11-22-2018, 09:43 PM
Hello CD's forum users! Long time no see!
Recently, after a 3~4 years art hiatus, I went back to drawing. But this time, using what I learned from others hobbies (as a amateur violinist) I decided to practice with an objective in mind: I did enjoyed comics, so why not focus on them?
After going through a pretty simple anatomy course in Udemy (simple, but helpful) I decided to give a go and try to design a character. "Surely it will go better than 70% of the amateur guys drawing an anime derivative character at DA..." I arrogantly thought.
Well... It didn't.
Actually, not only it came pretty bad (but better than any attempt before) but I committed all the erros that sworn myself I wouldn't. Yeah... I was worse than most of those guys.
Also, I realized that I did get a bunch of bad habits in my formative years: when I was younger (15~16) I did study in a pretty bad atelier, where believe it or not, using rulers or trying to study others artists was frowned upon by the teachers.
(Imagine my surprise when I saw (only recently, believe me) some famous comic artists using rulers! Or advising to emulate your favorite artists! Everybody always told me that doing this would destroy any chance of developing your style!)
I simple don't know what to study from here. Yes I understand that practice is the cure for this ailment (bad art), but what to practice? Where to go? There is a world of tips out there, but no framework to use them. Should I go and emulate my favorite artists? No? Should I go and study all Loomis books before doing something I like?
Worst of all, I saw beginner amateur artists that in 6 months did a quantum leap in their abilities while I also saw "professional artists" (self-proclaimed) that are simple stagnated in an average art ability after YEARS, even if they are trying to live of it.
I am not trying to say that there is a magic silver pill that you take and make you be better in art. But I do believe there is a 20% - 80% rule in practice. If so, what is the 20%? What is the piece that is missing from this puzzle?
Recently, after a 3~4 years art hiatus, I went back to drawing. But this time, using what I learned from others hobbies (as a amateur violinist) I decided to practice with an objective in mind: I did enjoyed comics, so why not focus on them?
After going through a pretty simple anatomy course in Udemy (simple, but helpful) I decided to give a go and try to design a character. "Surely it will go better than 70% of the amateur guys drawing an anime derivative character at DA..." I arrogantly thought.
Well... It didn't.
Actually, not only it came pretty bad (but better than any attempt before) but I committed all the erros that sworn myself I wouldn't. Yeah... I was worse than most of those guys.
Also, I realized that I did get a bunch of bad habits in my formative years: when I was younger (15~16) I did study in a pretty bad atelier, where believe it or not, using rulers or trying to study others artists was frowned upon by the teachers.
(Imagine my surprise when I saw (only recently, believe me) some famous comic artists using rulers! Or advising to emulate your favorite artists! Everybody always told me that doing this would destroy any chance of developing your style!)
I simple don't know what to study from here. Yes I understand that practice is the cure for this ailment (bad art), but what to practice? Where to go? There is a world of tips out there, but no framework to use them. Should I go and emulate my favorite artists? No? Should I go and study all Loomis books before doing something I like?
Worst of all, I saw beginner amateur artists that in 6 months did a quantum leap in their abilities while I also saw "professional artists" (self-proclaimed) that are simple stagnated in an average art ability after YEARS, even if they are trying to live of it.
I am not trying to say that there is a magic silver pill that you take and make you be better in art. But I do believe there is a 20% - 80% rule in practice. If so, what is the 20%? What is the piece that is missing from this puzzle?