Science can't explain it!
@Nezchan One great piece if advice I got was to get a ream of legal size paper and a bed table. I can tilt it up and draw well into the night, right until I fall asleep
@cypnk Yeah, I run into kids that are like "I wanna learn to draw, but I can't afford a tablet yet." Like seriously, if you're just starting to learn you don't *need* a tablet.
Get yourself a big pad of newsprint and a soft pencil and start learning 3D shapes. Doodle on anything. Learn to effectively make marks before you invest in an expensive piece of equipment that will just end up in the back of a closet if you don't stick with it. Buy that crap when you know you're hooked on drawing.
@DistroJunkie @cypnk Not sure I agree with that. I know people who swear by them, and I know folks who never touch the stuff and it doesn't hold them back.
Drawing from life though, that's something you can't do without.
@Nezchan @DistroJunkie I think it's a combination of both. 50% Looking, 50% not looking
One of my favorite series on perspective, for example, is this one from Alphonso Dunn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj671geTt94&list=PLhBKkQX9XSgd3RdgkX9_azkcev8PYYdYs&index=1
The rest of his channel has been very helpful with learning how to draw basics as well as getting to know the abstract stuff
@Nezchan @cypnk
That's fine. It's just my opinion. I'm sure there are people who trained in different ways or just have an innate ability to see things very well.
I think any artist can make themselves better through training their eye and developing medium skills.
I did several blind contour drawings that turned out really neat. Others not so much.
@DistroJunkie @cypnk I think whether you're doing blind or not, what matters is you're working from life. The skill of breaking real objects and anatomy into 3D shapes on the flat plane of your page (real or digital) is an extremely important skill.
@DistroJunkie @Nezchan @cypnk take out the drawing-specific language and this is how I feel about all skills
@rook @DistroJunkie @cypnk Basically, yes. The problem with drawing (or writing or painting or music) is that it has the idea of "talent' wrapped up in it. And that turns a lot of people's minds off so they don't think "this is a skill you can learn", and that's a damn shame.
Perspiration is the main thing. Eddie van Halen played many a scale up and down the neck of a guitar before he made it.
Inspiration is also a key. There's a big difference between inspired art and arts&crafts.
Talent is what was there all along that grew through the first two.
Most really talented artists go unnoticed, unfortunately. A select few make it big in their lifetime.
@DistroJunkie @Nezchan @rook @cypnk
There is an old saying I love: "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
@RussSharek @DistroJunkie @rook @cypnk
That's a good one. The myth of the "talented", "inspired" artist rising above is harmful to newcomers to a creative medium, because it holds up good artists as special and Not Like You. So if it doesn't come natural to you from the start, you might as well give up on it. Which is terrible.
If anything, all talent does is put you a little forward on the starting blocks, but you have to run the rest of the race yourself.
@Nezchan @RussSharek @DistroJunkie @cypnk I should probably clarify that the thing I'd latched onto most is perception.
once you've developed your perception, the whole thing gets easier, whatever it is. and without that, it will certainly be hard forever.
@cypnk Go find a PDF of Loomis' Fun With a Pencil and Figure Drawing For All Its Worth and maybe Bridgeman's Constructive Anatomy and just nail that shit. I don't care if you want to do "manga style", you're too early in the process to *have* a style. That's window dressing, so don't waste time on that when you haven't poured the foundation yet.
If you learn the basics and nail them good, then you'll be *better* when you try to adopt a style.