A few questions for all artists

Oh yeah minami GIMP ftw

GIMP FTW Minami also just when ever theres a compo gfor gw enter it you will see your skills improve and also join a workshop they rule. my last piece of advice invest in a tablet if you are going to do cg art they are priceless

The forums need an "automerged double post" feature.




@Blue's wall of text - yeah, a lot of what you say makes sense. I guess it could tie into what Tzu said about luck, however. I wasn't "lucky" enough to be exposed to proper art instruction when I was young, and now I'm so far gone on the other side that it'll be really hard to do a successful turnaround. I grew up in an environment where if I had wanted to go learn from a professional artist, I probably could've found lessons somewhere. But I just didn't know anything about the process, or what to look for/avoid, so I went down the self-taught route.

woops doublepost srry

dude my mum and dads are lawyers the oinly reason i do art is cos i try if u try you can roduce great art. my first ink wa a parker pen engraved with my name , you jst try cos personally i think everyone can odo some art if your worried about colours then just scan in line art and experment on GIMP or Photoshop

It's a triple-post and a subsequent doublepost, just sayin'

I'll let someone else answer your posts.

@Hoodieh, I didn't really really touch on motivation because I thought it was so fundamental that you could almost take it for granted XD. There are plenty of people who get what they want through pure force of will :P

@Morag/Minami, See above :P

@Deatgs, that was a triple post, not a double post :P

@Araiia, I was actually talking about you on MSN yesterday while I posted :P (don't worry, wasn't anything bad). I was just telling Sierraa how I think you are already a pretty strong artist. You have a good color sense, and you definitely know what you are doing when drawing.

I just thought you could benefit a lot from practicing some pure volume studies where you do the extremely boring process of studying exactly where the light falls, and maybe do a couple more realistic anatomy studies where you learn where everything is on a real person's body. Then when you return back to doing lineart/manga, I think you would be in for a pleasant surprise.

You don't really have to turn around and swap styles or anything, but working on your foundations would help you in many regards. You already got this far without "luck," so I don't see why you can't get any further :P

You can ask Snowy about my MSN info >>'

Color choice actually bothers me a lot. I don't have enough contrast between the light and darks on my pictures and I usually have to go on photoshop and use the brightness/saturation and hue adjustments to make it look better at the end. It's on my list of things to study but right now I'm working on poses and anatomy.

..and on that note, it's kind of funny ... if I look at a pose stock photo, there's an immediate improvement in my next drawing (or two.) Then it goes back to the way it was before. XD I'm not sure how to go about learning anatomy. Actually looking at a labeled biology/textbook diagram tends to confuse me more than it helps. Think it would be worth just finding lots of photos and sketching the skeleton/frame on top of them to get a feel for the relative proportions between body parts?

YSJ was pretty right about Loomis as a guide. It's great, but make sure you actually practice it.

Uhm I also recommended to him Bridgman's Human Machine if you want to do constructive anatomy. Those I think are by far the best figurative books. But like everyone said, you have to practice with the content, not just read it over :P

Although I can't speak as an expert in drawing, I think drawing holds the same parallels for everything else in life.

Repetition of the basics. Exhaustive, boring, mind-numbing repetition is the best way to obtain the tools and ability to really do what you want in your chosen field. In chemical engineering, this means being able to do any of the math that comes you way; what point is there if you can do higher-level thinking if you can't even do calculus, ODEs or PDEs? Answer: there is no point. The same is in english too, I think. You must learn vocabulary, sentence construction, etc etc to really become a solid writer. Regardless of what you end up doing, the basics will always call you back to task if you're not good at them.

I think, in the same vein, that this applies to drawing. In drawing, the basics would be light, structure, composition, blah blah blah. Some things you cannot learn except by doing over and over until it becomes 2nd nature. When it becomes 2nd nature, you must go back to it every once in awhile to refresh it. But once you have it, you are more free to do what you like with the skills you've obtained.

I prescribe to the more Eastern method of learning a skill: you don't get to do squat until you've learned to basics. Just ask the sushi chef that spent a year or two or more making sushi rice before they ever got to touch the meat :P. You might try to take shortcuts but your work (this is in general) will reflect the shortcuts you've taken. Also, it will probably take longer to get better, assuming you do get better.

@Araiia, you can find Loomis online. Blue recommended Bridgman's the other day as well, which you can find online as a pdf.

o_O YSJ you are too serious. For some (actually most) people, grinding basics is boring as RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO. Approaching art like math can induce some serious ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Like I said, basics are extremely important, but if you don't have fun doing what you want once in a while, your motivation collapses. I'm just saying you should work on basics while doing what you like to do. Doing basic studies like drawing eggs for a month WILL help you a lot, but it wont help you if you stop doing art after being bored out of your mind. Things like personal sketches are definitely not off limits.

Quote:

Nice posts people.

Here's some of this progress I promised. None of these are "finished works" as these are done in all the rough same amount of time about 1h-3h. As my "finished" works vary anything from 10h to 30h+, you can't really compare. I think I improved.


2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Here's my progress, if anyone's interested...




oldest thing I can find, pen and markers, nothing digital. 2004-2005...


just beginning to go digital. mostly photobucket + burn (didnt know about the dodge tool before early this year) also, "lens flare makes everything better" >.>' early 2007...
no tablet.


first ever commission done, here in nolani. Probably one of the best I did at the time. Lineart and digital colour, early 2008. No tablet.


no tablet still, but it doesnt make a lot of difference when all you're doing in PS is block-colouring in between the lineart and burning the shadows. august 2008.


tablet aquired! Now what happens if I try to avoid drawing lineart? D8
... I fail, that's what. April this year.


hmms, guess I'll return to drawing lineart with a pen and paper, then colouring in PS with my new tablet...
june this year.


I open a freebie-thread here in nolani, and draw like mad for 2-3 days.
I do everything in PS, and just ignore all rules Ive ever obeyed about colouring within lines, amount of detail required to make a drawing look good, etc. july this year, probably.


more drawing in photoshop only, getting to grips with my tablet,
my life is pretty much falling apart around me at this point, theres freedom and escape in drawing. late july this year.


Life is pretty ***** but I find ways to make it through. september.



right now.

It's sorta difficult to trace down my older art since they're hidden pretty well on dA, here's the best I can come up with. Some dates may be wrong.

My largest improvements were when I was younger. I had more time to draw and my art changed rapidly.




Oooold drawing from one of my first sketchbooks! I was probably 5-7 years old.


2005 (Photoshop 7 & no tablet.)


Early/////Mid/////Late 2006 (The year I got my tablet.)


2007


2008, Early 2009
I started using SAI in August.



Feb 2009.


April 2009.


May - July 2009...


August Chibi Fad


Last commission???


Fall semester 2009 - largely experimental phase.