Where to begin with improving.


Grimmkyu's avatar
Hi guys. Been a Deviant for a year now, and I to be honest, I've slowed down a LOT these last few months in terms of drawing and improving. I want to spend 2013 fully focusing on art and improvement, and well, to be honest. I have no idea where to begin. I usually sit here with my tablet out, blank, doodling a few lines every so often and I end up just getting depressed, laying down, and not touching it for 4-5 days because of being scared it will happen again.

But well, I don't plan on doing that today. But nothing has come for hours upon hours, and I think I need to take legitimate steps, like studying sort of stuff. But hell, I know it's probably weak of me to come here, but screw it - I need help with where I should start.

Also, I'm heavily inspired and I thoroughly enjoy anime/manga style art, and as such that's what I want to be able to do myself.
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TsurugiNoMai's avatar
first you need to change your mindset of all the negativity. i know its easier said than done, but thats part of the problem. second, inspiration. i turned to walt disney. [link] <--- buncha quotes

also, do not. i repeat: DO NOT force it. ive had this problem for years. staring blankly and blank spaces hoping something will come up. dont. it wont happen. do it when it feels right. carry a small sketchbook, notepad and pencil, pen, crayon everywhere and i mean EVERYWHERE. you may even meet people who will show you a trick or two! i was at a bar once and decided i wanted to draw. the people next to me would not leave me alone!

write ideas down, keep in notes on your cell, take pictures ect. my iphone is now my art tool. filled with notes and pictures and such. when the time is right i pull them all out and slowly create something.

take your favourite artist and study them. dont be them, study. learn how and what they did and how they got there.

do a once a day sketch thing. they have one a day sketch diaries (kinda expensive) or keep a separate sketch a day journal. draw on everything. start small and work your way up (ie; draw a whole page of eyes, a whole page of mouths). dont get rid of any drawing even if it sucks.

youtube has lots of free tutorials as well.

most of all, NEVER GIVE UP.
Grimmkyu's avatar
As I'm sure you've read at some point, I've been in the art-world for about a year now. Thank you very much for taking the time to respond, and I feel that this is very very helpful. I sort of do most of the things you have suggested to a lesser extent. I don't have a cell phone, but I do find and fill up my computer with lots of pictures and the like. And I would say one of my favorite artists would have to be *ClearEchoes , so I suppose I'll study him.

But really, thanks. It does really help. I agree with you with that final bit to no end, though I wish I'd follow it more often (though I will say, no matter what happens. I will /never/ give up.)
TsurugiNoMai's avatar
youre very welcome :)

good luck in your endevours
NatalieBee's avatar
Take baby steps, and work in "sections." What would you like to work on, specifically? Hand & feet, animals? Focus on the basic shapes. Master those first. Then gradually push yourself just a little more until you're confident that you've got it. Do the same with other mediums, and condition yourself to knowing how it "feels" to control your tools. Remember--we're our own worst critic sometimes! You may notice flaws that other people don't.
The-UglyTruth's avatar
If you want to become a better artist, niching yourself right off the hop is detrimental. Do still life, do art nouveau, do cubism and fauvism. Just because you want to do manga doesn't mean that you can't learn from different practices.

Become concrete in your knowledge of anatomy, design and colour theory. You have to know the rules to break them, especially with something like anime. By breaking down the components of really astounding art you are better able to replicate it and mold it to your needs. Break out of your shell and Recreate the Mona Lisa, the Girl with the Mandolin, and so forth.


The problem with a lot of young, enthusiastic artists is that they want instant gratification. It takes time and blood to be great at something.
Grimmkyu's avatar
Responding to what you've said here,

I'm sorry; I've been immersed in art and whatnot for a year and 2 months now, so I'm still 'new' sort of. And I don't try to sentence myself to only doing one form of art - Like say, I don't want to do just manga, but because out of all the forms/styles moreover of art, I like it the most, and as such want to improve in that more than the others.

I've heard many say that, also. The rules bit. You need to know how to draw a human realistically before you can draw them in the style of manga; Which of course differs from reality.

I'm only 18 years old myself, and I don't necessarily want to be able to just knock out picture after picture after picture with minimal effort cause "i'm just that awesome lololooll!!" but I sometimes get into these slumps of uninspiration due to minor to major problems/flaws that I notice about things. I do agree with you, though. It definitely takes time. The major 'God-tier' artists have been in it for many many years.

One of which I admire, named Sayori started out pretty poorly (subjectively) in the early 2000's, improved slightly in 2001, 2002 was better, but still lacking, but then 2003 onward, just amazing amounts of improvement. So I believe that I can do it, I just was trying to learn what the ladder was exactly before I start climbing it, if that makes sense.
shininginthedarkness's avatar
I second the drawing book thing. Most libraries have a decent selection. Go for something general, not for something specifically on drawing people or whatever. It'll take out the temptation to get online browse for the 'right' tutorial. Just get a book, and sit and work on it from cover to cover (not in one day of course).

Also, your stuff is going to look really bad at first. That's OKAY. Everyone goes through that.
Grimmkyu's avatar
I've been immersed in art for a year. I don't believe that everything you make will /HAVE/ to be bad, also. I mean, it's a fact that artists see their own work worse than others do.

Oh, and also - My library seriously doesn't have any books like it. Everything is horridly disorganized, and I'd asked a librarian to help me locate art books, and she said they didn't keep them there for whatever reason and that she was sorry.
shininginthedarkness's avatar
Ok, it doesn't HAVE to be bad, but there's an excellent chance a lot of it will be, and people use that as an excuse to just not do it, or the fear manifests itself as procrastination.

Well, that's the worst library ever! Let me see what I have in free e-book form. Well, these are all from 1900.

[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]

So I don't know how much they'll help.
Grimmkyu's avatar
It really is a terrible library. Hell, there's even a comic book store that sells books for drawing..
.
..
...
At a staggering $50-$100 USD, and it's mainly for comic book style superheroes, which I'm just missing the part of the brain that cares about them. But there is manga style, but it's all about drawing buildings and whatnot. I dunno about you, but I don't think skyscrapers = what I had in mind.

Either way though, I appreciate the support. Whether or not you truly helped me out, I'm very thankful for your time.
shininginthedarkness's avatar
You wouldn't be well served by a book that was teaching a particular genre anyhow. So that sucks.
Grimmkyu's avatar
Well it's more helpful than nothing, I suppose.
MorikoRaion's avatar
Go to your library or local bookstore and take a look at drawing books. There is a large variety, from detailed topics to general things...

If you have the time and money, take some classes.

Look at yourself in the mirror and try sketching different expressions and poses.

Go to a park or mall and quickly sketch the people around. Take careful notice of anatomy and proportions.
Mercury-Crowe's avatar
Don't sit in front of blank paper for hours. It just conditions you not to work.

Switch media. Start sculpting with play dough or something.
RavynneNevyrmore's avatar
See if you can take a figure drawing class in your community.

Draw objects in your room, or go to the park and draw people (while trying not to creep them out. Opt for people who are far away and busy focusing on whatever they're doing).

Or if you can't obtain any of that, grab a magazine, use a person in a photograph as reference, and draw your own character wearing different clothes or naked.
FOOLY-COOLY's avatar
Yeah I was just looking at your tumblr. You draw some pretty nice figures/characters with nice designs but you need quite a bit of work on figure drawing. I definitely recommend taking a fig draw class with a teacher, as well as doing nonguided drop-in open figure drawing sessions for supplemental work.

Here's a nice video about gesture drawing
[link]

Also I recommend this book
[link]

I haven't read much of it but I found it very helpful to read in little snippets while working on a drawing of my kitchen. Definitely don't hold off drawing rooms/perspective until you've finished the book. The book just explains things very clearly.
Grimmkyu's avatar
Well thanks. Just the problem is - I virtually have 0 money. I cannot take a class, nor can I purchase an art book. The only thing I can use are free resources from around the internet, or what I come up with on my own.
FOOLY-COOLY's avatar
I'm sorry to hear that you have no money. Some figure open studio sessions are about 8-20$ per session depending on the place, which may be out of your price range.

Alternatively, you could draw your friends and family, or draw yourself in a mirror, or go to any free museums or zoos in your area if they exist (where I live there is a free zoo, which I understand is not common), or going to a public space like a fountain or train and drawing people is always an optional, although winter makes it harder to find people outdoors and such.

In any case, making drawings of everyday objects and drawing buildings/rooms/etc using perspective is always an option that is free and wonderful practice.

The reason I stress life drawing is that it is actually often much better practice than using photos, because you have to actually translate 3d things to 2d.

Also check out your public library, it might have that perspective book I recommended, or something similar.
FOOLY-COOLY's avatar
I think one of the best ways to improve your skills is to draw from life. Draw your hands, draw a room, draw objects, do figure drawing, draw models of humans, do outside drawings.

Drawing from life gives you skills in proportion, perspetive, and anatomy, that makes drawing anime style and other styles possible and easier. It is one of the best ways to make real improvements in your drawing skills, while also not necessarily being creatively exhausting.

I think a good source of motivation is to look at applications to art schools, and look at their supplemental assignments (ex: design a character, draw it from all directions, then give it 2 action poses, 5 facial expressions, etc. or draw a room in your house from 2 perspectives).
Armonah's avatar
If you're someone who works better with outside inspiration, here are some groups you can start off with:
#DailySketchChallenge
#Design-A-Character
#Tryout1980 (Art jams)
#AnotherContestGroup

If you don't have any inspiration at all, just put a few objects together and study life drawing. You can't go wrong with that ;)
Grimmkyu's avatar
Well, what I mean is like - I don't know where to begin; Like I just sit here and know I have problems I need to work on, but then nothing happens and unfortunately, I can't just say "Oh, fuck it. I'll look resources up online." Which, I would if I could, but as I said. I don't know where to look.

Also, what do you mean by 'outside inspiration'?
Armonah's avatar
Things such as assignments from other people. I often have problems figuring out what to draw myself, as well, so having contests or art jams or stuff like that is really helpful for me.
Grimmkyu's avatar
Oh, I gotcha then. I'm the same way. Just most of my friends reply with "i dunno just draw (insert character name.)" and never give anything beyond that, which truthfully drives me nuts. I'll try and do that then, thanks!
Armonah's avatar
You're welcome! Glad I could help :)