TRIDIUM's Embarrassing Art Endeavors

[alice_gristle]

Hey sweetie, so glad you're makin' forays into art! I really can't recommend Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain enough. It won't immediately help ya if ya want to develop a manga drawin' style, but it will totally help wid basics, like usin' yo eyes, checkin' proportions, usin' negative space, perspective, shading, etc.

Imma cheer you on anyway! Haven't got anythin' more constructive to say atm tho.

 

[TRIDIUM]

Thanks!
Drawin' hair just kinda breaks something in my mind, for some reason, so I've been sticking with short bobs for now.
I was very happy with that evil grin, @TESTOSTERONE, and then very disappointed that I couldn't draw a terrified victim. Just the way it goes, I guess
Edit
Thanks for the suggestion, Alice!
(Sorry, I'm a slow typer)

 

[alice_gristle]

If you study how folks draw hair, esp. in manga style, you notice that hair actually goes onto heads in blocks. Like, don't think of it as a mass of individual hairs (which is what it really is), but more like... I dunno... wavy Tetris blocks maybe. Sorry, I cud explain this better wid pictures, but maybe you get the idea? Or not!

 

[TRIDIUM]

Ooh, that does help!
All the tutorials I found were like "Okay, so first we start with base and than....drawthislinehereandaddshadingandaccentsandmakesuretomakeitlooknaturalthenjustdrawthehair done!

 

[TRIDIUM]

Okay! This first one is a trainwreck. At first, when I messed up the base, I was like, "Oh, cool, kinda 3/4 view" Yeah, my brain did not agree. There are at least three different angles goin' on there.
Second one.
"I drew hands. See? No, see? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Need to work on my anatomy a little

 

[TheAM-Dol]

Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Some edition of it is available on Archive.org! I don't plan to do art. It's not very fulfilling to me, but I definitely want to glance through this book so I can direct my artist more clearly! Thanks!

And thank you Tridium, your post indirectly helped me.

 

[alice_gristle]

@TheAM-Dol hey wow, for real? Betty Edwards for erryone then! And yes, it's got a few basic concepts explained nicely! (I seem to recall it's better to skip the early parts where she's yammerin' on about brains, but it's been a while, so...)

 

[TESTOSTERONE]

"HANDS" made me laugh. Those are hard to draw.
I'm not sure how I feel about those long eyeballs.
I would make the eyes wider and bigger so the eyeballs don't look so thin and long.
And hair more poofy and not as line-defined.

 

[TRIDIUM]

Thanks for fixing my picture, @TESTOSTERONE!
Yeah, eyes are not my strong suit.
Eye? Yes, I can draw eye. But not eyes

 

[TESTOSTERONE]

Thanks for being a good sport about it, since some folks hate it when their stuff is "fixed" for them.

I wasn't trying to fix it, I was trying to show how your base is already there and if you work on eyes and hair, it can make a difference.

Lol, same, one eye is fine... but two eyes AND symmetric? eeeeeeeeehrrrrr.

 

[TRIDIUM]

New character ideas:
Woman with eyepatch
Man with blindfold
Superhero: The Eyeless Wonder!

 

[gstv87]

@TRIDIUM anime style is pretty standarized, despite it's many variations.
try unifying every character feature you see under a specific name, and learn to draw *that specific part*
*the style* will come from you mastering each individual part.

likewise, towards the other end of the path, get rid of all specificity and try structuring a face by features alone.
think of it as putting together the building out of looking at the architect's design.... get rid of the window frames, you're left with holed out walls... take the walls out, you're left with the concrete frame... take the concrete out, you get the rebar mesh.
from that mesh, the worker doesn't know if this or that column will mark a kitchen or a bathroom... that's defined by the walls... and that's 3 steps beyond the mesh.

additionally, you can just ask Theo here.
I'm sure he can give you the first-hand testimony of the journey.

 

[TheoAllen]

Not a bad start. The first time I tried to draw a human was more horror than this.

What I did though, was I spent more than half of my book (not even a drawing book, the one you write notes on it) copying random figures from Naruto manga. It wasn't tracing/carbon copying, but comparing between mine and the manga.

After I finished that exercise, how I drew face shapes, eyes, etc., slightly got better and my art style began to form.

 

[TRIDIUM]

Hm, maybe I should try that. Quite a few people have suggested it.

 

[TheAM-Dol]

yammerin' on about brains

That's my favorite part! I read a lot of books about psychology (especially when it comes to the psychology of learning ) So maybe the first half I'll read thoroughly and then skim the rest since I'm not looking to be an artist. Just want a deeper understanding than "That line looks really pretty."

Edit:
Sorry, not to hijack the thread.

Keep at it Trid!

 

[TRIDIUM]

I tried to do my first waist up drawing...didn't go so well.

 

[TESTOSTERONE]

Are you using a reference picture when you draw? Poses are so hard without a reference, especially if you are just starting.

 

[TRIDIUM]

No, I don't draw in front of my computer, and few of the books I have are illustrated, let alone at the right angle or in the right style. I'm trying to rearrange things so I can have a tutorial or something while I draw. Also, a cricket decided to jump on my foot as I was penning in the body, so...

 

[TESTOSTERONE]

I will buy this paperback for you if I have to.

P.S. AAAAAH frigging cricket?

 

[hiddenone]

If you don't have any easy to grab references, then you can grab your phone and snap a few photos of yourself posing in front of a mirror. That can help you figure out general shapes and how limbs move without needing to buy any reference books/models. And nobody is going to see those ref pics, so you don't have to worry about whether you look like your characters or not.

As for the cricket, it was just trying to cheer you on while you drew!