Art tips I learned last night that I want to share
If you guys do not know, I like to draw a lot. It is something I have done since I was a kid. Practically I grew up teaching myself how to draw (except does 4 art classes I took which was a rip off). I have 1 more year to decide if I want to go to art college T.T. Also all these drawing were down really quick and my friend cut his index finger and there was a big thing on it to stop the bleed which ultimately affected his drawings.
Anyways usually I am discourage at drawing cause I am not at the level I want to be at, but my friend one of the few people who inspired me to draw tells me that you will improve if you set goals for yourself: for example ” I am not good at drawing hand, ok… lets look at how other artist draw hand and I am gonna practice 15min a day.” and he says thats how you will improve.
Getting to main part of this article.
I learned something last night that will help me take my drawing to a next level. My friend albert he told me what a good artist would do. There are 3 rules that would make you a good artist!
1. Control perspective
2. Pick up on the detail of what they are drawing.
3. Controls the viewier eyes.
(ALSO do you see that straight line on the top? That was all free hand!)
Look at the picture; on the left is my drawing of the wall thingy, and on the right is his. Notice how he controls the lines, and detail. What he did was draw the basic shape, and then he said to me, “you should ask your self.. ok how many spines it has then you draw that, and then now you say ahh I notice that there is spine on this thing and then you add the zig zag things.” He also said detail are important in generally conveying what an object is. For example he talked about how when you see a personal with a tactical vest with lots of compartments, you immediately know that he is some type of soldier or just a cosplayer. In general observe what you are drawing and apply it.
Someone I know once said about learning to draw, "Everyone can produce good drawings, you just have to get the 10,000 bad ones out of the way first." And that is pretty much true. But good lessons from good art teachers are exceptional helpful. If you don't mind my asking, what kind of drawing class did you take? and why was it a waste of money?
All the best drawing/art classes I've taken weren't so much about learning to move a pencil around as much as "Learning to see."
That's happened to me, and my answer to that was I really didn't learn anything that I didn't already know.
When I was a freshmen in highschool I took 2 course of head drawing and 2 manga/comic course. It was a waste of money because everything was over priced... I should have gone to my local CC and token course there. The upside was that I networked with some people who are in the art industry =D
hmm interesting tips, I also took 3 years of art classes(high school not pro) I learned more from what the teacher said than actually seeing demonstrations though ^^ Learned a lot of basic stuff, but that is the most important things to master so I guess it was good practice. When your drawing off a reference you must always put as much detail as possible, you see a little fold in the curtain, you draw that fold. Perspective is rather important too, lets say you got a drawing of a girl pointing at you, her hand is gonna be about twice the size of her head because her hand is closer to you. Perspective is a hard thing to learn since its always different.
What I think is most important in drawing though is placement. Many anime drawers get criticized because the placement of the eyes are wrong or the nose, leg etc...Know where things should go and the picture is gonna be good, with oolors/shading/bg adding to it. But for me, I never really practice those things, I just kinda draw, you don't need to know everything about drawing to be good, but practice what needs to be fixed and fix it ^^
If you are considering to go art college you should also think about what type of artist you want to become.
I took bunch of drawing classes in university as requirements and I found them to be very useful. You can only teach yourself to certain point but really what you need to master is the basics. It is not just about drawing technique but learning perspective, focal point, and most important of all, training your eyes in real 3D space rather than staring at 2D images. As much as I hate art history but they tend to enrich your art knowledge which will help you at some point along the way.
My philosophy is that, if you're going to go to art college, you'll need a secondary interest. You won't be able to live if you stay as a commissioned traditional artist, you need to have a secondary interest that you can apply your art skills to (for me, movies/video games).
With that said, the only real way I find that isn't so riddle-like and philosophical, is to learn from what others have done. Look at other drawings, look at what the people you admire do so right, observe them, see how they shade, how they draw the characters, their designs, their thought process. Absorb all of this information, and draw it out, constantly every day. 15 minutes is not NEARLY enough, at least 1 hour on 1 picture a day, pitting yourself to see what you've learnt, or focus on a certain aspect you want to improve.
The Human mind CANNOT learn from nothing. The mind needs something to base its knowledge off, whether its a book or a reference picture. Once you've gained enough knowledge, you can start coming up with your own because your brain basically "unlocks" its imagination, after having seen so many throughout the years.
It kinda boils down to experience and practice, now that I look at it.
I am not gonna be a tradition artist, I am gonna be a concept artist/ storyboard artist/ and I want to get good enough to someday be able direct my own animated film
Well then lets hope its something you can really dedicate your time and life to, eh?
Directing an animated film takes very little art skills, if you want to make an animated movie I suggest going to film school or heavily shifting priority to film, since its something thats like art - it takes practice and experience to get good at.
No worries, I will be majoring in business/computer science to as back up plan