Path to becoming proficient in character concepts?

artofwarofart

Hello! I'm sorry if this isn't the best forum for this but I'm hoping you guys can help me, I'm currently stuck in a loop of not knowing exactly how to practice so I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a stasis. I want to be as precise as possible in the hopes that you all can point me in the right direction, and maybe help others that are stuck in the same place. I'm reading through How to Draw by Scott Robertson currently.

What I want to to be able to produce as an artist

How I want to use the characters

I want to be able to draw them from any angle so that I can make orthographic views. I'm assuming if I can draw at this level I should be able to pick up books like the animators survival guide and elemental magic with the goal of drawing the characters key frames for spells and abilities. Honestly characters + sfx is really what I'm after. From there I think I have my bases covered as far as the main things I want to do. Obviously being able to draw environments as well would be great, but it's not the thing that inspires me and it's more of a supporting role to the characters for my uses.

My Questions

• Assume I'm starting from essentially zero, what should be my main resource or resources for learning? If possible, I prefer books, but I also don't mind paid content up to a certain point (not trying to pay art school tuition or anything like that). Something that has lots of clearly defined exercises would be great because I'm unsure how to practice properly it seems. 
• Is it worth it for me to spend the time required to finish the book How to Draw for my goals? Or is there a better resource to learn from that will cover what I want geared more to my use case?
• Given my desired goals, what is the best way for me to practice and apply whatever learning resource I go through?
• How do you use books like Figure Drawing: Design and Invention? This book talks a lot of concepts but doesn't seem to have any clearly defined exercises, what do you guys do to internalize the information in resources like this?

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I fully realize that this will be a time commitment and I'm asking the question because I have the time to see it through, so I want to ensure that I'm practicing properly so I use that time to its full potential. 

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and for any guidance you can give me

Eric Chadwick

I've moved your topic into the 2D Showcase section, as you're more likely to be seen by 2D artists here, who can hopefully provide some guidance.

From my experience, the one thing that helped the most is to simply draw constantly. Every single day. For as long as possible. Drawing is a learned skill, and as such it requires repetition. Through repetition you will train your mind to connect your eyes to your hand to your pencil to your paper.

On his website http://scottrobertsonworkshops.com/h2dr/ Scott describes his book with "...starting with the most basic perspective drawing skills. Early chapters explain how to draw accurate perspective grids and ellipses that in later chapters provide the foundation for more complex forms." So, are you following the advice in the book and doing these exercises? 

As with any learning material, it isn't the reading that teaches, as much as the doing. Replicate and remix the content therein, through daily practice. 

Eric Chadwick

It also helps to look at critiques that have been posted for other artists.

For example in this same section (also check out Digital Sketchbooks and 3D Showcase for more crits) there's (Critic Welcome) ConceptArt Portfolio which shows this artist posting their works in progress, and getting useful feedback. They started posting their work, but didn't receive any immediate feedback. This didn't stop them from continuing to work, and to post. And it shouldn't stop you either. Keep working and keep posting. 

Read the advice people have given others, and see if it applies to your own work. And most importantly, keep drawing, and keep sharing and making it clear you're open to feedback.

1337gamer15

Another thing that got me places was using reference images. Knowing the exact design of what you're trying to draw is crucial. Having a second monitor helps, so you can look at them as you draw. Heck even early on, I used to print and trace images of all sorts of common objects from apples to kerosene lanterns and anatomy practices to give myself an idea one the shapes and dynamics of things too. Try tapping what you're trying to draw to photos of its real world counterparts too.

Another fundamental I found helpful too was trying to understand how to visually deconstruct things and understand all the moving parts that give things, both organic and mechanical their structure, and how they can be posed. Get ready to draw spooky scary skeletons!

artofwarofart

Eric Chadwick said:

I've moved your topic into the 2D Showcase section, as you're more likely to be seen by 2D artists here, who can hopefully provide some guidance.

From my experience, the one thing that helped the most is to simply draw constantly. Every single day. For as long as possible. Drawing is a learned skill, and as such it requires repetition. Through repetition you will train your mind to connect your eyes to your hand to your pencil to your paper.

On his website http://scottrobertsonworkshops.com/h2dr/ Scott describes his book with "...starting with the most basic perspective drawing skills. Early chapters explain how to draw accurate perspective grids and ellipses that in later chapters provide the foundation for more complex forms." So, are you following the advice in the book and doing these exercises? 

As with any learning material, it isn't the reading that teaches, as much as the doing. Replicate and remix the content therein, through daily practice. 

Thanks for moving the thread!

I am following the advice in the book and I do the exercises up until I understand what the exercise wants me to internalize so I sometimes spend more time on some exercises than others. I will keep at it and finish the book before I move on to another resource. I'll try posting my work here, but do you think it's a good idea to post something as mundane as perspective exercises for feedback? 

artofwarofart

1337gamer15 said:

Another thing that got me places was using reference images. Knowing the exact design of what you're trying to draw is crucial. Having a second monitor helps, so you can look at them as you draw. Heck even early on, I used to print and trace images of all sorts of common objects from apples to kerosene lanterns and anatomy practices to give myself an idea one the shapes and dynamics of things too. Try tapping what you're trying to draw to photos of its real world counterparts too.

Another fundamental I found helpful too was trying to understand how to visually deconstruct things and understand all the moving parts that give things, both organic and mechanical their structure, and how they can be posed. Get ready to draw spooky scary skeletons!

Appreciate the tips Do you feel like tracing helped you in any way? I've thought about doing it for the practice but wasn't sure if I'd get anything out of it tbh, maybe +1 improved hand eye coordination? Ultimately it sounds like what you're telling me to do is draw things from observation. Is that a fair takeaway? 

1337gamer15

Yeah generally. Just trace in order to subconsciously calibrate yourself, stabilize your hands etc.

Try to think deeply of all the media and characters you enjoy too, and try to analyze their designs as deeply as you can, see what makes them work.

Also try toying around with material programs like Substance painter to give yourself on how to render different materials when drawing, to really add detail to finished renders.

But remember too, not everything you draw has to be a masterpiece. The things like the tracing art is just to practice/calibrate yourself, and shouldn't really be shown as your best work. They're still just as important as the "masterpieces" though. You gotta learn to draw in pieces.

Another thing too, before you try drawing anime-like designs. Trace some drawings of human facial muscles to better understand how human facial features better interconnect. In fact try to gain as much understanding on actual human anatomy before warping it.

I've generally found with anime facials, it's more about working with a gestalt when it comes to drawing the character's nose, it's not just using a dot in place of a nose, you are trying to shade the hardest point of shadow on a nose.

artofwarofart

1337gamer15 said:

Yeah generally. Just trace in order to subconsciously calibrate yourself, stabilize your hands etc.

Try to think deeply of all the media and characters you enjoy too, and try to analyze their designs as deeply as you can, see what makes them work.

Also try toying around with material programs like Substance painter to give yourself on how to render different materials when drawing, to really add detail to finished renders.

But remember too, not everything you draw has to be a masterpiece. The things like the tracing art is just to practice/calibrate yourself, and shouldn't really be shown as your best work. They're still just as important as the "masterpieces" though. You gotta learn to draw in pieces.

Another thing too, before you try drawing anime-like designs. Trace some drawings of human facial muscles to better understand how human facial features better interconnect. In fact try to gain as much understanding on actual human anatomy before warping it.

I've generally found with anime facials, it's more about working with a gestalt when it comes to drawing the character's nose, it's not just using a dot in place of a nose, you are trying to shade the hardest point of shadow on a nose.

Okay gotcha. I'm actually pretty good with the tools themselves and I can work from reference in maya, substance painter/designer, and zbrush but I've found that all I can do is copy orthographic reference and I can't make my own designs which is the whole point in my opinion so I'm pretty much going from 3d to 2d for the sake of learning art fundamentals.

Any book recommendations? 

1337gamer15

Not any specifics, but I actually didn't even use books too too much on my path to art really. But since no one can really do life drawing now, look up some books on human anatomy and figure drawing. You don't have to follow them page by page. Gotta take a bit of everything from whatever you can.

pistachio

(Learning from...books?! Preach it bro...)

Some ancient/free stuff that leveled me up way back:

Andrew Loomis

• Fun with a Pencil (recommend starting here)
  
• Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
  

George Bridgman

• Constructive Anatomy (copyright expired, from 1920)

Glenn Vilppu

• Vilppu Drawing Manual
  
• Column from AWN in 1997-2001
  

You can't construct weapons or outfits if you can't deal with construction itself. So the above resources start to deal with construction.

Animation helps with SFX massively. The last link up there is pretty dated, but deals indirectly with animation. Absolutely there are better, newer free resources for that, but it's a good intro to Vilppu's solid methodology.

That said I advise nailing pure construction first.

Also re: worded instructions, basically you are working with visuals, through visuals. Train your eye to analyze things that way and eventually 100% visual guides, no verbal explanation, can become useful entirely on their own.

That aside, it's hard for me to top the sharp advice you were handed in this thread. The backbone of that advice is pretty universal. Keep going, stay objective, and stay focused.

artofwarofart

pistachio said:

(Learning from...books?! Preach it bro...)

Some ancient/free stuff that leveled me up way back:

Andrew Loomis

• Fun with a Pencil (recommend starting here)
  
• Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
  

George Bridgman

• Constructive Anatomy (copyright expired, from 1920)

Glenn Vilppu

• Vilppu Drawing Manual
  
• Column from AWN in 1997-2001
  

You can't construct weapons or outfits if you can't deal with construction itself. So the above resources start to deal with construction.

Animation helps with SFX massively. The last link up there is pretty dated, but deals indirectly with animation. Absolutely there are better, newer free resources for that, but it's a good intro to Vilppu's solid methodology.

That said I advise nailing pure construction first.

Also re: worded instructions, basically you are working with visuals, through visuals. Train your eye to analyze things that way and eventually 100% visual guides, no verbal explanation, can become useful entirely on their own.

That aside, it's hard for me to top the sharp advice you were handed in this thread. The backbone of that advice is pretty universal. Keep going, stay objective, and stay focused.

I just saw this comment so thank you. I have seen fun with a pencil recommended so many times but I've always been turned off by the cartoon drawing aspect of it. I think I'm ready to give it a chance lol. Thanks for the recs and tips! 

nE0n1nja

artofwarofart said:

pistachio said:

(Learning from...books?! Preach it bro...)

Some ancient/free stuff that leveled me up way back:

Andrew Loomis

• Fun with a Pencil (recommend starting here)
  
• Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
  

George Bridgman

• Constructive Anatomy (copyright expired, from 1920)

Glenn Vilppu

• Vilppu Drawing Manual
  
• Column from AWN in 1997-2001
  

You can't construct weapons or outfits if you can't deal with construction itself. So the above resources start to deal with construction.

Animation helps with SFX massively. The last link up there is pretty dated, but deals indirectly with animation. Absolutely there are better, newer free resources for that, but it's a good intro to Vilppu's solid methodology.

That said I advise nailing pure construction first.

Also re: worded instructions, basically you are working with visuals, through visuals. Train your eye to analyze things that way and eventually 100% visual guides, no verbal explanation, can become useful entirely on their own.

That aside, it's hard for me to top the sharp advice you were handed in this thread. The backbone of that advice is pretty universal. Keep going, stay objective, and stay focused.

I just saw this comment so thank you. I have seen fun with a pencil recommended so many times but I've always been turned off by the cartoon drawing aspect of it. I think I'm ready to give it a chance lol. Thanks for the recs and tips! 

Don't be turned off by the cartoon aspect, it's intentionally like that so it's simpler to understand and replicate. But it teaches you construction of the form and proportions. I'd say it's better to start with that first and then move on to Scott's "How to Draw". Because Scott's book is harder/more technical.