Best resources for learning to draw

[Mink]

Are Andrew Loomis's books still the best for learning to draw? 

And what other resources did you find helpful and recommend?

[darktiste]

Sorry for the long introduction and long form.

When learning to draw i personally believe one should aspire to at one point go beyond being a ''printer'' for leak of better term. Note that master study is still to a degree ''copying'' but it still useful when you understand how to translate your study to personal work. But what is printer in the context? A printer is someone who do no leak fundamental skill he could do the mona lisa or any other famous painting by looking at an original piece of artwork a bit like a ai would without much thought... but that ''printer'' as no creativity(not that he leak it contrary to ai) his ability to create 3d space is lagging behind even if they ultimately might be reproducing 3d space that person understanding is 2d to a certain level. They might have a great sense of proportion but a difficulty with scale in perspective.

Let take a cube to help us perhaps understand better the different between ''the printer'' and the artist''.Here how i would say a ''printer'' see compare to an artist who draw from imagination. The artist understand beyond what he see and could draw the inside of the cube or any individual side that is hidden from is view point because he understand what a cube is .How does the ''printer''?My way of explaining how those person perception work is to compare them to a person who look at a picture of a 3d object they with practice could draw that scene from new angle(if given a 3d model) but right now they can only ''duplicate'' that 3d space into a 2d illusion .The train artist is therefor somehow like a drone who as a 360 bird eye view understanding of a subject matter will a ''printer'' as a 2D card board view of the world.

One exercise to verify if you are in a printer mindset is to be able to understand the difference between below the horizon or above the horizon in perspective for example try to draw a elongated rectancle with it base below the horizon and it top above the horizon draw the ground plane not just sitting in empty space just being able to visualize that actually drawing it mean you are starting to use your imagination to see a simple object in perspective. Also an other difference between ''printer'' and ''master'' is a 3d understanding of ''volume'' or the moment object occupy the same space. It would be a bit to complex to explain why such concept are fundamental to going beyond being a ''printer'' and that not the goal of my message. This section is simply to warn you in your journey to avoid what i call the formula syndrome which is loosing the capacity to draw without the help of a book. Book are great but they often leak practicality and those who use book can develop the ''formula syndrome'' which happen when you don't apply what you learn beyond only copying example provided to you. To be an artist you have to be to ''assemble'' image from a variety of real world reference.

Loomis book is a ''Swiss knife'' book because it ''well rounded'' in term of bring to light what are the fundamental of art are and it rule.

I would recommend you rephrase your question to a more specific drawing topic . But you might still need a book on the basic... to complement your favorite topic.

Example of specific topic: animation, story boarding, animal anatomy, portrait, painting ,human anatomy,manga maybe you have already some idea of what you like if not Loomis is a good place to start you don't want to overthink the fundamental you can always expand on them but you need some kind of ''approach'' that actually teach you to draw from (''imagination'') not follow instruction on how to draw... and that very much depend how you interpret the book if you skip content or not.

If you could clarify any subject matter you might have a interest in that would help you get complementary suggestion that are relevant to that ''school'' a problem in trying to learn is ''being to broad'' it ok also it really depend if you know what you want or not and i think if i have to suggest something it would to try something specific and stick it and don't jump around to much you want to be able to see progress if you jump to much it could be stressing you out unecessarly.That advise only apply when you really have to much subject matter to choose from.You can always ''do different thing'' but if you try to do to much at the same time it can be a frustrating experience.

If you have at least some interest in certain drawing topic you like those other book could act as a ''motivator'' to drive you to what you are interested because learning fundamental is fine on it own but a goal can also certainly help you situate yourself in your art journey.