03-06-2020, 12:43 PM
Hey man. You seem like you're on the right track already, so I haven't got any pointers. I second darktiste's advice about lines; and keep in mind that clean lines are something people strive for years to achieve, and making something that looks clean and nice is not of the utmost importance when sketching (though it's always good to practice), so don't pull out any hairs over it.
Yeah, figures and any other organic thing are always the hardest to draw at first. Too many unpredictable complex shapes.
Regarding your question of how and what to focus on in practice. As you've already suspected, there is no single good answer to that question. All I can tell you is that drawing helps, period (except if you're just drawing Anime Mona Lisa repeatedly, maybe, but you are obviously at no risk of doing that), as does thinking about the concepts behind what you're doing (theory without practice is lame, practice without theory is blind, and so on). The only suggestion I have is to think about the kind of subjects you ultimately want to draw, and what you want your art to look like, and what you need to practice should naturally follow from that. There isn't a different sort of practice you switch to when you reach a certain skill level, except that you become able to focus on more specific things, I guess.
Also, don't worry. If there was a fool-proof path to becoming good, everyone would improve at a predictable rate and become good within a singular time frame. Ralph McQuarrie started drawing seriously around age 24 and felt that he did not truly become "good" until he had been working at it for 20 years. Meanwhile, there are others who seem to reach an advanced level in less than a decade (those BASTARDS). If you keep working at it, you WILL see results... eventually. So don't get all neurotic if you felt you have not improved by X amount in Y time period when you felt you should have; it'll just be a waste of energy.
Yeah, figures and any other organic thing are always the hardest to draw at first. Too many unpredictable complex shapes.
Regarding your question of how and what to focus on in practice. As you've already suspected, there is no single good answer to that question. All I can tell you is that drawing helps, period (except if you're just drawing Anime Mona Lisa repeatedly, maybe, but you are obviously at no risk of doing that), as does thinking about the concepts behind what you're doing (theory without practice is lame, practice without theory is blind, and so on). The only suggestion I have is to think about the kind of subjects you ultimately want to draw, and what you want your art to look like, and what you need to practice should naturally follow from that. There isn't a different sort of practice you switch to when you reach a certain skill level, except that you become able to focus on more specific things, I guess.
Also, don't worry. If there was a fool-proof path to becoming good, everyone would improve at a predictable rate and become good within a singular time frame. Ralph McQuarrie started drawing seriously around age 24 and felt that he did not truly become "good" until he had been working at it for 20 years. Meanwhile, there are others who seem to reach an advanced level in less than a decade (those BASTARDS). If you keep working at it, you WILL see results... eventually. So don't get all neurotic if you felt you have not improved by X amount in Y time period when you felt you should have; it'll just be a waste of energy.