Terrible at Art

[Smithburg]

practicepracticepracticepracticepractice and more practice.

But, heres some sights with a few pointers:

http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/images/drawingstuff.jpg

http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/images/abref.jpg

http://drawsketch.about.com/od/humananatomy/ig/Human-Anatomy-Reference-Photos/

 

[smithy_2045]

Just like everything else in life, to get better, you need to practice.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Nobody can really teach you how to draw, unless you want to sketch still lifes.

If you have a natural talent for doodling, all a teacher can do is help you focus on the talent you already have.

So all I can say is, draw in a way that comes natural to you.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

Practice practice practice. I can't stress that enough. If you're not very good at drawing something, google it and practice drawing it a lot. I'd even suggest flat out copying other people's art just for more practice and so you know what the final product is suppose to look like but it's up to you. Here are a couple of quick and dirty scans of a few things I sketched after about 2 years of teaching myself (mostly) how to draw. Granted I haven't been spending as much of time practicing/drawing as you're probably going to. Not sure if that should make you feel better but don't let anyone discourage you from trying. Oh and practice (did I mention that) a lot. Literally until you get sick of the thing you are practice drawing.

Spoiler

Yeah, I've still got no depth... or color... or background... but hey, you should've seen the crap I was proud of a year ago.

 

[The Funslinger]

Don't let those discourage you with 'it's just a natural talent'.

I can assure you that drawing is a very hard skill, regardless of natural inclination or not. Natural inclination makes it easier but the most important part is being patient.

I have fairly decent art skills, no master or anything, but I'd be willing to show you around the ropes. (Around 10 years of being self-taught)

Spoiler: proof of talent

Spoiler: proof of talent #2

Those are pretty amazing.

Would I be right in saying the best way to learn it without help is just to work your drawings by adding more and more layers of detail? Start with basic shape and gradually define it as you go?

 

[Johndo]

this is very useful information, but what about things that don't exist like an original character?

Original characters are still based upon what you've already seen or done. You can always look back on an artist and see where things come from. Everyone believes it comes out of nowhere because they never spend the time looking at the artist's past work.

What you do is fill your brain with various subject matters or what you are interested in. If you like drawing mechs, look at all the mechs out their, draw them and keep it in your brain. Than just draw out of your head and you'll start piecing out things that you like and it will be your own original. Even though it's an amalgamation of your past. Throw in some other variables that don't quite relate and you'll get more originality. And that's how it works.

 

[Johndo]

Thanks guys. I'm going to bookmark this thread so I could watch the videos you've sent me. But, is there anyone here who would be willing to teach me this over skype? I have eastern time, with day light savings on. Lucen seems to have time zone difficulties or something, and I haven't heard back from him about this yet. So is there anyone else here who does pencil drawings, and is willing to teach me this over skype (for free)?

What exactly do you want to learn? Basic's as in how to shade? Perspective drawing? Only the advanced stuff would require some helping hand. Other stuff, it's all about regurgitating from what you see. You train your eyes and hands to communicate each other.

Shading is easy. All you do is draw exactly what you see and observe if your drawing is exactly like the source image. A few tips is understand black and white with what your pencil, pen, etc. can do. Than understand how to create a gradient between those two. If you can stretch out a large gradient, than you got good control. Once you got this, your drawings will vastly improve. This type of learning process is really all you need for drawing.

Put this type of learning into perspective or whatever. Know that you ARE copying something. Draw something and see if it looks just like the source. Once you got it down, you can move on to other stuff. That's it, just build and build. Learn to handle your strokes, your shading, your colors. If you want to draw like Disney characters, you learn to draw so that your lines are clean.

Remember, small steps. Don't try to tackle drawing a whole human or character. Just focus on one thing at a time.

 

[Appleshampoo]

http://www.drawspace.com/lessons/

A great website I found that has tons of lessons to take you from a beginner right up to someone who can draw!

 

[gazumped]

Have you tried just Googling 'drawing techniques'? Or searching for it in YouTube? there's a lot of free tutorials out there.

But yeah, like most people say, practice makes perfect.

If you're wanting to draw things from your mind, you need to learn how to draw the real things that they're based on. You want to draw your own characters? Practice drawing people, people sitting in the park or standing at the bus stop, people in their underwear on the internet, skinny people, fat people, women, men, people with straight hair, curly hair. Once you know how bodies work and how clothes fit, applying that to an imaginary person is much easier.

When I draw characters I still tend to get people of a similar build to pose for me and then I just fit the new skin around that structure.

If you want to draw imaginary creatures or worlds, again, draw animals, learn how they fit together and how their fur or scales hug their bodies. Draw your environment, draw plants, notice what details they have that make them look particularly plant-like.

If you're really really new to drawing, starting out by tracing photographs can be handy because it forces you to really consider every detail, which you might miss when you're trying to transfer what you're seeing over there onto a blank page in front of you.

PS: Yes I know that this skill is one of those you have to be born with (the creative part at least)

I don't say this often but lolwut

I can't think of any part of art that a person can't pick up after being around it for enough time. Colour, composition, technique, I didn't have any of it before I started art school. It's all a matter of being exposed to it, look at other artist's work, go to exhibitions, watch videos which analyse famous art works, things will start to make sense without you even trying to learn.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Best quote about drawing I've ever heard was
"drawing is 90% looking, 10% drawing"

You have to really study what your drawing (I mean look at it) you'd be surprised how many people think they know what a hand looks like, than try to draw it and it ends up looking horrible. Stare at your stuff more than you actually draw it, step back and look at the subject, look at your drawing, rinse and repeat.

Also like everyone else says, practice makes perfect. You have to draw A LOT. Try to draw at least a few things everyday.

If your drawing concept art (aka making up creatures, ext) those are still based on real life things.
Ex: Western dragons are built a lot like a mix of a big cat, a reptile and bats or birds (the wings) so you should be familiar with drawing those things if you wish to draw a western dragon.

I find tools like this help
http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php

And last, if you want to see my stuff.
My DA page: http://eclpsedragon.deviantart.com/gallery/6995753

My website: www.ashart.org

 

[Noswad]

And here's something I drew in 2003 at 21, lol.

Spoiler

I hope your ashamed of youself.

 

[i don't know]

And here's something I drew in 2003 at 21, lol.

Spoiler

I hope your ashamed of youself.

Thank you for trying to get us sidetracked, and insulting another Escapist, that was really necessary and helpful.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

The original topic was to find out if anyone was willing to teach me how to draw over Skype. I WILL use the websites given, but I tend to make a ton of stupid mistakes and believe that I would work best if my work was supervised by someone who could tell me what I'm doing wrong.
One last time, is there anyone willing to teach me this over Skype?

 

[Johndo]

And here's something I drew in 2003 at 21, lol.

Spoiler

I hope your ashamed of youself.

Thank you for trying to get us sidetracked, and insulting another Escapist, that was really necessary and helpful.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

The original topic was to find out if anyone was willing to teach me how to draw over Skype. I WILL use the websites given, but I tend to make a ton of stupid mistakes and believe that I would work best if my work was supervised by someone who could tell me what I'm doing wrong.
One last time, is there anyone willing to teach me this over Skype?

Skype is a lot of time on someone else to do for you. It will be mostly waiting on you drawing and than a few mins of feedback. If you can search for drawing forums where you can post your drawings and get critiques, you should be able to have plenty of feedback. Actually, try deviantart.

But if you find someone to do Skype than good for you.

 

[Chemical Alia]

And here's something I drew in 2003 at 21, lol.

Spoiler

I hope your ashamed of youself.

Thank you for trying to get us sidetracked, and insulting another Escapist, that was really necessary and helpful.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

The original topic was to find out if anyone was willing to teach me how to draw over Skype. I WILL use the websites given, but I tend to make a ton of stupid mistakes and believe that I would work best if my work was supervised by someone who could tell me what I'm doing wrong.
One last time, is there anyone willing to teach me this over Skype?

Skype is a lot of time on someone else to do for you. It will be mostly waiting on you drawing and than a few mins of feedback. If you can search for drawing forums where you can post your drawings and get critiques, you should be able to have plenty of feedback. Actually, try deviantart.

But if you find someone to do Skype than good for you.

Yeah, what Johndo said. "Drawing lessons" aren't really done that way, and outside of a class environment, someone would have to do a lot of sitting around and waiting for you to draw in order to critique. On the internet, art forums with critique sections are a much better way to request feedback, advice and improvement suggestions from other artists. Sites like conceptart.org and even deviantart with its critique requesting feature are going to be the most helpful. Redlines and draw-overs are infinitely more helpful than having someone stand over your shoulder and tell you what you're doing wrong in real time.