Jokes are over. How EXACTLY do I learn to draw?

[Anonymous No.3410035]

Long story short - I'm taking gap year before uni. In this time I want to learn to draw, but seriously DRAW. I mean like those digital art masters like Ruan Jia or guweiz. I'm basically willing to cut those 12 months out of my life and do nothing but draw for 16 hours a day. But what exactly should I be doing? Study photos all this time? study other people art? draw from imagination? take courses? Is this even possible without art school? I know I won't get on master level in one year but I want to become the best I can during that time. And by the way I'm not a beginner, I have basic understanding about anatomy, composition and painting, and I took schoolism course, but my art is still medicore at best.

[Anonymous No.3410058]

Gl burning out/rsi

Learn perspective

[Anonymous No.3410080]

>>3410058
>Gl burning out/rsi
Yes, I've been thinking about negative effects too, maybe 16h a day is a stretch, but let's say most of the day. With some days off. Besides there must be people who draw for many hours a day, how do they get so good in drawing after all? Are they not human or do they learn very fast?

[Anonymous No.3410088]

>>3410035
Loomis

[Anonymous No.3410097]

>>3410035
just draw bro

[Anonymous No.3410098]

>>3410035
Do observational drawing everyday make it your mission to copy what you see 1:1. Drawing from imagination nonstop will hinder your progress. Use books as a source of extra information. If you plan on grinding through a book make sure to copy what you see 1:1. If not, use the book to help you understand certain aspects of what youre trying to draw. And maybe draw from imagination for an hour a day to keep those creativity juices flowing

[Anonymous No.3410108]

>>3410088
I think this stuff is for beginners, I think. I studied human figure and head already.

>>3410097
I've been doing that for past 6 years, anon. And I'm still medicore.

>>3410098
Do you recommand any books maybe? I have only color and light by james gurney

[Anonymous No.3410114]

>>3410108
Post your work.

[Anonymous No.3410121]

>>3410035
tl;dr read the fucking sticky retard

[Anonymous No.3410137]

>>3410114
I don'y have much, because I never finish anything/ delete it.

[Anonymous No.3410140]

>>3410137
What the fuck, you're actually good.

[Anonymous No.3410149]

>>3410140
Yes, good, and that's all. I want to be much better, like pic related for example

[Anonymous No.3410159]

>>3410149

Well, how is your shit different from the shit you want it to look like, anon?

[Anonymous No.3410171]

>>3410159
It lacks depth, that's the biggest thing. I lacks good shading, detail and brushwork

[bxmn No.3410200]

lately this has been been working for me to get over some gaps

1) take a shitty webcam pic of your sketch, which i consider the same as "blinking" just a quick look at your pic from a different perspective. i even do this for digital pics with my phone. i think it also helps it feel less "final" if you know you are going to do this in anticipation so you take more risks and take yourself out of your comfort zone. also how else are you supposedly to quickly flip a picture traditionally? a mirror i guess.

2) burn a backup disk of your stuff; feels more concrete than just having files floating around and on battery bound computers and shit. its like a canvas for digital files !!

3) sometimes i feel like artists have problems with facial recognition after studying too much so i myself have to draw faces upside down; yes to snap back into symbol drawing. its a crutch at first but realize most people are looking for a face and are not artists and can't appreciate your awesome sphere shading like most of /ic/ does. so incorporate a symbol drawn face k

4) sometimes i have the webcam going on just my hands, helps with observing your hand movements while still being able to draw

[Anonymous No.3410219]

>>3410171
Can you be more specific? You can work on developing those areas, but it works better if those aspects are more clearly identifiable.

Let's say that pic >>3410149 is your goal after 10 years. If you were to draw for just a year say, can you find a picture online that would reflect that? Then actually look at the things that are different from your drawings and work on that.

It sounds like a good plan to me, but honestly your drawings are like 10x better than mine, so I can't say that I know better than you at all. Good luck, though!

[Anonymous No.3410234]

>>3410035
>But what exactly should I be doing?

You say that like it's an easy question to answer. Some people spend more thinking thinking about it than actually drawing. My solution is also 'just draw bro' - do studies, take courses, and so on, even if it looks terrible, even if your mind rebels and says 'b-but have you thought this through', because the alternative (wasting too much time wondering what to do) is far worse

[Anonymous No.3410240]

>>3410137
one nose to rule them all

[Anonymous No.3410251]

>>3410137
>I never finish anything

Zany idea alert: FINISH YOUR SHIT, MORON

[Anonymous No.3410256]

>>3410234
I just have problem with "just draw" because I don't see any improvement no matter how much I draw. And I feel like I'm wasting time, by doing it the wrong way.

>>3410219
>Can you be more specific?
I don't really know how. All I can say is that I'm not happy with my drawings and I feel like they lack a lot of things, but I can't really tell exactly what things. So thats why I'm asking you guys

[Anonymous No.3410258]

>>3410251
I quit when it's beyond saving

[Anonymous No.3410283]

>>3410258
Then find a way to fix those pieces you think are shit, even if you have to start from scratch. If you're shit it's probably because you haven't spent enough times addressing your weaknesses that make your art look unappealing.

[Anonymous No.3410289]

>>3410137
fuck all the way off with this thread
if you already got to this point, you already know how to learn, what is bogus and what isn't, etc
go draw, you fuck

[Anonymous No.3410341]

>>3410035
>year before uni..learn to draw...like Ruan Jia
It's not possible to reach his level in one year. The guy has probably been grinding for 7 - 10 years.

>>3410137
Not sure I believe this is yours. If you can make it this far you already know what you need to do to keep going. it's called keep going.

Larp thread bait.

[Anonymous No.3410448]

What you posted as what you are wanting to achieve is not drawing, it's painting. A good foundation for painting is drawing but it's completely a different beast. What you should be dong are value studies to understand how light works.

[Anonymous No.3410550]

>>3410137
Learn anatomy + perspective and finish your work

[Anonymous No.3410576]

>>3410035
>digital art masters like Ruan Jia

[Anonymous No.3410577]

>>3410576
Back to your containment thread >>3409257

[Anonymous No.3410580]

>>3410200
Lol so thats what you look like, didn't know you looked like a serial killer.

[Anonymous No.3410582]

alright so I'll take over, all my life I've doodled but never really got into drawing although it's always been in the back of my mind. I had an off day today, and I want to get a new hobby, one where I can be creative etc etc. been doodling all day to see sort of where I am in the drawing skill idk just to see where I'm at. I'll post some, if you guys could give me feedback it'd be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous No.3410583]

another one

[Anonymous No.3410587]

this guy is Steve, the sky diving chicken

[Anonymous No.3410588]

>>3410582
I like the bear, it's cute

[Anonymous No.3410592]

last one. also, for what it's worth, I really like the way you draw OP! I like the way you draw the hair, it's very expressive. actually, I love how you draw faces overall. your noses are just on point. I can't really criticize since to me you'd be my end goal of how I want to draw some day, so I'll just let you know how much I like it! if you ever finish any of those, I'd love to have any as my wallpaper :).

[Anonymous No.3410596]

>>3410588
thank you anon! i can't take credit tho, i copied it from a youtube channel I just found out about. drawfeed its called. i fell in love with it when I saw it. thinking on putting it up in my room somewhere here is the link if you want to draw it out yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJWDesgEGI&list=PLDUoOYLKP1C7dsrXdvVDI8aVJfZbuMqqg&index=21

[Anonymous No.3410600]

>>3410582
look through the /beg/ sticky and you can find the books you need in the artbook thread
use paint.net or whatever to paste everything into one image, resize to ~1000 px, adjust levels/brightness/contrast to your liking

[Anonymous No.3410609]

>>3410600
just checked it out! which one do you recommend for me to start with? the link is sending me to a paint selling website tho. i am confused for what you mean tho, i should paste the things ive drawn and resize them? so they look neater when posting i presume?

[Anonymous No.3410615]

>>3410035
Find the nearest ARC atelier* to you, and attend for the full year, every day. Grind the bargues, the casts, the life drawing. Every single fucking thing.

Good luck.

* https://www.artrenewal.org/Atelier/Search

[Anonymous No.3410759]

>>3410592
Thanks anon, I'm glad you like my art. I like yours too, it may be simple but it still has charm in it.

Anyway, I have read every answer and really there is no other way than just draw and push it through. I will be doing a lot of studies and take some courses, thanks for every advice here. If someone still has something to say, please share

[Anonymous No.3410760]

>>3410256
Do still life’s to improve values and detail

Be mindful of brush economy for better brushwork.

Draw literally 10x more than you’re drawing now. Good people tend to draw 40+ hours a week for years.

[Anonymous No.3412599]

>>3410137
I wish you could teach me a thing or two about coloring. I really enjoy your palette and I have no idea how I would reach that point.

[Anonymous No.3412610]

One of the things I've never considered about drawing before coding my own renderer (comp sci student) is the importance of knowing the physics of light, in particular:

- Global Illumination (a shadow is not just a darker spot, it may have it's own colors)
- Subsurface scattering (milk, our skin, and surprisingly: water waves! pic related )
- Volumetric / fog scattering (clouds and atmosphere)
- Specular reflections (very hard to do by imagination)
- Light's refraction, dispertion and caustics
- Depth of field
- Fresnels effect, expecially when drawing water

You'll notice most of the big-names in the community know well (intuitively or through study) these things and they implement them in their drawings. Eventually you'll need to know them all, but I'd say a credible global illumination and specular reflections are the most important part for a drawing to look believable

[Anonymous No.3412736]

>>3410080
They've been drawing for a long, long time.

[Anonymous No.3412761]

>>3412610
meh, i've coded a path tracer and it doesn't help with art. Still suck

[Anonymous No.3412776]

>>3412610
Colour and Light by James Gourney is the best book for this

[Anonymous No.3412778]

>>3410035
Someone post that one year training link

[Anonymous No.3412792]

>>3410200
>on battery bound computers

You have no idea how computers work, do you?

[Anonymous No.3414921]

>>3410035
Draw from life you faggot

[Anonymous No.3414924]

>>3412792
shh no rules
only tools

[Anonymous No.3414941]

>>3410035
If you seriously need to ask this question you lack the spark to be a good artist

quit now and go back to playing overwatch

[Anonymous No.3414957]

somewhat this. contrary to what all of /ic thinks, artistic improvement is not something you can just force or "grind." it's a slow and complicated and non-linear process. You have to be thoughtful in what you're doing and to genuinely enjoy creating art, and not just for the sake of reaching some other artist's skill level or to impress people (that might be enough for a while, but you'll ultimately give up because art takes SO MUCH MORE time and energy than a lot of other pursuits).

the short answer is that you should draw mostly from life, then practice from imagination once you have a decent visual library. Draw some of what you like but don't avoid subjects that you struggle with.