Okay... now it's MY turn

[WanderingKnight]

(Note: I don't know whether this should go here or in the Fan Creation subforum...)

Okay, after centuries of watching drawings made by countless hands but mine, I've decided that I'm sick of it. I wanna learn how to draw, and I wanna do it NOW. Okay, maybe not now, but maybe some time in the future. At least to give me something to do, other than my 3-hour naps, during English History lessons.

Now, my drawing, for obvious reasons, sucks. But, I'm a deep believer of the saying, "practice makes perfect" (a phrase I had to repeat countless times to get that damn English "p" plosive sound out of my Spanish-fiddled mouth during Phonology...), so I know that, if I practice hard enough, some day, SOME DAY, I might be able to draw both eyes in the correct position, and a hairstyle that doesn't look like me in the morning. I'd post here some of my most hideous sketches, but apart from public embarrassment, the lack of a scanner is holding me back.

However! I would like some nice pointers from nice people who can draw much nicelier than me. My initial thought was to start by copying some previous work, but my question is, is that really a good path? Is there something I should try first? Practice does really make perfect? Is there any of those million "How to draw manga!" books, which I've always watched with a certain degree of distrust, worth the effort? How did you start drawing? If you've got some kind of advice you can give to me, please, don't hold back.

Thanks in advance.

[Bronwen Stx]

It doesn't hurt to try. Although I'm not a qualified artist per se (yet) I think the best you should do is try and find a style that suits you, go ahead and try different styles from different artists using different mediums and see which one works best for you and then work on it (but never just always try one style of course always try and challenge yourself). The books are sometimes effective but don't copy too much from them. Some art books actually assists in giving you pointers so even if there's pictures, you should read what it says instead. Maybe take some art classes? I really dunno.

I started drawing when I was really young and then took art classes in high school...I remember drawing trees a lot.

[WanderingKnight]

Oh, I should clarify, I'm talking about manga-style drawing here. Conventional art doesn't interest me.

[Phantom-Takaya]

Eh, it all depends on how you want to start out. There's enough drawings and cartoons/anime out there to use and base drawings off of. They're good pointers for when you get stuck and can't picture exactly how a certain movement or gesture would look.

Here's some examples of what I've drawn:
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...ngs/cooper.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...gs/azrael0.jpg

[Imazul]

I am in no way or form an artist. But, I do remember something someone told me about becoming one.

Draw! Draw! Draw!

Practice does pay off in any field and it should also apply to drawing. Just draw non-stop until you are satisfied and then you will be able to find your own style.

[Bronwen Stx]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Oh, I should clarify, I'm talking about manga-style drawing here. Conventional art doesn't interest me.

-_- Of course. Again. It doesn't matter try it. People still have their own style you know.

[Phantom-Takaya]

And don't expect yourself to be an instant expert. In fact, I have yet to complete an entire drawing in one day. Of course, I keep taking drawing projects on poster-sized paper.

[innominate]

Okay since I see knight wandering around places I lurk around too so...

I suggest you post up some of your drawings around this forum so that people would comment on them. =D
Nice people won't be that hard to find I guess.

Other than that I refrain from commenting at the moment.

[llama]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Oh, I should clarify, I'm talking about manga-style drawing here. Conventional art doesn't interest me.

Actually, learning how to draw conventional art will help you, even if that's not what you want to ultimately pursue. For one thing, are you planning on just drawing manga people alone in every single one of your drawings? What if you want to draw some nice scenery or add some other stationary objects to the picture? If you just practice drawing people it will be hard to liven up your drawings. Plus if you practice drawing other things it will help you get an eye for proportions and you'll get better at envisioning what you want and it will be easier for you to get it onto paper.

Sometimes to achieve your ultimate goal you have to expand a bit.

[Claies]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Oh, I should clarify, I'm talking about manga-style drawing here. Conventional art doesn't interest me.

Knowledge in conventional art, especially an adequate sense of anatomy, is crucial to manga-style drawing. The best you can do attempting to draw manga while abandoning anatomic principles is tracing, and I bet you don't want that. Manga does not demand a crazy amount of anatomy (and many a mangaka have hidden details like toes with socks), and you absolutely don't have to go through that huge anatomy anthology of naked, muscular, well-penciled and well-shaded men doing warmup stretches. For one, you don't need muscles (the thigh is about the only part you absolutely need to know) in manga unless you're making a point or pulling a funny.

The key is to follow the worded advice of those How to Draw Manga books without completely copying them, because you, I, and all of us know here full well that those books are full of crap and not produced by bona-fide manga artists, mostly Westerners. The best thing you can get out of those books is the much-simplified introduction to anatomy, and that is something you need to get before doing anything detailed and dramatic.

That said, don't buy those books. Just find yourself a good amount of time, go to a bookstore, and start skimming through them, starting with anatomy and basic skills. Look at multiple publishers on the same basic topics instead of different books on different topics from the same product line, because they can offer different insights and concentrate on different areas. Remember to look at anatomy before dragons and sci-fi props.

Finally, when you can finally get the routine of how to "correctly" draw a character, start observing on different manga art styles (preferably those concentrating on realism). I recommend Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist) and Ken Akamatsu (Negima!, Love Hina), the two biggest style influences to the way I draw now.

P.S. If you want to make a beginner drawing look good, just add a good deal of clothing, especially robes, capes, overcoats, etc, which can help hide detailed anatomical mistakes.

I wish you the best of luck.

[Potatochobit]

no one can help you draw a good circle, it just takes practice. but... taking some art/sketching classes help alot. once u learn how to draw basic people shapes u can give it that 'manga' style. but if u cant draw basic shapes, u need to start with that.

practicing with tracing is good. if u can afford a light table or a small light box for tracing it helps alot. maybe u can get a wacom tablet or something similar if u wanted to play with photoshop, but i recommend u start on paper if u were thinking about drawing a manga story board.

[p997tt]

Practice a lot, observe how the pros do their artwork and try to copy their art when you start. Tracing might help although I have only done it a couple of times when I first started. After a while you will get the idea of how to draw an anime character correctly.

In real life, observe carefully how clothes fold. Unnatural looking creases on clothes can easily kill a drawing and I'm sure almost all your characters will have some sort of clothes on them.

If you want to colour, try out different colouring styles and techniques. But then I wouldn't recommend colouring yet until you can get your lineart to look decent, which is necessary especially for creases on clothes imo.

For proportion (anime style, not realism), just remember that the upper arm and forearm are both 1 head long, from waist to knee is 2 heads, knee to toe is also 2 heads, from the bottom of the jaw to waist is about 1.5 head.

[WanderingKnight]

Okay, thanks for all of your advices. Today I finally have some time of leisure, so I guess I'll be trying some stuff in the afternoon. Wish me luck .

[[DOT].L]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Oh, I should clarify, I'm talking about manga-style drawing here. Conventional art doesn't interest me.

Unless you can manage to enroll yourself in an institution specifically established to teach manga-drawing, starting with conventional art lessons is the best course of action here (stick with pencil sketching and away from the water-colour and oil stuff at first, though). Manga art isn't limited to drawing characters alone. Objects, background, and physics are also essential if you want to be able to create complete and detailed pictures. To be able to draw well isn't something one can achieve in a matter of weeks or months. Take some lessons, get the basic hand positions and strokes down, experiment with different mediums, and find whats best suited for you (not style, but technique). Then practice whenever you feel like it (don't ever force yourself, as that will make it feel like a burden). Keep a pen/pencil and some paper ready near the places you often sit down at and some with you if you need to attend class, so when you want to draw you wouldn't have to look for tools. Give it a year or two and you should be able to do a decent job. Practice doesn't necessarily lead to perfection, but it does lead to improvement without a doubt.

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Okay, thanks for all of your advices. Today I finally have some time of leisure, so I guess I'll be trying some stuff in the afternoon. Wish me luck.

Hope you're not lazy like me when it comes to shopping for hardware (scanner). Some sample works would be real nice.

[WanderingKnight]

Hope you're not lazy like me when it comes to shopping for hardware (scanner). Some sample works would be real nice.

With that, I won't be able to help. Scanners are way too expensive for me right now. My dad owns one, but then I'd have to go out of my way to his house to scan whatever sucky drawings I make. Give me some time, I know that in a while I may need to buy one.