Learning to Draw

[Weaver]

Hi everyone,
I have an interest in creating fantasy/sci-fi style art (this is my end goal) but really don't know one end of a pencil from the other when it comes to drawing.

Due to my current situation I have no funding for an art course, but I still really want to learn to draw. I've inherited a graphire wacom tablet with a copy of photoshop and would really prefer to stick to digital means when learning to draw.

I realize it will likely be months and months of practice before I'll create anything I'd even consider mediocre and I have the drive to endure whatever I need to do; be it drawing 1000 circles or what have you but that's really the problem: I simply don't know WHAT I need to be doing. I feel lost in a sea with no orientation.

I've looked on the internet and found very little which is useful. I find "tutorials" on how to draw specific things which I have no interest in, what I'm really looking for is a good source (digital or a book) on learning from the ground up with rules and fundamentals so I can create images I have in my head.

Could anyone point me in the right direction here? Is it a hopeless task? Is it best to learn the rules of drawing or just keep drawing crap until it becomes less crap?

 

[ScarletRider]

http://monstercutie.com/blog/

^ Some basic stuff. Try checking out Deviant Art as well. Heck, a simple google search, or better still, an afternoon spent at Barnes and Noble with a cup of coffee, sketchbook, and pencil would probably help more.

Try focusing on the basics at first, because, well, they're the basics. You can branch out into the fancy stuff from there. The important thing is to DRAW!!!!!

And never shoot from the hip, it's more accurate to AIM first.

Oh, and the hard pointy end goes on the paper. if it isn't pointy, sharpen it.

 

[Weaver]

http://monstercutie.com/blog/

^ Some basic stuff. Try checking out Deviant Art as well. Heck, a simple google search, or better still, an afternoon spent at Barnes and Noble with a cup of coffee, sketchbook, and pencil would probably help more.

Try focusing on the basics at first, because, well, they're the basics. You can branch out into the fancy stuff from there. The important thing is to DRAW!!!!!

And never shoot from the hip, it's more accurate to AIM first.

Oh, and the hard pointy end goes on the paper. if it isn't pointy, sharpen it.

Thanks for the help!

This might be a silly question but what are the basics I'm to start from? Circles, eggs, lines? I'll be reading through your link

 

[Dags90]

Thanks for the help!

This might be a silly question but what are the basics I'm to start from? Circles, eggs, lines? I'll be reading through your link

General shapes (think cubes, spheres, cylinders, etc.) and shading are good starting places, then moving on to light and shadows.

 

[ScarletRider]

Thanks for the help!

This might be a silly question but what are the basics I'm to start from? Circles, eggs, lines? I'll be reading through your link

Honestly? I have no idea! X_X I'm a writer, not an artist. But pick up any kind of basic figure drawing book and start from there. I believe ImagineFX specializes in the kind of art you're interested in (I may be wrong, but the magazines I've seen may attest to it), so looking through their website and signing up at their forums may help, though check out a news stand as well. http://www.imaginefx.com/

I would think starting with a pencil and paper would be best rather than diving right in with the tablet. But again, my specialty is writing, so take anything I say about the subject with a 1/4 cup of salt.

 

[dorkette1990]

Please don't go just digital - I've seen artists who start traditional and those who start digital, and by far, those with traditional training become better, faster.
To get good, draw from life - anything, even if you only do it digitally. Photographs lie because they have one lens, while humans have bifocal vision, which means we can distort and manipulate a flat medium to look three dimensional.
It's probably best that you don't start out with a predefined style, and let it develop. If you force yourself into a style and stand by it, your eventual "natural" style will try to assert itself - you'll burn yourself out by drawing what you aren't compelled to draw. That being said, if you actually want specific tutorials or have questions regarding the program, I just about know photoshop inside and out (I've done 3 2d games in photoshop as well as illustrated professionally and taken classes specifically for photoshop.)

 

[Weaver]

Thanks for the help!

This might be a silly question but what are the basics I'm to start from? Circles, eggs, lines? I'll be reading through your link

General shapes (think cubes, spheres, cylinders, etc.) and shading are good starting places, then moving on to light and shadows.

Thanks for the help!

This might be a silly question but what are the basics I'm to start from? Circles, eggs, lines? I'll be reading through your link

Honestly? I have no idea! X_X I'm a writer, not an artist. But pick up any kind of basic figure drawing book and start from there. I believe ImagineFX specializes in the kind of art you're interested in (I may be wrong, but the magazines I've seen may attest to it), so looking through their website and signing up at their forums may help, though check out a news stand as well. http://www.imaginefx.com/

I would think starting with a pencil and paper would be best rather than diving right in with the tablet. But again, my specialty is writing, so take anything I say about the subject with a 1/4 cup of salt.

Excellent! Thank you both so, so much!
Ironically I actually know quite a lot about shading and lighting as I paint models and additionally have a strong background in computer graphics engines, but I'll be damned if I could draw much of anything.

I think I'll start by basically grinding basic shapes until they aren't difficult to draw and my tools obey the image in my head.

 

[Weaver]

Please don't go just digital - I've seen artists who start traditional and those who start digital, and by far, those with traditional training become better, faster.
To get good, draw from life - anything, even if you only do it digitally. Photographs lie because they have one lens, while humans have bifocal vision, which means we can distort and manipulate a flat medium to look three dimensional.
It's probably best that you don't start out with a predefined style, and let it develop. If you force yourself into a style and stand by it, your eventual "natural" style will try to assert itself - you'll burn yourself out by drawing what you aren't compelled to draw. That being said, if you actually want specific tutorials or have questions regarding the program, I just about know photoshop inside and out (I've done 3 2d games in photoshop as well as illustrated professionally and taken classes specifically for photoshop.)

The real reason I'm going digital is because I have no money, and I'm not just exaggerating; I have about $60 in the bank. A $10 sketchbook is a massive hit for me. I'm trying to find a job and have a few interviews lined up but figured I'd use my free time to start trying to learn to draw as it's something that's I've always wanted to do and always amazed me.

 

[SimuLord]

1987, Greenwood Elementary:

I'm in fourth grade, in art class, and I draw some pictures. Some time later, my mother gets a letter from the art teacher, who suggested that she get me tested for cognitive ability because "your son shows signs consistent with mental retardation."

My mom flipped her shit. The art teacher found himself out of a job. And my tard-tastic lack of art talent continued apace---I still cannot even draw stick figures well enough to rip off XKCD.

 

[kouriichi]

When it comes to living creatures, one thing you can always remember is symmetry.
Living creatures, at there core are symmetrical beings. The left side, and right side should always be equal.

Monster, creatures, robots, cyborgs, and the undead are exceptions to this rule. Why are Zombies so "evil" looking? Because theres no order to them. They rot randomly, theyer clothes are torn, uneven, or bloody, they have a hobble or hunch, they may be missing limbs.
When it comes to anything non-normal, symmetry is to be avoided.

So when you start off, using the shapes you need, make sure all your shapes are equal to theyer opposite. Even if your drawing a cyborg, who's right eye is going to be replaced with a robotic one, you still need to sketch both eye, and make them equal.

When i start off drawing, i always do the base figure, similar to the drawing da vinci did, the Vitruvian Man ((the nude guy whos spread eagle)). It lets make sure everything is even, and everything looks nice. From there you can add clothing, augmentations, weapons, or missing limbs. This is your "Character Sheet". You will list possible colors, likes, dislikes, moods, and backstory. You can always look back, or even change this later on when you get better ideas.

Once you have that down, you can move onto your real drawing. Because you know how you want your character to look, and you have a referance, doing your base sketch ((poses and enviroment)) is much easyer, because you can always look back at your character sheet.

Hope this helped alittle

 

[Weaver]

When it comes to living creatures, one thing you can always remember is symmetry.
Living creatures, at there core are symmetrical beings. The left side, and right side should always be equal.

Monster, creatures, robots, cyborgs, and the undead are exceptions to this rule. Why are Zombies so "evil" looking? Because theres no order to them. They rot randomly, theyer clothes are torn, uneven, or bloody, they have a hobble or hunch, they may be missing limbs.
When it comes to anything non-normal, symmetry is to be avoided.

So when you start off, using the shapes you need, make sure all your shapes are equal to theyer opposite. Even if your drawing a cyborg, who's right eye is going to be replaced with a robotic one, you still need to sketch both eye, and make them equal.

When i start off drawing, i always do the base figure, similar to the drawing da vinci did, the Vitruvian Man ((the nude guy whos spread eagle)). It lets make sure everything is even, and everything looks nice. From there you can add clothing, augmentations, weapons, or missing limbs. This is your "Character Sheet". You will list possible colors, likes, dislikes, moods, and backstory. You can always look back, or even change this later on when you get better ideas.

Once you have that down, you can move onto your real drawing. Because you know how you want your character to look, and you have a referance, doing your base sketch ((poses and enviroment)) is much easyer, because you can always look back at your character sheet.

Hope this helped alittle

Indeed it did! Getting insight into the process people go through to create works is very helpful to me as I don't really know the process involved

 

[kouriichi]

When it comes to living creatures, one thing you can always remember is symmetry.
Living creatures, at there core are symmetrical beings. The left side, and right side should always be equal.

Monster, creatures, robots, cyborgs, and the undead are exceptions to this rule. Why are Zombies so "evil" looking? Because theres no order to them. They rot randomly, theyer clothes are torn, uneven, or bloody, they have a hobble or hunch, they may be missing limbs.
When it comes to anything non-normal, symmetry is to be avoided.

So when you start off, using the shapes you need, make sure all your shapes are equal to theyer opposite. Even if your drawing a cyborg, who's right eye is going to be replaced with a robotic one, you still need to sketch both eye, and make them equal.

When i start off drawing, i always do the base figure, similar to the drawing da vinci did, the Vitruvian Man ((the nude guy whos spread eagle)). It lets make sure everything is even, and everything looks nice. From there you can add clothing, augmentations, weapons, or missing limbs. This is your "Character Sheet". You will list possible colors, likes, dislikes, moods, and backstory. You can always look back, or even change this later on when you get better ideas.

Once you have that down, you can move onto your real drawing. Because you know how you want your character to look, and you have a referance, doing your base sketch ((poses and enviroment)) is much easyer, because you can always look back at your character sheet.

Hope this helped alittle

Indeed it did! Getting insight into the process people go through to create works is very helpful to me as I don't really know the process involved

It takes alittle more work, but the end result is much better.
You can even cheat alittle ((not really cheating, but playing safe)), and scan your base sketches of your character sheets onto your computer, and print a few off.
This way you can toy around with outfits, armors, augmentations and weapons to see what fits best.

 

[jasikamarshel]

beginner's drawing lessons from how to hold a pencil through to perspective and pencil shading, through to portraiture and figure drawing,Keeping a sketchbook is considered essential by most artists, for many reasons,A sketchbook allows you to track your progress, develop the drawing-from-life habit, and keep all your visual ideas in one place.

 

[NLS]

Visit your local library
Try to learn some of the basics behind shadowing techniques, where to put shadows, and how to do them. Also, look at whatever object is in front of you, draw the basic outline and try to "measure" it by dividing it into segments ("that lower part is half the height of the upper part, that detail is 1/3rd into the object from the right and is aligned with the other part(...)).
And one more thing, just draw. Whenever you can, whatever you want. This has been my main problem with drawing, as I rarely have time to practice it outside a classroom (where I obviously should be doing other things, like writing notes or paying attention).

 

[SimuLord]

You can do amazing things with tracing. Just ask Todd Goldman (the fucker).

 

[SimuLord]

You can do amazing things with tracing. Just ask Todd Goldman (the fucker).

Yes, but he didn't even attempt to put his own artistic impression on it (unless you count thickening lines)

I still think Shmorky let him off WAY too easy. He could've sued Goldman for a metric fuckton of money and a partridge in a pear tree.

 

[Pegghead]

Okay, well while I'm not all that good at drawing I've got friends who've done amazing works. Trye these steps:

Spoiler: Step 1: Draw this

Spoiler: Step 2: Now with that knowledge draw this

Spoiler: step 3: Now with a bit of effort try to draw this

MWUHUHAHAHA!

But in all seriousness I'm sure there'd be some kind of free (or relatively cheap anyway) class you could take at a community college or school of arts on weekends or one day of the week.

Really just try to picture what you want to draw and just try to get it down on paper again and again and again and eventually while you may not get it you will have realized what works and what doesn't for YOU as an artist.

 

[kouriichi]

Okay, well while I'm not all that good at drawing I've got friends who've done amazing works. Trye these steps:

Spoiler: Step 1: Draw this

Spoiler: Step 2: Now with that knowledge draw this

Spoiler: step 3: Now with a bit of effort try to draw this

MWUHUHAHAHA!

But in all seriousness I'm sure there'd be some kind of free (or relatively cheap anyway) class you could take at a community college or school of arts on weekends or one day of the week.

Really just try to picture what you want to draw and just try to get it down on paper again and again and again and eventually while you may not get it you will have realized what works and what doesn't for YOU as an artist.

I could totally turn those shapes into the Mona Lisa. ((or something resembling she anyway))

But hes right. "guadagni di persistenza ricompensano". Persistence gains reward. I think Sun Tzu wrote that.

 

[ironduke88]

I know you cant afford a course, but going to a couple of life drawing sessions should be cheaper. I work in a group where we rotate life models amoung us and when we are not modelling we get to go to classes for free. The people taking the classes are always talented artist ready to help you develop your own style. The human form is probably the hardest thing you will have to draw (although some people find animals harder), but it is a great place to start.

 

[Keepitclean]

1987, Greenwood Elementary:

I'm in fourth grade, in art class, and I draw some pictures. Some time later, my mother gets a letter from the art teacher, who suggested that she get me tested for cognitive ability because "your son shows signs consistent with mental retardation."

My mom flipped her shit. The art teacher found himself out of a job. And my tard-tastic lack of art talent continued apace---I still cannot even draw stick figures well enough to rip off XKCD.

Wow, whether that is true or not that is one cool story bro. Did you end up going for the test?