/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.50847]

Okay guys this one is kinda funny, but I've wanted to learn to draw for a long time. One thing I've seen that people who are good at art can do well is draw very good freehand straight lines and freehand circles. Any thoughts or advice on how to?

[Anonymous No.50858]

practice alot... thats the only way

[Anonymous No.50863]

Just sit outside, and draw anything that stays in place long enough for you to get a clear image of it. Trees, rocks, bugs, people, anything!

[Anonymous No.50870]

If you want to improve quickly, I suggest things like bananas, hands, trees, apples. All of these things will give you a good sense of proportion quickly, which is a massive part of "drawing" or pencil work as people who aren't children call it.

[Anonymous No.50915]

Okay, serious answer since we're in the same boat.

Andrew Loomis. You can find his books on /rs/. Start from "Fun with a pencil".

Also a word of warning in case you ever feel like posting your artwork on /ic/, remember that they're huge pricks and you'll be unlikely to get constructive criticism unless you can convince them that you put a lot of effort into your work. They hate anime with a passion. Their favourite mantra is "draw from life". Their 2nd favourite mantra is "loomis".

Also the "trick" to drawing straight lines and near-perfect circles is keeping your wrist stiff and doing the movement with the whole forearm. Practice helps, of course.

[Anonymous No.50927]

i use to draw all the time, not so much these last years (personal problems created a bit of void in me that seems to effect my want to create)

anyways, the best tip i can give you, as i have given anyone who's ever asked "how do you draw so good?! how can i do that?!" [no, im not a master, but i consider myself advanced in the area] is this:

Practice. the more you draw, the more you get the hang of things. I used to be HORRID at drawing hands, now i can draw them without much/any effort. I personally still cannot draw a great strait line, but i can make one good enough to do what i want. basically, just practice practice practice.

[Anonymous No.50937]

Erase.

No I'm serious. Lots of people are afraid to erase when they start out learning to draw. They look at my shit and they're all "oh yours looks so pretty how did you do that" and I show them. I start out with a fuckton of scribbles that looks nothing like the finished product and they get this baffled look on their faces.

Your shit will look like scribbles. IT WILL. Draw a circle. See those squiggly edges? Go back and smooth them out with some quick strokes. Not even? Lopsided? Even it out with more strokes. Do this until you have a circle that you're happy with and a hot mess all around it. Get a high polymer eraser, a gum eraser and a kneaded rubber eraser and go to town getting rid of any scribbles you don't want. Do this until you are good at drawing. There is approximately 10,000 bad drawings in every person and an arbitrarily large amount of good drawings/doodles that approaches infinity. You must get rid of the 10,000 bad drawings/doodles first before you get to the good ones.

[Anonymous No.50940]

>>50915

Loomis is definitely a great starting point. Another classic is Bridgman's "Complete Guide to Drawing From Life". Stay away from /ic/. They're useless. Better to check out the forums at conceptart . org. There are a lot of insanely good people over there, but they're usually willing to give you advice. I look at the 'sketchbook' threads whenever I want inspiration.

[Anonymous No.50958]

Kinda Ok drawingfag here. As everybody else has said, practice.
It's just that simple.
If you practice straight lines, you will be good at straight lines, but you will suck at drawing anything sensible. Draw things you like, your ideas, anything that catches your attention. Observe and reproduce.
Copy the style of artists you admire. Copy the shit of them.
Then practice some more.

Also, >>50927
>personal problems created a bit of void in me that seems to effect my want to create
Are you me?

[Anonymous No.50975]

>>50915
>They hate anime with a passion. Their favourite mantra is "draw from life". Their 2nd favourite mantra is "loomis".
and that's... a bad thing?

[Anonymous No.50984]

learn to hold the pencil, try different hand postures, you'll probably converge to
>>50915

[Anonymous No.50989]

>>50975

lol, I agree. I think they spot on with that advice. Of course, I'm one of the people saying it. The truth is, you should NEVER NOT draw from life.

Also, I should clarify on behalf of /ic/, we don't hate anime. We hate that beginners always try to learn drawing by copying anime with ZERO knowledge of anatomy, proportion, value, form, or even lines.

[Anonymous No.50990]

This thread is relevant to my interests.

[Anonymous No.50998]

[Anonymous No.50999]

NOTICE:

Being good at drawing will not necessarily better your handwriting, just in case anyone would wonder this ever. my handwriting looks like I wrote it with my foot, yet I can sketch lettering to copy any font.

[Oliver halfgood !eVU6Mx7FE6 No.51005]

i sketch using pens (mostly design work ;D )

so, i start using a red pen, sketch roughly, mess about until i get a line i want to keep, then i draw along the line with a black pen. then, scan it into the computer and remove the red line. this should work just as well with a red pencil, black pencil and a fine-line pen, no computer required :P

[Anonymous No.51009]

>>50975
Not at all. I was just trying to give him a brief outlook on what to expect from /ic/.

[Anonymous No.51013]

for straight lines, turn the paper instead of your hand, and always make the exact same movement, vary the length by lifing the pencil, always make the same long stroke movement. and confidence, none of that skritthy sctrachy shit.

also, draw what you see, not what you think you see. once you realize this you get better a lot faster. also, you need to draw a LOT. like a lot more than you would ever want to.

[Anonymous No.51017]

http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php
It's a nice tool for practicing the human figure.

Also, see this humorous clip art? This is an actual technique, it's called sight measuring. It's better if you do it with a straight, thin stick than your thumb though. It's great for figuring out proportions, you use it like a ruler to compare the length, width, and angle of the lines on the picture.

[Anonymous No.51020]

You guys mind if I dump some reference pictures/tutorials?

[Anonymous No.51021]

>drawing straight lines, drawing perfect circles
What the blood fuck does this have to do with being a good artist? I'm a pretty good artist and I still don't know how to do a straight line.

Art takes observation, practice, and creativity.
>See how particular things are shaped,
>draw that shape,
>draw it again.
>draw it again.
>draw it again.
>draw it again.
>Your hand and wrist have memorized the movement used to draw that thing.
>Do this for a lot of things, once you know how to draw these things, warp mix and alter these things together to make something interesting.

BAM, ART!

...Course, you said you want to draw good. Not sure if we're on the same page here.

[Anonymous No.51022]

>>51020
Not me, go for it bro. I'm not OP but I'd love to draw.

[pseudonymity !!4nUA+XobgUR No.51029]

Freehand circles?

This took me most of a semester to draw. Old pic, not sure if it's very crisp.

my best advice for circles is to at all times ask of your circle is flattening out of curving too fast. It takes constant vigilance.

In this drawing, I used a mechanical pencil first, and I drew each circle 2-4 times to correct mangled curves before coming back with pen.

[Anonymous No.51031]

Feel free to contribute if you got anything good.

[Anonymous No.51035]

[Anonymous No.51043]

>>51031
I'll help you bro.

[Anonymous No.51046]

[Anonymous No.51048]

[Anonymous No.51051]

As other posters as said - /ic/ can be very hit or miss.

It's easy to dismiss the posts here railing against /ic/ as people who are 'butthurt because they got critiqued by d/ic/ks." but as someone who has never posted on /ic/ and only lurked, I have to echo the sentiment of NOT posting your work there unless you cater specifically to the type of art they like. (Which itself is a narrow-minded, ever-moving target.)

ConceptArt.org is pretty much what /ic/ should be but isn't, so if you want sincere advice, go there. But before you go bother the folks at CA, at least attempt to study on your own. This is where /ic/'s good side comes in - they have the goods/links to plenty of tutorials in Rapidshare and infographic form.

[Anonymous No.51049]

You do realize there is an archive of all the drawing info pics /ic/ has ever collected?

Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to find it and link it...

[Anonymous No.51052]

>>51048

[Anonymous No.51053]

[Anonymous No.51057]

[Anonymous No.51058]

[Anonymous No.51060]

[Anonymous No.51065]

Fucking knees, how do they work?

[Anonymous No.51067]

www.ctrlpaint.com

go here if you want to learn the basics of digital drawing/painting with photoshop.

[Anonymous No.51071]

>>51067

To add to that, go to http://artsyposes.com/ for a huge database of reference material.

[Anonymous No.51076]

[Anonymous No.51082]

>>50847
Ok,here's a bunch a links i got from /ic/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1:

Colour theory:
www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17837

Composition tutorial:
www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/phil_straub_composition_tutorial


Try Keys to Drawing, a great beginner book:
www.mediafire.com/?di0l6dl3lgo0f#0,1

Alot of mediafire shit:
www.mediafire.com/?i44dwzkf9j9n8#0,1

Here's a good channel with videos that cover all the basics you need to learn:
www.youtube.com/user/moatddtutorials#g/u

Start with his first video which is:
www.youtube.com/user/moatddtutorials#p/u/143/BsQ1WVyPHvU

You just have to practise everyday. Get a set of pencils and some copy paper to start off with.

Here is three figure drawing tools, for when you cant get yourself to a figure drawing class with a real model:
www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php
www.artsyposes.com/models
www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

[Anonymous No.51084]

>>51082
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2:
If you eventually want to learn to paint digitally here is a good place to start off:
www.ctrlpaint.com/digital-painting-101/

If you want to paint digitally I suggest getting a Wacom Bamboo tablet, which is the cheapest of the wacom range and
is the best for beginners who want to try it out.
Here good place to get inspiration:
cghub.com/

Some of the more useful links I give out are dead right now and I kind of don't have much time right now. Also I have
heaps more figure books, read Vilppu Drawing Manual, Andrew Loomis, Michael Hampton. You can find all their books online, just do a search in filestube.
Good Place to start for figures is this:
Michael Hampton Figure Drawing Design and Invention.pdf
www.mediafire.com/?buo3ptc2tm5ww34

Two good forums.
>www.wetcanvas.com/forums/
>www.conceptart.org/forums/

4chan archive:
4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=232601&x=drawing+anatomy+resources

How to hold a mother fucking pencil:
chanarchive.org/4chan/ic/6737/drawing-tips

The mother of all site resources:
chanarchive.org/4chan/ic/18681/art-resource-links-v2-0

Cartoon 4chan archive:
4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=856731&x=Basic+Tutorial+For+Cartoon+D
rawing

^^ the whole book about advanced animation in .pdf format:
www.mediafire.com/?0abw03yle82juzd

[Anonymous No.51083]

>>51065
what differences are we supposed to be noting here?

[Anonymous No.51087]

>>51084
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 3.
Alot of tutorials:

> gnomonworkshop.com
> theartdepartment.org/store
> www.youtube.com/user/moatddtutorials
> www.youtube.com/results?search_query=schoolism&aq=f
> drawspace.com
> www.ctrlpaint.com/
> www.drawing-tutorials-online.com/
> www.iampeth.com/lessons.php (calligraphy)
> www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
> tenminutedrawing.blogspot.com/
> www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=116213 (perspective)
> idrawgirls.com/
> www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL
> www.vilppustore.com/index_rev1.htm
> www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94571 (free books)
> www.dhfa.net/Artiststatement2.html (Reilly Method)
> www.aniwaichulis.com/store/

Two Colour Picking Tools:
colorschemedesigner.com/#0-32csfXu8j4F
www.livepaintinglessons.com/gamutmask.php

Perspective For Comic Book Artists:
www.scribd.com/doc/29299861/David-Chelsea-Perspective-for-Comic-Book-Artists

I love this book, its a good easy to understand guide to perspective. Same author has a new book out this year called Extreme Perspective, I dont think its been scanned yet but it comes with a really good set of perspective grids on a cd.

Another book on perspective, this is what icrit.org used to recommend.:
www.scribd.com/doc/24522437/Norling-Perspective-Made-Easy

Sucessful drawing is also has a good guide on Perspective. So here are all the Andrew Loomis Books in a rar:
alexhays.com/loomis/

Quick Guide on Perspective (though you have to be logged in to view it):
conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108180

Male References
4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=521867&x=Male+references

Female References:
4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=522109&x=Female+references

[Anonymous No.51088]

>>51067
>digital painting

[Anonymous No.51092]

>>51087
Last part
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 4:
Light and Dark Guide:
www.anticz.com/drawing1.htm

Full Book on Rendering in Pen and Pencil, Its pretty old but still useful:
www.archive.org/details/cu31924014558203

A blog full of useful information, most of it is related to comic making:
comictool.blogspot.com/

Making Comics By Scott Mcloud is pretty much a must read if you want to start drawing comics:
www.filestube.com/47959901857ec80d03ea/go.html

Stretching Excercises


These are some stretching excercises which help keep away carpal tunnel and tedonitis, it also helps with people who already have tendinitis. Seriously artists need to get in a habit of doing this, I didn't and now I have tendinitis in my shoulders. Maybe have a section on health and safety? Ill go looking for some more links related to health.

Download links for Digital Art Masters series:
www.demonoid.me/files/details/2636757/05484714508/
>>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this helps. Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous No.51102]

>>51088

>your point?

[Anonymous No.51477]

I've always wanted to know where to start with digital painting.

I love you guys.

[Anonymous No.51507]

Draw from life not your head. Learn to represent what your eye perceives.

[Anonymous No.51553]

>>50847
OP here, this is amazing I never thought this thread would survive =D
I would really like to learn how to draw female portraits (DRAW ME LIKE YOUR FRENCH GIRLS JACK!). For ultimate sexy points mostly, I can do hands very very well, however I have a hard time with faces especially getting them to look even.

[Anonymous No.51644]

General drawing advice.

[Anonymous No.51698]

There are lots of different kinds of drawing. Deciding what you want to draw (at least at first) will give you a good place to start learning.

People will scream at you about how animoo/moongoo style and you might as well chop your fingers off if that's your inspiration. These people are inarticulate idiots.

What they should be saying is that you are giving yourself an enormous handicap by trying to be a good artist by copying a medium style, rather than learning basic techniques.

It's kinda like with writing: Okay, so you really look up to Terry Pratchett. You can write stories about all the dwarves and trolls and witches and golems you want, but if you can't string a sentence together and your characters are derivative and banal, nobody will ever call you a good writer (fuck you, Paolini and Myer).

[Anonymous No.52504]

>>51698
Butthurt weeaboo detected.

[Anonymous No.52529]

Start drawing from pictures or maybe set ups (with varying objects) start to practise from that then go on to try and draw whatever comes to mind (some find this easy others do not). Or you can search around the web for inspiration and draw something from that.

So yes, start of drawing (copying) images, move on to drawing from various images (but don't copy them directly, just use them as inspiration) then try to draw something from your brain.

Practise, practise, practise.

[Anonymous No.52531]

Don't go to /ic/ they don't know shit and it shouldn't even be considered an art board.