pixiepunch:

helpyoudraw:

Become a better artist tips from ImagineFX

Nom. Coloring tips are always welcome.

coneyartinstitute:

ryanestradadotcom:

Do it wrong.

Cartoonists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, we all get the same questions. And we all have boring, stock answers like ‘draw every day’ or ‘practice a lot’. Sometimes it’s because we don’t know what we did right. But the real reason is that every bit of advice we give you has an expiration date. The world of art is always changing. The things people like, the way those things are distributed and sold is always changing. By the time you put in all that practice to get good at what someone else told you is the way things are done, they aren’t done that way any more. The only sure way to become great at what you do is to break the rules. Not for the sake of being a rebel, but so that you can make something only you can make, in a way only you can make it. If you do something wrong well enough, it becomes the new right. So here are 5 steps in the right way to do it wrong.

STEP 1: Practice

To become a good artist:

Focus on making perfect art. Don’t show weakness. Use the tools that everyone else recommends. If you can’t draw hands, put them in pockets. If you can’t draw feet, crop them off the page. If you’re not very good at an instrument, play something easier. If you’re not knowledgable in a subject, write about something else.

To become a great artist:

Just make a bunch of crappy art. Do things wrong. Trust me, even the art you think is great, give it a few years and you’ll think it’s crap. So you might as well shoot for the moon. Grab tools that no one else has ever even imagined using, and see what happens. Draw everyone on horses even though you know the legs are going to come out all weird. Perform that long, flowery monologue you know you’re going to forget the words to. Film that science fiction epic even though the only creature effects you can afford are sticking Halloween stuff on your cat. Doing things you know you can’t do well so that you can do them later is the whole idea behind exercise.

STEP 2: Taking criticism

To become a good artist:

Show your only your best work to people you trust. Enjoy the praise, and ignore the haters.

To become a great artist:

Share your work with everyone, even the jerks. Put it online, show it to strangers. Show them the stuff you’re proud of, and the stuff you’re not sure of. When you show just your average art, people have nothing to say, so they just give you empty praise. But show them something that can be improved, and they’ll tell you about it. The stuff they tell you is gold. Don’t just be disappointed, write that crap on a post-it and put it above your desk. Think about it when you work. Each and every one of them gave you a free mini art lesson.  If they were dicks about it, that makes them a bad teacher, it doesn’t make you a bad artist. There’s a very good chance that they are wrong. But thinking about what they said, and why you disagree with it, helps turn that problem into a technique. Sifting through critiques is like panning for gold. Sift through the muck of poor wording and trolls to your own little takeaways. Write it on a post-it note and put it above your desk. Think about it while you draw. Use it.

STEP 3: Improving

To become a good artist:

Did you try something new and get a bad reaction? Oh no! Listen to the advice people give you and take that element out of your work. Make something people like.

To become a great artist:

Did you try something new and got a bad reaction? Awesome. There are two reasons that people say negative things about your art: because they see something worth improving, or because you’ve somehow struck a chord. Either way, you made them feel something. Figure out how you did it, and how best to use that skill. Did something you did make someone angry? If you offended or hurt someone, you now know how to avoid doing that in the future. But if you made someone feel something about the story or characters, you now have a skill that you can hone and use as a tool at a better point in the story. To make people angry, sad, happy, uncomfortable, or in any way emotional when looking at your work is a skill that few have because we’re so used to beating it out of our work. Many people compensate for this by adding shock value. You can learn to do it with emotion.

STEP 4: Dealing with rejection

To become a good artist:

Find out where art like yours is being published. Submit to them! Rejected? That’s too bad! Try again! Send them your new stuff every year! Never give up! One of these years, it will all work out!

To become a great artist:

Getting rejected is great! When you get a rejection letter, you aren’t losing a job, you’re gaining one. Finding a venue and an audience is now up to you, which is great, because if you’re successful, you’ll be the one getting rich from your work. All of those places were created because someone needed a new place to put a different kind of work. You’re now in the same boat.

STEP 5: Building a career

To become a good artist:

After a lot of practice and study, take all the advice people have given you, follow their lead. Make something you know will be successful, put it in all the right venues.

To become a great artist:

Do it wrong. Don’t do it right just because of all the people around you who say ‘that’s not art,’ ‘that’s not music, ‘there’s no money in that,’ ‘it’s not a real book unless it’s in print,’ etc.  Some of those people will be your heroes. Every generation hates the next generation’s music. Every generation of artists thinks the next generation are hacks. Following the leader is a good way to make art that pleases people in the moment, but doing something that breaks all of the rules is the way be the leader and make something historic. Tell a story only you can tell in a way only you can tell it. When you see a piece of new technology, a piece of ancient technology, an interesting bit of trash on the street and think ‘I could put art on that’, then put art on that. You’ll be reaching new people in places no one else is even trying. There’s no money in ANYTHING until someone puts something great on it. When someone tells you you’re doing it wrong, that’s your clue that you’re doing something that could change all of the rules, and a few decades from now, your style will be the one someone’s drilling into a beginner’s head, and that beginner will be coming to you for advice. Feel free to tell them what you did right, but be sure to also tell them: Do it wrong.

I’ve always subscribed to the manta, do that thing you wanted other people to do but they aren’t doing. But this is pretty good too.

mingdoyle:

My thoughts on photo-referencing: I don’t do it enough.

Either subconsciously or unthinkingly, over the past few years I’ve made it my mission to draw all my sequential work with no referencing at all. I don’t think this was due to any sort of cockiness, i.e., “I can draw this better than real life, so why bother looking at reference?,” but rather out of a genuine desire to just magically know how to be able to draw anything, always.

Of course that’s a lofty and unrealistic goal, and even now, about 6 years into drawing comics professionally, I still feel like an absolute beginner in most ways. Maybe that’s due to having studied fine arts rather than illustration or comics, and never having formally learned how pesky little things like perspective and pacing worked.

Anyway, the point is that now, I’m finally starting to admit that I may not just be able to come up with everything off the top of my head (though I certainly do try that approach, nine times out of ten). I remember something my friend and great influence Eric Canete said to me several years ago, when I asked him to look over my first set of substantive inked comic pages: “Is this supposed to be the inside of a car? I think it might be, because of the seatbelts, but why don’t you try looking at the inside of a car?”

Oh, ouch! But Eric really did have a great point. Observation is often the best teacher.

To that end, I’ve been using photo reference in about 10-20% of my panels on MARA, which is more than I’ve ever used before. Here’s an example of one of my most extreme instances of photo-referencing so far, from photographs, to thumbnails, to semi-finished inks. There’s my whole process.

Maybe some people still view photo-referencing as cheating, but more and more I view it as a kind of exciting evil. Sure, looking at a photograph isn’t as creatively “pure” as pulling something fully formed from your own mind, but if it helps you grow? Then I suppose I’m for it. I’ve been very preoccupied with bettering my craft and not painting myself into a rut through sheer stubbornness lately, so here you go. My confession. My name is Ming Doyle, and sometimes, I use other pictures to make my own pictures better!

mizuki-takashima:

typette:

peachskull:

snowry:

sprech4:

burnishable:

I see this all the time in fanart and I don’t get it. More power to people stylizing, but sometimes it gets a little ridiculous.

A quick note to the followers tracking this discussion: blush is a thing that happens to noses, but it doesn’t generally get this red unless there is something really wigging out in your body. Blush your noses, but please understand that depending on the way you draw or paint, it’s possibly not the best idea to make it this bright.

I understand a lot of people use this as a way of adding colour to the face, but it’s really not the only (or the best, in most cases!) way of doing that. Instead, try using toning down the red and using the other parts of the face that tend to flush!

Know where blood vessels tend to gather, and also where the skin is most taut.

Also, did you know that the face has its own colour spectrum?? It’s true!

(Click the image for James Gurney talking about colour zones)

I mean, like, listen. If you’re intent on coating your noses in blush, there’s not much I can do to stop you. Sometimes it even works well! But if you’re going to use the “oh I need to add colour to my faces SOMEHOW” excuse then I’m going to have to tell you that there are much more effective ways to do that!

why do u friggen care wowie just let people do what they want

reblogging bc i think the person makes a good point w/ the colour zones and stuff. they’re helpful tips!

i think it’s good to know things like this because young artists on tumblr are easily susceptible to certain “trends” in drawing/colouring, and start doing things with their art that they themselves don’t really understand why they’re doing them. coloured/blushy noses are one of those.

that said, i don’t mind blushy/coloured noses. shit i do it too:

SHIT I DO IT TO MY SKELETONS, EVEN

there ain’t nothing wrong with blushies on your drawings… i guess i’m just encouraging people to explore their stylistic choices and consider why they draw the way they do! examining your technique and breaking it down can be helpful to becoming a better artist and enjoying your art more.

Reblogging for tutorial goodness, but, holy shit, of all the trivial things to complain about

Reblogging because I’ve seen one too many tumblr artists getting way butthurt over something so trivial. While some people really do have a nose like a Cherry, (my mom being one of them! along with Santa Clause…) most people really don’t and the face has red in lots of other places?

And then you have weirdos like me, who look more like this:

Virtually everything BUT the nose is red, and it’s especially prominent near the nostrils OTL

myshrinkingviolet:

A mini tutorial on using action lines and rhythm together in drawing a figure.

Yesterday, Blue-Ten made a post about practicing line of action—shortly after he made a follow-up post.  I was reminded how I wanted to make more tutorial tips and line of action is one of my favorite things to study and talk about.  After making this, I touched up the other mini tutorial I did.

There are other great tutorials on this concept.  HERE’s a well-known one that also explains what NOT to do.  There is also a handful of really helpful tutorials on deviantart HERE.  The ones on deviantArt helped me understand the concepts the most.

LET’S DRAW HAIR!

hospitalvespers:

The other day Rose asked if I’ve ever done a post about hair, and I haven’t. SO I WILL! YEAH!! 

THE BASICS

First off, it helps to decide on a head shape. There are six different distinct head shapes; oval, rectangle, circle, square, heart, and triangle. The different head shape can help with defining your character, and also help in finding a hairstyle! Here’s a fairly long article about this; some hairstyles look better on different head shapes than others. Here’s another about hairstyles for different body types. This isn’t a hard and fast rule; just a general guideline (especially since that source is like OMG YOU MIGHT LOOK LIKE A BOY OH GOD NO!!)! It’s a good jumping off place, but you can put any sort of hair you want on any sort of character you want. Or your own head. Fuck da hair police.

Anyway, another thing to keep in mind is the part of the hair! There are studies that say that where you part your hair says something about you. I think that’s silly, but it’s a good think to think about when designing a character, especially if you’re concerned with keeping them consistent. If you have a character that parts their hair on the right, but sometimes forget and draw it parted to the left, people might notice the inconsistency. Although characters can have different hairstyles all the time, it’s much more common to have one (or just a few) that they generally wear all the time. Hair is one of those things that can help you recognize a person, so be sure to keep it consistent.

Read More

The Cheshire's Art Blog: DIY 001: Drawing 101

animationtidbits:

Before you start with drawing people from photos or attending model sessions, you need to understand the basics, which means still lifes.

First familiarize yourself with the concepts layed out in the below listed books.

• Basic Perspective
  Perspective Made Easy by…

letmefixthatyaoiforyou:

HERE WE GO I’m bad at introductions that aren’t awkward. I’ve been following your blog for awhile, and mostly for the critiques you give (though I’d be lying if I said all the bad yaois weren’t great for a laugh).

For a little background, I’ve been increasingly sporadically drawing for the past few years now. I’ve probably gone up to a year without actually drawing anything, and I really feel it when I finally sit down and doodle. My best work is traditional pencil and paper, but I’ve made several weak attempts to get myself accustomed to using a tablet. This picture here would be one of those times I tried to draw something on a tablet.

Originally I had submitted this to a redlining blog, but they went inactive/shut down before this drawing ever made it to any of the admins. 

My problem with it? I’m sure it’s easy enough to pick out. His face.What is wrong with it? Despite my efforts to figure out what the bloody hell is wonky about it, I just haven’t been able to figure it out, and no one has yet seen fit to help me. 

TL;DR: I screwed up this poor bastard’s head somewhere and I would love you forever if you could find and tell me where and how. 

I’m so sorry it took me forever to get to this! /A\ Anyway a great habit to get into to de-wonk your faces is to do a careful underdrawing first (this is especially easy if you’re switching to digital ;D)

I suggest you mark the centerline for the face, the eyeline (at about the halfway point), and the line for where the front of the head turns into the side. Here’s what I get when I use that as a guide:

His eyes were up too high, leading his nose to be too long, and his mouth was down too low, exacerbating the nose thing. I jiggered around the facial features a little too for good measure. notice how the line for the bridge of the nose doesn’t sit directly on the centerline of the underdrawing; this is because the nose has width so the drawable edge will be a little away from the centerline (half a nosewidth away, to be exact lol)

here’s just the lines, with a more detailed centerline to show the plane changes in the face:

eyecager:

Basic Drawing Expressions

Source: Iain Mc Caig

eyecager:

How to Draw Hair

Source: Iain Mc Caig

arystar:

blingostarr:

courtbo:

finishedby5am:

Wow.

The human body is fascinating

I keep telling people this shit in real life and they don’t believe me.
I’ve seen it from multiple sources, and this just adds another (albeit usually unreliable) source.

This is actually legit, guys.  This is how your eyes move when you’re thinking about something.  It’s actually a good way to tell if someone is lying or not, because they’ll look to their left (your right, durr) when they’re constructing false memories, and to their right when they’re actually remembering them.

HOLY CRAP. SAVING THIS FOR FUTURE REF.

(Source: ssscuttlebuttt)

z-raid:

Different nose types by *moni158

parasite-z:

nunubunkie:

nagareboshi-yue:

pisarat:

pix-original:

「[鉛筆描き] 腰周りの男女の描き分け＋筋肉考察☆腐向け含☆」/「チカライヌ」の漫画 [pixiv]

EYEYSYYES I NEEDED THISOMG

I will reblog this because it seriously annoys me when guys are drawn with girly crotches.

CROTCH STUDIES

EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED. I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND MAN PANTS -sob-

I Was an Internet Villain Before It Was Cool: dumb rant about boobs and crossed arms

rosalarian:

littlefroggies:

Okay, took a short 10 minute break to doodle this. Trying to illustrate something that a lot of artists do, intentionally or unintentionally, when drawing kinda-busty to very-busty people. I’m no expert but I figured I’d just try.

1 - arms…

e1n:

nachomusings:

wannabeanimator:

Hand drawing references by Bethany Craig

*reblogs for reference*

Reblogged for extreme degree of usefulness.  I picked up a lot of useful things just from this one post, and I’m sure you will too.

Beth Craig (the source) also has this FOOT TUTORIAL, linked here for your convenience.