(Part 2) Best drawing books according to redditors
We found 1,730 Reddit comments discussing the best drawing books. We ranked the 414 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
If you can draw people, you can draw animals. It's the same process- draw the bones, put on the meat. The skeletal structure for four-legged animals is pretty similar, from chihuahua to elephant. All you need to know are the proportions.
Here's a book that really helped me. Maybe you can find a PDF somewhere
Ah yes, this is frustrating. The thing about ink drawing, is that you must pay extremely close attention to line weight and contour at all times. Because you do not have color or value, you must be extremely creative in how you vary the two aforementioned elements.
First, lets take a look at how the old masters tackled this with ink. Here is Durer
See how he doesn't actually draw folds on the inside of the cloth, but merely takes a fine tip and draws parallel cross contour lines?
Here is a da Vinci
Do you see how much Durer learned from da Vinci? Very similar handling of the contours. What I recommend for you, is studying drapery more, so that you can more effectively predict where the big folds are going to be.
In all drapery, there are what I like to call major and minor folds. Major folds are the ones that define the form and cast the largest shadows, and the minor folds are all the other tiny ones in between. When inking, its all about picking and choosing a few major folds to give the illusion of cloth.
I prescribe this book to you. Hogarth was an ink artist as well, and while his drawings are always exaggerated, they make a lot of sense. Spend some time copying his work out of the book, and cloth should become second nature to ya.
Furr the lazy
Best place to start. The man teaches writing for comics at an art school and most of his notes are online for free. Enjoy. Great advice.
EDIT: Alan Moore wrote a book on writing (it's an essay in book form really) that is helpful. That can be found here. There's also a DC Writing Guide. In terms of format, if you know about three act structure and such (a knowledge of screenwriting would be VERY helpful) you are on your way. A pdf. template for writing in comic scripts can be found at the BBC's writers room (cool writing resource all around) and at Darkhorse Comic's submission page. Finally, there is a free (from what I can tell) cloud based writing page called Five Sprockets which has templates for writing screenplays and comics.
Oh man, art hobbyist turned art student here! I study classical realism and the figure, so your mileage may vary with this advice depending on your goals, but here it goes.
First, reading list.
Animating the Loony Toons Way is a great primer to conveying motion and energy, and simplifying form.
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth [PDF] is a classic by the great Andrew Loomis that's in the public domain.
Vanishing Point is a good beginner book on perspective.
Don't worry about memorizing everything in those books. Drawing is a process of constantly correcting yourself, and the more you read the more you'll understand, which will make you better which will make it easier to see more advanced flaws and so on.
The most important thing is to practice as much as you can. That answer isn't particularly sexy, but practice without reading will get you farther than reading without practice. Remember to constantly push your comfort zone. The atelier that I study at has a poster on the wall with three concentric circles. The inner circle marks the comfort zone, and this is where what you're drawing is so easy that it's not really a challenge. The outermost circle marks the panic zone. Things in the panic zone are so complex that you have no idea how to even approach them. The middle circle is the learning zone. Things in the learning zone are difficult, and you don't know how to do them, but you know where to start and the basic process of how to go about it. Stay in the learning zone.
Draw things that you see, and do so as much as possible. If you can't draw what you can see with your physical eyes, how can you learn to draw what you see in your fuzzy and inconsistent imagination?
When I was first starting out, I drew small boxes and spheres in perspective, and tried to draw them from every angle. It's pretty hard and tedious, but everything you draw is made up of simple shapes. Draw simple shapes before moving to more complex forms.
Start simple, and then make things more complex. For a head, I usually start with a cube before moving on to the more subtle aspects of form. Here's an example of how I approach drawing a head (excuse the shitty quality and stylized-ness, this took me like 2 minutes):
First I block in the basic shape and mass. Don't sweat this, you can always change it later.
Second, I start to chisel out some of the bigger form variations, and try to begin defining the complex side plane of the head and face. I know where to begin and end the angle changes because of lots of experience and practice. You develop a gut feeling for it after a while.
Thirdly, I finish defining the various planes and begin to work on the details. The larger shapes help me locate the smaller ones. John Singer Sargent would start his paintings over if an eye was in the wrong place, because to him it was indicative of a larger structural problem that caused him to place it there. A lot can be fixed if you start with a strong beginning.
I'm not taking this image far by any means, but here it is with some value thrown in to get a sense of depth.
Gone back over with a darker pen to emphasize the final lines of the image.
One thing to watch out for is rhythm in your work. Rhythm is a repetition of a single line or curve throughout the piece (in other words, things line up), and it's what makes a piece hold together and feel cohesive. Look through some cartoons or comics and see how many rhythms you can find. I wish somebody had told me about rhythm when I was just starting out.
That's all I have in the way of general advice, but definitely let me know if you have any more specific questions of any kind. I love talking about art. I hope this was helpful!
If you are working on humans then with porportion. The average is seven and a half heads tall... but a lot of people do 8 heads just because it's easier. or 9 heads or six heads. But yeah if you know how far the arm reaches (wrist ends at groin, hand ends at upper half of thigh) then it will imrpove a lot.
try to draw something everyday even if it sucks. Just one little bitty thing. Don't show it to anyone if you think it sucks.
Don't get discouraged at people telling you "study anatomy more". They are stupid for not giving you anatomy specific advice. Be nice to them though or everyone will judge you.
If you aren't drawing people start with perspective.
Landscaping and all that hinges on perspective. The two best books on perspective are the Perspective Handbook which is amazing and the Vanishing Point book which is really simple and good for beginning.
Think about composition if you do landscapes. There isn't much information on that so good luck google hunting.
Places to find information on porportions (and later other anatomy) include the tutorials section of deviantart. go to resources and stock images, then tutorials, and type in anatomy. Which I have done for you here . Another great place for references (btw using references is not cheating. Eyeballing someone elses work and using it exactly or eyeballing a reference exactly can be considered cheating on some sites so always change on thing. Also it is just better to use stock images that are copyright free or have a commons license, which you can find on deviantart under resources and stock images- stock images-models)... another great place for references is my pinterest account which also has tutorials. That is here good luck!
Mark Crilley has a great series of books on how to draw in the manga style, as well as a very in-depth YouTube channel showing how to draw and not just manga. His realism work is insane. He's also the author of several children's books, so he knows his stuff and his content is very good for all ages.
Order this guide to learn about facial expressions
I just want to start out by saying: screw those haters. All good artists started out as excited novices and got better through years of practice. I've been drawing for over a decade, and I started out at the same skill level that you did. No one just picks up a pencil and immediately has a flawless understanding of how to make art. You're one of my very favorite people on reddit and an exemplary moderator, and people who hate on beginners are people who don't understand how learning works.
/fume
General Art Advice for Beginners:
I did actually volunteer teach an art class on drawing people for middle schoolers, so I've worked with beginners before. Something important to understand is that humans are very difficult to draw. Even though people make very interesting subject matter, it's kind of like picking up a violin for the first time and trying to play Beethoven's 5th symphony by ear. Sure, after a few thousand attempts you'll probably have it down, but you'll have a much easier time starting with boring basic stuff like notation and scales. I'm going to talk about the way I taught their first few classes, because it seemed to work pretty well.
The first day of class, we talked about learning the tools, and how to get a full range of shade out of the pencil. A good beginning art exercise in general is to try to produce a smooth gradient from the lightest shade you can make to the darkest. I still draw gradients all the time in the margins of my notebooks, and it's the first thing I attempt when I pick up a new tool. Light and shadow is how you create the feeling of depth in art, so being able to produce a full range of shades with your tools is the first step to being able to draw believable 3D objects. Even if you plan on drawing people in a minimalistic (source) or stylized (source) way like these examples, being able to draw light and dark, thin and thick lines will help you to give dimension to the image. Even these 'simplified' drawing styles use line weight and shading to show the form of the person.
The next step I recommend for beginners is to draw some simple 3D shapes. For the middle schoolers, I brought in a bunch of building blocks/simple kids toys and a flashlight. I pointed the light at the blocks from different angles and pointed out to them where the highlights and shadows were, did a bit of talking about why some areas are in shadow and how it helps the brain understand the object, and then we all drew spheres/pyramids/cylinders/cubes together for a few hours, trying to get it to look as detailed and 3D as possible. This is really easy to do at home, is a very beginner-friendly exercise and it makes excellent practice.
A few classes later, I showed them how you could stack some cylinders on an angled triangle block and make something that looks like a leg. We used the blocks to make 'people' shapes and tried to draw the block person. It's a really good exercise to break complicated shapes into simpler ones- I still will pretty much always start figure drawings with the arms as simple cylinders, the hips as a bowl shape, the feet as triangles. You can do this with every day objects too- a bed looks like a rectangular box, a water bottle looks like a cylinder etc. It's pretty easy to draw a rectangular box in perspective, and it's much easier to draw bed details on top of a rectangular box than it is to freehand a bed in perspective with no guidelines. While you're learning, I recommend periodically drawing simple objects around your house- its generally easier than drawing people, and it's great practice.
Those are the fundamentals that I would recommend you work on before looking at resources on how to draw/paint people. Art tutorials will often start with framework/simple shapes, but having control over the tools, understanding how to draw 3D shapes and working on breaking down complex objects into simple ones really makes a good foundation for the information in tutorials.
Learning Resources: I want to echo what /u/GodlessGravy said and point you towards the books of Andy Loomis. This book in particular was recommended to me by my figure drawing teacher, and does take you through figure drawing step by step. I'd also recommend (eventually) investing in a good anatomy book for reference. I use one called Artistic Anatomy and have found it to be very thorough- and it fits in well in a budget. There's also this tumblr blog which is a great compilation of resources.
My personal favorite place for art tutorials is youtube. I'm a pretty visual learner, so nothing does the trick for me quite like a video. These are the all the art channels I'm subscribed to (a lot of different styles, some quite advanced stuff mixed in here):
For Tutorials:
And for speedpaints:
Advice for IWBM specifically: Based on what I've seen of your work, it looks like whatever you're using for digital painting does not have pen pressure capabilities (or maybe the pen pressure isn't enabled, or maybe you just have a very steady hand?). For digital artwork, ideally you want something that reacts to how hard you press on the pen, and responds by making the lines thinner/thicker or lighter/darker. Working without pen pressure makes your job much harder!
If you're interested in graphics tablets which will have dynamic pen pressure, the cheapest ones are around $50-$80. If you're willing to pay extra, good tablets are a solid investment. My Intuos3 has held up for at least 8 years now.
But you don't need to get one right away! You can get a better range of shades in your art just by messing with the brush opacity, which is a feature all good digital art programs (even free ones) should offer. Just turn down the opacity of your brush, and then you can lay in lighter lines and work up to darker ones. You can quickly do a loose sketch with a low opacity brush (maybe 20%?) and then reinforce the lines that look right or that you want to be bolder by passing the brush over it again. That's a good way to 'cheat' in some of the advantages of pen pressure. I find that a small brush at a low opacity, set to a 'multiply' blending mode will imitate the feel of a hard pencil quite well. If you really can't seem to get a dynamic range of shades with your digital tools, I recommend switching to traditional for a while.
And as always, the best advice for any artist: practice! The more you draw, the faster you'll improve. :D And if you ever need an essay about some art-related topic, feel free to bug me for it. I can be one of your free resources.
(Obligatory apology for the wall of text. Obligatory reminder that I love you and you're awesome.)
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.
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.
> I was thinking on drawing 50 arms, 50 legs and so on,
This will accomplish absolutely nothing if you aren't sure what you're doing in the first place. So, let's go over a few things to help you with this instead.
Let me tell you a few things that I picked up as soon as I saw your drawings:
Let's take this apart step by step and see where some progress can be made. First, the face:
Next, the body:
Lastly, your (lack of) shading:
And here's a last:
The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expresson by Gary Faigin
if you draw faces or anything that looks like faces this is the book that answers all of your questions.
You made his pectorals concave almost, and the neck way too thick (even accounting for a scarf). Bring them out and make them pop. Widen the shoulders and retract them a little. His lats should be visible from that position. His biceps origin should be higher than that. He wears his pants above his pelvis. His Quads/Hams/Glutes should be prominent and less flare to the pants below the knee (and he wears boots that would be that high)
His wrists look too thick to go in to the hand. His head is too puffy looking and doesn't look strong.
Work on anatomy and perspective (you shouldn't see his right external obliques from that position)
If you have a familiarity with anatomy you'll know how to draw a muscular figure. I'd suggest the three books paired together here to learn a bit more.
Your friend is sort of right about the pen. It can help do away with the "chicken scratch" method of drawing by forcing you to be more confident with your lines but you should stick with pencil for now.
I'm mostly self-taught as well (although I learned a bit from Watts Atelier until it got to be too expensive) and the sheer amount of information out there can be really overwhelming. I mean, there's so many things to learn: perspective, line weight, figure drawing, portraiture, landscape, etc.
What definitely helped me is realizing that I'm never going to stop improving as an artist. That means that I'm going to have my entire life to hone my skills. Even if you have to unlearn a lot of bad habits, you've still got plenty of time to practice slowly, deliberately and mindfully.
If you understand that you've got your whole life to get better, it's easier to formulate a strategy to get better. You've got to think about this in the long term. That means taking a month to work solely on anatomy, another month to work only on perspective, another month to work on tone and values, while always revisiting the skills that you've already cultivated.
For example, I've laid out my artistic goals 3 months in advance. That means that for the next 3 months, I'm only focusing on anatomy and gesture/figure drawing. My daily schedule this week looks like this:
warmup
1, 2, 5 and 10 minute gesture/figure drawings
study/copy hands from Bridgeman's Constructive Anatomy book
draw 50 hands
spend about 10-15 minutes drawing hands from memory and comparing them to the references I was using earlier
work on something fun
If I have extra time, I'll work on some more anatomy studies but it depends on how busy I am with work/life. After this week is up, I'll move on to arms, then the core, then legs, head, etc, following the same setup I've made. Maybe the next 3 months, I'll move on to perspective drawing but I haven't thought that far ahead yet.
If you're confused about where to start, just pick something that you're the weakest at and start drawing that. It's a grind and you're going to be producing hundreds, if not thousands of drawings but that's the way to get better.
Like I said, if you start thinking in the long term, it gets less overwhelming. I'm gonna link some resources that really helped me out.
Books
Perspective Made Easy
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Fun With a Pencil Actually, anything by Loomis.
How to Draw Kind of a technical book but goes into really great detail about perspective
Youtube Channels
Watts Atelier Highly recommended. Watch his figure drawing videos. Also, if you can spare the cash, join his online school. It's fantastic and very structured course in drawing. Definitely look into this if you have trouble deciding what to learn next.
Proko This guy has great intro videos for figure drawing. I think he learned at Watts Atelier as well.
New Masters Academy They have a ton of great videos about everything. Definitely look into Glen Vilppu's figure drawing series. He's the god of figure drawing.
Alphonso Dunn Really great pen and ink tutorials
Sorry if I overwhelmed you (ironic, considering your original post) but I just wanted to share some stuff that's really helped me develop a schedule and get better. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to help you a fellow art student out.
TLDR: You have plenty of time in your life to get better, so make a schedule and stick to it.
Loomis is linked in the sidebar. The copyright expired, they're free! Start with "Fun with a Pencil" - it starts with cartoons to teach you the building blocks of constructing faces. Then go to "Drawing the Head and the Hands". That book is more advanced so you want to finish "Fun with a Pencil" first.
If you prefer hardcopy, you can buy them off Amazon or check your library.
If you prefer video, check out Proko's channel (also linked in the sidebar).
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a very good book to get you started in drawing - it's been around for years and still going strong.
Sell the wheel and clay. You aren't going to use them in your apartment and they'll just sit around and take up space, are a pain to move around and every time you see them you'll feel like you abandoned your hobby. Sell them and take the money and enroll in a class or get access to a proper studio you can use. You can always buy another wheel and clay in the future when things settle down.
Btw, there is no harm in not touching clay for a while. It's like when you learned to ride a bike, you'll always remember how to throw. Yeah, you will be a bit wobbly for a bit but you'll pick it up.
To keep your creative juices flowing, I suggest that in lieu of clay you consider picking up a pencil and learn to draw. Go buy the workbook for Drawing on the Right Side of your Brain (https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Workbook/dp/1585429228) and give it a try. Not only will it improve your drawing skills for pottery ideas but it will teach you how to see as an artist, an extremely valuable skill.
http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175
I was at WonderCon this year and "Publishing Your First Comic Book" (not necessarily self-publishing) was one of the panels I sat in on. Here's my notes (as terse as they are):
From another panel on "Writing Great Dialog", at the same Con, here's a few relevant tips:
You want to stay in 1 not 3.
Last bit of advice from the Con:
Best of luck to you. I was thinking of doing a comic book, but once I started to read The DC Comics guide to writing comics and Stan Lee's how to write comics I realized that I'm not a visual story teller and bailed. Good luck to you!
(Edited because the formatting didn't come through for all the bulleted lists)
It does get boring, it's study. It's up to you to learn to have fun with it.
Divide your time between the study and the fun, spend some time doing gesture drawings(they serve as great warmups), then some time doing figure drawing, then move on and draw something for you.
I think the key to it is focusing on what you learn while drawing from life, and learning how that translates to styles you love.
As for resources, I personally believe for character/figure work, a good anatomy book can go a long way. Figure drawing design and invention by Michael Hampton or Classic Human Anatomy by Valerie Winslow are my personal recommendations, but there are plenty of great books out there. The idea is when you get stuck on something then you reference it, and study it; work it out on the side of your drawing, or on a separate sheet/layer, but understand it as best you can before moving on.
Online recommendations, like most people mention, Proko is great, good information, and easy to understand.
For environments and design Feng Zhu's Design Cinema is a goldmine of solid tips.
I've found Kienan Laffarty to have a lot of good general information on all sorts of topics, like color, design, etc.
finally I think watching other artists work in real time(not the 400% sped up timelapses) can be indispensable in understanding how to handle the nuances of creating believable forms, or just how to progress your work from rough to finished, if you go in with the mindset to study what they're doing.
My dad is an art professor, and he recommended this book to me when I asked him for a good book on drawing: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Brain-Betty-Edwards/dp/0874775132/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321622952&sr=1-2 Get the one from 1989, he said the newest eddition is not as good. He uses these techniques in his drawing classes and gets amazing results.
If you don't mind giving you tips from my experience after 20+ years drawing, i'll bullet list it and you're welcome to add-on or change anything. I'll give you my own tl;dr at the end.
My TL;DR
I've spent my whole life drawing. I'm 30 now and my mom says when I was 3 I picked up a crayon and drew a witch and it looked like a witch. Ever since then, my family only ever bought my art supplies for birthday and christmas. I spent my younger years thinking i'd animate for Disney, then I discovered comic books. I eyeballed the characters and drew them over and over till I could draw them from memory. Eventually I was making my own.
I was slatted to attend an art college out of high school, but money and family fell through and I was left, literally, heartbroken. Feeling as if I wasn't good enough, I spent the next 3 years working and not doing any art at all. Eventually I couldn't put it off any longer and I decided to start up again. Still drawing based on other artists, my style developed very slowly. I had the usual artist anger of feeling stagnant and then eventually getting over the hump.
I've dabbled with online webcomics, i've made tattoos for folks, and i've done some character designs, but it wasn't until last year that I decided that I should take my love of character concept design and try and put it to use. I googled "good video game schools" after having a bad run in with art institute, and found a place here in Washington called Digipen.
I was accepted and part of my summer assignment was to purchase the book "Drawing with the Right side of the brain". Honestly, i'd never been much for reading books to further my art, but considering I had to do this for my summer assignment, I did. I've been doing exactly as they instructed me, and after practicing with the portions of the head and etc, I immediately noticed a difference.
http://sammiblackrabbit.deviantart.com/art/Riverwind-comparison-390032834
the right side is a sketch I did the night before. The left side is one I did the next day. I was floored by the improvement. I know my style isn't what some like, but for me I felt 100x better with my progress and that was just a single night.
Working with this book has been so inspiring to me and so amazing.
I will say that I too had started out with pen and paper and hesitantly moved to digital, but paint tool sai makes it so easy to sketch, line and color all in the same place. Tablets make it that much more joyful and I feel like i'm unlimited in my creativity when I work digitally.
I hope some of this helps, and I hope you find your groove :)
If you're talking about the Christopher Hart ones (they guy who does all the "How to draw manga" books), then yea, they are pretty bad. They are so dumbed-down, and not in the good way like to make it easy for beginners, but to the point where they are flawed. They're OK if you want references for designs and ideas, but don't get them for instructions. And as for specifically drawing hyenas, I seriously doubt you'll find one that specifically shows that.
I'd recommend anything by Burne Hogarth (the details can be a little intimidating, but he's spectacular with teaching form and composition) for learning basics of anatomy and how the body works. Here's a link to his blog for a list of his books: http://burnehogarth.com/blog/books
If you're looking specifically for animal instructions though, there's one book I have that has helped, by Jack Hamm. It's not quite in the way of step-by-step, but it is good for hints on what to look for in finding the distinguishing details in animal anatomy. This one here: http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Animals-Perigee-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508023
Without being dismissive about it though, really the best thing you can do is to practice and practice and practice. Looking to instruction books and "how to" books is OK for introduction and familiarizing yourself with a genre, but it's far too easy to get locked into bad methodology. Either because the instructions are actually bad (again as in the case of Christopher Hart), or because what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another, and you don't want to stick yourself into a way of working that's not right for you just because you're "following instructions." Everyone has a process that works best for them, and it's best to find how you work.
If you have access to it, I think watching streams would be a good idea. Drawing is a process, so seeing a process is a good way to get into the swing of things. Again, just remember that their way doesn't have to be your way. Give what they do a try, but make yourself comfortable.
Some universal rules that I think are helpful:
Most importantly, and you've heard it a million times, PRACTICE. No one becomes an expert overnight. For many of us it takes years to get into our own style and even then, it will continue to change. Don't worry about what you're doing wrong, especially at the beginning, but retain what you do that you like. Look to others for inspiration, but in the end, make it your own.
Keep one thing in mind, talent is something you work on. Those people that play guitar had bleeding finger tips for a while before they could finally play Wonderwall around the bonfire.
I suggest drawing. If you like animals, that book is pretty good.
And maybe check with your doc if you can't concentrate or if you feel down.
In the meantime, draw everything. Everything. EVERYTHING.
Keep a sketch book with you always! Draw people waiting for the bus, cars parked outside, city blocks, landscapes, trees, ideas, concepts, doodles, nonsense.
Take pictures of things and use them for reference. Constantly! Can't figure out how an arm looks like in a certain pose, get someone to pose the same way and take a shot with your phone. Its not "cheating" and most artists worth their salt will stare at you like you're insane if you told them to do a large scale project with no live or photo references.
Go to figure drawing meetups. There's usually some at art schools or in any big city. You will be terrible at first but drawing people is a good way to train your eye.
Copy your favorite artist. Not just draw from, but try to copy a whole piece of art, from start to finish, line for line, as closely as possible. Do this a lot! It will help you understand why they put this thing there, and put that thing here, and drew that thing like this.
Its the same reason musicians practice other people's work before they start composing their own!
Figure out who their influence are, and do the same thing with them.
If you're looking for books to get you started, here are some good ones.
I did this real quick on a work break. /u/186394 is literally covered in (reddit) gold and /u/Anitaxjffdskjarizard is a paintbrush (for obvious reasons) on an epic journey to draw the sunset. Not as creative as butterflies and steaks but GODDAMMIT IT'S A STRESSFUL DAY AT WORK. ):
I would rather be surprised but since it's in the rules, this is a $4 book i need. :D
Learn Calligraphy has some good instruction for the gothic scripts. The rest is flourishing, which comes with a lot of practice.
Artistic Anatomy by Dr.Paul Richer is what I learned from :)
So many of those things aren't really anything you can change here and I understand that. These are things to think about in the future or if you intend to continue with this painting. I just thought it would be more helpful to have a formal critique than to have someone else say "It's not bad but it is a little boring". ;D
Any of Scott McCloud's books. Making Comics is good for the technical side, Understanding Comics (the 1st of his series) is also good to break down WHY comics are important.
(One can probably skip his second book, it mostly examines webcomics and since it was printed is fairly outddated now thanks to various internet technologies advancing as it all does)
DC Comics has also published a series of "How-To" books which are good to thumb through , I personally own all of them but the Writing one-
-[DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics] (http://www.amazon.com/DC-Comics-Guide-Writing/dp/0823010279/ref=pd_sim_b_4)
-DC Comics Guide To Pencilling Comics
-DC Comics Guide To Inking Comics
-DC Comics Guide To Coloring and Lettering Comics
-DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics
Since you mentioned the line thickness/thinness- um, the inking one would probably be a good one to start with. It'll show at least American/western methods of going about things, minus anything digital because the book was written before digital was big in the process. The Digital Drawing book somewhat helps on that issue but with programs like Painter, you can pretty much emulate any traditional tool fairly easily. If you have a particular style in mind you want, post it up and perhaps I can help determine what tools were probably used to make it???
First thing, stop insulting your art. Especially if you want to do this as a profession and not a hobby. I know it's hard when you're first learning and especially when your eye develops over your ability to make things.
To quote Joseph Fink,
> Hey, if you're submitting anything to anyone for any reason, never preface it with "It's not very good, but here goes" or similar. Because here's the thing: If you don't think it's good, why are you asking anyone else to bother with it? Either stand behind it or don't. You may think it sounds endearingly humble. But if someone has hundreds of submissions and they see "this is not very good" from the artist then they'll say "oh, ok" and delete it. The artist should know, after all. Either stand behind your art enough to say "this is worth your time" or don't ask anyone to put any time into it.
It isn't humble and it doesn't come off that way to others, it comes off in lacking self confidence and being self pitying and it will really hurt you as an artist career wise and growth wise. I'm serious. Destroy this habit before it takes root right now.
Also, there is plenty you can ask for in tips on this. Study clothing folds and how it moves before jumping into the full outfit. Here is a free chapter on more realistic clothing and folds for free and if you have some money to spend Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery is my personal favorite book on clothing. Don't work off mannequins on clothing because clothes will often lay on them somewhat unnaturally and stiff. When I was back in early drawing classes one of our first assignments was to draw clothes balled up on the floor to practice organic shapes and folds. Then we moved onto clothes on people, especially people in movement of some sort. Keep practicing on it, especially if you feel you need to improve.
I hope you feel better and your practice goes well this week. :)
Nice! I totally planned to come here and be like "Criticism welcome? Well your friends think you talk too much" but this is too dope of a painting to be a jerk. Overall I think you've done a tremendous job, if you're looking for some constructive criticism, I would take a closer look at how fabric moves - there are some great resources online you can reference (https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Wrinkles-Drapery-Solutions-Drawing/dp/0823015874). But really stellar job overall!
I should study wrinkles. I have a book about that, for Pete's sake, but never came around reading it.
I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful than this.
This is one of my favorite books for things like this.
How to Draw What You See is arguably a better book than the other popular book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain... Especially since all that "right brain/left brain" stuff is mostly nonsense.
Hey Greypuppy, I just made an image laying out some of your anatomy errors and ways to fix them, Imgur, they're numbered so you can look at what I'm talking about as you read. ^ ^
1.) Placement of the shoulders; to allow for a full range of movement, they're set a little lower than you have them, and the collar bone is set lower to reflect that (and is also part of what keeps our shoulders where they are, if you set your hand on your collar bone and lift your shoulders you can feel how it changes.)
2.)How the chest, armpit, and shoulder all come together; this is a common issue that most ppl fix once they realize that all those muscles connect on the shoulder. The hollow of our arm pit is formed by the muscles bending around the arm bone to reach the outside of the shoulder. The reason our pecks bulge when we pull our shoulders in is b/c those muscles are what's doing the pulling.
3.) The s-curve of the spine; Unless you're forcing the spine flat, the spine has a natural curve from the tail-bone to the base of the skull, this don't just effect the side-view, but also how the pelvis and rib-cage position themselves. The best way I could depict the way they tilt if with the two pink cups in the drawing. I exaggerated the tilt of the hips in the example drawing, but it still gives you a good idea what they're doing, all the same.
4.) The muscles on the top of the legs; just as we have the bulges of muscles on our butt and back of the leg to pull our leg back, we also have muscle running from our pelvis to our knee that helps us lift our leg. Even if you're not very beefy, you can still see part of that curve on the top of the leg, think of it as however bold the under-leg curve line is, the top one is at least half as bold a curve line.
5.) The muscles and tendons meeting behind the knee; you're drawing wouldn't bee far off the mark on a character with a heavyer build, but with someone so skinny, the hollow behind the knee would be more apparent. This is because behind the knee there's a hollow where the muscles have pulled to either side so they can attach to the kneecap. Sometimes there is a sort of square lump that lines up with the kneecap itself (forgot to draw that version, sorry, ^ ^ ' ) but for a skinny person, usually it just dips in right behind the knee as appose to a little below it as you've drawn.
6.)Where the thumb connects; not a big issue here, more just that there's another link to the thumb, and the flesh attached half-way across the palm. Went ahead and gave you a clear drawing of the hand bulges and pads, I find it helps for the placement paw-pads.
Whew
Hope that wasn't too overwhelming, I figured I would tackle this critique with all I could think of since I'm thinking of writing a 'how-to' book on drawing figures at some point.
There's some minor issues with knee to ankle to paw placement, but since I didn't know how exactly to explain it, I couldn't add it to the drawing.
And if you ever want to really get a good feel for anatomy, the book I would recommend is Classic Human Anatomy. It's full of good drawings and a lot of technical anatomy stuff (which was a little daunting when I first looked through it,) but it's really helped me to understand not just how things look, but also why, which is great when you're having to make images in weird poses from scratch.
TL:DR - Just go look at the pretty picture, Imgur
Neck too long, shoulders too narrow, lips too large, skull too small. I refer you to this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Human-Anatomy-Function-Movement/dp/0823024156/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347889568&sr=8-2
Also, you know how a lot of artists have those wooden figures that sort of move? Yeah, they're good for learning proportion.
>My hands are fine and I can't draw at all. I'm fairly certain nearly all of one's ability to draw comes from the heart and the mind
Nah, the heart is a blood pump. Drawing is all on the right side of the brain. The reason most people find they can't draw is that the left side of the brain is constantly saying "I know how to draw! let me do it!" and then you end up with two circles for eyes and a line for a mouth because the left side of the brain is all about substituting simplified symbology for complex real world concepts.
Now, if you can just get your left brain to shut the fuck up and let the right side work, you can actually get reasonable replication of reality. Let it really work and it can come up with some really wacky shit. The reason when you ask an artist how they draw so well they are nearly always at a complete loss to explain is because the right side does the art, and the left side handles verbalization. Left side has no clue how the drawing is happening, so you end up with something nebulous like "I dunno, I just kinda draw what I see". Most skilled artists didn't have to train themselves to let their right brain draw, so they have no experience of not being able to draw. They still had to practice drawing to get good, of course.
Anyone interested in a really good book for left-brainers who want to learn to access right-brain drawing skills more easily, check out Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Note that there's apparently a revised new edition. I have the old one so I can't compare, but apparently a few people familiar with both editions think the new version over-complicates the process somewhat.
Boom.
For anyone who also wanted it I found it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. Also found the other ones too
Amazon : This book | Draw More Furries | Furries Furever
Barnes & Noble : This book | Draw More Furries | Furries Furever
Visit them both, look for pros and cons on the schools, courses and life after school.
From experience, most (if not all) 2d animation studios in Metro Manila are quota based work, meaning you get paid for the amount of scenes or frames you do. 3D gets paid hourly, afaik. Either way, be prepared for long work hours.
I bet the Multimedia course has animation subjects on it.
If ever you want to study animation on the side, look for these two books.
https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Richard-Williams/dp/0571202284
https://www.amazon.com/Vilppu-Drawing-Manual-Glenn/dp/1892053039
Mahal, alam ko, pero may paraan naman. I have it on my hard drive (wink, wink).
Life drawing. If you're looking for good books though, Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form is a pretty good start.
You need to pick up an anatomy book because right now you're inventing muscles and applying too many shadows until the whole drawing becomes visual noise and it doesn't read clearly.
First off, I'd recommend you study Figure drawing for all it's worth by Andrew Loomis. You can probably find a PDF of it online for free and it's not overly complicated for a kid to understand. Then, if you feel you want to stick with drawing in the long run convince your parents to invest in these books:
Atlas of human anatomy for the artist
Human anatomy for artists : The elements of form
Classic human anatomy: The artist's guide to form, function, and movement
Figure drawing: Design and invention
How to draw: Drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination
How to render: The fundamentals of light, shadow and reflectivity
Color and light: A guide for the realist painter
I think both /u/DeweyTheDecimal and /u/plolyglon are correct. Faces are really difficult to do well because we see them all of the time. Even people who have never spent a day in their life studying art will be able to tell if something is wrong, they may not be able to tell you how to fix it, but they can tell if something seems off. It is also the case though, that since you are at least working and sculpting, you are most definitely on the right track! That is the only way to get better. It could be of benefit to spend some time watching tutorials too. Zack Petroc, for example, has been a HUGE help to me, the guy is really amazing, especially when it comes to human anatomy. He actually took classes at university dissecting cadavers to study human anatomy up close.
So please please please keep sculpting, like every day if you want to get better, it takes a lot of time like others have said. Look at references, get books on human anatomy for artists, watch free videos on youtube or buy Gnomon or digital tutors videos to get yourself started. It all depends on how serious you are about it. If this is what you want to do as a job one day, you have to start learning another 3d package like maya or 3dsmax at some point to learn about good topology flow and building simple base meshes to start sculpting from (helps with getting proportions started, at least for myself, but everyone has their own way to work). Otherwise if you are doing it for fun, just keep sculpting.
Start at a really low subdivision level and get all of your proportions set up, take that as far as you possibly can before you subdivide it, and then take that new level as far as you can. Things get kind of swollen looking if you jump into high divisions too quickly. It looks to me like you added a lot to whatever it was you started from (as in built up form with the clay build up brush), but don't be afraid to really carve into your sculpt either. Don't worry about fine details like wrinkles and whatnot until the very end, focus on setting up good proportions. The neck on your sculpt feels a little weak, like its too small and too skinny. The sternocleidomastoid should be emphasized a little bit more to give the neck the girth that it needs. Same with where the trapizus inserts into the base of the skull. The neck also feels a bit too short, trying dropping down the the lowest subdiv level to pull it out a little bit more. Anatomy is all about the way these muscles interact with one another, for it too look good, everything has to look good and the gesture has to flow just right. Just keep studying anatomy and sculpting and you'll progress quicker than you may imagine.
When it comes to drawing made-up creatures, practice drawing the anatomy of real animals first. It will help make your creatures make more "sense". One of my favorite books growing up was How to Draw Animals by Jack Hamm. Once you kind of understand muscle and bone structure, you'll be able to build on that knowledge and go crazy with it. Just keep drawing! That's just my two cents.
I really like having these around.
How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671530771/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PXkBybWE11WY9
Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/1402766785/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_34kBybDYR7KZT
Dynamic Figure Drawing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0823015777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_O5kByb1YEC48K
How to Draw Animals (Perigee) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399508023/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_b7kBybRM8D7RC
Try the link below.
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Scenery-Landscapes-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508066
I'm curious too, I ordered this because it was so cheap(43 cents for a used copy) and had good reviews but it hasn't come in yet.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0399508066/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
As a complete beginner myself, I very much enjoy Jack Hamm's Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes. It really spends more time explaining how certain effects are accomplished, in more detail than most art instruction books do.
But, really, just draw, draw, draw.
You don't need to pay for financial advice. It will just rob you of your wealth. If you have a $50M net worth, maybe you'd be rich enough to pay for financial advice.
Sorry for unsourced and vague advice. Maybe it will sound familiar to someone and they can expand/correct.
I read about a 10-20% allocation into international/foreign. The thought process was to weight your portfolio in your country (especially if you're in the US). IIRC, it was something about you're investing in the economy and you have much more to worry about than your investments if the US economy tanks. I believe the rationale was also to take advantage of growth opportunities without taking on too much undue risk from unstable and emerging markets.
Edit: IIRC, source was ["How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street: Golden Rules Any Investor Can Learn" by Allan S. Roth] (https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035)
Read this 16 pages of free and great information from William Bernstein. https://www.dropbox.com/s/5tj8480ji58j00f/If%20You%20Can.pdf?dl=0
Also this book was fantastic!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470919035/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
​
Learn about Index funds :)
I spent most of the day yesterday doing this exercises, so maybe like 6 or 7 hours... I didn't use any other resources, there's a great book that I have, and I have read in the past about animal constructions:
I'm using Uncomfortable's aproach on the exercises, but there are some great constructions there. One difference is that the guy from that book masses the whole shoulder area together.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Animal-Drawing-Construction-Action-Analysis-Caricature-Instruction/0486274268
In some time I plan on giving that book a re-read.
Hi, countertrap. I'm new to the sub, but have the same question as you. I'm looking for courses more in a university or college setting, but here's what's worked for me in terms of self-study, that I thought might help you as you consider what to study:
Edward Johnston's book Writing, Illuminating and Lettering was recommended to me when I was starting out, and I think it's still an excellent resource on how to start if one is interested in the absolute classical calligraphy process. https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Illuminating-Lettering-Edward-Johnston/dp/1475299931
I just found an interesting YouTube on his legacy, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA0PA3wsXyA
My personal favorite modern calligrapher so far is Margaret Shepherd, and her books are very accessible and helpful. Her book Learn Calligraphy is, in my opinion, excellent because it starts you at the beginning with Roman hand and moves forward from there, explaining the historical development of letterforms in Western writing all the way to present day. https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Calligraphy-Complete-Lettering-Design/dp/0767907329?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc
She's got a fascinating book on World Calligraphy that I love.
I hope that helps.
As a follow-on to your question, are there courses that exist for calligraphers in the way there are for artists? For example, if I wanted to "go to art school," I could attend, say, Columbia College here in Chicago and graduate with a degree in art with a specialization in oil painting. Are there similar programs for calligraphy?
Some of these aren't on Amazon, but all of them outside of amazon are on my wishlist, is that okay?
1.) Something that is grey.
[This compilation of xkcd comics!] (http://www.amazon.com/xkcd-0-Randall-Munroe/dp/0615314465/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1KXQQYMQ3MHEJ&coliid=I12D1D7CV12AVC) Though there aren't any formerly-unseen comics included, this is perfect for the lover of the famous (and always relevant) Xkcd webcomics.
2.) Something reminiscent of rain.
[This t-shirt for fans of Incubus that is apparently out of stock now, but I'm keeping it on my wishlist to gaze wistfully at.] (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/315rOsJeWzL._SL135_.jpg)
Incubus has always been one of my favorite bands, and all art that the lead singer (Brandon Boyd) produces is amazing, so I had high faith in this shirt being wonderful if I had the money to buy it.
3.) Something food related that is unusual.
[So I typed in "candy" and this popped up..] (http://www.amazon.com/LOCOMO-Rainbow-Hedgehog-Plastic-Baseball/dp/B00BRWH99K/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_2_49?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1376327288&sr=1-49&keywords=candy)
I'm not sure what I was expecting.
4.) Something on your list that is for someone other than yourself. Tell me who it's for and why.
[My mom has always wanted to learn calligraphy and someone recommended this book to me] (http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Calligraphy-Complete-Lettering-Design/dp/0767907329/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1KXQQYMQ3MHEJ&coliid=I35YCU37X7E6Y2)
She paints signs for people, usually featuring newborn babies or pets, and she always has to print out a guide and trace it if her customers request a font for their name.
5.) A book I should read! I am an avid reader, so take your best shot and tell me why I need to read it!
[This compilation of postsecrets-- artistic postcards with secrets written on them-- that are all touching in their own way.] (http://www.amazon.com/PostSecret-Extraordinary-Confessions-Ordinary-Lives/dp/0060899190/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1KXQQYMQ3MHEJ&coliid=I22JZDFLS686V8)
If you haven't heard of Postsecret yet, you should check it out [here] (http://www.postsecret.com/)
6.) An item that is less than a dollar, including shipping... that is not jewelry, nail polish, and or hair related!
I dunno!
7.) Something related to cats. I love cats! (keep this SFW, you know who you are...)
I have two cats, but I got nothing for this one.
8.) Something that is not useful, but so beautiful you must have it.
[This key from KeypersCove] (http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Winter-Rose-Key-Necklace/dp/B00D3S4GVU/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376329005&sr=8-1&keywords=keypers+cove)
I had a similar one on my wishlist but it's out of stock now.
9.) A movie everyone should watch at least once in their life. Why?
[Cloud Atlas!] (http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas/dp/B00CRWJ5GO/ref=sr_sp-btf_title_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1376329072&sr=8-4&keywords=clouds+atlas)
Terribly confusing unless you see the [trailer] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWnAqFyaQ5s) first, it's surprisingly appropriate for this sub.
10.) Something that would be useful when the zombies attack. Explain.
[This climbing pick] (http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Pacific-Mountain-Axe-80cm/dp/B002J91R1G/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376330277&sr=8-2&keywords=climbing+pick)
Ever played Telltale's The Walking Dead? Well, one character had a climbing pick that they used pretty frequently to scale buildings and kill zombies..it opened my eyes to the possibilities and dual uses of items.
11.) Something that would have a profound impact on your life and help you to achieve your current goals.
[This book] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Emotion-Thesaurus-Character-Expression/dp/1475004958/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) for my writing skills, I always have trouble finding just the right way to convey the proper emotion, plus I have severe social anxiety so it would help me figure out how to act in real life as well.
[Or this book by the famous Virginia Woolf] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Waves-Harvest-Book-ebook/dp/B004R1Q41C/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1KXQQYMQ3MHEJ&coliid=IHP0D0N718720) just the type of writing style I'm aiming for.
[Or this book that I'm sure would help me with my technique.] (http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-Writer/dp/0316014990/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)
12.) One of those pesky Add-On items.
Hm?
13.) The most expensive thing on your list. Your dream item. Why?
I used to have this on my list, but a [Geiger counter] (http://www.amazon.com/Radex-RD1503-RADEX-Radiation-Detector/dp/B00051E906/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376331004&sr=8-1&keywords=geiger+counter) because I'm paranoid about radiation and etc. Deleted it off my list because it's not useful for everyday life.
14.) Something bigger than a bread box. EDIT A bread box is typically similar in size to a microwave.
I got nothing on my list.
15.) Something smaller than a golf ball.
[These socks] (http://www.amazon.com/Portal-Chells-Aperture-Science-Socks/dp/B008JGPSJU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1KXQQYMQ3MHEJ&coliid=I2KUOG9B813AXT) because they're ultra thin and I'm sure they could be crumpled up that small.
16.) Something that smells wonderful.
I'd put something here, but there's nothing I'm sure of. [This book] (http://www.amazon.com/White-Fluffy-Clouds-Inspiration-Forward/dp/0974512001/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1KXQQYMQ3MHEJ&coliid=I16LKBYPI8BE5U) because it could smell like Brandon Boyd?
17.) A (SFW) toy.
I've got nothing!
18.) Something that would be helpful for going back to school.
[This shirt] (http://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/rising-t-shirt/13087/) because I find it amazing, oh my god oh my god.
19.) Something related to your current obsession, whatever that may be.
[I've been trying to learn Irish for quite awhile now..] (http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Irish-Michael-OSiadhail/dp/0300121776/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376331377&sr=8-1&keywords=learn+irish)
20.) Something that is just so amazing and awe-inspiring that I simply must see it. Explain why it is so grand.
[This poster, this poster!] (http://smbc.myshopify.com/products/dear-human-19x27-poster) To see what it's based on, the original comic is [here] (http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2223)
I would first disguise myself with this so you wont know I'm the enemy. Then use this to catch the sunlight and direct it to blind you for my get away. Then write a well thought out letter begging for peace using this so it looks official and seal it with this oh and by the way You'll never take our FREEDOM!
cuff
That much?
my item
Fancy!
I would say, if you really want to make fast progress, yes, art classes would help you tremendously! But of course, you could also very much manage on your own via resources like books (Artistic Anatomy helped me a bunch with male torsos)and online tutorials. The problem with that is that, sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what you’re doing wrong when you don’t have someone who knows art more than you to tell you what to fix.
I can also recommend one artist on YouTube who is both an online art teacher and does extremely in-depth tutorials; I learned so much from her it’s honestly ridiculous. She’s not a furry artist in the slightest; however, she specializes in character design and portraiture so a lot of concepts she’s taught in her videos I have applied to my own furry drawings. She, (Instebrak) does do online private tutoring though I’ve never participated.
It's been 8 years since I graduated and I haven't found work as a 3d artist yet but I think I could give some advice to get you started. Feel free to take it with a grain of salt because, as I said, I haven't found work yet.
Get a goal as an artist. Jack-of-all-trades is good. But I think its better if you focus on one and make it your own. If you are shooting for a job in games then you may want to showcase that. If you're going for a general 3D artist position you probably have a bit more freedom. In your case I think your modeling needs work. Get into some high res modeling like mudbox or z brush. The thing about modeling is you have to know your subject matter like the back of your hand. For you I might suggest getting a few good anatomy references and learning about muscle structure (and to properly learn that you will need to know a bit about bone structure). If you are going to model weapons (which I really haven't done) I would say to learn how they are made where does one part meet another, and so on.
While I don't have tons of experience with rigged animation your rigging looks pretty solid. I'm pretty sure you can get work as a rigger but most places will want you to do animation too. Many artists seem to fall into being either a animator type artist or a modeler type artist. And you pick up a few things to accompany that focus.
Presentation You're going to want to learn a bit about lighting and rendering when you rework your reel. The black background is a bit harsh to look at. I tend to have two extremes, one where I show my model with a Final Gather/ GI render and then other times (if its a game model) I'll show it just as it is in the Maya window with the hud removed. There are several other ways to go about this I'm sure. Oh and show wireframes when showing off your modeling.
The biggest thing is to Keep Working and Learning If you are going to redo your site you might be messing with some web software and with the reel some video editing and/or compositing software and so you will be ready to sink your teeth into a good project. Do that.
ALSO You're leaving the warm comfort of college and its peer review goodness. You are about to enter your bubble where you create pretty much on your own. Try your damndest to step out of that when you can. NETWORK! If you can get on board with a good group thing jump on it. Sometimes they suck but when they are good they tend to produce excellent portfolio work.
Just be tenacious. Don't be scared by my eight years I had a few unfortunate personal events that held me back. I am still at it too. Also, if you don't live in California consider it. Just consider. There are several other hotspots in different industries around the US. I really hope this has been helpful.
www.3d.sk - great photo reference of people. Lots of stuff you can use on an image plane.
My favorite anatomy book
Denny O'Neil wrote a book that discusses most of what you need to know. It's mostly a style guide for the most part, but there's a ton of good stuff in it.
Burne Hogarth's book Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery is a good book on it. He explains the underlying concepts so you understand how fabric folds and creates wrinkles.
Ah - on the mascara? It does look thick and clumpy.
Now that I'm comparing the original out of camera to your finished version, I'm also noticing a lot of funny issues with the way you've 'volumized' things, like the eyelids. The way you painted in highlights doesn't follow the actual contour and makes the eye look a little oddly shaped, for example.
If that's something you want to improve on, you might want to turn to life drawing techniques. The book How to Draw What You See may help you.
Practice Practice and more Practice, plus most of Drawing, and Painting is Seeing. So to kick start, try this book. How to draw what you see. its been around forever and you can probubly pick up a used copy cheap in a second hand book store.
warning: long post incoming
tell your son that he is at the best possible age to pick up drawing. if he draws a lot now and keeps it up for the next several years he'll eventually become good. by the time he's out of high school he could be almost pro depending on how his artistic pursuit goes.
every single artist, even those with natural talent, started off from the same place. it takes a very long time and a lot of bad drawings to get to a place where your art "looks right".
"how to draw books" are largely crappy because they tell you "copy this" without actually teaching you the basic fundamentals that all artists have to learn. there are very good books out there but you have to talk to actual artists/be part of actual art communities to really learn about them.
honestly, the most important thing at this stage for your son is for him to learn not to be too hypercritical of whatever he does and for him to have fun drawing. i can't stress the "fun" part enough. of course this is probably hard for him to do at this point because he's a kid and kids get frustrated pretty easily, but keep encouraging him.
one thing that might be helpful is showing him "here and then" comparisons which show that artists get a lot better over time. i could give you some examples if you want, from my own art even.
while the main thing is just for your son to learn to have fun and keep drawing, i suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to post a couple of the resources i've amassed over the years. However I cannot stress enough that no book, video, tutorial, or whatever can substitute the hours and hours of drawing that are required to get better. again, the most important thing is for your son to draw a lot. the rest will come with time.
another thing to keep in mind is that everyone is different, there are many ways to learn art and everyone learns better through different ways. some artists mostly just copied other people's art to learn, others did detailed focused studies of art fundamentals, some used tracing as a learning tool (not to claim the art as their own). there are many different ways and techniques that are all basically rooted in the same fundamentals. i'd say it's most important right now for your son to try a bunch of stuff out and see what helps him the most. there is no "best way".
with that said...
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/
this is a site focused on digital painting primarily but there are a lot of videos about basic drawing techniques and a lot about the struggles/psychology of art. this is a good place to start.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5dyu9y0EV0cSvGtbBtHw_w
this is one of the best youtube art channels around. these [are] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck4NuQWZ-kk&list=UU5dyu9y0EV0cSvGtbBtHw_w) some good videos to get you started out.
http://funkymonkey1945.deviantart.com/
this guy is a phenomenal artist and has tons of amazing tutorials/breakdowns on his page. give it a look, you can try and ask him for advice yourself if you want. he's a super nice guy so if you ask politely for advice i'm sure he can give you better direction than i could.
books that i think would be the most useful/important for a beginner:
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain don't pay too much attention to the "science" in this book, it's the drawing exercises that you really want. it will teach your son to draw what he sees much more accurately.
Fun With a Pencil Andrew Loomis is renowned for being a really good art instructor. any of his books are worth owning but for your son i'd recommend starting with this.
Vilppu Drawing Manual In terms of introducing a beginner to basic artistic fundamentals (especially form) this is the best book i've found so far.
i apologize for the long post, but this is a topic i'm pretty passionate about. if you want more help, guidance or resources you can feel free to pm me and i'll help you to the best of my ability.
If you're at all interested in drawing more cartoons, I'd recommend this book by Andrew Loomis. It's an oldie, but a goodie. It focuses on cartoon/comic style, but really teaching a good foundation of technique and structure. It helps teach you how to draw, instead of how to copy drawings of one specific thing in one specific pose.
It looks like your problem is more about doing the art than assembling a sprite sheet right? I don't know any program that will help with a lack of skill... If you want to do the art yourself, you will have to invest some time in it, unfortunatly.
I had the same problem actually, and this blog was really helpful. It is aimed specifically for people with no graphical skills and I was pleasantly surprised by what I was able to do in a few hours of work (checkout my last ludumdare entry for an exemple).
Of course this will not make you a top notch artist, and I don't think this is the goal of that blog. If you want to further improve your skills, I would recommand Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I am currently reading it and I find it amazing.
Hope this helps :)
Great book. Explains how anyone can learn to draw more accurately and creatively. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
And you're not supposed to draw without a reference, lol. You're supposed to take what you see and interpret it the way you want on the page. Some people draw better with their imagination, and some people draw better with references. But without a reference, unless you have a perfect photographic memory, or your brain can render objects in your mind with perfect minute detail, your drawing won't be life-like. However, without imagination, a reference drawing will just be a carbon copy without artistic expression (how would you emphasize, or exaggerate facial features in a portrait drawing to draw attention to them?).
The two styles are intertwined and, in many cases, rely on each other. You don't have to choose one over the other.
It is perfectly fine to draw while using references. A lot of the time, your result will be even better because of it. Like here, how you captured Spring Man's likeness with the hair and nose. Even the placement of the facial features is really good. With Kid Cobra, you got his outfit and Slappamander ARMS down.
If you want a place to start, Drawing on the Ride Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards is an excellent book that teaches how to see and draw based on your perceptions.
https://smile.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Brain-Betty-Edwards/dp/0874775132/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WGN8MADF6S0PGJQ020ZD
On building technical skill, I also recommend giving a look at http://drawabox.com/ , which helps build control over your lines.
You can so improve if you dedicate time to drawing. When I was learning how to draw heads, this is how I was starting off, but these are the same two characters a year later. A year after that, I'm currently trying to learn how to draw the human figure, and this is the last drawing I did. I don't have as much free time these days, but I'm always trying to draw a little bit each day.
I'm probably not being very convincing. I'm not very good at expressing myself, but seriously, I think you'd be great at drawing.
But there IS the colouring book!!! http://www.amazon.ca/Colour-Me-Good-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/0992777755/ref=sr_1_33?ie=UTF8&qid=1397249494&sr=8-33&keywords=Benedict+Cumberbatch
Edit: OOh...nevermind... it's preorder.... adds to cart
Have you tried this?
Mark Crilley's first book is a great place to start.
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Manga-Mark-Crilley-drawing/dp/1440309310/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375325240&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+draw+manga
Mark also has an excellent guide book called Mastering Manga. I highly recommend it for beginners.
well, my suggestion is mediocre, but here:
If you want an easy guide to the basics, and you've got a few bucks, try this: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Manga-Mark-Crilley-drawing/dp/1440309310/.
bought a copy myself, vastly inproved in a few hours (sorry no examples, no scanner)
If you are broke like myself, he also has a lot of stuff on youtube. good luck!
Vanishing Point is a perspective book that covers every type of perspective you would really ever need to know, great book!
There are any number of very good traditional perspective books, plus I like this one for more dynamic stuff. You do need a drafting compass with an extension arm to do the fisheye perspective.
I have to say though, not wanting to do something because it's difficult and you can come up with a cheap substitute kind of negates the point of studying art and wanting to work professionally. Yes, some jobs will require shortcuts due to budget and production timeline restraints, but do you really want to aim for "good enough" and "convenient?"
This book explains it in detail.
I'm going to play devil's advocate and not recommend Drawing on the right side of the brain.
The exercises are standard introduction to drawing exercises, which are fine, but the text is ... really debatable.
She took "Quit drawing symbols" and applied all kinds of psychology to it, when it's important to just stop drawing symbols.
The book's exercises itself are great however, if you can get your hands on the workbook instead, I would recommend that because it's just all the exercises with 5% of the text.
The most important part of drawing is actually doing it, especially when you're just starting out.
Also, I've heard good things about Keys To Drawing
Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook
this is where to get it and this is what it does
You are now Super Saiyan, enjoy
That sounds about right. The most important thing is to stay loose while you draw. Doing so will allow you to lay down neat, confident lines.
A good thing to practice are large strokes and loose circles and ovals. That way you can avoid chicken scratching (admittedly I am guilty of this, oddly enough, only when I'm trying to sketch something out of imagination)
Anyway if you haven't already looked into, you should check out drawing from the right side of the brain. You may have heard it in some peoples rants/posts (negative or positive), but I found it to be quite helpful. In fact, I would recommend the workbook over the text
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Workbook/dp/1585429228/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368044031&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+from+the+right+side+of+the+brain+workbook
Anyway, god speed dude, and I hope to see some of your stuff here or on any of the neat art-related subreddits :)
As a non artist, I cannot vouch for the quality, but I have seen these mentioned before
https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175
https://www.amazon.com/Draw-More-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Creatures/dp/144031473X
But there's tons and tons of free tutorials online as well.
Here are a few sites that I have found useful in developing as a furry artist:
As others have said, focusing solely on anthro art isn't as effective a method as developing as an artist as becoming a well rounded artist in general, even if your only goal is to become a great furry artist. Becoming thoroughly familiar human and animal anatomy and being able to draw them well will bring you 90% of the way to where you need to be to draw good furry art and the rest is putting them together through lots and lots of practice. Good luck!
I'd recommend studying this book: https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175 . I bought it when i was a kid, and as my skills grew over time, i was able to follow the tutorials and now i have a style of my own that looks nice. Your work looks great for your first attempt. So im certain once you practice diligently over the next year or so, you'll improve tons!
My local Michael's has them too.
Here's the book on Amazon if anyone's curious
I skimmed the page and there's a lot of stupid here.
NO ONE has a natural ability to waltz into an industry from day one and be able to magically produce works of art that someone will pay for, NO ONE.
So before you start whining about how bad you are, just remember that anyone in the video game/entertainment industry worked their asses off their entire life to get where they are. Dedication is the only thing holding you in your little box of "boohoo".
Take a few cups of manthefuckup, go get a sketchpad, Anatomy for the Artist, a GOOD or REAL human skull (if you can afford it) human skull (Feferences/images are not the same as an actual object you can feel and turn. Distortion as well as inaccuracy in a clay/ceramic model won't teach you what you need to know to learn the convex and concave shapes/proportions.), and start drawing from life.
DO NOT DRAW FROM YOUR HEAD TO LEARN THINGS. This is the area of stupid a lot of people will suggest. Why isn't imagination good to start from?
Let's see:
Obviously there's more than 1 and 2, but one aspect to drawing AFTER you've studied something is you understand the proportions better. Drawing from life builds your imaginative figures to give them a stronger "feel" of actual being something in existence rather than a made up creature with no solid structure/anatomy/form.
No, I'm not intending to be rude to you, I'm just pointing out that it's going to be a pain to learn this if you're serious. If not, that's life, you'll find something else. Just be ready for this to be your life if that's what you want.
Good luck.
These are flash movies, so granted, you'll need software that can imitate, or an actual flash program. You'll need to learn basics of animation, so looking up books like these would really help you, also listen to djm19. He's got good advice there.
It would also help to learn basic drawing, so anatomy lessons are go so books like Human Anatomy by Eliot Goldfinger, as well as learning how to use audio programs like Audacity (It's open source, and I'm sure you'll be able to find better types) for the sound part of flash shorts.
As the Warframes are near-human-looking constructs, start your drawing by learning how to draw a correct human form first, especially the body musculature. You should not need to invest in learning a proper rendering of human facial structure if it bothers you since it won't be used for a Warframe concept anyway (and to tell you the truth, a rendering of human facial expression is one of the hardest subject to master).
This book is one of the very good source for that. I highly recommend it if you have that inkling of desire to start learning to draw human anatomy for artistic purposes.
There are also a lot of online courses for human figure drawing. Free tutorials on Youtube and sites like DA are mostly fine too. Just remember that at the beginning you don't want to delve too much into the artistic aspect of drawing; get your basic / technicalities firm first then you can start being creative on your own.
Draw a naked human figure in a neutral or T-Pose as the base and put a lot of emphasis on the correct musculature (since the Warframes are usually lean and muscular). Do it three times each on a different camera shot: one for the frontal shot, profile shot, and rear shot. If it's done, start adding the skin or armor of your Warframe concept on that figure.
You could draw additional, a more detailed (close up) shot on complex things you need to explain more such as the details on the fingers, the gauntlet armors, the head armors, etc; but get the overall shot of your Warframe concept clear and right first before dwelling too much on the individual parts details.
One of the good rule of thumb of character design is if you could identify the character in a silhouette, it is a good design. Think about Mario in his signature jump pose, Megaman X while shooting his X-Buster, Ryu while doing Shoryuken, Superman in his flight pose, or other signature characters, and then think whether you could easily identify them even if they were just a silhouette.
Anyone not linking to this is wrong.
http://www.zackpetroc.com/skull-and-muscles-of-the-face/
http://www.zackpetroc.com/skeleton-and-muscles-of-the-body/
http://www.zackpetroc.com/marta-design-sculpt-ztl-2/
http://www.zackpetroc.com/reeve-design-sculpt-ztl/
EDIT:
As well as:
http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Artists-Elements-Form/dp/0195052064
My favorites are "Human anatomy for artists" by Eliot Goldfinger & Constructive anatomy by George Bridgman.
Goldfinger is very accurate but can be quite dry to read, Bridgman isn't as accurate but is great at describing structure and retaining the gesture.
I would also add Valerie Winslows' Classic Human Anatomy and/or Classic Human Anatomy in Motion. Eliot Goldfinger Human Anatomy for Artists is also an amazing book.
1-3 black and white, emphasis on shading and 3D
http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Animals-Perigee-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508023/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259883868&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Head-Figure-Perigee-Jack/dp/0399507914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259883868&sr=1-1
*Note, I skipped drawing landscapes because it sounded like you wanted to draw people.
While you're drawing, you should take notes, things to help you remember ratios and little epiphanies that you discover along the way. Sometimes, one little revelation can completely change and improve the way you draw, so make sure you keep exploring online and talk to various other artists about how they deal with certain drawing issues like hands or objects from directly above...etc.
First you must realize that whatever camera you buy now, will 99.9% not be the last camera you buy. Your wants and needs WILL change as you take more pictures. ANY camera(P&S, DSLR, rangefinder, etc) will work. Go and take pictures. Post pictures in websites that revolve around photography and ask for critique. People will help you with composition and model posing(if you're into portraiture). Stay away from sites whose url or homepage revolve around cameras(ie dpreview.com).
Try to ask yourself "What am I taking a picture of?" Go to interesting places and find things you want to take pictures of. Again try to ask yourself "Why do I want to take a picture"? Take pictures at sun up and sun down. Midday pictures are technically difficult to pull off whereas EVERYTHING looks nice during dawn and dusk.
For the technical side of things, go over your pictures and find out what you didn't like about them. Is it the color? Did the camera take too long to focus? Did the you or the camera just not set up fast enough tho catch the subject moving around? Is it the picture too dark? Did you get the subject in the frame perfect but feel that the background is too busy and detracts? Learning how to fix these problems will get you acquainted with the basic controls of any camera.
I'm pretty sure people didn't invent a hammer and then go around looking for nails to bang. Someone probably realized attaching a stick to a rock did a better job at jamming things into other things than just using a rock. Why then worry yourself about things like "3D matrix metering" or "1/500s flash sync" or "1:1 reproduction" ratio if said things solve problems you haven't seen yet?
Read up on composition and color from painting/drawing websites/books. Too many photo sites focus on technical aspects and camera features rather than the analyzing the resultant photo. I learned more about composition from this book than any photo website.
Finally, try to get advice from people whose pictures you like. Here are a few pictures I've taken so you can judge whether or not to take my advice!
yupp! grab this book by Jack Hamm about landscapes and drawing scenery. it has everything from trees to rocks to clouds and composition etc. its an awesome book and just practice :)
If you're interested in a book to suppliment your studies I recommend [Jack Hamm's landscape book] (http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Scenery-Landscapes-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508066)
The art book market is very limited when it comes to composition and although dated, this book is among the top of the heap.
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Scenery-Landscapes-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508066
This is a cheap book with a lot of really good information on drawing landscapes. I recommend it.
awesome! It's a great resource. I should read it again, for a while I was reading it like once a year or so. This is another good one for composition https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Scenery-Landscapes-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508066
If you are interested in learning more about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc., and the pros and cons of these financial instruments I strongly recommend these two books; A Random Walk Down Wall Street and How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street. A Random Walk does a good job at explaining all the different investment options and introducing the language to a person whose had no exposure to Investments before. How a Second Grader sort of treads along the same lines but it is an easier and more entertaining read as the author does a better job with engaging the reader. The book also gives good starting points for a person with no experience, which I followed when I first read it, and it has worked well for me. Essentially both books share the same theme, which most books on investments do, what's the most accurate way of predicting the true value of an investment instrument in theory and can the theory be applied to real world scenarios? Last but not least, I suggest you look into index funds. Good luck!
I'd recommend looking at the book How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street or A Random Walk Down Wall Street if you're starting to invest.
Short answer: just do it. I wouldn't try too hard to guess the future of the market.
The only investment book you need is: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035
Establish a 6 month emergency cash fund. You might have that already.
If you have a job, open a Roth IRA at a broker, and fund it to the maximum. Your IRA should be in the S&P 500 (index fund) as you have suggested.
After you have exceeded your maximum a year, open a second account at the broker, and put your money again to the same index fund.
Since you said you don't know much about investing, I think what's more important than what you do with this $5k is learning about yourself and finding tools that work for you. I recommend reading "How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street" by Alan Roth. It's a great into to read when you're starting out. (And it's probably available through your local library) https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035
There's a concept about CD layering in the that might work for your short/mid-term goals. Plus, it's a pretty quick read 😁
If you're interested in investing, I recommend "Index Revolution" and "How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street".
Obviously both advocate index investing :)
https://www.amazon.com/Index-Revolution-Investors-Should-Join/dp/1119313074
https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035
Definitely DO NOT consult a financial advisor or anyone who's going to charge you money to help you invest anything. You're getting ripped off if you do it. I honestly cannot believe people here are recommending that.
Very simple: Put you money throw the flow chart. This chart does a good job of explaining the steps, in order, you should follow. https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.png
After paying down any debt, securing your emergency fund and enrolling in 401K, you have more options to do your own thing. But you should still keep it simple, at least at first. I recommend a quick read of this breezy book: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Grader-Beats-Wall-Street/dp/0470919035
It explains how you can set up a basic 3-fund brokerage portfolio. Only after you do all these things should you look into more "specialized" investment vehicles like real estate (though a solid real estate ETF options are OK to include in your brokerage portfolio) or crypto or stupid shit you're going to lose money on.
The Art of Animal Drawing:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486274268?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf
This is a book on drawing motion and emotion of non human characters and its also pretty useful to have and study. It will teach you to make an artistic goal for an image.
That's not too bad. I wish I had your skill at that age. Stay humble, always strive to learn and keep at it. You'll be really really good.
Since you seem to like drawing animals, here's two books that can really help understand their realistic form. It helped me at least.
Weatherly Guide to Drawing animals
and
The art of animal drawing
Well you can always check for local calligraphy classes.
Additionally, if you're a student, your school may offer Calligraphy or Typography courses you can check out.
If neither of these appeal or apply, you can always check out some books on Amazon. Some good ones under $20:
Here
Here
And the pencil
This is a good one to start with.
Learn Calligraphy: The Complete Book of Lettering and Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767907329/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_43D5Ab1P1YQ8A
How about this book on calligraphy
If you're serious, this is a fantastic book to get you started.
I took a calligraphy course. Basically, just start tracing letters. This book is great: http://amzn.com/0767907329
I had pretty good writing to begin with, and played with fancy writing for a while before giving this a go, but everybody in my class was completely new to it and found it easy.
That book is full of different "fonts", most are easy IIRC.
Just trace, then try to look at a sentence and write it in the style you like.
EDIT: An italic pen will help even shit hand-writing. I picked up a "Lamy Joy" fountain pen, makes my writing look way better.
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!
Like this one?
Anything specific you can recommend? I was actually going to buy some books. I mean there's so many to choose from
Thanks
I would suggest picking up a couple anatomy books and simply copying them. Like I said, you'd be surprised at how much this teaches you. First, take a look at Bridgman's guide It's very loose and probably easier to learn from because of it. But there is complete accuracy in the looseness of his drawings, so I know I learned a ton about the figure from him.
Secondly, I'd pick up Richer's Artistic Anatomy This is a ton more informational, and the drawings are much tighter, but spot on figures and great info. This is one of my teacher's favorite reference books, and he's been published in Spectrum 13 times, and worked for George Lucas.
No the problem is with the expression, not the rendering. I think you didn't commit to an expression, so you did sort of a neutral one, but it comes off as jovial.
You should pick this up and run through it. This is one of the best expression books, because it doesn't use actors faking emotions for the photo-shoot. These are reproductions of candid photographs of expressions, so they're real:
https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Complete-Guide-Facial-Expression/dp/0823004325
Have a look at that.
The most useful thing I have found is to cultivate a habit of smiling whenever you greet someone or pass someone you recognize, whenever they're speaking to you about something neutral or positive, or any other time that you're at a loss how to express happiness or friendliness. (I developed this habit because my resting face apparently looks forlorn, and I was tired of people asking me what was wrong.)
Smiling makes you seem more approachable, and it tends to be infectious; seeing you look happy helps other people feel happy, and people who feel happy around you will naturally gravitate to you, even if you're quiet or shy.
Practice realistic smiles. It's not enough to curl your mouth; you have to smile with your eyes (in fact, you can do almost anything with your mouth and still have it read as joy if you smile with your eyes). There are different muscles involved with real smiles and fake-looking smiles, too (for example, showing your lower teeth is indicative of a fake smile).
If, like me, you struggle a bit with understanding facial expressions and the muscles involved in making them, this is a great resource (not just for artists, despite the title). This book can also help you read other people's subtle expressions, which aids being more empathetic and likeable.
Di libri ce ne sono a bizzeffe.
Visto che vorresti fare i ritratti ti consiglio questo, che spiega quali sono i tratti fondamentali da cogliere per rappresentare le espressioni del volto:
https://www.amazon.it/Artists-Complete-Guide-Facial-Expression/dp/0823004325/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549019579&sr=8-4&keywords=expression+anatomy
Per la prospettiva poi questo è stato quello che ho trovato più utile, lo ritengo una buona via di mezzo tra il tecnico ed il pratico:
https://www.amazon.it/Perspective-Comic-Book-Artists-Professional/dp/0823005674/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549019730&sr=8-3&keywords=perspective+for+comic
The single best resource I've found for comic writing is Denny O'Neil's
dc comics guide to writing.
Personally, I set objectives and let the organically come out over a set number of pages. Example: I need to add A, B, and C over the next 22 pages. This gives you enough wiggle room to make changes along the way.
I host the Comic Book Creator Podcast that you can check out for more tips.
Okay! Well, I happen to be a screenwriter, so I had Final Draft anyway. It's not a requirement, but it does have templates for various scripting methods, so, if you happen to have it lying around, it's fun to use. Celtx also works, but I don't like it as much. A cocktail napkin works because there's no official method.
The book I referred to a lot was The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics (link for reference only), but there's a few books out there. My library even had some, so maybe hit up your library. They should be in the writing books section.
I looked online for tips, too, and came across a website that I can't remember that says that one writer writes everything out as a screenplay first, then converts it to a comic script. That's how I ultimately chose to go about it because it's easier for me to visualize the page that way. Plus, by the time I actually get to writing the comic script, I'm already editing and such. That might not work for everyone, though.
Dark Horse has on their website how they accept submissions. They're the only big name that still accepts submissions, so if you plan on submitting, it might be good to learn their way of doing it.
There's no official way, though, like I said. If you stick with the Dark Horse method and somehow DC wants you to write one of their titles now, there's really not that much difference - just tweak some things. And if you can draw as well as write, your script can look vastly different. I have to describe every last detail - artists can do rough sketches.
Not to plug my webcomic, and I do feel bad for it, but it's Mistress Deathspike. Only reason I'm sharing it is because I'm going to share the first three scripts with you, how I wrote them, and then you can see how the artist interpreted it into the final product. It's just an example. You can hate my comic, I'm okay with that.
Anyway, script 1, script 2, script 3.
I hope you find this useful.
I'm using this book right now, it's simple and straightforward so I recommend it
I asked an artist friend the same question in college, and she gave me How To Draw What You See. Great, classic art instruction with a good amount of theory. I highly recommend it.
Think about it ... how can you sculpt a human if you don't know what to sculpt? The surface contours of a human or animal are defined by the underlying structures, the bone and muscles. Hence you need to study those structures so you know how to actually sculpt or model a human or animal. The following are books on Amazon on anatomy for artists:
Anatomy for Sculptors: Understanding the Human Figure
Anatomy for 3D Artists: The Essential Guide for CG Professionals
Basic Human Anatomy: An Essential Visual Guide for Artists
Classic Human Anatomy: The Artist's Guide to Form, Function, and Movement
An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists
Or you can use Makehuman.
http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Human-Anatomy-Function-Movement/dp/0823024156
Stay away from Chris Hart books though, they're nightmare fuel.
Howdy there.
So positives first: I like that you're trying a moderately challenging post, that's good. The legs and feet are pretty good, got some knee action going on and the legs aren't just vague shapes, they taper well according to form. Shows you're looking, or are copying someone who was looking and you noticed. The feet are basic, but similarly well-shaped. There's a good sense of weight to the whole figure, you've shifted her torso and head forward to account for the arms sticking out back.
Now, there are some proportion issues. The head is at an angle that is notoriously hard to draw (looking up at it from below) so that's excusable, but that arm is very long. The length of the arm from shoulder to fingertip should go to mid-thigh. That arm goes to at least mid-calf. It also doesn't show the sensitivity to underlying shapes that the legs do. Arms are not tubes, they have a pretty distinct shape when they're stretched out like that.
So everyone in this thread is giving you the delightfully vague advice of 'study anatomy'. What they mean is that stylized drawings like this (especially with the Eastern influence you have going on) rely on a very weird combination of 'correct' and 'simplified' anatomy which is more or less impossible to intuit. So the best thing you can do for yourself, especially at this early sage is get a textbook that takes the body apart bit by bit and study it. My favorite anatomy book is in a box somewhere and I suddenly can't remember the author's name and all anatomy textbooks have basically the same name so I'm not finding it. Whatever, my old professor wrote a pretty good one that lots of people like. Copy some of the individual parts listed in that book and take note of how they interact together. It will kick-start your understanding of the human form and help your cartoons out immensely.
Keep it up! Good luck.
Here is the mobile version of your link
A friend put together a list of books (animation stuff on top, and the drawing list starts about a third of the way down the page) awhile back, and I'm working my way through it. She's a damn good artist, and she's surrounded by other artists 40-60 hours a week, so I trust she knows what she's talking about.
I also second the comment about material by Andrew Loomis. If you have absolutely no experience, I specifically recommend Fun With A Pencil.
well, I don't really understand what's going on in the neck region, it kind of looks like a pyramid with the head balancing on top. Just for a reference, here's a photo of a boy. Necks usually don't slope to so severe of a point, and the eyes you've drawn are very flat. Those are the two problems that jump out at me, but there are many others. Might I recommend buying a book on drawing, for example fun with a pencil?
I understand what you're saying and I own a couple of Mr. Loomis's books from Titan Books but I have been able to find complete pdfs of his work online like Fun With a Pencil If you can afford to buy them I think they're an invaluable addition to your bookshelf and they can be found on Amazon.com for close to $30.00 but if that is beyond your financial means then the pdf is good.
Were you meaning to say that it is unethical to use the pdf since it isn't public domain?
I'd strongly recommend picking up his book Fun With a Pencil which takes you all the way from super-easy cartoon drawing all the way through perspective and realistic drawing styles. There are dozens of pages of examples, so you don't have to sit there drawing the same example 50-100 times like you do with some books. The first 20-30 pages are just on drawing the head. You can actually find the answer to your question in the Amazon image preview, but I still recommend buying the book.
LOOMIS
Look for a copy of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in your local library. https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Brain-Betty-Edwards/dp/0874775132/
You don't have to read through, just try some of the exercises and see if they suit your learning style. You don't need the drawing kit or workbook, just the book. They have a website here: https://www.drawright.com
Alternately. look for a copy of Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing: https://www.amazon.com/Keys-Drawing-Bert-Dodson/dp/0891343377
In both cases, see if you can find an older edition. They are just as effective to use and often cheaper, and the newest editions of both books are printed terribly.
practice is most important. When looking at anatomy, don't just try and memorize what goes where, really think about the bones as the foundation, and how the muscles wraps around it, etc. Understanding > memorization. Also, I realize this book is fairly well known, if you aren't familiar, could change your life
Friend of mine is a tattoo artist, He says this book helped a lot
http://www.amazon.com/Colour-Me-Good-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/0992777755
Here are some Amazon links for anyone interested!
Amazon /
Amazon.ca /
Amazon UK
Maybe start here: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Manga-Mark-Crilley-drawing/dp/1440309310/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394537530&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+draw+manga
Alright, thank you all for the useful tips and information, I plan on getting these books
(http://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Draw-30-Days/dp/0738212415)
(http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Manga-Mark-Crilley-drawing/dp/1440309310)
and I also started the download on all the loomis books.
If you're at all interested in trying some books, I'd recommend these two:
I'm looking forward to being a healthier person,who opens up to people more,and who don't need no man!
p.s. am man
2015
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440309310/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=QRH0I0B8UMR1&coliid=ITIB48AEF1X92
Number e?
6.023x10^23
no, wait, that's to big, isn't it?I'll go with the mad hatter's 10/6
Now what I like from Asia are:
This
That
Kore
Sore
Kono no mono wa daisuki
Still not coming up with anything on amazon or google...
I mean look at this: https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Point-Perspective-Comics-Ground/dp/1581809549
This is that other book I told you about the one that got a weird review. And the other review just says it arrived quickly... as if that tells me anything about the book... two reviews isn't enough to go by: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0520059794/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495434172&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=curvilinear+perspective
See that book description. It says it's the only book that teaches curvilinear perspective (which isn't true, it's just one of the only ones I can find. And it says nothing about if it uses cartographic projections to modify the grid)... Problem is, I'm not all too keen on learning from a book who's cover is comparable or worse than my skill level, if that makes sense. I'm not impressed. I need to be impressed with the artwork on the cover for an art book, and that's all they supply.
Yeah... there's books on it... just not any GOOD ones. Like how do you make a perfect 45° angle? How do you make a perfect cube? Things like that. I have no confidence in these types of books. I have limited funds, so the idea of wasting money on yet another book... waiting for it... and being disappointed...
Might have been a long while since you read them... but, oh well, might as well ask, do you know any specific book titles?
Oh yeah, I understand it's a panoramic so it's more of a swivel action more than a pan.
I've made some impressive panoramics with photoshop. I even started to conceptualize the picture plane as a bowl. It's definitely a swivel.
For USD40 minues shipping:
I got my brother the workshop version of the book astragal recommended. It has good exercises that guide you through different concepts. Anything you want to sketch in particular?
You can learn 4 years worth of highschool art classes in about 3 months if you want to.
Pick up this workbook. Go through it exactly as instructed. One lesson a day should be fine. If you have enough time every day (2+ hours) you should do these lessons too. There's even a subreddit for feedback: /r/ArtFundamentals
After a few months you will have a strong foundation in observational and constructional drawing. Afterwards you can either continue your studies in traditional art or pirate a copy of photoshop and do the digital painting lessons here.
I picked up that particular book (I assume it's this one ). And I agree, it's really, really dumbed down. If you just google "how to draw anthros" or "anthro line art" you'll find plenty of free blogs and the like with just as much information as the book. It's not that the book is bad, it's just not worth what I paid for it.
/u/jackiebird has some great suggestions, but I'd also like to add Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It's not specific to anthro drawing, but gives a LOT of good concepts to build a foundation. It focuses primarily on how to get into the proper mindset for drawing and it really helped me get started (even though I still have a lot of practice ahead). It's targeted specifically at beginners.
http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175
Ok, nevermind
https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Furries-Anthropomorphic-Fantasy-Animals/dp/1600614175
It didn't occur to me to post them here, I guess that come with being up at 2 in the mornin.
Force
Glen Vilppu
Glen Video
The two books have brought me extremely far in my art, they've allowed me to rethink the way I draw. Glen Is more of a classical approach to art, which in todays world has been forgotten about. The video leads to pirate bay download because the actual videos cost 500$. I sure as hell am not gonna pay that. They are old videos from the 70's but by god those were some of the most informative videos Ive ever seen. I HIGHLY recommend watching all of them. i think in total its 15 hours.
As well you might want to look at http://www.amazon.com/Vilppu-Drawing-Manual-Glenn/dp/1892053039/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427799513&sr=8-1&keywords=vilppu+drawing+manual
Michael hampton learned from Vilpuu and his stuff is also really great to learn from.
Just a little critique. Your sculptures are nice, but they're really flawed with your lack of anatomy knowledge, her head is way too large for the rest of her proportions and her legs are different sizes. you can sculpt breasts but her form is off balance. I'd recommend picking up this, this, and this.
If you're interested, I can send you a lot of files of art stuff, I believe we can improve your anatomy ten fold.
Here's a link to the calendar on amazon, you can see small versions of all the months on the back: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Benedict-Cumberbatch-2015-Calendar/dp/1780547463/
And here's the colouring book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Me-Good-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/0992777755/
Here is the mobile version of your link