Reddit reviews Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
We found 57 Reddit comments about Figure Drawing for All It's Worth. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Titan Books UK
Reddit reviews Figure Drawing for All It's WorthWe found 57 Reddit comments about Figure Drawing for All It's Worth. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Ok, now take note of what went wrong with your drawing and try again, and again, and again. Then after a few weeks go back and compare your latest drawings to this one.
The master has failed more times then the novice has tried.
If you want some resources, here are some youtube channels:
And also some books:
You should also check out http://drawabox.com/ and https://www.ctrlpaint.com/.
Edit: Labeled the links.
Edit 2: Just in case anyone saved this post, here's a couple of youtube channels I started watching recently:
I hope things are going well for you. And remember, as long as you keep moving forward you'll get to where you want to go eventually, even if your steps aren't as big as you'd like.
(30+ years experience as a commercial artist, animator, broadcast designer and special effects designer speaking here. Plus I got into digital graphics back in the late '70s before anyone even knew what it was.)
The best place to start is to learn to draw. Anything else is a distraction and an attractive nuisance. Software is the least of your worries for quite some time. And even then, a cheap scanner or digital camera and some simple software are all you need to do a whole lot of learning.
And by drawing, I mean drawing from life. Find a life drawing class in your community if at all possible. I can not stress this enough. This may or may not be what your daughter has in mind, but it is like learning your scales to a musician. It's certainly possible to become a cartoonist without this type of training, but if you succeed you succeed in spite of the lack not because of it. I would say it is not possible to succeed as an animator without formal training. To become good enough to do this for a living, or even for fun, is a lot of work. But very satisfying.
Some books I recommend are:
When she gets a little farther along, get a copy of _The Animator's Survival Kit_ by Richard Williams.
Edit: Your biggest expense isn't going to be software or computers, but time and paper and pencils. I recommend cheap printer paper, 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17. Regular pencils work just fine. Get them at the office supply store. Better art supplies can make a difference when you are much farther along, but the main thing when starting out is to do lots of drawings, and make lots of mistakes. Ward Kimball, one of Disney's master animators used to joke that, "the first hundred thousand drawings are the hardest." And it's not really a joke.
Thank you! Here's a quick list of the ones I can recall. :)
Figure drawing - Michael Hampton
alla prima - Richard Schmid
figure drawing for all it's worth - Andrew Loomis
drawing from life - George Bridgman
Color and light - James Gurney
As for videos, a whole lot of youtube ones, specifically from these channels;
Bugmeyer
Feng Zhu
Stylusmonkey
and a few workshop videos by Whit Brachna, Brad Rigney and Donato Giancola.
hope it helps some. thanks for the interest! :)
I've been reading this NSFW book. I sketched this lion with some of its principles in mind.
My biggest tip: take a figure drawing class, if you have the time and money. There's no substitute for a good teacher, and as a bonus you'll get the chance to draw from life (which can be very helpful). Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions!
If you're looking for theory, the best books I've seen are Jack Hamm and Andrew Loomis, both of whom offer intelligent simplifications of the figure along with breakdowns of specific anatomy if you want it.
This basic figure frame from Loomis is one of the best things you can learn (though don't place too much emphasis on meeting those measurements-- after all, they don't help for crap once you have to foreshorten).
Try this study tool. Set it to 30 second or 1 minute intervals with nude models and fill up the page with Loomis-style mannequin figures. Don't worry about getting each one perfect; move on once your time is up. Get a bunch of paper and do it for 20 minutes straight.
Think, especially about the shape of the ribcage, spine, and hips. Notice how the ribcage is kind of egg-shaped, how the spine curves, and how the hips are shaped like a wide V.
Folks who are linking to the 'Save Loomis' sites: the Loomis books aren't in the public domain.
Now, at one time, they were extremely difficult to find in print - Disney Studios in California had a standing order with every bookstore on the west coast for any Loomis books that came in - and when you could find them they cost an arm and a leg. For many years, too, the Loomis family withheld reprinting rights to the books, so there was no prospect for a very, very long time of ever seeing new editions. So at that time, "Save Loomis" websites at least had a moral ground to stand on.
Titan Books has, for several years now, been releasing the Loomis books in really lovely, affordable hardbacks. There's no reason to save Loomis any longer; he's been saved. We really ought to be pointing folks to where they can buy the books legally, now, and not to download sites.
For what it's worth, I think his best is Figure Drawing For All It's Worth. If there was only one I could recommend to someone who's new to drawing, though, rather than one I'd keep for myself, it's Fun With a Pencil. Figure Drawing is the gold standard of proportions and anatomy, as far as I'm concerned, but the material in it has been covered similarly by lots of different folks. Fun With A Pencil is geared more towards folks who've never drawn before and is a great book for absolute beginners.
This is currently my holy bible. MikeyMM is such a nice YT channel, has a lot of good tutooorials.
Now if you want something more fundamental, i practiced proportions based on this book
It's a good book, not planning on reading it all, but has a lot of illustrations kinda like this one that make everything more easy to comprehend. Not uploading the original pics, cuz maybe it's illegal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'd say your strongest point is your ability to convey action. The leaping on page 16 is particularly well executed. You also actually have a pretty good grasp of perspective drawing with the environments! It could use a little work, but I feel like every artist could do with more practice!!
The main suggestion I could give you is to start drawing from life. I know you are heavily influenced by Japanese comics, but trust me when I say that all professional manga artists are able to draw from life. What I mean is, take a figure drawing class, or at the very least pick up this book, or any other figure drawing book really. It will help you greatly with getting proportions correct, as well as help you with understanding the internal structure of the body. By skipping learning how to draw from life, and learning to draw from looking at Manga, you're really only taking the face value. Like, have you ever used a copy machine to make a copy of a copy? The original page looks crisp and clean, but that first copy has a few spots and scratches, and then the copy of that copy has big black splotches on it, and eventually the text is completely illegible. Not to say that your art is really bad! It's actually pretty decent for your first comics! I just believe that doing some observational studies will help your work greatly!
The next major thing you should work on is the writing. I get that his blindfold is what keeps his demons at bay, but by starting the comic off with the central character punching a guy's body in two, and then ripping another guy's arm off... it makes me not care about the character. I feel like if you would have shown the readers that he was a kind person, by like, helping the elderly, or defending his father or something, then I'd be like, "Why is this sweet kid suddenly a vicious murderer?" But since you didn't I was like, "Is this a violent comic for the sake of drawing a violent comic?" Therefore, when the dad was brought in to be killed, he started talking about how innocent the kid was, which is the exact opposite of my first impression. Also, why did they kill the dad? Why, then, did they let evil demon kid live, only to exile him? Wouldn't killing Kai solve all of their problems?
Anyway, I feel like you have potential, mainly because you were actually able to produce this much work! Do you have any idea how many people say they want to make comics but pale at the sight of how much work it is? You are a hard worker, and I know that you will be able to persevere and evolve into something so much better than you already are! On that note, buy Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. It will change your life. I'm being 100% serious here. McCloud is not only the go-to comics theorist, but he was also one of the first professional Americans to see the potential of drawing comics influenced by the Japanese! Once you have devoured this book, because you will want more, buy Making Comics, also by Scott McCloud. While Understanding dissects the medium and explains things you never would have thought about before, Making Comics applies those thoughts into a school-like setting.
tl;dr: It's good, but could be much better. Worship Scott McCloud.
Last time I tried to give advice on drawings the person got upset and quit reddit, soooo, please don't do that. My suggestion if you're absolutely serious about drawing is to absolutely learn the fundamentals.
Fun With A Pencil: How Everybody Can Easily Learn to Draw https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857687603/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ijZZDbCWDFEAQ
Drawing the Head and Hands https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857680978/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AjZZDb0B3RBPF
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857680986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OjZZDbW37G79H
Successful Drawing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857687611/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4jZZDb95Z0W96
Creative Illustration https://www.amazon.com/dp/1845769287/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ikZZDbFRJYAJD
And after the basics
Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist (Volume 1) (James Gurney Art) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0740785508/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_alZZDbZW0Y1P4
Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (Volume 2) (James Gurney Art) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0740797719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DlZZDb676AWT6
It doesn't matter what medium you use, learning how to draw and understanding what you're doing will help out the most.
This looks like you just looked at a reference image of Ash and drew what you saw. The character looks distorted, as a result, because you really shouldn't draw that way.
You should frame out the body parts, using simple placeholder shapes (mostly ovals) and study other images of the character to get the details. There are parts here where it would seem that the reference was too dark and you just kind of scribbled to show shadow where detail should actually exist.
Even if you are only a hobbyist, you should grab a copy of Figure Drawing for All It's Worth and actually use the principles in that book. It will help even simple sketches to look amazing, if you get it down.
We weren't meant to be copy machines. You'll be a much better artist if you get away from that.
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986 This is the best book on the figure ever written(/drawn) hands down. Loomis is a god among artists and his figure drawing and explanations of figure drawing are unmatched. This book is back in print after being out of print for forever. I have had this book recommended to me by no less than 30 professors and professional artists. Its amazing.
Figure Drawing for All it's Worth
incredible book
You can practice curves or arcs in the same way you practice straight lines. Make lots of them! You goal should be to make fluid, confident strokes from your shoulder. Lots of books go over this including this one from Scott Robertson or this one from Andrew Loomis. Also check out this From Foundation Patreon.
Check these out:
How to Draw From Life by Joe Kubert
Figure Drawing by Andrew Loomis
Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner
The quickest, most reliable way to humanoid character drawing (without previous knowledge in the subject) is to use Andrew Loomis' method. The best book on this subject is Figure Drawing For All It's Worth. You can find "free" copies of it online, if you don't mind that it's a scanned copy from the 1950's.
Pre-rendered landscape art demands that you know enough about perspective, and thus I would also recommend looking at Andrew Loomis' Successful Drawing.
As for putting your skills into use and transferring them into a game, it seems that everything you need is available at Digital Tutors. If you are ready to begin this stage, be sure to have the proper software, and that you know the basics on how to use it.
I can go into much greater detail, and even help you gather resources, but let's make sure you aren't overwhelmed just yet.
I don't think I'm really qualified to give any advice... I don't have a lot of formal experience (dabbled 1 quarter as an art major and then ended up getting a CS degree, lol) and have been teaching myself very haphazardly and probably have a lot of bad habits. That said, a book that helped me greatly with anatomy is Loomis's "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth". http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986 and a way to practice it without going to an actual figure drawing session is with a tool like http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/. Concept Cookie http://cgcookie.com/concept/ has some excellent free tutorials, and I really enjoyed watching this recent video by Noah Bradley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQfF-P70V2Q It's part of his "ArtCamp" program, which I am seriously eyeing due to its very reasonable cost, but the summer session is already halfway through. Maybe next time! Here's his recommended art education: https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/dont-go-to-art-school-138c5efd45e9#b9fa
And of course the most critical part is to just practice! Draw a lot even when you feel shitty about it! (....I still need to take this to heart myself)
Both of these books are excellent.
1
2
If you can't aford them, here are the PDFs.
Only good anatomy book i know of
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Always I look at anatomy and proportions first, coloring shading etc... are built from that.
I am new to modding and helping you all, aka teaching, so I will do all I can to assist, and these is the best I can think of.
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Watch the spine, think of the spine, no Rob Liefield!
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https://imgur.com/g9ySVHJ
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With that being said, look at this weeks "challenge" thread for a good penis reference, and her backside is a bit of broken spine syndrome.
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Keep going at it, never give up, draw draw draw!
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986
http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Human-Anatomy-Motion-Dynamics/dp/0770434142
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV
http://www.penciljack.com - Level up through the forums. Loston Wallace + Smitty (The Legendary Paul Smith) are frequenters. Get tips from people that know what the fuck they're talking about.
I suck at drawing, but I know the good books, and they'll likely recommend them too:
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377364025&sr=1-1&keywords=andrew+loomis
Anything by Loomis. Steve Rude, Alex Ross, and many more see his books as integral to their artistic education.
http://www.amazon.com/Perspective-Made-Easy-Dover-Instruction/dp/0486404730/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377364049&sr=1-1&keywords=norling+perspective+made+easy
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377364114&sr=1-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain
Good luck!
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325347779&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Head-Hands-Andrew-Loomis/dp/0857680978/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325347779&sr=8-2
An artist gave me a list of books to read at a convention after I showed him my work.
Figure drawing for all its worth
Perspective! For Comic Book Artists
Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative
The Classic How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way
This is the one I have and I can't recommend it enough.
The only advice you need right now is to improve your draftsmanship. You need to understand anatomy to be able to draw people, no matter what level of detail/realism you wish to achieve. Animators and cartoonists who who draw all varieties of cartoon characters are always masters of drawing the human form. Even drawing characters like Fred Flinstone requires you to understand anatomy, such as the way joints bend, or hands and fingers function. Having a grasp on anatomy will help your story telling, no matter how you choose to exercise (or disregard) the knowledge. The best place to start learning is a very well known book authored by Andrew Loomis: Figure Drawing for What its Worth (this is one of the most well known peices of instructional drawing literature) Buy this book and study. You already have ideas that you want to draw, and thats great, and improving your draftsmanship will help you be able to get your ideas out. In addition to anatomy, You will also need to learn some basics of perspective, to be able to convincingly draw your stage for example, or how to set up characters around the stage and make them appear to all be on the same plane. Scott Robertson has a great book that teaches fundamentals of perspective, worth looking in to How to Draw Good Luck!
Great work. As others mentioned, the next step is getting her some anatomy art books Andrew Loomis' Drawing the Head and Hands and Figure Drawing for All It's Worth are great ones I've used myself and found very valuable. The best thing a budding comics illustrator can do is draw from life and not just from other comics/cartoons, that way their own style develops organically. Thanks for sharing!
Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing for all it's worth
has some excellent breakdown of drawing the figure in perspective.
Michael Hampton [Figure Drawing: Design and Invention] (http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-Invention-Michael-Hampton/dp/0615272819) demonstrates an excellent constructive approach to anatomy of the human figure.
Preston Blairs Cartoon Animation isn't so much a book on figure drawing or anatomy, but a book on the process of drawing for animation. While a lot of the work might be outdated, the process can be an indispensable foundation for artists.
Thanks for all your feedback, I really appreciate it!
As an aside, and as one comic-creator-doing-it-for-the-love-of-it to another, if you're looking to improve your artistic skills, I've recently picked up a few Andrew Loomis books to read, including Figure Drawing For All It's Worth. I'm not sure if you're looking to improve in a specific area, or just overall, but that book seems to be pretty good for figure drawing pointers. And furthermore, in the same vein, I highly recommend studying anatomy--knowing exactly what's underneath the skin and how it moves does absolute wonders for improving the look of figures on the page.
Also, you don't have to be ridiculously proficient at drawing or anything to make successful comics. If you look at a book like Persepolis, the drawings are very simplistic, yet distinct. Nothing is highly rendered or incredibly detailed, but that in no way makes it any less successful than, say, an Alex Ross-illustrated book. It's all in what you're trying to do with the story you want to tell.
Only 5~ months ago did I decide to get serious about improving my art in my free time. For most of my life I only doodled occasionally. So I thought I would describe my plan of action with books and resources that I will likely be using. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
My process will be basics of construction-> perspective -> figure drawing -> digital art and rendering. Approximately 45% will be improving, 45% will be doing what I want for fun and 10% will be a daily sketch(this subreddit) that takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to complete. for fun I will be doing anything from digital to water color.
Construction and perspective: First I am starting my art journey by completing draw a box . Next I will go through Marshall Vandruff's Linear Perspective Videos and Perspective Made Easy simultaneously while referencing with how to draw by Scott Robertson. Briefly I will gloss at Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or keys to drawing pulling ideas of where I might find weakness.
Figure drawing: Once those are finished, I will begin my figure drawing phase. I will move onto free proko subsided with loomis books such as this, other photo references sites like http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en and Figure Drawing: Design and Invention. I will also reference Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist and maybe more depending on my budget.
digital art and rendering: For the final stage of my journey, I will venture into ctrlpaint. Simultaneously I will be reading How to Render, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter
After that.... I don't know. We will see were I am in a year.
Really nice work. Just a little tip tho. Try to pick up the Loomis anatomy books. This will help you with sculpting faces. You are really missing some major planes in there. Which makes it a less bit realistic then what i think you were going for.
Loomis really helped me learning to sculpt faces and build proper anatomy. It's a subject we artist will probably never master but it is something that helps us improve our work for the audience.
Proof: http://imgur.com/fjPU3oc
Book recommendation:
Figure Drawing For All It's Worth
Drawing The Head And Hands
Sorry if this was unwanted advice!
I think your figures great. I like the way your draw their expressions.
I've only been drawing for a short while but I found the book ['Figure Drawing for All it's Worth'] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Figure-Drawing-All-its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453510308&sr=8-1&keywords=andrew+loomis) to be really helpful. It's all about anatomy, drawing figures in proportion, perspective and shadows/planes. It's a bit pricey but I thought it was worth it.
I hope this helps.
Alright bro rather than critique your work I'm going to directly answer your question on how to improve. I got two pieces of advice for you based on what I see.
First off, and it may sound a little vague but ask yourself honesty what do you want out of art? You say you tend to draw on and off in short burst, so do you really enjoy it? What do you see yourself creating if you possessed the required skills to do so? Try to find an answer to that question so you have a direction to work towards.
Secondly, "realism" in arts, to quote Wikipedia "is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements" in other words to not add your own style to a drawing and capture purely what you see. Its really just life drawing, and I'm not exaggerating when I say you cannot become a competent or confident artist without learning, appreciating, and devoting time to mastering it. Realism is not a genera of art its the foundation, drawing as an art form has no shortcuts, that boring stuff an art teacher tries to make us do in art class such as drawing straight lines towards a horizon, or drawing a mannequin over and over aren't options that an artist can opt out of if he so chooses, like any science it's the basic background you require to frame your thinking and let creativity flow naturally through the canvas. If a musician doesn't know his scales how can he concentrate on giving the performance? Forget drawing freehand if you cant properly life draw. A human cannot be learned in sections, if we focus on things like eyes, the head, and hair, every other part will lack definition and consideration resulting in them fading into the background, the whole body must be considered. A regular adult male body is measured in about 8 heads in length starting from the actual head and moving down dividing the body into sections ending at the feet. If you study these landmarks along with the more specific ones than life drawing will become simplified and much more enjoyable.
I'm not leading you astray here, this is the hard truth about drawing, we all started for a reason but sooner or later we gotta decide how far are we gonna take this and how exactly we get there. If you really want to get serous about drawing, learn anatomy, learn perspective, and never focus on development a style, just concentrate on drawing and the style will occur. Start here for anatomy, because when it comes to anatomy Loomis is the authority and we are his students, he has many good books but this is probably his most popular. Though all of his books should be considered as they go into more detail on specific body parts such as hands and the head.
Then go here, it really is perspective made easy and is should probably be read first as a good understanding of perspective is required to properly frame drawing. Almost all of these books have PDFs that can downloaded for free since they were out of print at one point but were put back up for sale. If Loomis isn't your style you can check out this list, most of these have free PDFs as well which can simply be google searched.
But know that there is no foolproof formula to make you a great artist from books or even other great artist, its simply the courage to stand on ones own two feet and seek out enlightenment. I'm no art genius, all of this wisdom is from my personal experiences and lots of books. I just recognized your path as similar to mine and wanted to give some honest advice.
you have potential and its your choice if you want to see how far can you take it.
Totally worth purchasing:
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857680986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7tnODbS3A9XZ1
The illustration is from Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, if anyone's interested.
You have an eye for detail! Study anatomy, it will really breathe life into your work. I recommend Andrew Loomis' book on figure drawing. You can also get an ebook of it on Google Play for dirt cheap.
Even master artists feel like they don't know what they're doing. The more you learn, the more you realize is left to learn. There is no point where you go from someone who can't draw to someone who can. It's just something you keep getting better at the more you practice and study. Copying from reference is a great place to start, keep at it. and don't be afraid to ask for critique if you really get stuck.
Just do what you can now, and as you improve it will get more fun and less frustrating.
If you want some resources, here's some youtube channels that have helped me:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5dyu9y0EV0cSvGtbBtHw_w
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUQTqWAaSzhAKRanOpes1nA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvM8sIthAK1KOQ4nq5mYCTw
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwJheV30gHVOjBps2DU7k9A
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCno-YPZ8BiLrN0Wbl8qICFA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIGRhqYssT6IGPYOnZBFYKw
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV
And also some books:
https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Realist-Painter-Gurney/dp/0740797719
https://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing-Composition-Storytellers/dp/1933492953
https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZNC6E0ET0QNFQAPH01WB
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X
You could also check out http://drawabox.com/ and https://www.ctrlpaint.com/ which both offer a more ridged lesson by lesson approach to learning to draw.
Practice drawing figure studies. Bridgeman and Loomis are a good start. https://www.amazon.com/Bridgmans-Drawing-Dover-Anatomy-Artists/dp/0486227103/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0486227103&pd_rd_r=PJ5P4VBN6H69FDNRDEH0&pd_rd_w=ouHhb&pd_rd_wg=mb9wa&psc=1&refRID=PJ5P4VBN6H69FDNRDEH0
https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=pd_sim_14_9?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0857680986&pd_rd_r=2TNK24K8G9ZB7WTW7TG0&pd_rd_w=R7NbF&pd_rd_wg=Wmx8W&psc=1&refRID=2TNK24K8G9ZB7WTW7TG0
Ah, thanks, I've fixed the link. Which is a great start; grab the book he refers to and start doing his exercises based on drawing out of it, or freeze-frame classic WB and MGM cartoons and draw off of those the same way.
Also take some life drawing classes! Apply what you learn about construction from John K to drawing humans; it's possible to get to a point where you can get down the essentials of a pose in less than 30 seconds and reconstruct a lot of it from basic drawing principles later on. If you can find a life drawing teacher who works out of the Glen Vilppu curriculum that would be great, his methods are pretty well-loved among teachers of life drawing for animation, and will equip you with some serious skillz.
James Gurney's books on drawing are also pretty awesome and inspirational, he approaches the problem of drawing stuff out of his head in a much more realistic way.
I am also a fan of Bridgeman's Constrictive Anatomy and Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, both of these could be found (along with the Preston Blair animation books) in the library of every single person I knew in animation school.
If you can afford it, consider taking some art classes, online or off. A degree in art is stupidly over-expensive, but having the obligation of A Class that you are Paying For can be a good kick in the ass to draw draw draw draw. I don't have any recommendations for those offhand, my schooling was back in 1995 at a place that no longer exists.
In general: if there is art you like, try ripping it off! Don't just trace it though, reconstruct it from first principles using basic construction methods, and think about why and how the artist applied their stylizations.
ALSO. Carry a sketchbook. Draw in it. Change your habits: instead of taking out your phone to check Twitter or Reddit or whatever, take out your sketchbook and draw something. Maybe something in view, maybe something out of your head. It doesn't matter what, just keep working at it. And ask yourself what's wrong with drawings after you do them; try to not make the same mistakes twice.
Also here is a serious PRO TIP that I picked up from my time in animation: put that mechanical pencil you probably use to write and draw with away, grab a wooden #2 pencil and hold it so that the side of the point touches the paper, instead of the very tip. This will force you to draw with your arm rather than your wrist, which will (a) result in much more fluid strokes once you get the hang of it (b) make it far easier to do your initial rough blocking in of shapes lightly, then switch to the tip of the point to nail things down, and (c) vastly reduce the risk of being visited by the Carpal Tunnel Fairy.
The biggest thing is to DRAW. Make it the thing you do when you're bored. If you don't have any ideas for things to draw, draw some cubes. Or draw your hand, hands are HARD to draw and also super expressive, and almost everyone has one available to use as a model. Put it in some pose and reduce it to boxes/tubes/whatever, then build detail, keep doing until you have to do something else, or get an actual idea for a thing you wanna draw.
The second biggest thing is to CRIT YOURSELF, and get others at about the same level as you to crit you. Let go of your ego; if people say your drawing is terrible that doesn't mean anything about you, it just means you have things to learn. Listen to what they say and try to not make the same mistakes again. Yes, I know I said that already. It's important. Tell your ego to sit down and shut up.
Hope that helps!
To tag do u/(inserttheirnamehere) and the human body is a lot to learn I’ve been doing a ton of study here lately and I would suggest Andrew loomis’s figure drawing for all its worth https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986 and also I have had some success with using Skillshare and taking figure drawing classes on there for starting out.
Hey, Retlih!
How awesome that you're looking to start drawing! You've gotten some good advice in the thread already(taking your time, especially) but in the event that you're looking to learn more, I've got some great books to suggest you work through.
Andrew Loomis - Figure Drawing for All Its Worth
Bridgman - Complete Guide to Drawing from Life
While they may seem very human anatomy-focused(and in a way, they are), they also describe some great general principles and advice to start your journey down pencil road. They also heavily emphasize looking - no, I mean really looking - at things in everyday life and doing your outmost to depict them, which is a great exercise of the hand, the eye and the mind. (practicing this will make you much better over time, but it will take time, much, MUCH more than a month. I'm a concept artist by trade, and I have never met a person even half-decent at drawing who wasn't already a few years or decades into drawing)
If you're serious about this, do avoid focusing too heavily on making and sharing - be it facebook or instagram - pretty portraits of celebrities or dogs or cats or fruit, or you'll be forever trapped in mediocre-pencil-portrait-land where praise comes easy and you'll always feel like an impostor and/or artistically handicapped charlatan. Learn to draw for yourself and in your own pace, making sure not to rush through the process. Think of how you would train your muscles; don't immediately go and try to pull an airliner with your teeth, start with the core and work from there - let it take time, and find ways to make the journey enjoyable.
Figure Drawing for All it's Worth has some good info on the subject. If you google it, you can find the pdf for free online.
OK, I get asked this type of question a lot so I have some pre-fab answers for you:
>Someone asked me about teaching yourself art (which is the way I learned) I thought I would share my replay in case It might be helpful to some of you.
>Fundamentals (walk before you run):
>How to draw http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933492732/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 $30
Figure drawing for all its worth http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401411454&sr=1-1&keywords=figure+drawing+for+all+it%27s+worth $25
Color and Light (this book blew my mind) http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401411299&sr=1-1&keywords=color+and+light $15
Imaginative Realism http://www.amazon.com/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y $15
>Digital Painting:
>Digital Painting Techniques 1 – 6 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=digital+painting+techniques+&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Adigital+painting+techniques+ About $35 each = $210 total
>Also pick up some art books for games like Halo or Assassin’s Creed. There’s lots of great concept work in there to give you an idea of what to pros do.
>Visual design:
>Picture This (a very simple explanation on how all the components of a scene can tell a story) http://www.amazon.com/Picture-This-How-Pictures-Work/dp/1587170302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401412344&sr=1-1&keywords=picture+this $15
Essentials of Visual Communication (A detailed breakdown on how the human brain consumes an image and how you can use this knowledge to best communicate your ideas) http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Visual-Communication-Bo-Bergström/dp/1856695778/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401412394&sr=1-1&keywords=Essentials+of+Visual+Communication $30
>Structured Education:
>Digital Tutors (Perfect for learning a program) http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/index.php $50 a month or $515 a year
Ctrl+Paint http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ Free
CGMaster Academy https://www.youtube.com/user/CGMWORKSHOPS/videos?view=0&flow=grid
>Also I wrote on my blog “Become a better Artist Overnight” http://garretaj.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-to-become-better-artist-overnight.html where I take you through tried and true techniques on how to do focused learning revolving your sleep pattern. This is the way I did it (and still do it)
>Communities a must for getting feedback and ideas:
>http://conceptartworld.com/
>http://www.artstation.com/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/400586640025350/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/221278101324638/
>https://www.facebook.com/groups/awesomehorse/
>The final thing is you. You have to really want this, it’s not easy. Don’t buy this stuff or go to an expensive art school because you think it’s some kind of shortcut. The focus here is not becoming a good artist, but becoming a good student. Learn how to learn effectively, learn how to love learning, bust your ass, and always work on improving yourself.
>Do that and nothing can stop you. Or don’t.
Hope this helps
Start with gesture drawing. Watch Proko and Reiq first, to see what it's all about, then go to Quickposes. Do the 30 second timed gestures until you've reached level 1. Concentrate on the line of action. Don't get stuck on details. It will be impossible to do at first, but your skills will increase rapidly. Your hand will loosen up, and you will find something of a personal style. After that, read Andrew Loomis. It will be a revelation.
This book does a fairly good job at explaining how to make pictures look like they're "in motion" but assumes you already have a pretty good grasp of drawing the human form.
This book will, with practice, get you that grasp.
Check if you can do it at other schools. Otherwise there's a lot of tutorials around, check youtube and conceptart.org
edit: Oh, and the Andrew Loomis books have been getting re-released, well worth a look along with Bridgeman's stuff (think both are still available online too, they were out of print for years and there was a whole movement to try and get them re-printed, or at least preserve them)
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319139330&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Head-Hands-Andrew-Loomis/dp/0857680978/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319139330&sr=8-2
Also, look into gesture drawing and do it in places like cafes and pubs, just drawing the people around you. Free life drawing classes :p
It's hard to tell without seing your work and current skill level. Some of it you'll have to figure out yourself, some of it a teacher or mentor can help you with. Usually, popular authors such as Loomis, Hampton and Scott Robertson won't teach you anything that you "don't need", so they can be a good start.
I mainly switch between Andrew Loomis and George Bridgman.
For a cheap start that'll serve as a fine reference, if you're in the US and near a Barnes & Noble, look for this book in the bargain section. It's about $10 or so.
If you have a little more cash, this is the classic book.
Also: practice figure drawing daily. Start with quick gestures (I'm still on this phase myself, and I still kind of suck, but not nearly as much as I sucked when I started it several weeks back) and, as you get a feel for the figure, you'll be able to add more. Practice hands and heads.
Seriously, if you keep at it every day, you'll see improvements in a couple of weeks.
Number one is never using paper that has lines or squares on it.
I'd recommend not drawing over the same lines again and again, make the line in one go. This'll improve overall line quality. You can search for "hairy lines" if you're not sure what I mean.
Then this book is very good, try to study anatomy before drawing a stylized person. This'll give you more control, and you'll have a better understanding of what you can play with.
https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986
Next to that you can try to play with lineweight and adjust untill you've found a comfortable weight. This video explains it pretty well. https://youtu.be/x0zl5NnEAyU
Scott Robertson also had books: https://designstudiopress.com/product/how-to-draw/
You can find more great books on the internet, design studio press has a nice selection.
I'd recommend getting;
How to draw
How to render
Framed ink
Framed perspective
Figure drawing for what it's worth
What really helped me was dropping the pencil, and using a black fineliner. That puts you in the spot that everything you do has a very direct consequence. You'll learn to draw quicker in the beginning, and noodle/work slow in the end when you're doing details.
Good luck!
Yes, as you've mentioned the head is tiny, knowing is half the battle I guess. The contours are pretty nice, but the picture is missing value/shadings so it looks incredibly flat. A lot of folks here will recommend anatomy lessons, which would certainly be a good start. Understanding how the the arms relate to the chest, the chest to the head and neck, all the processes in the skeleton that compose the human figure and how they all interact with one another will greatly improve how you see those things.
If I may, I'd like to elaborate on something that is easy to miss as an upcomer: people in real life almost never stand up perfectly straight or are never seen straight on by the eye in a perfect symmetrical orientation. The body is not perfectly symmetrical in most cases. In this picture, we see your model looking off to the side while holding the bow, but it looks uncanny and stiff. The hand on the hip exacerbates this flaw because usually when the hand is on the hip, the body's weight is usually leaning into it even if it's only slightly. Shifting the body's weight will help make the pose less stiff and more natural.
My recommendation is to draw from a photograph or some other reference (real models are awesome)! If you don't have a friend that likes being drawn, there are some sites out there that can help you refine your chops. Then, you can revisit an imagined piece like this and be able to make the adjustments that will make her come life. One site frequently recommended on here is the Pixel Lovely Trainer (also in the side bar); it cycles through tons of different pictures that you can sketch out at your own pace.
Some books about Anatomy:
Artistic Anatomy
Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist
An awesome tome about Figure Drawing:
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
Gesture Drawing Tutorial (video) - something that may help you develop your skill
Additionally, and some folks may not like this, but taking some kind of drawing course might help you build your skills efficiently. I know when I did a 101 Drawing class for a college elective, it kept me focused, forced me to explore different elements of drawing that I would never have considered, and really helped me understand the relationships of different shapes and objects in a space. (another thing it helped me do was force me to work within a deadline window, which becomes fairly important when looking for confidence).
All in all I think you are onto a great start and with a little direction you can improve pretty quickly. There's a shit ton of information out there and it's all waiting for you to check it out!
Figure Drawing for alls it's Worth is pretty much my bible. I'm also pretty fond of Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth. I've learned quite a bit from opening either book to a random page a just drawing what I see.
colour and light
Figure drawing
IMO these 2 books should be in any artists collection
The best way (I've found) is to start big then work your way down to the minutiae.
Proportions and gesture are the two most important fundamentals of figure drawing. Start with those. Even if you don't want to draw realistic people, say if you prefer cartoons or comics, learning proportions will still help you to exaggerate features in an appealing way. When you've gotten a good feel for creating dynamic poses with gesture and figures with proper proportions, then you can move to anatomy to learn how the muscles interact; where they lock and fold into each other. Although anatomy is a very complex science, once you have it - you have it. Everyone have the same muscle structure.
The head and hands are something completely different. I've found that the head and facial features are as hard and as valuable to get right as the figure is. In some cases it's even harder. Don't worry about the head at the beginning, get the figure right first. The face should be it's own study.
I wouldn't suggest mastering each body part individually. If you learn to draw all the body parts one at a time then piece them together, you won't get a feel for how they all play and work with each other.
Things like rendering, color, composition; they are all different fundamentals completely. Should you learn them separately? Maybe. Or maybe not. It depends on you. I'd say to slowly start adding more and more fundamentals to your figure drawings as you improve. Add a bit of shading to the muscles, play with some colors in the skin, see how the pose will affect the composition of an art piece. Just don't lose sight of what it is that you want to improve on and don't fall back to your comfort zone when things are getting difficult.
If you want an in-depth, comprehensive look, I recommend both "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" and "Drawing the Head and Hands" by Andrew Loomis. Those are the books that helped me. They really go in depth on not just proportions, but rendering and clothing as well. Here they are if your interested:
https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UIR07P1BNGJT&keywords=figure+drawing+for+all+its+worth&qid=1567575739&s=gateway&sprefix=figure+dra%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Head-Hands-Andrew-Loomis/dp/0857680978/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3UIR07P1BNGJT&keywords=figure+drawing+for+all+its+worth&qid=1567575739&s=gateway&sprefix=figure+dra%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-2
tl;dr
Gesture -> proportions -> bone structure (manikin) -> anatomy -> face & hands
Just to let the Loomis fans know, there is going to be a re-issue of
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
and
Drawing the Head and Hands.
This: https://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-sketching-environments-imagination/dp/1933492732/
This: https://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240811070/
This: https://www.amazon.com/FORCE-Dynamic-Drawing-Anniversary-Force/dp/1138919578/
And this: https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/
For fantasy artists, take a look at some of the artists, and advice, on Muddy Colors: http://www.muddycolors.com/
Also, I write a blog called Lines and Colors on which I profile numerous artists. You might find some interesting artists in the "Sci-fi and Fantasy" category:
http://linesandcolors.com/category/science-fiction-and-fantasy-illustration/
​
For learning figure construction and proportions, are you aware of Andrew Loomis?
https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986
​
What I'm trying to get across about being critical of your level of ability vs. being on a path is to avoid the "I'm not good enough" mindset (which will hold you back) and replace it with "I'm making progress" (which will carry you forward).
I think it helps to understand that progress in learning a skill like drawing is not a steady upward graph, but a series of plateaus. You can work hard for a long time and think you're not making progress or even sliding back, but as you go on, there will be a point at which you'll start to draw a bit better, and you'll realize that you've moved up a notch. You'll be on another plateau at that point, but once you realize that's how it progresses, you should be less frustrated with the process.
​
Yes, fundamentals are very important, and you're wise to realize that, but so is enthusiasm. By all means, work on fundamentals, but also take time aside for experimentation and play. Doodling and sketching for fun is not wasted time for an artist, it's where creativity has free reign and sparks happen. Try doing some just-for-fun, no-goals doodling/sketching for 10 minutes as a warm up before starting your figure studies.
Finding inspiration will carry you far. Perseverance plus enthusiasm is an unbeatable combination.
If you're looking for some books to help you with figures or comics in general, I'd highly recommend the following:
If you're going for accurate, her facial features are too big, for example an average head should be 5 eyes wide, with the space of an eye in the middle (unless you're drawing someone like Drake, then put one and a half eyes width, haha). Overall I think you should look into general figure anatomy and proportions. Usually people in /r/learnart suggest Figure Drawing for All it's Worth by Andrew Loomis.
If you're planning on adding more to the drawing, it would have been much easier to sketch the whole thing out until it looks just like you want, and only at that point start adding details. It saves time and effort, and preserves your paper better from eraser and pencil scarring. Erasing shading and fine details is going to make a bigger mess than erasing light lines. It's less frustrating, too.