08-02-2016, 02:54 AM
Hello great people.
My name is Razvan and I'm a 20 years old mess. I say mess because I can't figure it out what I want to do when it comes to art. I know few Photomanipulation, few Graphic Design, few Videography, Photograpy stuff and alternatives, but I think my childhood favorite thing to do pops up again, and by that I mean drawing. I drew a lot back then , mostly shit or copied stuff but now I feel like I want to learn to do it more professionaly, mostly digitally but I think I have to start all over again with traditional first. And for this I need help . So my questions are: What should I start with? What kind of books do you recommend me? Where to look to learn without anything to distract me? Basically give me the best advice you can give.
Thank you and see you around. <3
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Hello there :)
I'm going to try and give some pretty general advice, because there's so many ways to possibly answer your question, and there is no single good place to look or start, because the journey is different for everyone.
In terms of improving your art technique, you'll need to work on fundamentals like anatomy, colour theory, values and perspective. If you keep browsing through these forums and looking at how people are studying those things in their sketchbooks, you'll get an idea of how to start on each of those tasks. Personally, I like the 'ART Fundamentals' book published by 3DTotal, and Andrew Loomis books for human anatomy. Lots of people recommend a book called Color and Light by James Gurney, but I can't personally vouch for it because I haven't done intensive study from it yet. The best possible thing for a beginner to develop their skills is to study from life - just find something in the real world and draw it. If you wanna draw people, then draw the people around you. Try to be as accurate as possible. The more accurate your study is, then the more accurately you'll remember it for the next time you need to draw that thing.
The awesome people on this forum will be able to give you tons of advice about all that stuff, and by 'that stuff' I mean learning how to be 'good' at art.
But I think there's a really important step that some people miss out, so I'll mention that too.
Figure out why you want to draw and WHAT you want to draw. The great thing about drawing is that you can channel all your other interests. For example, I like nature, history, fashion, women, and fantasy. So that stuff influences what I draw. If you want to improve at art, I think you have to be excited about the stuff you're going to make. Otherwise learning to be 'good' will seem like a long, pointless slog.
I see loads of people learning to draw and they are like 'I have to spend a year drawing boxes... then a year shading things in black and white... then two years learning anatomy.... and then after ten years I can start drawing cool things'
Screw that.
Draw cool things. Draw the stuff that keeps you daydreaming when you should be doing something else. Draw that stuff that sticks in your mind, the stuff that you're obsessed with. And draw it from the beginning, even if you're not 'good' enough yet. Tap into the same excitement that made you draw when you were a kid! The reason so many people draw as a kid and then stop as an adult is because they get to a certain age and stop focusing on the cool idea they wanted to draw and start worrying too much about if the art is 'good' enough.
Think about that cool thing you want to draw, and maybe study some things that will help you. Like if it's a character, then study some anatomy first. You don't have to study ALL the anatomy in the world before you're allowed to draw people. Just study enough that you look at the cool thing you drew afterwards and you think 'yeah I learnt something, and then I got this awesome drawing from it. It's not perfect but my next one will be better.'
Anyway, that's my idea of how to start an art journey :)
@BadWoolf thank you so much for the great words. I do appreciate it. You lifted my spirit a lot and I think I kinda needed this. I'll do my best to become better.
@RottenPocket I think I have a problem when it comes to time and resources. I mean I spend a lot of time looking for stuff, speaking from the perspective of a photomanipulator, and after this see that things aren't going as planned and then anxious thougts about fkin' my time around doing nothing kicks in..and so on.. I do try to escape this circle of shitty thoughts , because i don't want to repeat it as i'll learn to draw my way up getting better at drawing. I think this is my downfall in everything i try to do. It kinda sucks
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So do I! I have a lot of real life obligation to the point where I'm physically and emotionally exhausted any chance I DO get to spend on art and so I've associated my art with that discomfort. It's a hurdle, like any other. Just one step at a time, Bro.
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Welcome to Crimson Daggers Arcvision aka Razvan!
I think Badwoolf and RottenPocket are right that there is no one route to art mastery but I think you've taken a great step by getting involved in a community like this one where you will be encouraged, motivated and informed.
Maybe the best way I can answer your question is by sharing my own journey with you.
I love drawing characters so that is where my focus is. By browsing these forums I learned of the following resources that I now study from:
- Andrew Loomis books
- Proko's YouTube channel
- Michael Hampton Figure Drawing: Design and Invention
- Google images for diagrams of musculature
I am currently focused on solidifying my fundamentals: anatomy, perspective, values and eventually colour. I started off by trying just to draw well before adding in values and colour. So that meant line drawings for anatomy, gesture drawings and drawing figures in perspective.
My sketchbook is full of really boring studies but I enjoy them because I enjoy learning how to draw characters. I think my study strategy thus far is flawed though because I am doing too much studying and not enough art for the fun of it.
So I think to summarise:
- Choose an area you want to focus on.
- Research study strategies around that area.
- Get involved in a community of like-minded art students (like us :)).
Hope that was helpful - looking forward to seeing your journey :).
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
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