Calling All Artists!!!! (particularly anime artists)

[Maiyu]

So, I've been drawing for quite a while, most of them usually just doodles and sketches.

However, in terms of drawing ability and skill, i would have to say that I am at a level of 3 on a 10 point scale basis.

The reason being is that, I only drew for enjoyment, and most were doodles.

I was never exposed to a proper drawing method, and seeing a LOT of really good artists here in the forums, i would like to ask if any one of you artists would so generously teach me proper drawing techniques?

I would very much like to learn how to draw anime in any style / or be able to use photoshop...

If we could exchange sn's or msn's, it would be really helpful...

Uhm... I guess here are some of my doodles...

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

As you can see, not that impressive...
Uhm...

Somebody please help!

[k0n]

Before going straight into learning how to draw in an anime style, you have to know it's another form of drawing the human anatomy. And even so before searching for guides about those proportions that almost every drawer uses when drawing in anime (super-deformed) figures, I would suggest learning to control your hands and eyes. For this, try countour drawing.

Countour drawing is basically looking at a visible image and drawing it on paper. Your eyes must keep switching from your target to the paper while drawing. The difference between a sketch and a contour drawing is that in a contour drawing, you're trying to draw with the least amount of strokes as possible (try to draw with just one stroke if possible). The point of this is to improve both how well you can move or coordinate your hands, and arms to get the right angles and curves of an image while trying to keep it at the right proportion. You can start off with basic shapes such as simple 3-d objects like cubes, pyrimids, spheres, cones and tube. Then you can apply those images into real life objects like tables, rooms, and hand-held objects and such. Then later on, you can start copying the right shading. Then when you feel really bold and confidint, try objects with curves, patterns or objects with great detail such as cars, trees, musical instruments, and people. Don't worry about messing up on your starting countour drawings. If you keep practicing, you'll get better and you'll soon be able to control your hands and draw whatever that comes into your vision.

After you feel like you're hands starting to draw what you see with your eyes, now you want to try drawing your imagination invisions (in this case, your goal of drawing in anime form). For this, you need to understand the basic concepts of human proportions like how most human eyes are centered in the middle of a face and how most noses point out the furthest between the eyes and the chin. There's 2 ways to figure this out: 1) find out yourself by looking at other people, photos and other drawings or 2) just go read guides like this one made by another fellow member: http://www.mymmogames.net/forum/artw...ce-thread.html

For graphics work, that takes more into concepts and imagination. It's a little different from drawing which needs a bit more dexterity, but you can apply the same ideas to make your work appealing.

I wish you a good luck in getting better

[Mickmaster]

You can't be level 3 on a 10 scale basis. You are at least a 5, you are really good, just make those doodles into art on some big white paper. And if you want to learn photoshop, you should try a demo version of it to see if that is your style.

[Maiyu]

Originally Posted by k0n

Before going straight into learning how to draw in an anime style, you have to know it's another form of drawing the human anatomy. And even so before searching for guides about those proportions that almost every drawer uses when drawing in anime (super-deformed) figures, I would suggest learning to control your hands and eyes. For this, try countour drawing.

Countour drawing is basically looking at a visible image and drawing it on paper. Your eyes must keep switching from your target to the paper while drawing. The difference between a sketch and a contour drawing is that in a contour drawing, you're trying to draw with the least amount of strokes as possible (try to draw with just one stroke if possible). The point of this is to improve both how well you can move or coordinate your hands, and arms to get the right angles and curves of an image while trying to keep it at the right proportion. You can start off with basic shapes such as simple 3-d objects like cubes, pyrimids, spheres, cones and tube. Then you can apply those images into real life objects like tables, rooms, and hand-held objects and such. Then later on, you can start copying the right shading. Then when you feel really bold and confidint, try objects with curves, patterns or objects with great detail such as cars, trees, musical instruments, and people. Don't worry about messing up on your starting countour drawings. If you keep practicing, you'll get better and you'll soon be able to control your hands and draw whatever that comes into your vision.

After you feel like you're hands starting to draw what you see with your eyes, now you want to try drawing your imagination invisions (in this case, your goal of drawing in anime form). For this, you need to understand the basic concepts of human proportions like how most human eyes are centered in the middle of a face and how most noses point out the furthest between the eyes and the chin. There's 2 ways to figure this out: 1) find out yourself by looking at other people, photos and other drawings or 2) just go read guides like this one made by another fellow member: http://www.mymmogames.net/forum/artw...ce-thread.html

For graphics work, that takes more into concepts and imagination. It's a little different from drawing which needs a bit more dexterity, but you can apply the same ideas to make your work appealing.

I wish you a good luck in getting better

Woah's O.O
DIdn't even know art had that many forms ㄷㄷㄷ;;
I'll try starting from the basics then!

Btw, what sort of objects do you recommend for countour pictures? ANd how long should each image be?
...ACtually, can i just have your msn ._.?

Originally Posted by Mickmaster

You can't be level 3 on a 10 scale basis. You are at least a 5, you are really good, just make those doodles into art on some big white paper. And if you want to learn photoshop, you should try a demo version of it to see if that is your style.

And thanks, but i still find a lot of faulty stuff in them...
Proportions (which i'll now work on), too many lines, etc..

And i have photoshop CS3, but i never understood how to use it...

[k0n]

Originally Posted by SuperXMeeRee

Woah's O.O
DIdn't even know art had that many forms ㄷㄷㄷ;;
I'll try starting from the basics then!

Btw, what sort of objects do you recommend for countour pictures? ANd how long should each image be?
...ACtually, can i just have your msn ._.?

Anything simple just to improve your dexterity. Like I mentioned, try basic 3-d shapes like cubes, spheres, pyramids and such. Then try to copy real-life objects like books, CDs, tables, chairs, rooms, furniture, and other shapes like that. Then when you feel like you just want to improve how much detail or how much your hands can put into a drawing, try to contour draw a complex shape (ones with a bunch of lines, curves and patterns).

For your first contour drawing, I would suggest drawing as large as possible. This can make sure you can put as much details as you want into your drawing. This can also help you move your forearm with your hands to adjust from large and small lines/curves.

<- MSN

[Maiyu]

?

Donde the MSN?

[Shimi~Chan]

errr...... i think its just something you pick up on after awhile of practicing .__.;; so i dono if k0n is right or wrong because if u use guides there not 100% perfict on helping u on certain situations but basicaly you can learn on your own by having a source to your drawing like a pose from a picture but changing the face, body (muscle addition or slender?...) or anything like that some people use the skeleton but it dosnt always work if you dont know how to use it (like if your bad at proportioning) im not the a "good" artist so my opinion isant the best @___@

[Ascherit]

TL;DR

Someone posted this site a few threads ago, and it really helped me.

Read it over and it'll probably help you, too.

[Maiyu]

omg'ish.

...That dude is like... pro...

That guide is far too advanced for me...

[Ascherit]

It's not that advanced if you actually take some time to read it. It explains the basic concepts of human anatomy very well, and in doing so it lays out the foundation for drawing in other styles, like anthro/anime/etc.

[Kotarou]

Scatter, I think it's better you make your own thread rather than "hijacking" someone else's, :x

[Maiyu]

So, I took closer looks at those human anatomy stuff....

and i'm also enrolled in Honors Physiology, so it might have helped but...

here are more sketches...

(oh, sorry for late bump)

It's just a hand, and a cup... shading practice.

IT was drawn during church also... taking notes and doodling >.>;

Spoiler!

The Heart!!!
I'm too lazy to finish it...
So I'll just post it as is.

Spoiler!

...I still wanna draw anime though...

[Red]

Wow I respect you for taking all the effort to improve. The hand and the heart turned out really nicely Mai! Good job~

[Maiyu]

Originally Posted by Red

Wow I respect you for taking all the effort to improve. The hand and the heart turned out really nicely Mai! Good job~

Ahh, thank you very much!!!

Your words really motivate me to draw even more >o<!!! AND you're a mod!

[CrimsonCeres]

Wow, loving the hand and the cup. It's ok, I can't draw anime either. :x
Nice shading! I should try smudging sometimes.

[Belphybear]

For manga/anime styled drawing I suggest finding artists you like and copy elements of their styles.
For me right now, I'm trying to improve myself by taking elements for this person: http://keich.com/blog/lost/category/Gallery

And like what everyone says: practise, practise, practise!

[Shoo]

You're probably gonna hate me for this, but i have to be totally blunt. The cup was done very well, and i give you props for that. The hand on the other hand needs a little bit of improvement. When shading human skin, you can't use your pencil if you haven't had enough practice, it is far too rough. I suggest you invest in a pack of stubs (basically pencils made of paper used for shading). I don't know if stub is the correct term, but that is what my art teacher called them. Stubs are fairly difficult for beginners as well, so if you think that it still looks the same after using a stub then get a piece of paper and wrap it around your finger. That makes it more personal, instead of using an extension of your hands. I myself am still in the stub stage, and I don't consider myself that adept at drawing. You should be able to handle the stub with no problem.

Another thing is that i suggest you practice the hand's basic proportions more. It is, IMO, the hardest part to draw on the human body. It took me a year of practice before i started comfortably drawing it. I'm gonna re-suggest contour drawing here. It is a really good technique for learning. I also suggest that you thoroughly practice the whole human body, because humans naturally know the proportions. Some sort of mechanism in our mind tells us when something is off, so if it is off by just a little bit it'll look really bad. I don't know how to explain it in greater detail, but my art teacher said something about the human proportions being personal, therefore easier to spot mistakes in.

None of this is anything personal, it's just critique.

[Maiyu]

Originally Posted by Dib

You're probably gonna hate me for this, but i have to be totally blunt. The cup was done very well, and i give you props for that. The hand on the other hand needs a little bit of improvement. When shading human skin, you can't use your pencil if you haven't had enough practice, it is far too rough. I suggest you invest in a pack of stubs (basically pencils made of paper used for shading). I don't know if stub is the correct term, but that is what my art teacher called them. Stubs are fairly difficult for beginners as well, so if you think that it still looks the same after using a stub then get a piece of paper and wrap it around your finger. That makes it more personal, instead of using an extension of your hands. I myself am still in the stub stage, and I don't consider myself that adept at drawing. You should be able to handle the stub with no problem.

Another thing is that i suggest you practice the hand's basic proportions more. It is, IMO, the hardest part to draw on the human body. It took me a year of practice before i started comfortably drawing it. I'm gonna re-suggest contour drawing here. It is a really good technique for learning. I also suggest that you thoroughly practice the whole human body, because humans naturally know the proportions. Some sort of mechanism in our mind tells us when something is off, so if it is off by just a little bit it'll look really bad. I don't know how to explain it in greater detail, but my art teacher said something about the human proportions being personal, therefore easier to spot mistakes in.

None of this is anything personal, it's just critique.

Right, i'll try to work on the human anatomy more...

...but i really want to draw anime...

I mean, i know knowledge of the human body is required, but it's not so much in depth for anime, is it..?

[Ascherit]

If you REALLY want to draw 'anime', then I suggest you look up tutorials for the basics. Some really good ones are on DA -- just type 'how to draw anime' and you'll find something helpful.

Although I really recommend practicing on human anatomy more, whether its a simple stick figure or a detailed sketch of a model. Having a rough sketch of the human anatomy helps when planning an actual anime drawing. And besides, any good anime tutorial will tell you to learn about human anatomy/proportions before attempting to draw anime.

Because really, anime is just a distorted style of drawing the human figure.

[Maiyu]

Originally Posted by Senpai

If you REALLY want to draw 'anime', then I suggest you look up tutorials for the basics. Some really good ones are on DA -- just type 'how to draw anime' and you'll find something helpful.

Although I really recommend practicing on human anatomy more, whether its a simple stick figure or a detailed sketch of a model. Having a rough sketch of the human anatomy helps when planning an actual anime drawing.

Because really, anime is just a distorted style of drawing the human figure.

Oooh, it's senpai!
I really like your drawings!
I've seen through your DA profile, and you've improved SOOOOOOOO much...

I want to see similiar improvements on my drawings as well! And maybe start drawing in photoshop... but i need to work on my animes on paper before moving to computer...

ANd bleh... I hate drawing realistic human anatomy figures to tell you the truth...

It never turns out right...