Art Help

[Talos]

Hello guys. Talos again.


I, uh, I am having a hard time doing anime related art.


I have anthro style pretty down packed, and I feel I have made my own style for the art subgenre.


I have always dreamed of becoming a great artist.
Like, literally, dreamed. I dreamed I could draw perfectly, and I would actually have something to be proud of, other than being a furry.


I want to start drawing manga/anime type characters. I have the determination, and the willpower, but when I start pulling out a paper and drawing a character, all hell breaks loose on my paper. I'm kinda suprised my sketchpad hasn't slapped me in the face for being bad at this thing. I seem to have a lot of problems with proportion, and not making squiggly lines. By proportion, I mean, for example, I may draw a chin longer than it actually is, or the hair may be shorter than it is. So much of a difference that I groan after it is finished. I have massive enthusiasm and determination, like, I'll come home from school and be thinking "Okay, I'm gonna draw Sailor Moon. It will be perfect!" then I actually try to do it and I groan, throw away my work, and quit drawing for the rest of the day, until my confidence refills the next day. (for some reason I never seem to lose confidence no matter how much I fail, this may be because I have motivation and a steady goal; I look up to great people like WingedZephyr and think "I can be as great as them. I WILL be as great as them. I can do it.") Then, the next day, I try, fail, and lose my confidence for the day in a seemingly endless cycle.


I also seem to have a god-awful time doing the eyes, as every time I do anime eyes using a character as reference, they turn out very odd. Everyone says "Start out by looking at anime characters and drawing them. Copy and learn." I do that, but the characters look so deformed and abnormal when I'm done I nearly break out in a fit of disappointment. The Hatsune Miku I attempted looked like it had demon eyes. I've considered several times to give up trying to become a great artist, and stop drawing altogether, but I've managed to keep myself together so far. I don't want to give up, but my confidence is fading away very slowly. Most of the ways I have seen people draw involves the shapes thing where you use simple shapes and add details and a frame to them. I attempted that once, and I only did it for the head. It helps a lot, but I still feel it is not helping enough.


Does anyone have any tips for me to help me get better?




Thank you.

[WingedZephyr]

I always find it odd when people say they aspire to draw like me. I am grateful for the compliment, but it feels strange to me because of all the years I spent - and still do spend - being in the exact same place you are.

Pretty much every artist spends a lot of time in that same place. Unless you're some kind of prodigy, creating art doesn't just happen magically. There are years of practice, countless hours of doodling, and several years of art classes behind everything I draw. Help from friends, watching other artists draw, art critiques, studying the structure and movements of live human beings. Some artists develop their skills faster than others, but everyone goes through the same basic process. Practice is one of those things that will certainly be a pain to anyone trying to learn how to draw, but you can't get around it. It's a necessary evil. But if you practice - if you draw something every single day - you are guaranteed to eventually get better.

As for proportions, they are a common issue for people. Even for more practiced artists, sometimes. It's surprisingly easy to end up with a hand that is totally the wrong size, or one leg that is longer than the other. The way you learn how to fix these problems is to educate yourself on how the human body is put together.

There are some very common "tricks" to drawing that can help you structure a face or body in a realistic way. If you know that eyes are pretty much always centered vertically on a head, and that the bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and the chin, and the mouth is halfway between the chin and the bottom of the nose, you would not end up with chins that are way too tall. If you know that the elbows generally line up just below the bottom of the rib cage, and that a person's hands usually rest just below the hips, it's much easier to get the arms to look right. If you know that a hand (spread open) is about the same size as a person's face, you don't end up drawing hands that are way too big or tiny all the time. There are some variances from person to person, but these are all some basic guidelines artists typically learn to follow.

Bones are rigid. Muscles flex and relax. The outline of a human body is not made up of straight lines in reality; it is full of subtle curves and dips. Everything that makes the body able to stand and move around and function affects its shape.

It's all about structure.

I can't teach you all you'd need to know; I'm still learning half of it myself. But if you look around the internet for drawing tutorials, you might find some of it helpful.

Useful things:
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-part-I-220251993
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-part-II-244656865
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-III-245905276
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-part-IV-253120702
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-part-V-253705843
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-part-VI-257106507
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/UNDERSTANDING-ANATOMY-VII-258579344
http://foervraengd.deviantart.com/art/Proportions-Guide-244424893
http://extrics.deviantart.com/art/How-to-draw-faces-tutorial-thing-288486964

[MrRazot]

True dat
-try use a reference where you can
-experiment as much as you can
-don't expect to draw something in 5 minutes and expect it to be good
-have fun

[Talos]

Thank you, Zephyr and Razot. I will practice.