Newbie Drawing

[Mikleo]

Hm, I just browsed through this Art Category and saw a bunch of awesome drawings/sketches/colorings.


I'm quite a newbie in drawing actually. I mean, sure, when I was a kid, I had drawn plenty of stick figures (you could say I'm naturally not talented like some people). Drawing or Coloring never seemed to interest me that much. But now that I'm making a semi visual novel / semi rpg kind of game that has quite a heavy story, and need a lot of cutscenes, I was kinda forced to learn how to draw and color.


And yes, my drawings kinda suck. I can't even draw a person without resorting to 3D Puppet Models via Clip Studio Paint, LMFAO!~


This is one of my drawings:



View attachment Izar.jpg





The left hand is a little awkward since I just can't get how to draw a hand the right way. Actually, the whole drawing, especially, the head part is kinda awkward. (even though I used puppet models  )


The coloring is waaay off, I just tumbled around while coloring this thing.


And the background?


Well, it's not intentional. Again, I tumbled around while coloring this thing, and accidentally created the background while I'm using the paint bucket thingy.


I want to ask... did anyone here who was not talented at drawing (like I am), but actually improved and made epic ones like the drawings seen in animes or commercial visual novels to be exact?


How did you learn how to draw? Do I need to practice via Hand Sketch first? Or is it ok to continue drawing via Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint? Most importantly, how did you learn how to Color? I really want to learn, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cekobico]

-wall of text incoming-


I think I drew the worst back then in college (Graphic Design major) in the Drawing class. My anatomy is sooooo horribly skewed due to years of drawing anime since I was a kid. 


2009: During my early college years, I drew this one for my first VX game promo poster thingy. I drew it on a paper, scanned it, and then color it with a mouse in Photoshop lel. You can't really tell how screwed their anatomy is due to the cropping though but this is the only one I could find in my HD from that period of time. 


2010: Then college taught me to draw realistically, and I managed to save up for a Wacom Bamboo Fun (discontinued now, cheapest product they sell) to learn digital painting properly. I tried to do trace over an actual photograph and try to learn the fundamentals in realism drawing. This was one of the early practice of that method, and it took quite a hell lot of self-portraits (and portraits of my willing friends who don't mind being drawn horribly for the sake of learning lol) until I get the hang of it.


2011: I've reached a point where I took a naked guy/girl stock photo from dA, trace it in Adobe Illustrator, and then draw shapes of clothing/hair on top of it; then I export it into PSD where I color it in Photoshop; this was the point where I learn and enjoy character design. This was the result of one of those experiments.  


2012 - 2014, 1 & 2: Then I took a 3 years break in painting, and began learning 3D modeling and painting. I thought before going back to VX I should try to develop some characters and story and that was somewhat incorporated into my learning process. The game Batavica remain concept for now, while Celestial Children is rebooted into a game with a different title that I'm making right now in MV. 


Late 2014 - 2015: I began playing a Japanese smartphone game called Brave Frontier and I saw a lot of amazing fan arts from Pixiv and Twitter. I was inspired to draw fanarts too from the game. So, I began to try, for the first time since 2009, to draw without tracing a photograph, letting my hand does the work naturally. This was one of the art from that phase of learning. I also discovered PaintTool Sai and the pen-stabilizer thingy that can somewhat make your brush strokes 'smoother'. In the midst of learning, I try to re-incorporate the realism I learned few years back, and come up with this one and this one (The rest of my art was too NSFW to be posted here xD). 


2015-2016: I feel like my art were borderline too realistic, so I try to incorporate more anime as I feel it is faster to draw and shade xD 


I kinda went back to my 2009 style but with a more...educated touch? I guess. Hahaha. This was one of the attempts, and I stick with it up until now I create the current concept art for my game. It also affected the way I do 3D too, here's his 3D sprite, though this one is the more current one as I have changed his outfit (and the game title, which I probably gonna change again lol)


---


So yeah, 7 years of journey in the art field; took years for me to improve but then again back then there wasn't a lot of tutorials and youtube videos floating around. 


But yeah, eventhough you're going for the anime-style of drawing, you want to at least brush up on the basics like anatomy, lighting; I was naive and didn't know that could speed up my learning process once you get the hang of not-tracing things around off a 3D program. Hand is still the hardest anatomy for me to master. I,...ironically, still cheat it with 3D and just trace it xD Numerous people told me to buy a thin sketchbook (with like 15 pages for kindergarten kids) and draw hands until you fill all of those pages with thousands of hands on different angles. You can also do that trick with face/eyes/other anatomy parts, but I have 0 patience nowadays (which is also why I learned 3D lol). 


Once you master the fundamentals, any software is fine for you to use; just use the one you enjoy with because let's not add even more learning curve to your drawing process. I do believe myself that Paint Tool Sai strips all the complexity of Photoshop and lets you get the one you need the most (while preventing you to use filters/circle/etc so you are 'semi-forced' to learn how to recreate it yourself). 


Learning how to color, is a bit of a difference. Color is deeper than meets they eye, you'd want to learn about lighting while you're at it. As like...you will find that if you not use a darker shade of a skin color to color the shadowed area of a skin, your drawing will look much more pleasing. Look at this one, if you don't get what I'm saying. 


Now, if you're to ask how to shade, I've seen/tried/experimented with a lot of tutorials on youtube and dA and pixiv on how to shade, but this way is the way to shade that I enjoy the most as I feel it's faster imo. 


I'm sorry if this reply seems too long I'm aware sometimes I can talk too much >_< but I hope I answered everything you wanted to know. If you still have anymore questions, let me know

 

[Mikleo]

-wall of text incoming-


I think I drew the worst back then in college (Graphic Design major) in the Drawing class. My anatomy is sooooo horribly skewed due to years of drawing anime since I was a kid. 


2009: During my early college years, I drew this one for my first VX game promo poster thingy. I drew it on a paper, scanned it, and then color it with a mouse in Photoshop lel. You can't really tell how screwed their anatomy is due to the cropping though but this is the only one I could find in my HD from that period of time. 


2010: Then college taught me to draw realistically, and I managed to save up for a Wacom Bamboo Fun (discontinued now, cheapest product they sell) to learn digital painting properly. I tried to do trace over an actual photograph and try to learn the fundamentals in realism drawing. This was one of the early practice of that method, and it took quite a hell lot of self-portraits (and portraits of my willing friends who don't mind being drawn horribly for the sake of learning lol) until I get the hang of it.


2011: I've reached a point where I took a naked guy/girl stock photo from dA, trace it in Adobe Illustrator, and then draw shapes of clothing/hair on top of it; then I export it into PSD where I color it in Photoshop; this was the point where I learn and enjoy character design. This was the result of one of those experiments.  


2012 - 2014, 1 & 2: Then I took a 3 years break in painting, and began learning 3D modeling and painting. I thought before going back to VX I should try to develop some characters and story and that was somewhat incorporated into my learning process. The game Batavica remain concept for now, while Celestial Children is rebooted into a game with a different title that I'm making right now in MV. 


Late 2014 - 2015: I began playing a Japanese smartphone game called Brave Frontier and I saw a lot of amazing fan arts from Pixiv and Twitter. I was inspired to draw fanarts too from the game. So, I began to try, for the first time since 2009, to draw without tracing a photograph, letting my hand does the work naturally. This was one of the art from that phase of learning. I also discovered PaintTool Sai and the pen-stabilizer thingy that can somewhat make your brush strokes 'smoother'. In the midst of learning, I try to re-incorporate the realism I learned few years back, and come up with this one and this one (The rest of my art was too NSFW to be posted here xD). 


2015-2016: I feel like my art were borderline too realistic, so I try to incorporate more anime as I feel it is faster to draw and shade xD 


I kinda went back to my 2009 style but with a more...educated touch? I guess. Hahaha. This was one of the attempts, and I stick with it up until now I create the current concept art for my game. It also affected the way I do 3D too, here's his 3D sprite, though this one is the more current one as I have changed his outfit (and the game title, which I probably gonna change again lol)


---


So yeah, 7 years of journey in the art field; took years for me to improve but then again back then there wasn't a lot of tutorials and youtube videos floating around. 


But yeah, eventhough you're going for the anime-style of drawing, you want to at least brush up on the basics like anatomy, lighting; I was naive and didn't know that could speed up my learning process once you get the hang of not-tracing things around off a 3D program. Hand is still the hardest anatomy for me to master. I,...ironically, still cheat it with 3D and just trace it xD Numerous people told me to buy a thin sketchbook (with like 15 pages for kindergarten kids) and draw hands until you fill all of those pages with thousands of hands on different angles. You can also do that trick with face/eyes/other anatomy parts, but I have 0 patience nowadays (which is also why I learned 3D lol). 


Once you master the fundamentals, any software is fine for you to use; just use the one you enjoy with because let's not add even more learning curve to your drawing process. I do believe myself that Paint Tool Sai strips all the complexity of Photoshop and lets you get the one you need the most (while preventing you to use filters/circle/etc so you are 'semi-forced' to learn how to recreate it yourself). 


Learning how to color, is a bit of a difference. Color is deeper than meets they eye, you'd want to learn about lighting while you're at it. As like...you will find that if you not use a darker shade of a skin color to color the shadowed area of a skin, your drawing will look much more pleasing. Look at this one, if you don't get what I'm saying. 


Now, if you're to ask how to shade, I've seen/tried/experimented with a lot of tutorials on youtube and dA and pixiv on how to shade, but this way is the way to shade that I enjoy the most as I feel it's faster imo. 


I'm sorry if this reply seems too long I'm aware sometimes I can talk too much >_< but I hope I answered everything you wanted to know. If you still have anymore questions, let me know

Thanks for the advice! and yes, my character has a pale skin (It's part of the plot in the game I'm making), so I guess I'm afraid of making him darker than his original skin tone, I really should change that if I want a more realistic shadows placed in. Well, as realistic as an anime drawing is. 


Shadowing and Blending is the main reason why I find coloring very difficult. I have to experiment some more.


My hand sketch is awful, but I do agree that I really should practice drawing in a real paper. Especially, Eyes and Hands.

 

[Pretzelbox]

*cue another wall of text* 


Here's what I used to draw like in middle school. Here's what I draw like now (six years later, lol). 


I've been drawing since middle school (that's what, six or seven years as well?), and in my experience the advice the cekobico posted is sound. The greatest thing about being a beginner is that you have the experiences of other people to draw off of, as well as their recommendations and discoveries. This kind of accumulated knowledge is really nice to have, especially since you're actively asking for help and/or critique!



That being said, I have a few things to suggest/add onto what cekobico said, based on my experiences.


First: Knowing the basics is going to save you a LOT of pain in the future. 


I went into drawing without a very solid grasp of the basics and it's kicking me in the butt right now. I'm pretty lazy with my own art, my technique is sloppy, and there are about a thousand things that I really really need to improve on. 


So what can you do? Draw, draw, draw, and draw. Draw the things around you, draw your cat, draw your dog, draw the neighbor across the street, draw your classmates. Seriously, do it! When you draw a ton of things, your visual library expands like crazy. If you have trouble with something, spend half an hour or so really looking at what you have trouble with and drawing it. You'll be able to draw them easily in no time. 


If you can, try taking a beginning drawing class at your community college, or a local equivalent. It's not totally necessary, but it encourages you to work on longer projects and, depending on the instructor, can help you learn how to see the relationships objects have with light, shadow, and space. 


Second: Look at other artists, but don't compare yourself to them. 


This is something I've had a huge issue with, and still do. 


Comparing yourself to another artist can be a valuable tool in gauging your progress relative to the art world as a whole. A realistic view of your abilities is important, since it lets you know what you're good at and what you're not quite as good at. But the problem with comparing yourself comes when you look at an amazing picture and you go, "Man, why can't I draw like that?" Thoughts like that... down that way lies madness. Well, not madness, but certainly self esteem issues and frustration with your art.


Instead, try to learn from the picture. Think, "How did they get that effect? What kinds of techniques did they use? What's this object's relationship with the other things in this picture?", et cetera.  Low self esteem is really sucky to have, especially when you draw -- you lose a ton of motivation and you eventually lock yourself into working with what you're comfortable with, rather than pushing yourself to try new things. Some people improve quicker than most, or think differently than most people, but that doesn't mean you have to be. Everyone has unique abilities and ideas, and we all bring different things to the table. Art is hard work, it'll take some time to improve - Rome wasn't built in a day, you know! Patience pays off.


Besides, even if you aren't where you thought you'd be five or six years down the line, that doesn't matter. Chances are, what you wanted five years ago isn't the same as what you want to be now. :^) 


Third: Use references. Use references! Use! References!!


References are probably the best thing ever, and there's this weird misconception that I subscribed to for a significant portion of my artistic life so far. I thought that using references wasn't the mark of a true artist, and that REAL artists could draw without references.


Maaan, was I wrong. 


References make your art at least two times better because you're drawing/coloring from reality, not erroneously making things up in your head. People are attracted to things that have a basis in real life -- trust me when I say that references will be useful. Making a habit of gathering references, or looking at similar objects before you start your drawing project will help a lot. 


Fourth: Keep everything you draw! 


If you're serious about drawing you are going to be generating a lot of art. It's quite likely that most of it will be, to your eyes, not that good. And since it's not good, you might want to throw it away.


Don't! Keep what you draw! Collecting all your art and then looking back on it at the end of the year is a very helpful tool to pinpoint problem areas and consciously work on certain things. Even if it sucks, keep it. 



Additionally, the thing about drawing is that you are going to make a lot more bad drawings than good drawings. Don't sit down with the intent to draw something amazing, because you'll be under a lot of internal pressure to make something great. Instead, sit down and draw. Happy accidents, a la Bob Ross, will happen! 


Some exercises to help you improve your drawing skills:


Figure drawing: This is where you learn anatomy, kind of through trial by fire. Figure drawing is nice because it encourages quick, confident strokes, and forces you to draw what you see, not what you know. Sites like pixelovely or Cafe Croquis are great, free resources for figure drawing. Do a few a day, and you'll see yourself improve. It's hard from the start, though. Some tips - don't erase, use pen, and don't think about anything else!


Photo studies: These don't need to be very good, or very refined - the object of this lesson is to draw what colors are there, and train your eyes to recognize what kinds of colors there are. Some good things to try are: Forests, bodies of water, shiny objects (like metal bottles or candlesticks). 


Thumbnailing: Thumbnailing a picture really helps with regards to setting up a nice looking composition, and is pretty much vital for painting or drawing landscapes. 


Contour line drawings: Contour drawing is taught at almost any higher-level intro art class. Why? Contour drawing forces you to really observe, and doesn't let you try and fix your mistakes. Contour is essentially trying to draw an object in one line, or as few lines as possible. Try doing this while looking at your non-dominant hand. 


-- 


That was a lot of text. Sorry if I sounded too lecture-y! I'm really glad that you're drawing. I hope you stick with it! 

 

[Mikleo]

That was a lot of text. Sorry if I sounded too lecture-y! I'm really glad that you're drawing. I hope you stick with it! 

I love lectures! Thank you for the advice!

I checked out the sites, and plan on learning using them. Yes, I should review the basics, I'm in the medical field (still at school) so I studied Anatomy but my drawing sucks whenever the professor gives us a drawing assigment, LMFAO!~


Yes, I admit I have that slight inferiority complex because I just have to compare myself to other awesome artists. I know that it's wrong for me to do that, and I just subconsciously do that. I resolve myself to stop that way of thinking, I will definitely follow your advice and stop doing that.


The use of references, wow, I thought that was kinda like cheating as I do that with 3D models or by looking at other pictures or fanarts, but I guess not? I admit that I can't draw without the use of this so-called references, because my creative side is like down the ground - no, even deeper than the ground. Again, I really should follow your exercise by drawing everything around me, especially people doing different kinds of things.


I always throw away my hand sketch drawings, but ok, I'll keep some of them, just so I can look back at it to see if I improved or not.


Anyways, again, thank you guys. I really needed that advice.

 

[cekobico]

It depends on what kind of style you're going for. 


Most artists I know will use references for that realism approach, this is very true especially with buildings and environment art. 


However, if you wanna go the Anime route, you take the references in a different approach. If you follow references head-to-toe, you will definitely loose all those anime qualities in your drawing (thin limbs, big eyes, head-to-body ratio, etc). 


Anime illustrator still use references, but they more use it for poses. Is it possible for body to bend that way? They will look at references and adapt their chara to fit that pose they're referencing off, so there is a need for the artist to 'get the feel' of their anime character's anatomy and how it'd compare to real human body. You can't break the rules, without knowing what the rules are

 

[Pretzelbox]

Anyways, again, thank you guys. I really needed that advice.

No problem at all!! I hope this was helpful. Don't stress about changing your way of thinking -- it's hard to do that. Instead, just encourage yourself/ try to think more positively :^) 


I have that problem myself, so I get what you're going through. 

 

[eadgear]

Actually don't be shy that you were using models in drawing. Most of the skilled artist go through in that phase and even until now they're still using models but for complex poses. I've notice that you are not quite familiar with the tools of the software you are using. Let me know if any of these terms are you familiar with:


Multiply layer


Mask layer


Clipping


Pressure sensitivity


Stroke correction/stabilizer


Pressure correction/stabilizer


Special Brushes


Brush density


Opacity


When I saw your drawing I remember a friend of mine. You have exactly the same artwork. I taught her, I told her that there's no problem with her lineart, only the coloring. She didn't believe at first, so I took her drawing and I color it in my way. Now she believes and me and improved her skills.