So first off I'd like to say that my drawing experience before these images were a mere 2 weeks where I just did some drawing and then tried to draw only face of cats for 1 week straight before stopping and coming back to it after a month - which is where we are now!
As it so happened I somewhat enjoy drawing felines (the faces of them for now) and like to go into as realistic/detailed as I can or well as my skill allows me to go :)
I use real life images to practice my drawing and sometimes have a look at a tutorial or two.
The chances of me currently doing any sort ''big'' image are next to none so I'm only going to come with small parts of something for now.
Advice for improvement welcome as I am a completely fresh artist with next to none experience so I'd like to get started as nice as possible!
Note - I won't post pics where I will be drawing the same thing over and over again to keep the horrorshow at a minimum
Today which was a horrible day where I couldn't turn off my ever so judgmental mind so I drew very little, very s.... and I got very upset in the end haha
Maybe cause I took a closer look at the art on this forum here and felt very unworthy to post my ''work'' here if you can even call it? Silly brains :)
Drawing alot is the way to improving but beyond that it very much about what the quality of how you think will your drawing,Drawing what you want isn't the result of random mark on the paper it a serie of question that make the drawing progress toward your intended result.For observation is more of the realm of questioning what you see.Will imagination is more about understanding how to assemble the piece of the puzzle to make it happen.You can therefore see that there is the practice of observation and the pratice of creation or reproduction.The hardest part is understanding how to create question you can answers to make you drawing go toward your intended result.
Sorry if that already to advance of a concept for you but don't feel discouraged if this seem like you will never understand what i meant by that.
Let just say that to learn a skill you need to learn how to use it language and art as a language of it own drawing is like a problem if you don't know how to fix the problem you need to be able to ask yourself question to solve that problem.As you progress in coming up with your visual solution(your drawing) you will be face with your own inability and you will have to correct what you see. If you manage to have an eye sufficiantly trained to see those mistake you did put on paper .Since you are a very beginner you have most of your questioning unresolved because you have no resource(book,video,instructor,peer to ask for feed back) but since you joined this forum your already in a much better place to learn than simply on your own which is a great thing to progress faster for any artist there no shame in seeking help.
As you start you will be naturally prone to comparing your work to people you regard as your ''mentor'' just be careful to learn about constructive way to compare yourself don't let jalousy or bitterness slow your growth.
I do draw animal so you can always come by my sketchbook to get an idea of how i go about learning to draw them and you can always email me if you know how to if you got question.
Thank you kindly for your long and detailed reply!
Yes, I definitely agree what you say.
Honestly don't know if I should ''really'' post daily when I am at the very beginning of my journey so I am always improving/changing one way or another?
When it comes to seeing other people's art it's a weird one really. Quite often when I feel bad about my drawing due to seeing how good others are I often feel motivated to improve after I've calmed down.
And sure - I'll have a look around at what you've posted :)
Animal aren't the easiest subject to start form they aren't familiar to use as much as human.Studying human is actually a good starting point because of how were brain work but it can also be boring to us at the same time but atleast we start from a subject that isn't hard to find reference(picture to draw from).The advantage of choosing human as a starting point is you have plenty of drawing manuel on how to do just that.Also think of thing you can draw that actually transfer toward your goal for example it would be kind unadvised to draw thing you have simply no interest in utilizing again.An error would be to draw thing just for sake of drawing pretty thing that might be ok at first but if you pick it up as a habit you end up drawing thing that doesn't get you closer to what your interested by.
One problem starting with animal i want to point out is that they have a level of detail that aren't something easy for beginner to achieve they have fur which beginner artist have problem dealing with they are overwhelm with information and they don't necessarly understand how to reproduce what they see due to it complexity.Human on the other hand are bare skin and they still feel human even without facial hair or hair. and the best thing about starting with human as your study subject it you probably have family member and yourself as potential study subject.My point is that you need to work from the familiar toward the unfamiliar.From the simple to the complex.
It not my intention to divert you from what you like drawing but perhaps it would be more advise to focus on subject matter that are more managable in scale.
What i am trying to say by this is you have to learn to understand where your skill currently at and what you need to improve and right now you don't have enough data to know how to approch thing logically.So it would be better for you to try not necessarly to draw what you want but to pick up a drawing manuel and try use that as your spring board toward your own objective.Maybe you draw for fun in that case feel free to explore but remember that you can always rely on someone else approch to something when you get lost.
Hey there, i would recommend you start to get used to drawing with 3d shapes, like cubes and cylinders. https://drawabox.com/lesson/0/3/majorconcepts is a good site to check out, then you can start turning your boxes into animals etc. : ) good luck.
Hello! Figured to poke my head in and say that no, I have not quit drawing :)
Although it's not been as active as I've hoped this year but guess life sometimes has other plans with it's surprises!
Drawabox has proven to be quite helpful for me and I'd recommend it to anyone if they can bear learning the "hard way". Currently waiting for a response on
Anyway, here are some of my drawings. It's always changing as it's mostly done for learning and not as a finished piece except for the coloured tiger that was pencil + fineliner PS: They are from different timeframes
Welcome back good to see you that you start thinking more than just in face and profile manner.
In all honestly if you want to progress the most just make sure to draw with perceptive in mind and by that i mean you need to learn how to play by the rule of perspective not only that you want to choose the right kind of perspective that help create what you have in mind.
Copying your favorite character and breaking them down into basic geometric form can help you to draw your own character but anatomy is require because the basic geometric form are more an excuse to visualize than what could be describe as a finish illustration.Also i wouldn't advise to dress your character right away because you need to understand what under the cloth to make sense of how the cloth will fold or follow what underneath.
One last advise would probably be to avoid drawing fur so early on because it very time consuming and can prevent you from learn more ''urgent'' topic.Instead i recommend to focus on exercise that train your value and form.
If you need example don't hesitate to send me a message if you know how to.
CBinnsIllustration - wow! I'm very happy it caused you positive emotions. It actually reminded me of the reason why I started with art to begin with so thank you very much on my part. Really needed it :)
Cats are one of my favorite animals — big and small. I also love Anthropomorphism takes on various critters.
Are you familiar with Tracy Butler? She does a re cartoon Lackadaisy — in that series she has cats in a setting from the prohibition era in New Orleans. I think it's kinda cool
You may not be going for THAT cartoony a look but might find her stuff interesting.
Anyway — keep posting yer stuff — and don't forget to visit other sketchbooks and comment — even if you think you have nothing to say — as you noted sometimes just a word of encouragement is very helpful.
Great start! As mentioned, I think at this stage it's important to focus on thing such as gesture and simple forms, this will help you give your images a more professional appearance. Keep it going, very much looking forward to your progress!
