/beg/ - BEGINNER THREAD

[Anonymous No.2532162]

First Step edition

Because we should not have to make new threads or post in draw threads with our fundamental exercises.
Feel free to post even the smallest exercise you have done to show you are still trying, do not give up, make your mom proud.

AVOID asking unrelated questions, there is a question thread for that.

Visit the usual "Artbook Thread" to find your desired books. (Or look in the new sticky)

Do not forget to PLEASE RESIZE and crop your images before uploading them. 1kpx is fine.

→ →
There's a new sticky in town! You can see it at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VfDTpLLVl5bWUGWguswKpPFml533luI8-NBd1EGYHnA/edit


>Thread study: Try to draw/paint the opening or any other following images.
Feel free to post your original works as well if you're trash.

TRY TO BE MORE ACTIVE AND GIVE PEOPLE SOME FEEDBACK - many studies are left unreplied, which is a bit sad and can be quite demotivating for the people that try their best to improve, but are left directionless.

Old thread: >>2528756

[Anonymous No.2532164]

[Anonymous No.2532165]

[Anonymous No.2532167]

[Anonymous No.2532169]

[Anonymous No.2532171]

[Anonymous No.2532173]

[Anonymous No.2532174]

[Anonymous No.2532175]

>>2532162

Btw if any /beg/inner actually reads old sticky or thinks about image in OP: don't go Loomis "Fun with Pencil". It's his first book and to be frank it's really awful for beginners.

Generally don't go Loomis at the very beginning. Go "Keys to Drawing" by Dodson, some drawabox.com and Proko videos on youtube. Then you can go in other directions.

[Anonymous No.2532176]

[Nose Bro No.2532182]

>>2532176
is she doing something special for that bump to appear on the extending side of her tummy? Never seen it being so defined

[Anonymous No.2532186]

>>2532182

You're either looking at her breasts or rib cage and both are normal. American's may be unused to seeing the normal manifestations of either on human beings so I understand your confusion.

[Anonymous No.2532194]

[Anonymous No.2532197]

>>2532176
Oh, she got that disfigured rib on one side of the ribcage just like me.
Would make an interesting X-ray.

[Anonymous No.2532198]

>>2532175

Yeah I started drawing recently and went through it but by the time he talks about the divided ball and plane method I felt like I was going in over my head (and probably before that point too.)

I'll check out that book you mentioned. Thanks

[Nose Bro No.2532207]

>>2532186

[Nose Bro No.2532208]

>>2532207

[Anonymous No.2532209]

>>2532175
>First thing I did was keys to drawing
>then fun with a pencil immediately afterwards

Guess I'll start drawabox first then. What exactly makes fun with a pencil beginner-unfriendly? It did feel like at some point early on it went a bit too fast personally.

[Nose Bro No.2532210]

>>2532208

[Nose Bro No.2532214]

>>2532210

[Nose Bro No.2532215]

>>2532214

[Nose Bro No.2532216]

>>2532215
this one has a little of it, so ya i understand it exists, but never to her extent.

[Nose Bro No.2532217]

>>2532216

[Nose Bro No.2532218]

>>2532217

[Nose Bro No.2532220]

>>2532218

[Nose Bro No.2532221]

>>2532220

[Nose Bro No.2532222]

>>2532221

[Nose Bro No.2532224]

>>2532222

[Nose Bro No.2532226]

>>2532224

[Anonymous No.2532227]

>>2532222
>>2532224
taht dude that only draws little jap girls is gonna have a field day here

[Anonymous No.2532240]

>>2532176
>>2532197
>>2532207
interesting

[Anonymous No.2532248]

critiques on this? this is the last time ill post this i swear

[Anonymous No.2532250]

>>2532171
Some basic measuring, blocking in shapes, fleshing out and lighting.
I'm kinda stuck, can I git gud just by drawing more or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks.

[Anonymous No.2532254]

>>2532226
This is the worst kick I have ever seen in my life

[Nose Bro No.2532255]

>>2532227
beg1 probably has the sets already.
>>2532248
honestly everything is wrong but not wrong enough to merit its own point. I really want to help you but itd be such a drag. Just look at your values thats the biggest thing.

[Anonymous No.2532257]

Repost for new thread. how is my basic form? how to do shadows in perspective to make it look better?

[Anonymous No.2532259]

>>2532255
>honestly everything is wrong but not wrong enough to merit its own point
what?

[Anonymous No.2532261]

>>2532259
he means there's so much wrong he doesn't know where to start (or if he should even start at all)

[Anonymous No.2532263]

>>2532261
like what?

[Anonymous No.2532264]

>>2532261
besides the values.

[Anonymous No.2532278]

>>2532248
The painting should still look alright even after you turn it into a grayscale. Try drawing some simple thumbnails, experimenting with your composition (which is absolutely generic here), using only the shades of gray. Make a clear distinction between front, mid and background.
That could help.
A handy tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9zy0OOpT9o

[Anonymous No.2532279]

>>2532171
Think i fucked up un the tórax area

[Anonymous No.2532282]

>>2532248
why are there two lighthouses?

[Anonymous No.2532288]

>>2532282
to save twice as many ships. also one for each bay opening

>>2532278
ill check that out thanks. thing is ive gotten a different reaction to the values literally everytime i post. also im aware the comp is boring and its a boring subject. i want to test what i could do after doing some studies. any other major issues?

[Anonymous No.2532307]

>>2532279
waist shouldnt be so thin so abruptly, hips should have a defining line into and away from waist. and try rounding that shoulder... but not bad. at all. keep drawing, anon.

[Anonymous No.2532348]

>>2532165
critique plz

[Anonymous No.2532354]

>>2532165
I'm just gonna switch to traditional from now on...
Big reason why I feel like I'm sucking ass is
1) Symbol drawing the eyes
2) Nose was impossible to get right after several tries
3) No tone and shadow in the drawing

[Anonymous No.2532359]

>>2532348

I like it. It's not entirely faithful to the ref, but it looks good (and using ref is about that after all)

Dont quite like the neck too much tho

[Anonymous No.2532362]

>>2532348
Details are fine, I'd concentrate more on seeing the big picture here. In what you drew, the corner of the front/side planes of the face if about halfway between the nose and ear, while you'll see that your ref shows a lot more of the face's side than front.

Look for the main masses of your ref and try to lay them out, or at least make sure they're proportional before you get into detail. The hat has the same problem, if you hide the point you've added you will see the rest of it doesn't match the size it has on your ref.

Your chin and neck are out of alignment (adam's apple stands out too much), use triangle relationships (point of chin, corner of jaw, adam's apple) to figure out where it should be placed, or picture the angle of the line that comes out of the chin and touches the adam's apple.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous No.2532364]

Can someone give this a quick once-over for gesture and proportion so I can fix stuff before I go HAM?

>>2532279

Torso looks flat... your shading is way better than your construction. But it's limited by simplified forms.

>>2532257

Close, but you need to push your values. If the back wall is so bright why is the shadow straight to the left? The value you used for the shadow you could use for the whole floor. Try to get a more consistent darker value for the shadow, and define the shape clearly.

[Anonymous No.2532378]

>>2532364

I forgot I could just overlay the reference. I moved it off before I started drawing but it still feels like cheating.

[Anonymous No.2532387]

>>2532364
The bottom of your figure is at the heels, not at the toes.

You've basically added an extra head in your measurements that isn't there, which means your figure is closer to seven heads than eight. This actually ends up working okay if your figure is a short person and there's a bit of foreshortening in the legs (knees pointed towards viewer, squatting slightly). If that's not what you want, lengthen the legs.

A good tip I've learned is that the thighs will always have the same measurement (2 heads for an 8 head figure), but you can lengthen the shins if you want to make your figure taller.

[Anonymous No.2532388]

>>2532378
Fuck, well I wrote this and then you fixed it lol.

Don't forget the thing about the heel though. Toes don't count in body height.

[Anonymous No.2532403]

[Anonymous No.2532440]

How'd I do with mixing colors? Also, which brush is he using at the top?

[Anonymous No.2532448]

>>2532440
You're tending to go a tiny bit dark. And he's using a hard round brush with medium flow.

[Nose Bro No.2532455]

>>2532264
composition, perspective, the way cars have their own light but dont reflec,t the wya the city has no lights, the way the ground goes into sand and into water. Who the fuck builds their skycrapers next to sand by the way. Like the colors being banal.


THERES JUST SO FUCKING MUCH. I really dont want to go through them. Nobody does. AND ITS SMALL AS FUCK TOO.

[Anonymous No.2532470]

First attempt at Loomis's ball and plane method. I feel alright about the initial construction but I also think it went pretty badly downhill towards the end when I tried to add more details.

Any advice, or just keep at it?

[IcarusONE !pffU.VtHWs No.2532474]

>>2532470
Yeah, I have the same issue.
I just feel that for construction his method is great, but for noobs like us, it's too vague to be used correctly.

[Anonymous No.2532496]

>>2532440

I think in one of the ctrl paint videos he explain how to mix color. just use 50% of flow and set the brush with pressure option for opacity.

[Anonymous No.2532497]

>>2532403

cool toad frog-guy

>>2532470
>>2532474


yeah, don't worry too much about the features/details for now. I think at first is better to focus on getting that ball and plane too sit correctly in space, then you can start carving the planes (from major to minor) and THEN adding the features. Look at pic related, thats what you have to practice, you can even leave out the mass of the nose at first . A good excercise is to use photo ref of people and draw the ball and plane that represents their heads.

[Anonymous No.2532514]

>>2532403
There is something so satisfying about seeing something go from construction to finish

[IcarusONE !pffU.VtHWs No.2532520]

>>2532497
Thank you, good sir.

[Anonymous No.2532527]

I'm done for today. I need to clean up all the linework and then I can start shading.

Do I need to fix anything anatomically?

[Anonymous No.2532534]

>>2532497
Thanks man. Going to start on that now.

[Anonymous No.2532540]

>>2532455
>composition
>perspective
i know its basic and simple but ive got the okay from pretty much every time i posted it. same with the perspective

>the way cars have their own light but dont reflec,t
what do you mean reflect? you can see reflected light off cars from gorillions of meters away? i cant

>the wya the city has no lights
some do. i did this on purpose because the city wasnt the main focus

>the way the ground goes into sand and into water. Who the fuck builds their skycrapers next to sand by the way.
thats supposed to a highway, sidewalks, boardwalk whatever lights along the beach. its soooo busy that all the lights just blur together
>Like the colors being banal.
well it is night time what are you expecting
>AND ITS SMALL AS FUCK TOO
because i resized it. isnt that a good thing. original is like 6kx3k
>THERES JUST SO FUCKING MUCH. I really dont want to go through them. Nobody does.
you shouldnt really be speaking for other people you know

[Anonymous No.2532554]

le abolishment face

[Nose Bro No.2532562]

>>2532540
oh boy you really refuted my points. Look, people don't want to help you because everything is fucked, people are giving you the okay to proceed because they don't expect a new artist to actually nail the composition or perspective.

Your drawing is just cheap , poorly rendered, valued and colored. Your lighthouses are literally bent, i cant distinguish one building from the next, cars dont have nighvt lights, rocks look terrible. Ground doesnt fade into the water, the beach is like 30 meters wide, all your buildings start at the same level.

It's just massively cancerous, im not replying again. Try to do more simple stuff.

[IcarusONE !pffU.VtHWs No.2532567]

>>2532562
>>2532540
Look, as much as I dislike Nose, he's right here. It's simultaneously too complex (you put in too many details) and too simple (design wise, it's really hard to do because of the simplicity of it) for someone of your (or my) skill level to pull off.

[Anonymous No.2532574]

>>2528756
used this ref

i messed up bad with nose/ear placement, but what else did i fuck up on? i tried not using loomis this time

[Anonymous No.2532586]

>>2532567
>>2532562
what about these then. if theses are terrishit too then im just going to give up on imagination stuff for a while and do studies for a year

[Anonymous No.2532587]

>>2532586
2/2

[IcarusONE !pffU.VtHWs No.2532588]

>>2532586
To be honest?
It looks like you tried to draw a creature from the Spore DS game...
>im just going to give up on imagination stuff for a while and do studies for a year
Yeah, I suggest you do, sorry.

[IcarusONE !pffU.VtHWs No.2532593]

>>2532587
This isn't as bad as the other two, just bland and unrefined. wile the perspective seems to work (don't trust me on that) the buildings look like they're floating on top of the grass due to the fact that it's just a flat plane. I suggest using reference, because as is, it looks more like a model than an actual building.

[Nose Bro No.2532596]

>>2532587
>>2532586
Of course they're bad but thats how you improve. Doesnt mean you have to stop drawing from imagination. The creature, however, is, to your credit, mildly better than I wouldve imagined you being capable of.

[Anonymous No.2532602]

>>2532588
ive never heard of that game until now. the fact you think the design could end up in a published video game seems like it isnt a bad thing

>>2532593
fair points. right now im just sketching out the basic design. im not even sure if i like the flowerbed.

>>2532596
what about the courtyard? this is actually something i really want to work out right.

[Anonymous No.2532607]

>>2532165

[Anonymous No.2532617]

>>2532607
your angles are fucked. but what do i know i cant even do basic landscapes right.

[Nose Bro No.2532647]

>>2532602
feels flat, and im not sure where the light comes from honestly. Its hard to crit landscapes, especially for me since i dont do them often. If theres one thing i dislike, its the fact that the flower plant has near same values for both sides, the stairs are muddy, etc.

Coupled with the parthenon, id really recommend you draw the ellipses and check where you want your pespective to be.

[Anonymous No.2532658]

>>2532647
this is just a sketch so far so the values/light source havent been completely decided on.

also, its called the pantheon, parthenon is the recantuglar one in greece. and its a rotunda, the pantheon is a just a specific example (plus other elements)

[Anonymous No.2532676]

>>2532307
>>2532364
Thanks guys started again a few weeks ago, also gave this one a try
>>2532216

[Anonymous No.2532682]

>>2532222
>>2532224
Nice low res pictures nerd.

[Anonymous No.2532688]

>>2532554
Steve Buscemi would be great playing Abraham Lincoln.

[Anonymous No.2532690]

>>2532688
i was thinking christopher walken

[Anonymous No.2532710]

>>2532226
stop spaming with naked girls which are not in the same position, are not sucking up their diaphragm, have different toning and, again, are not in the same position

learn gesture drawing and the diference between staying straight up, tilting a little backwards, twisting to the side, twisting and tilting at the same time, which are standing up with their back but also their chest or whatever you have

[Anonymous No.2532820]

>>2532617
seems as if with that attitude you'll never get make it

[Anonymous No.2532825]

>>2532470
Would probably be better to try it on something that isn't at an angle. The head is titled down thus you can see a lot more of the top part of the head. The problem with your construction is that you are still putting the eyes dead center of the skull even though the orientation of all the facial features would have shifted downward.

If you have started basic perspective then try to draw some cubes in two point perspective, then try to find the horizontal and vertical middle of the cubes on all sides the viewer can see.

[Anonymous No.2532845]

its a toad stool

[Anonymous No.2532847]

>>2532845
why do you like frogs so much

[Anonymous No.2532850]

>>2532847
its calming. try it some time

[Anonymous No.2532853]

i really really like round forms. i learned a bunch of form exercises for drawing spheres and toroids and coils and stuff and now they're a semi-habitual thing i fill empty space with.

[Anonymous No.2532860]

>>2532853
you wanna show some examples

[Anonymous No.2532896]

>>2532497
Thank you anon, I appreciate it when anons give critique that also help other anons like me.

[Nose Bro No.2532988]

>>2532710
the other guy said it was a borken rib and he knew because he has the same thing.

Second, youre fucking late if you want me to stop spamming you retard.

>>2532682
honestly was the first time i saw them had no idea they were so low res. considering deleting them next time ill look into it.

>>2532658
look, everyone is trying to help you. theres no reason to throw in an excuse for everything. Keep at it.

>>2532676
youre ignoring the picture and drawing from imagination. Look at the size of your head, look at the angles and negative space ( neck)

[Anonymous No.2533017]

I have a problem. After some months of procrastinating I went back to drawing every few days. So far so good. I always practice on paper instead of digitally because I have a better control there. The problem is that recently I start to get a nausea and/or a headache after 10 minutes or so of repeated looking up at the monitor then looking down on the paper. It didn't use to be like that in the past; nowadays I have to stop practicing gestures and the like very fast or I have to focus on not puking instead of drawing. Did anyone have a similar issue and if yes, how did you deal with it?

On the other hand if I draw digitally and I have the reference picture under alt+tab or, worse, right next to the canvas I draw on, I tend to just copy mindlessly instead of looking for forms and focusing on bigger picture. It's annoying and doesn't really make for a good practice. If you guys have any advice on how to fix that, I'd be grateful too.

[Anonymous No.2533069]

Kinda rushed to finished it, I am sure there are plenty of things wrong with it but I cba to put any more time into this one. Really need to work on my lights and darks because it just looks boring. On to the next.

[Anonymous No.2533074]

>>2533069
You aren't yet able to identify the value of a colour. Start by turning your reference greyscale and making sure you can accurately observe value alone, then later move on to painting greyscale from colour.

[Anonymous No.2533075]

>>2533074
>turn the picture to greyscale

Damn, I am retarded for not thinking of that.

[Anonymous No.2533118]

>>2532165
I've always had problems with profile views

[Anonymous No.2533217]

>>2532164

[Anonymous No.2533223]

>>2533074
Holy fucking shit that's a good idea to learn value, i'm also a fucking noob and i need to work on values and that's suck an obvious idea, clearly I still have many things to learn.

[Anonymous No.2533231]

>>2532165

[Anonymous No.2533291]

Any advice on how to go about my practice?

I'm getting back into drawing, not starting drawing, so would it be better to start with gestures alongside with reviewing the basics and working up from there?

From what I'm getting in the sticky and lurking, gesture is pretty damn important. Would working on both be a doable approach or should I start linearly from the beginning?

[Anonymous No.2533312]

>>2532208
dat fetal alcohol syndrome

[Anonymous No.2533329]

>>2533217
the values are nice but there are so many displaced things

[Anonymous No.2533356]

The sketch took like 30 minutes but I've been trying to paint it on and off for a week. I tried blocking in 5 tones and blending like people say to do, but it came out a mess. Here I did my usual thing where I start with the midtone and slowly build up the shadows and highlights, which turns out better, but takes forever. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.

[Anonymous No.2533361]

>>2533356
Working out from midtones is a common and perfectly acceptable method. It doesn't look like you are doing anything wrong, and doing that in 30 minutes is not really slow. Just continue painting basically.

[Anonymous No.2533369]

>>2533356
No I mean this part took 30 minutes. I don't know how many hours I've spent painting it.

[Anonymous No.2533416]

>>2533369
Oh, well it still doesn't matter. Nothing looks wrong with how you painted it. You'll get faster as you get more experience. For now just focus on getting it to look right and accurate rather than trying to rush things or go faster. Quality is more important than speed.

[Anonymous No.2533455]

>>2533356

Values look decent, you're mainly lacking in structure. Both in the anatomy and in the shadow shapes. Try to clearly separate shadow and midtones and design their shapes. Simplify more.

[Anonymous No.2533475]

>>2533416
>>2533455
Guess I'll just keep practicing, thanks.

[Anonymous No.2533490]

>>2533475

Check out the Bargue plates if you haven't, they show a nice method for breaking down shapes.

[Anonymous No.2533509]

I was saw someone stream photo realistic drawing and i couldnt help but feel how fucking pointless it is being a manual camera.. Am i just being obtuse now?

[Nose Bro No.2533533]

>>2533312
no?

[Anonymous No.2533604]

>>2533069
The ref is too difficult for your skill level.

[Anonymous No.2533616]

>>2533604
Why is it difficult?

[Anonymous No.2533625]

>>2533616
The lighting is ambient which makes it difficult to paint since the value shifts are very subtle and hard to see and all the edges are soft so the shapes are harder to get accurate. This is made worse by the fact the photographer used a reflector to fill in the shadows with even more light, so the forms become lost and very flat (you can actually see it being reflected in her eye, it is below her and in front of us).

Also there was some editing in post that boosted the saturation a lot, which makes it harder to judge values accurately.

[Anonymous No.2533628]

>>2533604
where is he gonna get well-lit, unedited photos of little girls man

[Anonymous No.2533635]

is it ok to draw in your old sketchbook/over your old sketches?
I'm talking about from maybe two or three years ago
just found one that has quite some good ideas in it that I never finished...

[Anonymous No.2533639]

>>2533635
It's your book man, do whatever you want.

[Anonymous No.2533653]

[Anonymous No.2533658]

>>2533653

[Anonymous No.2533685]

[Unix c++ No.2533695]

>>2533685
you're still here m8
>why use mouse ??

[Anonymous No.2533696]

>>2533685
Do you ever do traditional? I think it would look awesome if you did these in ink. Or if you painted them on giant canvases.

[Anonymous No.2533697]

>>2532164
=/

[Anonymous No.2533701]

>>2533697

You're symbol drawing. None of the shapes in your drawing appear to be based on any sort of observation from the ref.

[Anonymous No.2533707]

>>2533695
idk man, don't want to spend money on a tablet and my drawing is diferente what i use pen and paper, so i like to keep two different ways of working with different results
>>2533696
i'm trying to paint in canvas, soon i'll post something here

[Anonymous No.2533711]

>>2533695
idk man, i don't want to spend money on a tablet and my drawing is diferent when use pen and paper, so i like to keep two different ways of working with different results
>>2533696
i'm trying to paint in canvas, soon i'll post something here

[Anonymous No.2533716]

>>2533701
=`( y-yes..

[Anonymous No.2533718]

>>2533695
i always loved this guys ideas but hate how he draws it like shit

[Anonymous No.2533725]

>>2533718
They have a nice quality to them even though they don't fall into the ordinary conventions of "correct" or "well drawn". I like them. Let him do his thing, at least he is doing something original and not derivative.

[Anonymous No.2533729]

>>2533716
>>2533697
Anxiety + unskilled = that fucking shit =/

[Anonymous No.2533731]

>>2533729
then shut the fuck up and focus on getting better rather than feeling sorry for yourself

are u a 13 year old girl

[Anonymous No.2533742]

>>2533731
Okay, a-anon =/

[Anonymous No.2533751]

>>2533742
PLEASE BE A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL!

[Anonymous No.2533776]

>>2533725
2nd this

[Nose Bro No.2533788]

>>2533697
i know im not helping but i like it for what it is.

[Anonymous No.2533789]

>>2533751

[Anonymous No.2533791]

>>2533742
too much chicken scratch senpai

[Anonymous No.2533808]

>>2533725
>>2533776
can i see your work?

[Nose Bro No.2533810]

>>2533808
legit one of the least legit reasons ive seen someone ask somebody else to post work.

[Anonymous No.2533813]

back at it again. how did i fuck my values this time?

[Anonymous No.2533899]

>>2533808
no

[Anonymous No.2533904]

>>2533899
why? i'm not trying to put you down or anything like that, honestly

[Anonymous No.2533906]

>>2533904
It's cause he doesn't actually draw. He just gives out advice to beginners that makes sense.

[Anonymous No.2533909]

>>2533906
not true
>>2533904
lie

[Anonymous No.2533915]

>>2533906
>>2533909
why be so scared of a comment? of showing works?

[Anonymous No.2533918]

How do you "get" gesture?

I've read everything about it in Vilppu and watched the video by the same over and over and I still just can't get it.

[Anonymous No.2533919]

>>2532845
>fungus is called toadstool
>toad is the one being sat on

you have poor observational skills, anon

[Anonymous No.2533921]

>>2533918
Don't worry too much about it. Contrary to what a lot of people here parrot, gesture is actually an intermediate/advanced skill and not something beginners can fully and easily grasp. Focus on solid draftsmanship and construction first, then focus on gesture later.

[Anonymous No.2533922]

>>2533729
>>2533731
>>2533742
>mfw /ic/ is a cesspit of derisive shitposting because its anons are all 13-year-old girls jostling for dominance

[Anonymous No.2533996]

Is there any hope for me?

[Anonymous No.2533997]

>>2533996
If you have to ask the question, then the answer is no.

[Anonymous No.2534005]

[Anonymous No.2534012]

>>2533997
why did you have to give that a (You)

[Anonymous No.2534014]

>>2532162
Should I just drop this grip early or is it acceptable?

[Anonymous No.2534016]

>>2533996
not bad for a beginner desu

[Anonymous No.2534024]

>>2532162
Should I just drop this grip early or is it acceptable?

Oh, forgot pic.

[Anonymous No.2534055]

>>2532165
I admit I fucked up and that I drew some of it after closing the picture

[Anonymous No.2534056]

>>2534055
missing a chunk of the back of his head

[Anonymous No.2534081]

>>2533231
Noice

[Anonymous No.2534090]

I don't know that this really counts, but writing these thoughts down might help me peg the issue.


My biggest struggle with digital illustration is that I have a tendency to get to the inking stage and think "No, this looks awful. It's too messy to be finished. Clean it up." until the linework is very sterile and mechanical, making it impossible to then render in the way that I want to. It also takes an absurd amount of time.
I'm trying to FORCE myself to see the finished image before I even start and keep the inking looser and more organic.

>Doodling succulents to help.

[Anonymous No.2534094]

are mannequization techniques a meme

[Anonymous No.2534100]

What am I doing wrong /beg/

[Anonymous No.2534103]

>>2534100
Don't jump into segments. Try to jot down the general form first - even if it's an 's' curve or a vase shape. Something to show the direction and weight of the body.

[Anonymous No.2534127]

>>2534100
Perspective

[Anonymous No.2534150]

>>2534090
The lines are so WOBBLY at like 200x and it feels so wrong.

[Anonymous No.2534160]

>>2533329
>many displaced things
I know, been using too much liquify in Photoshop probably
>>2534081
Thanks
>>2534100
Mostly proportions and perspective
>>2534094
Doesn't matter, whatever works for you
>>2534055
Why are you setting yourself up for failure then?
>>2533996
I see potential
>>2533813
Plot your shadows better, use a ruler if you must, you can't even draw a straight line from one side to the paper to the other.
Lay down a value for the whole cube and then go darker on the shadow planes and so on
>>2533789
Be more conscious of your mark making >>2533653
Learn to take a decent pic
>>2533369
>>2533356
This should help you https://youtu.be/6Pd0xqPzKCc

[Anonymous No.2534208]

>>2532164
So, for once, I tried to focus on shapes the different colors form instead of features or what I think something should look like. I still failed at the beginning with nose, mouth, eyes, brows; I corrected them a bit but they're still mostly symbols, not shapes. I also got completely lost while doing hair, especially the bottom part. Anyway, it ended up less distorted than my usual portrait attempts, so I guess it's a plus. I can't say I enjoy doing it this way very much though.

[Anonymous No.2534352]

>>2534150
Bump for you.

[Anonymous No.2534365]

just.

[Anonymous No.2534439]

>>2533697
sorry, but i dont think you really tried and gave up superfast

please try to stick with it till the end and dont shy away when you fuck up sometimes, it just happens, next time will be better

[Anonymous No.2534456]

>>2533915

[Anonymous No.2534462]

been working at this for a few hours and at this point i'm just nitpicking and it's not helping me improve. even looking now, the eyes aren't in the right position, the face is overall too long and lips too thick, plus a bunch of angles are skewed. still semi-proud though because this is the first time in like 2 years i picked up my tablet and drew more more than 5 minutes before getting pissed and giving up.

[Anonymous No.2534471]

>>2534462
Didya flip the canvas?

[Anonymous No.2534508]

>>2534365

[Anonymous No.2534512]

>>2534365

[Anonymous No.2534525]

Over 9000 hours

[Anonymous No.2534531]

My second time working with ink, how did I do?

[Anonymous No.2534535]

>>2534365
>>2534512

[Anonymous No.2534565]

>>2532165
Sometimes I think I should just paste the reference onto the canvas to see the exact differences, but then I'd feel like I'm cheating.

[Anonymous No.2534587]

WIP Thoughts? Im unsure what kind of face or expression I should try to make. Also Im sure I should try and fix up the left hand some more, I dont like the middle and index finger.

[Anonymous No.2534588]

>>2534365
>>2534512
>>2534535

[Anonymous No.2534598]

>>2534565
If you're not tracing, what's cheating about it?

[Anonymous No.2534658]

>>2534587
I think the weirdest thing about the hand is that the palm is too long and the thumb too far away from the other fingers.

Her arm also doesn't plug into her torso correctly. The latissimus dorsi has been drawn in front of the arm.

[Anonymous No.2534664]

>>2534658
Oh the armpit thing is just the way it looks because I changed the contrast (to make the lines darker in the image cause you can barely see them) and the vertical line isnt there in the actual image.

Also I dont mind long palms, Im going for a weird look on her, given her outfit.

[Anonymous No.2534713]

Am I gonna make it?

>>2532896
>>2532520
>>2532534

You're welcome. I could show you my first attempts at the loomis method, they suck, because its a totally different thing compared to observational drawing and certainly not easy for a begginer. But once you understand it, you can learn constructional drawing a lot faster. Always think 3D

[Anonymous No.2534730]

>>2534713
you've already made it

[Anonymous No.2534739]

>>2532165

[Anonymous No.2534741]

>>2534713
"Making it" is a state of mind and journey, not the destination. Keep it going m8.

[Anonymous No.2534748]

>>2532403
Needs line economy but, I love your brush strokes.

[Anonymous No.2534749]

>>2532182
>>2532197

She's just got a pronounced rib cage and low body fat, she's not "disfigured" you fucking morons.

[Anonymous No.2534772]

>>2534748
Hey can you explain what you mean about line economy? I read Hampton's explanation on it but I can't see a difference between line economy and lineweight.

[Anonymous No.2534781]

>>2534772
line economy = fewest lines saying the most

basically no extra/unnecessary lines that don't convey any information

[Anonymous No.2534808]

these fucking boxes man. I'm trying to learn to draw still life images, and the tutorials tell you to measure and draw these boxes to get decent proportions of the item.
Out of the entire page where the fuck do you put the initial line for these boxes

its so fucking confusing to me, maybe im just an idiot, but i feel like i do a better job of just trying to ape what i see rather than doing all this fucking measuring. Ive watched videos on the subject multiple times, especially the ctrl+paint videos, and I still cannot understand it.

[Anonymous No.2534811]

>>2534781
Checking in before I start rendering. This is the first time I came this far, getting the construction down really helps. Any pointers? I was mainly aiming for values and form, not the exact same colours.

[Anonymous No.2534817]

Any specific advice or experience about learning anatomy? I think I'm just going to draw tons of skinless people to try to remember most of them.

[Anonymous No.2534982]

>>2534811
your midline of the face is off

[Anonymous No.2535035]

>>2534811
the construction is way off

[Anonymous No.2535039]

>>2534817
Well for one, don't do that unless you understand what you're doing or you're setting yourself up for the long road.

[Anonymous No.2535046]

>>2534817
Don't use Loomis for anatomy. Buy an actual anatomy book. To be thorough, you should really buy several so that they can balance out the weaknesses of each other. Bridgman and Peck work well together. Read the text, copy out the plates, and then redraw them from memory. Start with bones then move to muscles and make sure to learn their insertions and origins.

[Anonymous No.2535064]

>>2535046
>copy out the plates
I'm not that anon, but I've seen people say plates in different threads without fully knowing the meaning. What are plates?

[Anonymous No.2535071]

>>2535064
You eat food off them.

[Anonymous No.2535073]

>>2535064
What is templates for 500$

[Anonymous No.2535076]

>>2535064
Plates are the drawings/diagrams. Just copy every image out of the book.

[Anonymous No.2535078]

>>2532354
HOW DO YOU FUCK UP THIS BAD

Sticky, NOW

[Anonymous No.2535083]

>>2535078
The sticky is useless for people without reading comprehension

[Anonymous No.2535162]

How do I make my drawings not slanted? Even when I put a center line I find when I finish a drawing it's still slanted.

[Anonymous No.2535166]

>>2535162
It means you aren't paying attention to what you're drawing. Just pay attention.

[Anonymous No.2535209]

>>2535078
I've tried telling him what he needs to work on every thread. He just ignores me and keeps making the same mistakes.

[Anonymous No.2535262]

>>2535083
>>2535209
Meh, I've been reading the books and doing the exercises
I'm in the middle of exams and don't really have the time to go too much into detail. I just go lightly through them inbetween actual exam study sessions
I'm doing my best to use what I've learned with loomis, perspective and keys to drawing and I've gotten nowhere fast

[Anonymous No.2535264]

>>2535262
Cause you have to understand. We'll hand hold you if we have to so you can walk.

[Anonymous No.2535265]

>>2535264
How do I understand exactly? Whenever I read the explanation to the exercises, I can't visualize what the author is talking about at all
I will agree that I only know what I have to do but I don't know why I have to do it this way
I think if I actually understood why certain methods are done the way they are then I could more easily swallow the information

[Anonymous No.2535270]

>>2535265
Understanding is knowing the why and being able to visualize. If there's something you're not getting, ask or even provide a step to step guide on what you do, so we can point out what's going wrong

[Anonymous No.2535275]

>>2535270
Alright then. Could you tell me what specifically is wrong about my drawing other than the symbol drawing?
I tried my best to get the proportions done correctly by placing landmarks
As for the head I started out with a circle and did the whole ball and plane method explained by loomis
I also thought of how important ear placement is because prior to drawing this I watched the new masters academy YT video on heads
I also looked long and hard at the ref to try and replicate all the features as I see them. Granted I don't actually see his features like I portrayed in the drawing
I have no idea how to actually put down on paper what I actually see because I don't have the techniques yet
I read up a lot on facial features and watched plenty of videos (proko mostly) on how to have them done
I'm starting to feel discouraged because art has been my dream for a long time but I always felt I was too analytical for it and that I'll never 'feel' it so naturally like other artists do
I'm ranting now thanks to the frustration this shit gives me

[Anonymous No.2535298]

>>2535275
This guy is baiting you.

[Anonymous No.2535302]

>>2535275
wew lad

[Anonymous No.2535306]

>flip horizontal
>doesn't come out fucked

[Anonymous No.2535308]

>>2535275
>frustration
>falling for the gitgud meme
>instead of having Fun with a Pencil

Senpai.

[Anonymous No.2535311]

>>2535298
>>2535302
>>2535308
>spouting memes
I guess coming to this board is the worst mistake a beginner could do...

[Anonymous No.2535356]

So I tried following this

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/107217-Digital-Painting-In-PS-2

Is there a better way to blend paints? I barely have a vague idea on how.

[Anonymous No.2535359]

>>2535356
I mean to say how can I blend my paints better

[Anonymous No.2535368]

>>2535275
You do not have to feel art at fucking all. Art is super fucking analytical. An artist can set whatever art piece he fucking has however he wants fucking perfectly such as the composition, proportion, lightning, mood, whatever the fuck he wants because art is that analytical. This is also why art is so fucking complex because newbies won't be able to understand all the parts of an artwork. You need to be able to analyze a ton of fucking parts. It's true there are some artists who just fucking understand shit, but hey who fucking cares about them, you're not them, so fuck them. Also fuck your drawing man, it's fucking a failure and there's no helping it. Fucking forget it and move on. Go fucking drawabox and do the first fucking two lessons. If those don't fix your shit, then do it until it fucking does because those are the most basic of basic shit. Constantly question shit and ask why, but you have to fucking find that answer for yourself or you'll never fucking succeed. Art is a self-learning thing, a person can not always help you with shit. Analyze everything, google it, whatever,strive to understand all this shit and you'll come out improving your eye too such an extent that your shit will look like complete shit for a few years because your hand hasn't caught up with your eyes. That's okay, just work through it and you'll constantly see ways to improve. Recycle and repeat until you're where you want. Frustration is good. It shows that you want to fucking do this shit and it's fucking being a piece of shit to you. You have to beat it up and make it your bitch. It'll always be frustrating but as long as you strive to understand one step at a time, you will make it. Make sure to put in the time too, don't rush this shit, that's how you get yourself into failure. You need patience so get ready for a ton of more frustration. That frustration will harden you and strengthen you, get used to it, It's a friend for life.

[Anonymous No.2535374]

>>2535311
Your only problem is that you're getting way too hung up on the details and the intricacies when your problem is you're clearly not seeing things in 3D. Once you get over that hump you should be fine.

And >>2535368 is right. Drawabox is your best friend at this time.

There is nobody on this board that is willing to wipe your ass every step of the way. It just gets fucking annoying like how a little brother constantly bugs you. We can offer bits and pieces of information but it's your job to see the bigger picture and improve based on that.

[Anonymous No.2535375]

>>2532173
Tfw spent the whole afternoon un it to find y did it too short

>>2532988
Thanks mate

[Anonymous No.2535376]

any issues before i keep goin

[Anonymous No.2535399]

>>2535076
oh, I see. Thank you, anon.

[Anonymous No.2535405]

>>2535376
his head is way pointier than that.

[Anonymous No.2535472]

>>2532165
Been lurking a while, decided to contribute for once. Sorry for Shit quality, don't feel like tableting.

[Anonymous No.2535593]

wanted some feedback of my take on a dota character

[Anonymous No.2535735]

>>2535039
>don't do that unless you understand what you're doing
I feel like it's the good time for me to do that, I'm doing ok with proportions and I want to get further with figure drawing.

>>2535046
Thank you!

[Anonymous No.2535742]

>>2534817
>Skinless people
The term is écorché in case you're interested in looking some of that up.

[Anonymous No.2535754]

>>2535593
Did you draw this during Aftershock?

[Anonymous No.2535765]

>>2533701
>You're symbol drawing
And you're using words you don't understand. His drawing has the sense of form, they just don't come from the reference.

[Anonymous No.2535767]

>>2535375

Now that's just silly

Keep studying

[Anonymous No.2535770]

>>2535765
Nevermind, I think the face has form but its features not so much

[Anonymous No.2535796]

>>2532173
Is this picture useful at all for learning skin colors? It looks suspiciously like some major Photoshop sliders were at work here, judging from those orange arms and blue/green tones on the body, but I know shit about coloring in general.

[Anonymous No.2535807]

So, I have a question, I'm very new to art, I've only just started dawning seriously about 5 months ago, and I have an issue. I'm currently in highschool with each period being 45 minutes, I mostly spend that time working on the fundamentals, just doing anatomy studies and quick figure drawing sessions. Being as new to art as I am, should I spend more time working on larger projects like fully rendered images, or should I continue doing quick figure drawings and perspective work?

[Anonymous No.2535818]

>>2535807

Doing a lot of quick exercises is way more effective than spending a lot of time on rendering images when you don't even have all your fundamentals down, in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.2535875]

Just a sketch. I'm gonna start to work her face. Thanks for all support, /ic/.

[Anonymous No.2535878]

First page of bridgman and he is already fucking my shit up

[Anonymous No.2535894]

>>2535875
Her hips are too manly, right? Should make them smaller (all lower body)

[Anonymous No.2535903]

>>2535894
youre making it worse
lay your drawing over the picture and see where you fucked up

[Anonymous No.2535904]

>>2535368
>>2535374
The cubes part of drawabox is honestly really difficult. The other 2 parts such as the lines and ellipses are fucking easy now
It's just that no explanation is given there when he tells you to draw the box rotated and perspective isn't explained either
BTW I don't understand how to use perspective at all. I get the whole thing about the horizon level but how do I know whether to use a single vanishing point or two vanishing points?
Was that even explained in perspective made easy? I read till chapter 5 in the book as of now

[Anonymous No.2535907]

[Anonymous No.2535909]

>>2535907
you start to show signs of improvement then regress to this trash. draw real things without trying to make is LMAO 420 TRIPPY BRUH

[Anonymous No.2535914]

>>2535909
what signs of improvment did i show?

[Anonymous No.2535919]

>>2535903
Holy ****! Thanks for the tip, bro!

[Anonymous No.2535926]

>>2535914
you started actually trying to draw actual anatomy for a little bit (even though you hide hands and feet and faces) then you stopped. You just spam the board with lol so randumb xD shit until some kid says "oh this looks neat" and then that one complement fuels you to keep chigging out this garbo for the next month

[Anonymous No.2535928]

>>2535919
np, make sure not to trace once you overlay the picture though. move it away before working on it again.

[Anonymous No.2535951]

>>2535928
I did. Getting better (seeing that some other structures kind of "match" with the reference pic made me confident haha). Thanks again.

[Anonymous No.2535955]

Is Ctrl Paint Unplugged a good resource to learn the fundies?

[Anonymous No.2535967]

Any advice, bros?

[Anonymous No.2535971]

>>2535967
why arent you sticking to your own grid?

[Anonymous No.2536025]

>>2535971
Because I'm a shit. That isn't really advice, though.

>It did make me fix though.

[Anonymous No.2536043]

>>2536025
>That isn't really advice
Beginners not even once.

[Anonymous No.2536046]

>>2536043
I mean that it wasn't put forth in the form of applicable criticism - It was a rhetorical question.

[Anonymous No.2536052]

Is there any advice you guys can give when it comes to making drawing cylindrical/spherical forms easier? Perspective wise? I'm getting slightly somewhere with cubes, but anything circular? Forget it, never comes out right. Any tips/tricks you guys can lend?

[Anonymous No.2536056]

>>2535875
>>2535928
Starting her face.I know there's symbols, but I'm trying to fix them (that "shadow" is just a test).

[Anonymous No.2536059]

>>2536046
exactly. it was rhetorical. Which means that you were supposed to pick up on the implication. which means that being autistically literal will get you nowhere on this board.

[Anonymous No.2536089]

>>2536056
you're chicken scratching really badly. dont do that

[Anonymous No.2536107]

>>2532165

fuck, gonna do this again

[Anonymous No.2536112]

>>2535971
>>2536025
>>2536043
>>2536046
>>2536059
I love you guys

[Anonymous No.2536180]

is my form solid now?

[Anonymous No.2536204]

Does drawing still lives with only a pen help train confidence with your lines and remove 'hairy lines'

[Anonymous No.2536231]

>>2536112
Oh dear, sweet anon.

Tell me I'm good, anon. T-tell me I'm pretty.

[Anonymuos No.2536265]

trying to get a feel for painting with acrylic and natural colours. it's a pretty small painting so no details and only loosely based on the image. if anyone has any pointers i'd appreciate it

[Anonymous No.2536275]

>>2536089
Yep, I'm doing that a lot with the tablet.

[Anonymous No.2536276]

>>2535359
Try any blur tool or blend/water tool

[Anonymous No.2536388]

How's my perspective

[Anonymous No.2536400]

>>2536388
i'd be more focused on your line quality.

[Anonymous No.2536423]

>>2536388
Pretty good. Feels just like standing in a room of poorly drawn boxes.

[Anonymous No.2536430]

>>2536388
Have you ever seen A Thousand Words starring Eddie Murphy? I'd hope not, but check the plot. He basically has a limited amount of words he can say or write, and when he runs out he dies.

Try to pretend that's true in regard to how many lines you draw for one shape.

[Anonymous No.2536442]

so i only recently got into drawing, and i have been trying to draw a rendition of my character her back leaning up against a wall, can someone point out on the character what i need to do to make it look closer to the reference photo, or any other helpful tips for me?

[Anonymous No.2536467]

>>2536442
Just do what you did on the first one, i like it better

[Anonymous No.2536485]

>>2536442
i didn't draw the first one, i want the character i am drawing now to look like it. so i wanted some tips to make the character look the same

[Anonymous No.2536512]

>>2532218
2 mins

[Anonymous No.2536557]

Current progress.
Still gotta clean up and work on the shadows.
Any advice?

[Anonymous No.2536568]

>>2536557
Blend more.
The shadows look like lines instead of shadows

[Anonymous No.2536589]

>>2536388
look at how much better it looks without the extra lines.

[Anonymous No.2536591]

>>2536512
czech your proportions

[Anonymous No.2536597]

>>2536589
still doesn't solve the fact that he can't make good cubes

[Anonymous No.2536605]

>>2532208

this shit is frustrating

[Anonymous No.2536617]

>>2535894
:D

[Anonymous No.2536656]

[Anonymous No.2536678]

Did this during a class. He really got a big nose.

[Nose Bro No.2536681]

>>2536605
you honor mai waifu.I love it for what it is.

[Anonymous No.2536683]

[Anonymous No.2536684]

>>2536617
Increase your canvas size. You shouldn't be seeing individual pixels unless you're fairly zoomed in.

[Anonymous No.2536700]

>>2536678

the nose knows

[Anonymous No.2536702]

>>2536617
How do you blend so smooth? I simply cannot grasp this concept. My shit just comes out rough.

[Anonymous No.2536705]

>>2536702
use a soft brush

[Anonymous No.2536708]

Does anybody have good tips on the angle, the hold and the way one moves the pen,pencil, etc. while drawing?

[Anonymous No.2536709]

>>2536557
values my man.
the image needs to be darker overall too

use the colour picker and pick the darkest skin tone and the lightest skin tone, the difference is massive compared to yours.

[Anonymous No.2536784]

>>2536708
You watch this and see if it helps you out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMC0Cx3Uk84

[Anonymous No.2536795]

How do I get more variation with these designs? So far, the my method is
-Layout human face
-Add parts that look like they fit on the the face
-Add random metal plates
-Tubes? Add some tubes I guess
-Maybe like an ear piece?
-Don't draw dicks this time

Idk how one might go from post-apocalyptic science guy to post-apocalyptic heavy machine gunner, to underwater stealth guy.

[Anonymous No.2536802]

>>2536795
Do some research. What are you trying to design these helmets for? You'll have a much easier time if you can work with a pre-existing design language (say, something like "wwii/nazi-inspired sci-fi" to give a super common example).

Looking at reference can help you (and should be part of your design process). There's a ton of different visors/eye-holes for masks, not just traditional round ones that you keep drawing. The same is true for every element of your designs.

Lastly, don't be afraid to reskin. Take the general concept that you have (a full face helmet with a visor and a breathing apparatus) and apply completely unrelated (but consistent) design styles to them. Google "bug shells", find a picture of a cool bug, and try to copy these shapes onto one of your masks. Google "spaceships", pick a picture of any made up spaceship, and incorporate the forms you see, whether they be angular, or organic and blobby. It works for anything you can derive a consistent aesthetic from.

If you try to design only from imagination you're gonna run out of ideas pretty quick. Doing research is the key to interesting and varied designs.

[Anonymous No.2536812]

Attempt #3
I already noticed a couple things off, oh well.

[Anonymous No.2536813]

>>2536812
Who is this ref and why do you keep trying to draw them

[Anonymous No.2536820]

>>2536813
Her name is "Mana". I just draw her because I find her adorable.

[Anonymous No.2536827]

NEW THREAD

>>2536826
>>2536826
>>2536826

NEW THREAD

[Anonymous No.2536828]

dead

[Anonymous No.2536836]

:D