I'm learning to draw. Any advice?

[Neoco]

I've decided to try my hand at drawing. I've posted the link to my deviantart gallery if you would like to see what I've drawn so far. They're mostly inspired by Pokemon. If you are able to give feedback, it would be greatly appreciated

neoco1.deviantart.com/gallery/

I am also hoping to draw comics one day as well. I am wondering if anyone has advice as an artist. Thanks

[Twillie]

Hey! Ooh, if you're learning to draw, a lot could be said! (and lol, I'll likely ending up making a textwall, sorry in advance x3; Also, if there are any terms I use you don't recognize, feel free to poke me about them x3) A couple questions I have concerning advice: what would you like to accomplish as an artist that makes you want to learn drawing? You mentioned comics, so is that your primary motivation? Or would you like to have drawing as a general skill as well? Are you looking at any certain mediums, traditional or digital?

Regardless, in general, I'd say that likely what you're doing now is a good start-- recreating art is actually how I started out as well! I'd often redraw characters via screenshots from Avatar the Last Airbender :3 Drawing is basically understanding how the world around you is shaped and being able to recreate it, so developing your observational skills and noticing others' techniques builds a good foundation. It simply gets you used to the feeling of pencil in hand and on paper.

What you've drawn so far also looks promising! The ice emblem especially catches my eye, because you got some really nice lines in there, as well as very fine detail. All your drawings have a clean look to them, and you've got a good eye for creating a variety of shapes and building them off each other, which is essentially the building blocks of drawing.

When you feel up to it, you might start branching out into other things as well. Perhaps you might draw some objects on your desk, or do studies of some plants outside, etc. Slowly, you'll want to at least get familiar with a variety of shapes, forms, textures, etc.

With that, a big thing I'd say is not to try everything at once. Take it one step at a time, else you'll get overwhelmed, and that'll make it difficult to want to continue practicing. Start out with lines and observation, and once you feel more comfortable with that, try your hand at shading and form. Color is something I wouldn't worry about at all just starting out, and style I wouldn't worry about either. Style I don't think is that high a priority anyway; how you draw is how you draw, and you shouldn't worry about it all conforming to the same look. It can actually be good to know how to draw multiple ways as it makes you more versatile. My natural drawing style is more on the cartoony side, but I can also draw realistically and doing so helps with my cartoons; for example, studying anatomy makes my characters look way better :3

With comics, a lot of that involves learning how to draw efficiently and consistently, which for that you'll want to make your hand loose and quick. That's more of the next level after getting used to drawing in general, though, so I won't get too deep into that. In short though, a good practice is drills (which are also good for warming up!). Basically, you put an object or scene in front of you, and then you have timed drawing sessions. Five minutes, then three minutes, then two, one, thirty seconds, etc. You try to draw as much in that time, and it forces you to focus more on form than minute details, which helps a lot with comics.

Also, depending on what kind of comics you want to make, figure might likely come into play. Right now, I wouldn't worry too much about this. When the time comes, though, humans can indeed be tricky, and I know it took me a while to even want to draw them. If humans or figure are at all intimidating to you, the best I can say from experience is to find a specific motivation that'll make you want to draw them. For me, it was fan art. I had specific images in my head I was excited to get out, and that excitement helped me start jumping the hurdles of learning anatomy. Studies are also a big help; there are plenty of online resources that provide good poses to draw, and you can also look at bone and muscle structure.

With figure, though, I'd again say not to try everything at once. There is a lot to learn, and with how oddly shaped humans are, it's not often easy to pick up on them, which is okay. With time and patience, it can definitely happen. You just gotta let it build, and don't be afraid of failure :3

And that's something I'd say in general! Don't be afraid of it turning out bad; making mistakes and building off of them is how you improve. We all need to start somewhere, and the start isn't made to be pretty. It's made to be experimental, and you learn more about yourself as an artist in that time. You'd be amazed the growth that can happen in a seemingly short amount of time so long as you stick to practice; even now, I notice a big difference in my art now compared to even just a month ago. There's always something to learn and improve upon, and the key is to keep pushing and practicing in order to find those things and achieve that growth :3

[Neoco]

Thanks for taking the time to give feedback. That is a lot to read but it really just means more information and advice for me to refer to, which is a good thing. I'm glad you like what I have so far!

If you want to know what my motivation to draw is, it really just came down to the comics that other people on deviantart produced. I enjoyed reading them so much that I wanted to see if I was able to create my own as well. I have stories of my own that I want to tell but I always felt like I lacked a storytelling medium for them

I am also hoping to get into digital art; it looks cleaner and much more refined than art created from a pencil and sketchbook

[Zoey]

Welcome to your art journey! =) You'll find many frustrated artists here to sympathize with, haha!

I agree with Twillies awesomely detailed post. If you want to improve you drawing skills fast, practice the heck out of basics like shape, form, lighting/shadow, values, perspective, anatomy and composition. Hue/color is important, too, but above all, if you know how to draw, you'll be able to pick up any medium you want. =) But more importantly, don't forget to have fun! Try to incorporate something challenging for you and something fun for you in every drawing; this will help keep that motivation going. =)

Digital art is definitely crisp and clean compared to traditional, but funnily enough, on the rare occasion that I do do a digital art piece, I prefer a more lineless, painterly style in one layer. XD when I first started, though, I was all about having up to several hundred layers and making each one of them super clean. It looks nice, but was a little too meticulous. XD

Also, don't count traditional out yet! Doing both digital and traditional have huge benefits. Traditional is typically touted as "harder" simply because you don't have handy undo buttons or lasso tools or layers. Its not necessarily harder, but everything you put down can either not be erased or can only be erased a finite number of times, so you tend to learn from your mistakes very quickly. I also personally find that I sketch much faster now because I don't rely on the undo button as much. =) Digital art, of course, has its own benefits--the major one I liked was having an entire palette of colors at the click of a button, and being able to experiment with color without abandon. On the other hand, it is also useful to experiment with a limited color palette as well.

I did digital art basically all of college and grad school; then I rediscovered painting and charcoal last year and I haven't really felt the need to pick up my tablet again. xD I personally think well-done traditional paintings have far more life and texture than some (not all) digital art out there, but in the end a good artist will make quality work no matter what the medium. plus I feel like I was stagnating with progress in digital art, and switching back to traditional helped me vastly in artistic skill. The best way to learn how to draw is still to just go outside and sketch what you see. Doesn't have to be super complicated, but there's a reason why still life and figure drawing have been part of classical art learning for centuries. All fantasy art is based off of something in real life; for instance, if you draw killer lizards and birds, then you've done 90% of the work of drawing a dragon.

But anyway, I iterate, don't fret too much about details. For now, just practice and have fun. Grueling drawing studies will come to you naturally later on. =)

[Zoey]

Whoops, double post!

[Spookie]

Twillie basically nailed it on the head, but my one piece of advice would be to not be afraid of branching out! You may find that what you thought you wanted to do may not longer interest you, so don't feel like you're obliged to stick with an original style/idea/etc. If you're not diggin' what you're creating, it can take a lot of the fun out of it and make you despise doing art (it's happened to me on numerous occasions).

Zoey also gave some really sound advice! Don't rule out traditional art completely just because it might not have the "look" you're interested in. In fact, there are several pieces I thought were done digitally that were actually done traditionally! It just depends on the medium and how they uploaded it.

Also -- Pinterest can be your best friend! Seriously, there are a lot of poses, guides, cheat sheets, and all that good stuff on there. You don't have to be the BEST artist when you first start out (seriously, who is?), you just have to want to put the effort into working your way up.

Good luck on your artistic journey, and I can't wait to see what you create!

[Twillie]

Neoco Lol yeah, hopefully my textwall did not cause any fright x3 But yeah, with any advice I'd say it's all taken best with a slow digestion. Keep things in mind over time as you practice, and refer back to it all when you feel the need :3

And ah, alrighty! That sounds really cool, being inspired by other creators and wanting to act on that inspiration, I think it might be good to experiment with the comics medium for your stories indeed :3 I remember being inspired by other authors as a kid inspired me to get into stories as well, and specifically the big names in the Neopian Times made me want to make a comic series as well x3 In that same vein, I agree with Spookie in that it's good to keep an open mind about what you'd like to do; you might start out with a specific vision, but who knows where it'll lead you years down the road. I actually inadvertently got into comics beyond the NT because I originally wanted to be an author; I tried to plan out and write novels as a kid, but then in high school it clicked to me that I could combine my love of drawing and storytelling into one craft, and since then I've been slowly converting my old story ideas into comics xD Basically, as you grow as an artist, don't be afraid to let your work and ideas grow with you :3

Also with mediums, agreed with Zoey that there are advantages to both types! For me personally, I make my comics completely digitally because that process is just more efficient for me, but there are also professional comic makers that still sketch and ink their work traditionally. Or, it's even possible to go a mixed media route and do some parts traditionally, others digitally. All depends on what works best for you! I'd say to perhaps try your hand at a variety of media to start to get a feel for what you like, as there's countless options :3