12-14-2015, 02:00 AM
No problem at all, if I can help out the community then I feel good : )
I have a routine for myself, I can show you it if you like but it's very specific for my needs so I wouldn't recommend using it directly. I've written myself drawing programmes lots of times in the past but have had trouble sticking to them - it's a process and needs refining and changing when things don't work out. In general what I do now is 3 stages: 1 some kind of warm up that gets me into drawing but also sharpens skills (like your lines and boxes and stuff, or can be circles / ellipses, rendering geometric forms - anything really) 2 spend some time tackling my weaknesses (right now it's hands / forearms) 3 spend the bulk of the time doing some study (each day is different but I do anatomy, perspective, rendering, heads, style - disney / manga / etc, and comics). Then in the evening time I do sketching from imagination. On weekends I work on little projects I set myself - to give me a reason to do all this work.
About head drawing - I think you should do that too for sure and yes work on the overall shape / simplified features before getting into details. A good place to start is Andrew Loomis's 'Fun with a Pencil' (can download for free online). It starts off in a fun cartoony way and gets more serious as the book goes on. Really good place to start. A common approach with heads is to learn the basic head construction (can check Proko on youtube for that) then work on getting the skull and planes of the head down. It's quite a grind but really worthwhile - do the Loomis fun stuff alongside it so you don't get too frustrated (it really is a grind, but so rewarding).
About drawing from imagination: You should definitely do this but I'd say don't set out with the intention of drawing something good. That's why I keep my doodle sketchbook; I draw in it in the evening time when my daughter is watching cartoons; whenever I draw in that book I am doing it to relax at the end of the day with no preconception about drawing anything good. Sometimes stuff looks good, which makes me feel great, sometimes it's awful, which doesn't bother me at all since I kind of 'gave myself permission' to just relax and have fun and not worry about it. What drawing from imagination does - as well as engaging and developing your creativity - is it exposes your weaknesses. Like you could be really great at drawing portraits from photo's but not actually understand how the nostrils connect to the face, or how the lips wrap around. You might just have a really good eye for copying. Drawing faces from imagination, you will get stuck at those parts and your drawing will show it. Instead of getting frustrated, you can take note of the gaps in knowledge and make a point of studying them some other time. Sometime this week I'll post up some of the things I draw in mine on my sketchbook thread and explain my thought process.
Lastly, about initial sprints / bursts of motivation - those things are short lived, but are very important. It is good to seize upon those feelings and act, since they make us want to act but be aware that they will drop off (sometimes very quickly). Establishing a consistent effort that isn't too gruelling to make us burn out is what will keep us going through the dips in motivation (but we need that initial motivation to push us to establish those in the first place!). If you establish this, even on off days you will be so used to drawing at whatever time of the day it is, it will feel weird not to.
Your workspace looks really nice, lot of space and everything organised nicely! maybe you could just get a lamp shade for the light? It's nice to have light from above. Also, everyone does it different, but I find drawing on a completely flat surface makes me strain my back after a while, also drawings can become warped as the top of the page is further from your eye than the bottom. I angle my drawing surface (sometimes just rest the sketchpad on the edge of my desk and my knees, and sometimes put it on tabletop easel). You can better train your arm to draw mostly from the shoulder like this. That's just me though, thought I'd drop in my thoughts on that!
Sorry for another wall of text! Good luck!
I have a routine for myself, I can show you it if you like but it's very specific for my needs so I wouldn't recommend using it directly. I've written myself drawing programmes lots of times in the past but have had trouble sticking to them - it's a process and needs refining and changing when things don't work out. In general what I do now is 3 stages: 1 some kind of warm up that gets me into drawing but also sharpens skills (like your lines and boxes and stuff, or can be circles / ellipses, rendering geometric forms - anything really) 2 spend some time tackling my weaknesses (right now it's hands / forearms) 3 spend the bulk of the time doing some study (each day is different but I do anatomy, perspective, rendering, heads, style - disney / manga / etc, and comics). Then in the evening time I do sketching from imagination. On weekends I work on little projects I set myself - to give me a reason to do all this work.
About head drawing - I think you should do that too for sure and yes work on the overall shape / simplified features before getting into details. A good place to start is Andrew Loomis's 'Fun with a Pencil' (can download for free online). It starts off in a fun cartoony way and gets more serious as the book goes on. Really good place to start. A common approach with heads is to learn the basic head construction (can check Proko on youtube for that) then work on getting the skull and planes of the head down. It's quite a grind but really worthwhile - do the Loomis fun stuff alongside it so you don't get too frustrated (it really is a grind, but so rewarding).
About drawing from imagination: You should definitely do this but I'd say don't set out with the intention of drawing something good. That's why I keep my doodle sketchbook; I draw in it in the evening time when my daughter is watching cartoons; whenever I draw in that book I am doing it to relax at the end of the day with no preconception about drawing anything good. Sometimes stuff looks good, which makes me feel great, sometimes it's awful, which doesn't bother me at all since I kind of 'gave myself permission' to just relax and have fun and not worry about it. What drawing from imagination does - as well as engaging and developing your creativity - is it exposes your weaknesses. Like you could be really great at drawing portraits from photo's but not actually understand how the nostrils connect to the face, or how the lips wrap around. You might just have a really good eye for copying. Drawing faces from imagination, you will get stuck at those parts and your drawing will show it. Instead of getting frustrated, you can take note of the gaps in knowledge and make a point of studying them some other time. Sometime this week I'll post up some of the things I draw in mine on my sketchbook thread and explain my thought process.
Lastly, about initial sprints / bursts of motivation - those things are short lived, but are very important. It is good to seize upon those feelings and act, since they make us want to act but be aware that they will drop off (sometimes very quickly). Establishing a consistent effort that isn't too gruelling to make us burn out is what will keep us going through the dips in motivation (but we need that initial motivation to push us to establish those in the first place!). If you establish this, even on off days you will be so used to drawing at whatever time of the day it is, it will feel weird not to.
Your workspace looks really nice, lot of space and everything organised nicely! maybe you could just get a lamp shade for the light? It's nice to have light from above. Also, everyone does it different, but I find drawing on a completely flat surface makes me strain my back after a while, also drawings can become warped as the top of the page is further from your eye than the bottom. I angle my drawing surface (sometimes just rest the sketchpad on the edge of my desk and my knees, and sometimes put it on tabletop easel). You can better train your arm to draw mostly from the shoulder like this. That's just me though, thought I'd drop in my thoughts on that!
Sorry for another wall of text! Good luck!