Just sit down and draw what you see. Over and over and over.

Nothing more to it than that, really.

--
Fanart is just "fart" with a couple of extra letters thrown in.

"Rebellious Guy must have hypergernomically biograbulated the microbiotic germs!"

practice drawing from real life subjects... people / still life setups / etc.

try to understand the effects of light on color (and vice versa), have friends sit for you so you can draw their portrait, get a grasp of basic anatomy (a figure drawing class would be ideal)...

basically, just become more aware and observant of the things around you.

Look at person.

Draw person.


That's pretty much it.

Later on, you might get to...

Think of person based on combined memories of many people.

Draw person.


But you have to do lots of

Look at person.

Draw person.

first.

--
"Every time you eat waffles, your mind is living in sin"

How to Look Like an Ass in Your Signature.

Learn about:

perspective
proportions
shadow/lighting
colour theory

Closely study the works of artists in this style, and read about how they created their work. Get books from the library. Attend life drawing classes.

Lots of options.

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Where I'm at:

[link]

I strongly recommend "The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. It teaches the 5 gesalts of drawing realism, and also a brain theory. It's really an awesome book!

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You've been piratized!
Wanna learn how to draw? [link]

People make it sound easy , but realism is tough to get just right. You'll need to practice alot. Try setting up a still life and drawing people , start with photos of people if that's more comfortable for you.

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Oprah ate my cat! =0

use reffrence and practice a lot people will probably tell ya to draw from life but if youre talkin about portraits i thank you have to use reffrence to get it right

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.
and NEVER ever draw from a picture, photography is a completely different medium, only capturing a fraction of a second in most cases. drawing from life is much more personal. you capture hours in a single drawing. plus, the camera only has one point of view. your eyes have 2. ever heard "the camera adds 10 pounds"? it is true. your eyes see around and object, the camera only sees dead on. a camera can never capture light the way a well-done drawing can. i can not strees how important it is to not draw from a photograph. it will look like you drew it from a photograph.
always draw from life.
enroll in a class with nude models if you are interested in people, it will do wonders.
develope a sensitivity to light. don't just make it lightere where the light is hitting and dark were there is no light. look. within the light is dark and within the dark is light. of course, the light in the dark won't even compare to the lighest light. but it is there. and it is crucial
mesure with your pencil (you look stupid but it works)
hold your pencil up and find the angle from the head to the hip. the chair to the corner. the bottom of the tree to the bulding. whatever. it will help you with placement.

if you want more tips you can message me, i'm tired of typing for now. i'm a drawing major. i can help.

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<3emmabug.

my gallery website - [link]

Well there is a lot more to it but...



The best suggestion i can give is to use yourself as a model, set up a tripod and take a few pictures of yourself in that pose and use them to draw from. Trace yourself if you need to. Actually, tracing is a FANTASTIC learning tool. After a few times tracing, try to do another without tracing, see how well you do and switch back and forth.

You need to stay away from stylisations if you want to be able to draw realism, so do as much "real life" situations/characters as possible. It may not be as fun as some stuff you see on here, but I am a firm believing in learning core, foundational skills before you learn to draw......fluff.

but you dont always have a model at your disposal. i agree fully that a model is much better and a photo is not a good substitute but sometimes its really all you can use and i dont see much wrong with it.

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"There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall."