is in a 15cm circle, done with Polychromos pencils on Strathmore Grey paper.

For more, see my IG @luosheryl

Photo reference can be found here.

preface: I'm not a professional, just a hobbyist.

Sure! It's sometimes hard to give advice to people on drawing because different want different things out of their drawing time. Some people don't really want to be accurate and do studies, just doodle, while other people want to do their "art push ups" every day (like the musical scales you're talking about) to improve deliberately. Drawing a pokemon every day could be a really good way to do it -- but I can almost guarantee you that the guys who did the original concepts for every Pokemon probably spent a ton of time just drawing different animal parts, studying anatomy, etc. to create a repertoire or toolbox of things they can call on and draw whenever.

This is what I would reccomend: find some classics, stuff every artist has cut their teeth on, and do a page every now and then of anatomy studies. For human anatomy, I totally recommend Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy. Just copying pages and reading the descriptions has done wonders for creating believable pieces for me.

That's probably my best recommendation for "musical scale" kind of deliberate practice. But just like musical scales, if you only do anatomy studies, you will become bored and unmotivated very quickly. Seek to integrate what you learn all the time, so you have an intuitive appreciation for how it improves your work.

Don't abandon your creative work and master studies! Whenever you find a drawing or picture that you really like, save it and maybe copy it later. If you have a neat idea for a creature, just draw it!

After posting all kinds of work in progress here 👷‍♂️ and dying several times to meet the deadlines 💀, this is finally a book! Big big thanks to everyone who supported the project!

Available in English (Kindle) and French (printed, Kindle) on Amazon

🔞!!!

https://www.amazon.fr/nuits-Luna-Damjan-Stanich/dp/236234519X/

https://www.amazon.com/Nights-Luna-English-version-ebook/dp/B097NQGGTP/

We worked on this one for quite awhile with the idea of making a plausible erotic story ambiented in the real world with everyday people doing dumb stuff on social networks... Story by Valérie and me, art by me and colours by Valérie and Diana Cammarano, published by Dynamite/La Musardine.

Available in English (Kindle) and French (printed, Kindle) on Amazon

🔞!!!

https://www.amazon.fr/nuits-Luna-Damjan-Stanich/dp/236234519X/

https://www.amazon.com/Nights-Luna-English-version-ebook/dp/B097NQGGTP/

We worked on this one for quite awhile with the idea of making a plausible erotic story ambiented in the real world with everyday people doing dumb stuff on social networks... Story by Valérie and me, art by me and colours by Valérie and Diana Cammarano, published by Dynamite/La Musardine.

Ofc, the rekindling of love for an old hobby is truly a beautiful thing. The feeling of being able to replicate something that you’ve seen is a great feeling and one that’s hard to describe why it feels so good. Have fun drawing and know that with enough practice one day you’ll be able to look back and see how you’ve improved. Personally I recommend this book called 301 things to draw, you can do as many as you want per day but at least 1. And I assure you after even one week your progress will be astounding. 301 Things to Draw: Creative Prompts to Inspire Art (Creative Keepsakes, 6) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785839054/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_3V9BP785QCQNPWGQT2WH . I really can’t recommend it enough.

This looks so cool. Makes me think of Aloy from Horizon.

I use sharpie oil based white fine points. They show really well without all the texture you'd get from white out. I'll see if I can find a link.

Edit Here's a pack of 6 on Amazon.

But if your near office Max they have them. That's where I get the ones I use.

Ok forget about the painting BUT HERE

https://www.amazon.com/DADABOX-Painting-Posters-Pictures-Decorative/dp/B07YHSK1J1

Even the wall is EXACTLY THE SAME. In a comment u said that it's your room = also a lie!

I have an android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beliefengine.handyapp&hl=en

And I also use Pose Tool 3D. It is a full body with musles or skin, and the same lighting you can adjust with a perspective grid that is 8 heads tall, iirc. But since it takes longer to set up, it is usually easier for me to take a photo of myself. But it has been really useful for figuring out poses and lighting.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alienthink.posetool3d

EDIT: I also just started using bluestacks. A windows 10 android emulator. So I can use android apps on my 2nd monitor as reference while drawing. A lot easier posing things with the mouse as well.

Zebra brush pen https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KLW9V3E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7VONCbC60E5BF or you can probably find it on Jetpens.com

I prefer these for most of my illustrations because they're the right hue for my liking, but they're also super heavy (250g). No way in hell it's gonna feather or streak with them, though something a little lighter and cheaper might be good as well, because these cost a little much ($15 per at Hobby Lobbies).

I'm currently reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I'm only about a third of the way through, but so far I like it. The concept is that it gives you exercises to do to help you learn to see images in a way that makes it easier for you to then draw them. for $15 on Amazon, it might be worth a shot.

"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards was very helpful for me when I was first learning. It helped me focus on drawing what I actually saw, rather than what I thought I saw, which is a pretty big hurdle for a lot of people.

That feeling of "leveling up" is really nice isn't it? Great thing about art is there's no level cap, as long as you keep working and studying you'll keep reaching new discoveries and getting more pro.

+1 for Bridgman books. Andrew Loomis' " Drawing the Head and Hands" is great too (free PDF of the whole book online). Understanding the 3-dimensional masses of the hand helped me a ton. Particularly, understanding the palm as a tapered cube/rectangle with a top, bottom and sides really helped me get how to construct the rest of the fingers.

Depends on what you are looking for. I recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I find stuff i like as inspiration and try and copy that. Also use a grid layer to help with scale and perspective. Break down complex objects into base forms blocks cylinders spheres etc and build up from that.

I'm glad I could help. Most creative activities become frustrating when the student doesn't know how to progress, and begins to feel "talent" is something graced from God, unachievable through hard work. And yet, almost any complex task can be made possible by breaking it down into small steps.

If you are interested in some book recommendations, I suggest Robert Beverly Hale's Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters, which gives a straightforward description of all the things an artist needs to know for drawing, and Robert Fawcett's On the Art of Drawing, which describes the "sight-size" technique very thoroughly. Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing is good too, clearly detailing many measuring techniques and philosophies for life drawing.

Hello, I recently starting drawing again, having not done any for over 20 years. I wasn't that great at it in my youth.

My good friend is an Art teacher and he told me that drawing is much like learning to write, it just takes practice, if you can pen a sentence you can draw a picture.

I found Bert Dodson's - Keys to Drawing book great for re-learning the basics. Get yourself a set of pencils ( HB & 2b -6b pencils) and a sketch pad and get drawing.

I second Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. If you are lazy, I also suggest buying the kit to save you the hassle of making your own kit. I would also suggest buying a color theory since from what I remember, the book doesn't discuss it well enough. For color theory I suggest Digital Tutor's color theory book for digital artists. It has a quick but thorough explanation on color theory.

I got Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain from the library, and it is very helpful.

I suggest that you just start mimicing the styles you like. Eventually, you learn to draw in the way you like, plus you learn to add your own touches.

That said, I don't have any cartoon guides to recommend, but I really enjoyed "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". It may have its shortcomings, but the most important thing in drawing is to learn to forget all the "symbols", like "a car has four wheels". Instead, learn how long the lines are, where they join, how far apart things are and so on. A good trick is to flip the source images upside down, it'll break the mental symbols.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Art teacher here. The most important thing you can do is encourage his interests. To help with that, refrain from describing how bad you may be at art currently. Set a positive example and encourage him.

Let him find his own path. Head into the bookstore or library and let him pick books he's interested in. Let him copy. Copying is a great learning tool. Don't push him into a style or subject matter, but expose him to everything you can. Take trips to galleries, check out stuff online, go and sketch things in a park together. Look at it as a way to improve your own skills as well!

Hope that gives you some ideas. Good luck!

PS. Those 1-2-3 how to draw books are typically worthless. Ok maybe not worthless but they usually lack helpful practices. My favorite book is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585429201/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1385645663&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70 Its more a book for you, not a 7 yo, but it might give you some insights.

If you've never read any books out there on how to improve your drawing, get one of the classic standbys:

"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards "Keys to Drawing" by Bert Dodson Anything by Andrew Loomis

There are lots of good tutorials online, I'm sure some of the other redditors here can recommend some. For me, though, the books were the biggest way to start. I started with Betty Edwards.

Read: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It is a fabulous drawing instruction book and really helps people to learn how to see as an artist sees. Here are actual before and after pictures of people who've taken the author's five day workshops. This book is geared for adults, but I read it when I was twelve and it changed my life. I am now an artist and have won multiple awards, and I give almost complete credit (I've learned things from other books since, but this is the book that started it all for me) to this book!

Edit: Wow!! Thanks for the Gold!!!!

I would advise you to pick up a drawing textbook and study it thoroughly. You'll need to learn a lot of things that aren't applying graphite to paper. Things like terminology, perspective, anatomy, how light reacts to surfaces, the different part of a shadow, etc. Andrew Loomis is a great resource, his books are available for free online, as they are public domain. Also check out Bridgeman for anatomy. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a good contemporary drawing textbook. Read these books for a few minutes each day before you practice. You'll improve daily.

Spot on. This was a revelation to me when I first encountered it via Betty Edwards's Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The exercise Edwards gives you is to turn the source picture (a line drawing of a man on a chair) upside-down and draw it without trying to understand the context.

The result was something I could never have done the previous way I was drawing. And I'm mindful of it every time I draw now, and the results are better for it. I'm still rubbish, but now I'm less rubbish. :)

Just draw and draw all the time. Draw your surroundings. Youtube! There are tons of artists with technical videos; figure out who you want to emulate or just artists you admire and see if they have any instructional or process videos. Read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Most importantly, draw because you love it and have fun!

I have a few tips, but you'll probably hear a lot of the same things when you start asking around.

1. Keep a sketchbook with you as often as possible. Draw in it as often as you can. serious stuff, little doodles, silly things, it doesn't matter.

2. Draw every day. It'll be hard to work in to your routine at first, but you need to keep at it. No drawing is a failure, learn things from drawings you find unsuccessful

3. Remember to draw what you SEE not what you KNOW. this is a great tip i got in a class from a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Try out these exercises from the book

4. Drawing people can be really intimidating, and it takes time to get it right. I recommend drawing faces from photos to start out. When you more confidence give drawing from life a shot

5. Start simple. It's not the flashiest way of working, but starting with a lightly drawn structure will set your drawing down the right path and help you avoid spending a lot of time on something only to realize that the eyes are crooked or something.

remember that not every drawing will be good, and that's ok. You have to get the bad drawings out of your system to get to the good ones.

Good luck dude! keep us posted

One of the best books for taking another approach to drawing is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

It's for either amateurs or more experienced artist because it teaches the concepts in a way that you can see the evolution through the exercices. give it a try, you can "find" it out there in the tubes

I've been drawing for years, and the best book I've ever read on drawing is called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Basically, it's a book on how to draw for people who aren't predisposed to drawing. It's full of good exercises and information to help you learn. Otherwise, I'd say the best way to get better at drawing is to draw. Every day. Everything you see, any time you have a moment. Also, keep a sketchbook specifically for drawing your own hand over and over and over - and never throw any of them away. When the book is full, you can look back to the beginning and you will see improvement. Don't get discouraged if they're ugly or you mess up - those drawings are just to get better at drawing, you never have to show them to anybody. Good luck!

As long as you enjoy it.

if you're looking for a free brush pack, jingsketch's brushes are avaliable for free download on his gumroad page (he's one of my fav digital artists)

https://gumroad.com/jingsketch

Part of the trouble I'm sure is that in some places, like /r/art (which has 13 million subscribers) creators aren't allowed to associate their work with their identities, be that a dotcom, a social media profile or a shop. You can't add a link to the comments, can't even add a small address as part of your signature on a piece to identify the source. Essentially /r/art requires users to post people's work without crediting them.

I don't know how to help you pirate software but you can download Inkscape (open source alternative to Illustrator https://inkscape.org/) and Gimp (open source alternative to photoshop https://www.gimp.org/) for free and they will get you by until you can figure out how to get or afford illustrator.

Get yourself an actual stylus from an art supplies store (you'll probably find it in tole painting supplies). Works super well.

'expectation' from this guy which he used Illustration to make too. I like to use pencil . here's a closer look onto mine

I'm still trying out different styles. this one I draw for a friend, it turned out so bad I won't ever show her this haha.

also, to elaborate a bit, due to my tight schedule, I am not able to sit down and start to learn drawing techniques, I like to just feel like it, then I draw it. This time I tumble up on this guy's works and wanted to copy it so bad. So I did and during that time (cost me a whole week of my winter break), I started realizing how the guy made his artwork, and filing those details using computer tool is much easier. It's quite fascinating to me, and it taught me a lot by just being 'hands-on' like that.

sad thing is this supposed to be a gift for my friend, she loves drawings, now I won't have any more time to draw for her.

Most of the credit for the texture goes to the program I’m using, called Paper. The pencil tool is great!

Honestly struggled with deciding to tag this as pencil or digital since Paper feels so close to real paper.

tetanus can actually be found in soil, dust, and animal feces. rusty metal is just usually in the type of environment where tetanus bacteria grows. source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tetanus/symptoms-causes/syc-20351625

Most font creation tools will require you to have each individual character saved as an SVG file.

There are a number of free online tools that I have used, my favorite free option is called Glyphr Studio (http://glyphrstudio.com/)

For paid, I would recommend an app called Glyphs (https://glyphsapp.com/) which I believe is $300 for the license.

yea it's definitely off...

I loosely based it of of these kind of poses

https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/ballerina-pose-pointe-studio-shooting_10902225.htm

Cheers! My instagram is usually where they go, https://www.instagram.com/r0mbag

this one in particular was tiny in size, then I upscaled it and just decided to paint over it. http://i.imgur.com/Uh94Y1s.jpg

For that hazy effect I used two different brushes, the “soft brush” and the “soft brush grain”. They were in this brush pack that you can download for free: Jingsketch brushes

1. I use Photoshop.
2. Don't use it, but I hear good things about Krita.
3. I think in the beginning, the program you use doesn't matter as much. Just practicing with the pen is enough.
4. Just draw a lot and keep things small. You learn a lot if you spend 30 days making a masterpiece, but you learn more if you make 30 small drawings, one a day. Don't be too critical of yourself. Some people are afraid to draw in fear that it won't look good. Well, if you're only just beginning, chances are things won't look good. I've seen a lot of people freeze up when starting to draw and they never actually finish anything, they just put down a few lines and erase everything and eventually quit the drawing. I'm a bit more experienced, but I still make mistakes and just keep going. Because of this I make way more drawings than the other person, and improve faster aswel. Lastly I'd like to advise setting up your drawings before going into details. For example start with a rough stick figure and slowly and consistently add more detail. If you go into details too early the overal shape of what you're drawing might get awkward.
5. Seeing improvement. I also have this book that gives me a topic to draw each day. Also watching a lot of youtube videos about drawing and artists I like.

If you like Paint Tool Sai, Photoshop MS5, you are gonna definitely like the Krita project!! https://krita.org/ It's open source and free, and the development team is amazing, and you can talk to them via IRC and talk to fellow artists at the same time.

I highly recommend Krita for digital painting/sketching/drawing, and it has great Wacom tablet support :)

Nice drawing btw, I love Legend of Korra, and ATLA! You should cross post your fanart to the official ATLA subreddit!

You could try Gimp. You can dl it for free at their website: https://www.gimp.org

It's more of an alternative to Illustrator.

Or! You can try my favorite go-to site: https://sketch.io/sketchpad/

It works like a super basic Photo shop. Has all the functions you need to create a decent piece. More than decent, actually.

Have fun!

Twitch officially launched the Creative section late last year. You can be creative to your hearts content on twitch, now. Personally, I enjoy watching glassblowers and tattoo artists.

It's because I had this software already installed, and on alternativeto.net it has the best score ;)

But you're right, gimp is not very suitable for this kind of work and this drawing took me about ten hours .. (well, i'm a noob, so that plays too). For my next drawing I'll use krita :)

After posting all kinds of work in progress here 👷‍♂️ and dying several times to meet the deadlines 💀, this is finally a book! Big big thanks to everyone who supported the project!

Available in English (Kindle) and French (printed, Kindle) on Amazon

🔞!!!

https://www.amazon.fr/nuits-Luna-Damjan-Stanich/dp/236234519X/

https://www.amazon.com/Nights-Luna-English-version-ebook/dp/B097NQGGTP/

We worked on this one for quite awhile with the idea of making a plausible erotic story ambiented in the real world with everyday people doing dumb stuff on social networks... Story by Valérie and me, art by me and colours by Valérie and Diana Cammarano, published by Dynamite/La Musardine.

You’re not alone.. I use my phone sometimes too lol.

For using phone and finger this is exceptionally well. You can use it as a valid medium, but it takes a while to learn, and can limit your potential. (I only use it for cartoons) I myself don’t have a “true” art tablet, but I did find my ancient iPad from 2013 and got a really cheap disc stylus to use with it. You’d be surprised what you might find that will work just fine.

You don’t need a fancy expensive tablet to make good art!

I read it many years ago, but it helped me to see differently, and so to draw better. It helps retrain your eyes to draw what you see, and to think about the spaces between things.

Now there are various versions of it. If you feel like checking it out, here it is.

This art is based on a novel, Okey Dokey Sensei (https://www.amazon.com/Okey-Dokey-Sensei-C-Valentine/dp/1735197203)

If you've read it, the title makes sense. If you want to get pedantic, perhaps Kasa-yokai is closest? Just read the book, it will make sense! XD

Well mine I found at a Barns and Noble in the bargain rack...

But a quick Amazon search came up with this!

https://www.amazon.com/500-Drawing-Prompts-Piccadilly/dp/1620091356/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464794360&sr=8-1&keywords=500+drawing+prompts

This is an amazon link. There's also art stores like utrecht that sell drafting desks with drawers. They're a little pricey, but most stuff designed for a specific purpose will be, unfortunately. I have an L shaped drafting table, no drawers, and I absolutely love it.

A lot of my drawings are 18 or 19x24 inches and I don't have a scanner for those. Though I know there are companies out there that can scan large artwork (much larger than mine) for a fee and you may need to ship it.

That being said, this is the scanner I use now. It fits 11x17 in drawings (which is the size I would like to work in from now on.) I've found that it does scan a little light, but can easily be corrected with any basic photo editing software, just adjust brightness/contrass/etc.. This particular scanner is out of sale (on amazon, anyway) but if you do plan on finding/ordering an A3 scanner, make sure that the scanner BED, the place where you will put your drawing/work, is actually A3. A lot of printers/scanner combos advertise A3, but it turns out the scanner is standard 8.5x11in and it prints in A3. It took me a long time to find the scanner I did, unfortunately.

If you aren't able to find a scanner to suit your needs (though if you are working small enough, you should be able to find one in a decent price range and even portable!(ish)) then you should look into researching how to photograph artwork. There's a special skill to it that involves lighting and tools and cameras... Nothing I'm very familiar with. I just mess around with my phone or other camera until I'm frustrated and give up. I do that for a few days before I settle on a mediocre photo.

I don't think I would recommend scanning oil paintings, though you may be able to safely if you do some research! Good luck and I hope this helps.

Yeah...here is one on amazon... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0741651MF/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1 They stick on the back and are usually used to hold photos in albums or scrapbooks. These are nicer ones, but you can also use the cheap clear kind.

It is available here, you can buy the full range on Amazon, but it looks lile the HB grading is a European thing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07211TLHT/

According to Palomino this pencil is close to a European 3b/4b, so fairly soft. 6b is my preferred pencil for sketching.

Good eye, yeah this was text I just copied and pasted when I was making proposal, I don't have the pencil version with the final text sadly. But the book did end up being picked up, so if you want to see it with more professional text (and colored) this particular spread is part of some preview images amazon has up (but you have to click through them).

My dad bought me a Wacom Intuos for Christmas one year. I believe mine was 50 but I saw a Huion on Amazon for 80. Prices vary but here's mine: https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTL490DW-Intuos-Creative-Tablet/dp/B01N8XUMJI/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?keywords=wacom+intuos&qid=1563163966&s=gateway&sprefix=wacom+in&sr=8-9 I've had it for almost 3 years now and it's lovely

Your work is beautiful! I set up at craft shows like this myself, I'm a photographer. My advice would be to look into getting a 10x10 tent and some weights to hold it down. It will help if there is any rain or if the sun is too much. I would also recommend getting something to hang your pictures on. Most artists get big display boards or grid wall. Personally, I use a room divider that I can stick S-hooks on! I use one similar to this one, but mine is 3 panels and I got it at a discount store. It's cheaper and I think that it looks nice. I then use rope to weave between the slots and tie it to the post of my tent to keep it steady. I hope this helps! Best of luck selling!

Looks like it is a kneaded eraser! Here’s the link- 29 Pieces Professional Sketching & Drawing Art Tool Kit with Graphite Pencils, Charcoal Pencils, Paper Erasable Pen, Craft Knife-Lightwish (Without Sketchbook, with Canvas Rolling Pouch） https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZZQW7W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_TMT0EbH3CBSV9

I don’t know much about sketching supplies, but I’ve always hated the shine from graphite pencils. I researched a little bit and liked how bold charcoal looks on paper. I also don’t know much about brands and quality, but I found this on Amazon for a good price and it looks like it packs all the essentials.

So that’s what it is huh? I was wondering what a “paper pencil” was lol.

Your response definitely helps, thanks ! I’m not hoping to get the best quality supplies but just something decent that I can doodle with and begin learning to draw (with charcoal of course).

Very nice! I love your use of colors here, it looks really well-done~

I draw on paper occasionally as well, and I recommend an app called CamScanner. You can use it to scan your images and save them in higher quality and even apply filters to them! I use it fairly often for notes and stuff for class and thought you could get some good use out of it c:

I made an app for this and launched in September last year. It’s called Sketch a Day and it’s on iOS and Android, completely free. We’ve had thousands of entries so far and it’s getting quite popular. Might be a good source of prompts for you?

iOS link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sketch-a-day-draw-learn-share/id1434232227?mt=8

Android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.tomhicks.asketchaday

AWESOME comment and feedback, thank you very much! I've just started play with more than one grade (in the 4th I used HB & 2B), will keep working on that. Proportions are what I find SO hard with faces...and ultimately I think relative proportion is what creates a good likeness - that's why I'm currently drawing faces over and over. I'm trying to graduate away from using a grid - that's what I learned to do from "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". The tip about using a bigger scale is great, I hadn't considered that at all. Really appreciate this input.

Above comments are right on...if you can take a drawing course locally it would help... I started with a course entitled Drawing for the Utter and Absolute Beginner. The exercises in the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain will astound and amaze you! If you've never played golf and take lessons you will get better ....it doesn't mean you will go on the PGA tour. But you will get better . Do some drawings now and put them away for a year ....do some practice, practice , practice and redo the same subject in a year ....post both before and after.

Drawabox is great for learning some technical skills like perspective, drawing straight lines, and curves that make sense. I liked it because it has a great lesson plan laid out for you to follow with great examples and instructions. YouTube is a great resource obviously. It helps to figure out specific things you want to work on and focusing on those when you're self learning. Figure and gesture drawing are important of you want to draw people. Perspective is important for making things look right in a scene overall. Contour drawing and shading are important too. "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and "Drawing the Natural Way" are two great books to get started with. The first is more modern and science-y and the second is more classic and artistic in method.

Shit I wrote like a long response and deleted it on accident lol. So...tldr version. I'm in a similar place, look at other areas of your life you can improve (even seemingly small things) and meanwhile force yourself stay on the grind doing the work. If you work the joy of working will return.

Check out Steven Pressfields (Baggar Vance, Gates of Fire) series on being an artist: The War of Art, Do The Work, and Going Pro. They've been encouraging for me and helped me stay at it.

I'm starting from scratch and trying to make my way through Edwards' books and r/artfundamentals. I'm telling myself I'll progress quickly but it's a bit of a slog right now. I have more fun sketching on my own, but I'm afraid of going off the tracks. It's oddly paralyzing.

I want to try another book like Keys to Drawing to see if it's more my pace.

I just started back up a little while ago, and what I did to get back in the groove was hop on drawabox and did lesson 1 and 2. Though honestly I did put a lot of effort into it.

Then I started drawing what I wanted. The best way to learn,imo, is draw a lot and ask for feedback. You'll mess up but the more you try and figure out what's wrong and actively try and correct the issues find you'll improve. Though I do recommend Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It's a confidence booster and helps you "see" better.

Edit:tldr get a sketch book or some printing paper and draw. And keep drawing, just keep going don't stop.

Check out the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." I was the same way two weeks ago, and this book has a ton of great exercises to break you out of bad habits and teach you "how" to draw what you see (as opposed to just telling you to draw what you see)