Traditional Art - Newbing it up
No idea why I chose that title, but it seemed apt.
Hello!
Traditional art isn't something I've been taught over the years, or taught myself at that, but I'd like to start on it. I want to start from the ground up and get myself comfortable with a pencil.
Not only do I really want to do this, I require some traditional work from my portfolio, to help me get accepted into a university.
So without making this 'tl;dr', here's what I need help with:
Books/ebooks, online videos or DVDs showing me the basic and fundamentals of drawing; lighting, perspective etc.
Advice on what and what not to do when it comes to drawing. Common mistakes and such.
Something geared towards game environments, level design and scenery.
I might even post up some of my work too, for feedback.
Hello!
Traditional art isn't something I've been taught over the years, or taught myself at that, but I'd like to start on it. I want to start from the ground up and get myself comfortable with a pencil.
Not only do I really want to do this, I require some traditional work from my portfolio, to help me get accepted into a university.
So without making this 'tl;dr', here's what I need help with:
Books/ebooks, online videos or DVDs showing me the basic and fundamentals of drawing; lighting, perspective etc.
Advice on what and what not to do when it comes to drawing. Common mistakes and such.
Something geared towards game environments, level design and scenery.
I might even post up some of my work too, for feedback.
Replies
The most important piece of advice that many of us fail to follow:
Get involved with local Life Drawing courses ASAP. Drawing a human figure from observation is the lynchpin skill of pretty much every kind of visual art.
Some quick advice:
AVOID tutorials focusing on specific tricks or solutions to individual problems. You need to learn broad skills and theories, not gimmicks.
AVOID finding excuses not to draw. This is the most crippling thing for pretty much any aspiring artist -- art is slow, frustrating, and lonely, and it's easy to find other things to do instead.
SEEK OUT like minded people with similar drive to draw.
SEEK OUT any information about how artists you admire think, how they approach their drawings, what kinds of problems they try to solve.
Here's a quick buzz through of books you might find useful:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Bridgmans-Drawing-Dover-Anatomy-Artists/dp/0486227103"]Any book by Bridgman[/ame], for the lucid anatomy education.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Successful-Drawing-Andrew-Loomis/dp/0857687611"]Anything by Loomis[/ame] for the words (Many of these can be found online as PDfs and are out of print -- google 'andrew loomis')
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Natural-Way-Draw-Working/dp/0395530075"]Learning to draw the natural way[/ame], which is a long, intensive, art skill bootcamp -- I have a very hard time studying from this book, but if you can commit yourself to it, this will turn you from zero to badass in sixty seconds. It's dry, though.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452"]Force[/ame] is a modern, cool, popular book on gesture drawing.
Some online stuff:
Ctrl paint is lovely, concise, and heavy on useful, educational theory and tips
some polycount 2d artists may scoff, but there are some great collections of links and information in the ca.org tutorial subforum
Find artists you admire on various sketchbook forums online and READ all of their posts, don't just look at the pictures! Seeing what better artists are struggling with and trying to perfect is the closest thing to a good roadmap you're gonna get. Does so and so have beautiful, enviable compositions? Read back and find the post where they're moaning about trying to understand color theory!
I'm going to try and get a hold of some of those books you mentioned, plus have a go at the 'Learning to draw' section on Ctrl+Paint. I have a friend that has gave me some very good pointers too.
Thank you once again!
Edit: First I have to find reference images of scenes that I like and I'll have a go at drawing them, so I can gauge where I am. Need some sketch pads and pencils first!
any book by Hogarth
I'd especially recommend [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Wrinkles-Drapery-Solutions-Practical/dp/0823015874/ref=la_B000APHOOK_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1349626046&sr=1-3]Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery[/ame]
It will help me as a reference model so I can draw heads easier.
Thanks Justin!
Edit: For the sake of search results on google (if this works): The link above is a 3D model of the Loomis method for drawing heads. It can be viewed in 3D space, within your browser.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL Watch Fengs lectures while you work. Every episode is interestingly amazing/Informative!
A few common mistakes I use to make were:
1.Drawing completely from the wrist and not at all from the elbow/Shoulder 2.Making extremely small sketchy strokes to do a line when they should be clean freehand strokes from the elbow,
3.Drawing what I wanted and not what I needed to improve.
4.slouching when drawing
5.Gripping the Pencil/Stylus to hard at the base (Causes mass pain in my Middle Phalanges)
Thanks Grev, this is something I never thought about. Thanks for the tips and that huge page on tutorials.
I've found myself slouching, drawing in a very sketchy fashion and not drawing with my elbow. I'll be sure to change that.
Best of all, you can see how everyone, no matter who they are and how good they were, started somewhere.
Get a few friends onto google+ hangouts and draw and screen share. There are some fantastic artists on their with great 2D skills who will be more than happy to help you out and give you adivice. Joseph Silverman and joemarch are good people to chat to when their online, learnt alot from both of them.
I think I'll do that. Got a tonne of photos I've taken recently too, so I'm going to try draw them.
I'll look into my local art gallery and see if I can find something I like. Plus I'll pop over the G+ and search for those two guys you mentioned. Thanks!
One more thing, if anyone has any early works of 2D art, feel free to share it. I'd love to see how some people started off.
Greetings;
Right now I am using 9x12 which is the standard sketchbook size it comes with the Bristol board. Or you can buy the two clippers with the hard board. The paper is medium tooth, pencils: 4H and 2H that is only because I like to shade with 2H. Erasers: Kneaded, Tuff Stuff, Pencil Eraser and Mars Plastic. This is what I've been using as starters.
Drawing By Force is a modern, cool, popular book on gesture drawing, but it is also useless.
Michael Hampton- Figure Drawing - Design and Invention
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-Invention-Michael-Hampton/dp/0615272819"]Figure Drawing: Design and Invention: Michael Hampton: 9780615272818: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
How would you back up that claim? A multitude of great artists either swear by it or have been drawing that way since long before it was released, and the techniques it's promoting are some pretty damn old, well tested knowledge.
they are a must because:
- they tell you what to draw so there's no pressure on yourself to think of something
- see what you're drawing in real space and not on a screen
- learning about multiple media and materials and how to use them
- anatomy
- faces
- it gives you a quiet set-aside time and space to draw and learn, no juggling it into the rest of your life (this is most important to me as naturally we give ourselves more than enough reason to not draw at home)
There's probably more reasons than that too.also I recommend this book:
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349668926&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain"]Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive,4th Edition: Betty Edwards: 9781585429202: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
It's an old classic, and although many people would argue that the theory behind it is disproved, the actual fundamentals and techniques shown are still apt. It's a basic book for people who currently don't know how to draw and so might be a retread for experienced artists but anything new learned from this book is still essential.
Here's my first lot of progress!
As you can see, I'm trying out Andrew Loomis' method of drawing heads. These are not so good I know, but it's a good start I think. Ignore that dodgy faces! The idea was to get the head shape right at first.
Edit: Might I add that I don't have a sketch book and pencils yet. So I'm doing what I can in the mean time.
Criticism is definitely welcome of course.
I highly recommend you start a thread in the conceptart.org sketchbook subforum, because that's a great place to pick up beginner critiques. You also may want to start one here on polycount, but without the broad and deep 2d background you may not get many/any replies.
May I also recommend: When you don't know what to draw, draw a LOT of cubes and cylinders(! these!) in perspective. You will thank yourself later.
Thanks man, I have a very very long road ahead of me, but there's not point moaning about it. I'm gonna read through the 'Drawing the head and hands' book by Andrew Loomis, then move on to others.
Do you think I should continue posting here? As I like the feedback and support I've had so far. Or is this thread in the wrong place?
I'll keep that in mind! Friend of mine had found this: http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/
So if I get stuck on what to draw, I'll just throw myself into that if need be.
I just thought it'd be worth explaining my thoughts. I think it's because I have a huge road ahead of me and it's quite daunting. Sorry for being vague!
Right now I'm just repeating what I've been doing and refining. Finally got a pad and pencils too!
I'm gonna try and start a study group for Drawing/Sculpting somewhere I love seeing teamwork improvement
None of the people I know are willing to do so! I would love to find someone online that might be willing to and devoted to it. That way it motivates me to do more aswell!
Thanks for the advice =]
I've just done a page with 6 new heads on and notes. I think I see the improvements already. Might upload the image.
Edit: Here's a new one. Might seem a little same same... but ah well.
This thread is quiet isn't it? Haha.
Hmmm, was thinking the same thing. I might just do that. Thanks.
Burne Hogarth is great reference material but a bit dangerous for people starting out because he has a very specific style to his anatomy and people could start to copy the style instead of find the structure beneath it.
Zer0Naught: the studies you are doing are good, i still struggle with those basic shapes sometimes and they are the most important ones to get right. so keep it up
Thanks man, I've not drawn in a few days as I've been away. I know I have to start with the basics, but what about the basics with drawing scenery? Drawings heads right now isn't my future goal, I won't be wanting to draw characters and what not.
That said, I understand the importance of it and I'm enjoying it so far.
Breaking up the reality around u and learning how to abstractly reconstruct it (using geometry, basically) is the skill that must be learned first. It doesn't matter what ur topic is, but human anatomy is considered the 'classic' choice of subject.
Some artists show this better in their work than others (comic vs realism). I think Michael Hampton's book of figure drawing is extremely good at this, but the 'raw' knowledge of proportions & anatomy is still necessary. U will need to learn the bone structure, the beginning and ending points of all major muscle groups and the mechanisms they serve. Bridgeman's books r very good at showing this