I see some really nice art work on here and, to be honest, I am a bit jealous of the talent shown on the forum. I am trying to learn to draw but am having a hard time... How did you guys go about learning? I find I can "copy" images well but when I try to create out of my mind it all goes to hell (which sucks cause I have so many "mental images" i want to get out)... Maybe someone would like to mentor me or give suggestions as to how to practice (I could teach guitar/music theory in return??). I've been sketching for years but I see no improvement. I know practice makes perfect, but if you gave a book of literature (in a foreign language) to someone, no matter how long they looked they wouldn't be able to read. This is the stage I feel I am at and need a push.... Thanks.
you need to practice drawing from life and rendering 3d shapes. every structure, even the human body can be broken down into simple geometric shapes. the torso is a rectangle, the neck is a cylinder, the pelvis is a triangle. you see? second. you need to practice. sketching isn't necessarily practice if you dont set goals and introduce new material. pick new subjects, use new media(charcoal or pen and ink, paint, clay, etc). you wouldn't call noodling on the guitar "practice" when your time is better spent learning songs, playing scales, jamming with a buddy. you could copy a masterwork, you could read a book on drawing technique, flip through some art books. creating a masterpiece is a good goal to set. starting something with intention of finishing it only when its done. choose a scale that is bigger than normal, or more detail than you've done before, incorporate a new technique. plan it out. work over the concept in thumbnail sketches and find a composition that works. then do small postcard size minimalist versions of your final painting/drawing using different color schemes. then do a pencil sketch in full size. find your weaknesses in the drawing and work on them before proceeding. then drawing(very lightly)your final, block everything in place, and finally render it(in paint, graphite, ink, whatever) to your final satisfaction.
also, i learned to draw when i was supposed to be paying attention in class. i was always doodling in the margins. then as i got into highschool and college i took it more serious and took classes in drawing. where you are not so much taught "the method" as you are given the time to focus on concentrated practice drawing from a model, or a still life, or landscapes, or from your imagination. concentrated practice is the only real way to get better at any skill. if you're just winging it then you might make some steps in the right direction with luck, but thats childs play. you play the guitar so you know what practice means. i draw for at least an hour a day with multiple 3 hours session with a model during the week. and as i'm in school it is 3 hours a day with multiple supplemental projects and life drawing sessions. i read books on drawing and painting. i observe other artists and i read up on anatomy and physics to understand how the world is like a puzzle. during the fall and spring i probably get around 25-30 hours of drawing a week. and i'm nowhere near as good as the students in their senior year who have been doing that all along. all that said... there are some 10 or 11 year olds who can smoke me like cheebah when it comes to drawing from imagination. nature plays some kind of role in this equation. bless
Much appreciated dude. Lots of good info in there. I think a book is the next thing in order for me and really trusting the geometric shapes I see in books... "there are some 10 or 11 year olds who can smoke me like cheebah when it comes to drawing from imagination." I feel your pain..... My buddy's little brother who always looked up to me playin, thus his reason for learning, can now smoke me... Once hed play rhythm to my lead, now the roles are reversed.
one of the best ways to start practicing is to draw heads, look at the way all the facial features are aligned in one way or another on a persons face. another good way is to draw hands, draw them in all sorts of different positions and angles, work on the shading as well. dont feel discouraged if they dont turn out great, hands can be one of the most difficult things to master, and if you master them early on, you'll find that drawing anything has become a lot easier to you. just practice all the time! believe it or not, but just drawing straight lines and circles and other random shapes really does help a lot.
take classes! all through school people blew off art class as a bullshit class you dont gotta do any work in. but if you show an intrest an art teacher will take you under their wing in a heartbeat. by no means do they know everything, its realy quite funny to see em contradict each other. but the point is. they can teach you how to look at things in a way that will help you to translate it for yourself onto paper.. or any other kinda canvas. they just give you the tools. and thats all you need. but take classes! they make sure you get the RIGHT tools
what mmg said. i never learned from anybody, i just drew from imagination and real life since i was able to hold a crayon. focus on these things (among others that you pick up on the way): primitive shapes- everything is made of primitives, whether it's cylinders, cones, boxes, etc. the human body. a dog's body, a tree, a table. it's all just primitives connected together with a little detail. lighting and surfacing- textures and shading. it's not hard to see the shading in a picture, but it gets harder when drawing from real life. both of these practices work hand in hand because it develops a better understanding of light and how it bounces off the environment. shading adds depth to your drawings if you're drawing people- learn about anatomy and the dynamics of the human body. facial features follow a formula. ears align with the eyes, eyes align with the mouth and all that... look up the specifics. anatomy is really boring but worth it if you want to draw realistic faces/bodies. brainstorming- one of the things i would consider more important than 'drawing skills' because if you set aside five or ten minutes to rapidly sketch out every idea on your subject matter, your end work will reflect it. if you're thinking of conveying a certain feeling or action, emotion, or whatever, think about it and draw 25-50 rough sketches before you even pull out the art pencils and nice paper. then, choose the best or more effective way of drawing it and see it through to completion. take a basic class on design. you'll learn about space, form, color, etc. be aware- observation is one of the most important parts of drawing. say you're trying to draw a car. do you know what a tire looks like? i mean, what the tread looks like? what it says on the side? what the hub cap looks like? pay attention to your surroundings, how gravity works, how fabric naturally falls, how light fills or is absent from a room, etc.... take what you see in the real world and apply it to the paper. it helps to take classes or read books on things like color theory, human/animal anatomy, and textures but not necessary if you just want to 'draw'.
I've been drawing since I was three and I grew up in a whole family of artists so I guess it just came naturally. I am related to Edgar Allen Poe through my grandfather and my grandpa also worked for Hallmark doing the little cartoons for years. Everyone I know in my family does some sort of art, so it became second nature.
I learned basically by copying ways of drawing the body that I saw other artists doing and when I saw they made a mistake I would find a better way to draw it myself, whether that be experimenting or finding another artist that draws it more the way I like almost everything I draw I've derived the style I use from the internet or friends, but I'm a cartoonist. This might not apply if you want to draw realistic things
I took some classes in HS, but pretty much just copied what I saw. I learned some techniques mostly on my own, but have seen some shows on TV.
i am really good at copying images, both real life scenes and from other pictures. but to copy abstract images from my head is really difficult, only once in a rare while will i accomplish it. so i think i understand what you are looking for, that creativity. the best abstract thing i did from by imagination was a sea monster that i sometimes see in my dreams. maybe try starting out copying images from a reacering dream, that way you can see it more clearly. or a trip if you do those.
Learning to see is most important. An eye for detail is the difference between someone who can and can not draw. This book is great for learning and It has so many great reviews! I have the book, although I haven't finished it yet, it has already taught me so much. It has every technique in drawing, painting, colour, 'seeing', and so much more. It's based around the scientific theory that the right side of the brain is the creative side. It teaches you to turn off the left side of the brain and only use the right side to observe and draw. http://www.amazon.com/New-Drawing-R...4195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292013901&sr=8-1
i agree that how you see is very important and i often stare at things just to see how i would recreate it on paper. its also important to have an eye for lighting, maybe more so since ive seen paintings with less detail that were very good because of the way the lighting was captured
