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Caleb-Brown — How to Make Drawing Waaay Easier
Published: 2012-03-22 19:09:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 70000; Favourites: 2675; Downloads: 2249
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IMPORTANT: Focus on proportion and simplicity, that includes simple 3d Shapes (Spheres, cylinders, Cubes etc.)Practice these methods and I 100% guarantee you drawing will become much easier and you will get better. Drawing is NOT a talent it is a SKILL. Always remember if you have a hard time drawing or painting something it's because you aren't thinking about it simply enough.
I know the drawing sucks but i was only making this for a dude on conceptart.org so i didn't spend much time on it (under 10 minutes for the drawing but the actual writing to a bit of time). Anyway i decided to upload it here because i think it might help a few more people.
If you have any questions at all feel free to ask!
I haven't updated my DA in a while so if you want to see more up to date stuff check out my conceptart.org Sketchbook here:[link]
and sorry for any spelling errors.
Edit: BTW I didn't include a lot of information like straights against curves, rythm, gesture and more about the tension and those are all a major parts of this whole thing. Idk just google it or something... Srsly, google is one of the best tools ever.
Also this isn't the only way to draw... it's a really good way imo (that's why i shared it) but try others and combine all of the aspects you like into a method that best suits you.
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Comments: 120
this is very helpful (and reading everybody''s comment as well ^^), I tend to stress too much on drawing the details, with the results that I have problems 'building' the figures (and usually ends up being 'weird' , not proportioned etc). I always thought that using reference was 'baaaad' (LOL), felt like copying or something but lately I started and, have to say, I improved. Hopefully eventually I'll develop my skills well enough to be able to just use my immagination, and my charas won't be stiff XD
another thing I realised is that when I'm impatient or rush things, the drawings are terribles, so really we should relax and take a deep breath before grabbing the pencil XD I was watching Villppu's videos some time ago and he said ' difficulty in drawing is just in the mind, the tecniques are actually quite easy to learn' and it made me think. I think it's similar to what you're trying to show us here.
Thank you for this XD
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Thanks for posting! I have feeling this will hugely improve my poor way of drawing lineart!
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Very very helpful 
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Thank you very much! I have difficulty drawing quickly, so this really helps!
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First time ive seen it put so simply. thank you for this ^w^
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Thank you for this it was really educational! (^v^)
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Fantastic - easy to manage, nice breakdown of a complicated process to a point it can be instinctively grasped and exercised!
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Not... sure... what this achieves.
Um.... this is... this is just how I draw.
Do other people draw differently?
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It helps achieve accuracy through making a complex visual into a series of simple well thought out strokes
You don't have a problem with simplifying things but you still have a problem with precision and proportion which tells me you weren't applying the concept of Cs, Ss and Straights. Also, the lines on these mountains [link] reinforce my assumption.
It also adds life to your art if you apply it to gesture
Look at Alex Woo's art:[link] (he is a storyboard artist for pixar)
His lines are simpler than yours but they have more life and all of his anatomical oddities are clearly intended. He is applying the idea of Cs Ss and Straights extremely well but since his art is for the purpose of animation he is focusing on the different functions of curves.
I have a lot more advice for you but i don't know if you really care about improving and i don't want to waste my time typing it out if you don't care.
In the mean time here is some life advice: Giving condescending comments while having a signature that compliments yourself makes you look like a bit of a douche
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Thanks for your surprisingly thoughtful comment.
I'd been watching a lot of youtube videos and sort of forgot comments get read and assessed by real people.
Sorry if I annoyed you, it seemed like a rather simple thing to make a tutorial on, was all. But I get it, the simplest most basic things can have the largest impact over time.
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Why would you comment if you weren't expecting an answer?
Because you want more views?
You'll get views if you're good at what you do. If you aren't a popular comic creator it's because you need to get better not because you need more exposure.
You annoyed me because people might see your comment think art like yours is the result of using this idea, when it definitely isn't.
The simplicity is fooling you. If it was easy your art would be nearing the appeal of Alex Woo's. Your lines are simple because you don't understand anatomy, not because you intend them to be.
You are putting yourself up on a pedestal that you don't deserve to be on. That attitude isn't conducive to improvement.
I'm not trying to be a dick (although i obviously don't really care, haha) but i know so many people with the same attitude as you and they end up failing because they already think they know it all. I don't want that to happen to you.
Here's improvement advice i hope you use:
For your comics i really recommend looking up the techniques of animators and storyboard artists to make it more lively. I also think working on gesture and anatomy will help as well as photo studies (photo studies are always extremely helpful no matter what you are doing). All of those things should help get rid of the awkward posing you seem to have a problem with.
If you don't know what those things are , google it (obvs). If you still need help feel free to ask me. I just want to help you... even though you totally tried to whore yourself out in my comments, lulz.
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If you're not trying to be a dick, you're not trying very hard.
Regardless, enjoy your art, and a tutorial I'll definitely consider whensoever I pick up a pen.
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he might sound like a little bit of a dick but hes telling the truth and people need to hear things the way it is.
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Thanks
I really am just trying to be honest and helpful, i remember i was in a position like him once, and someone said something similar to me. At first i was mad but eventually it pushed me to be the best i could be. I hope it does the same for him.
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i wish someone would have given me a hard critique like that--now i'm almost 21 and lacking in the skill i wish i had, its hard to catch up when you start to get serious late in the game U.U
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Now way man your stuff is coming along really well! And your still really young, Brad Rigney aka , only started getting serious about art in his 30s or maybe his 40s (forget when exactly but i know it was mid-lifey).
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haha thanks and ohhh-- now i feel a little better haha at least im not middle aged
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"Always use eggs and sausages" - Neil Buchanan (Art Attack)
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This is a very different tutorial! I love it! Little tips like these are what makes people's talent grow and develop ^__^
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Can you make a tutorial on how todraw eye brows? I have a really hard time adjusting eyebrows on faces.
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I'm going to try to make a tutorial but it may take some time... or never happen, hahaha
My advice to you for now is to just draw a lot of faces from pictures and be very observant. I recommend writing your observations down, you don't have to keep a list or anything but the very act of writing it will help you memorize the info.
For pictures i use tumblr and just look up names of models or something, but you can also watch a TV show/movie and pause it on anyone's faces (and make sure you draw the faces from as many angles as you can). If you want to draw anime you can do the same thing... but with anime... just make sure you focus more on drawing real people because all styles are based off of real life, after all.
Oh and the reason i say you need to draw the whole face is because you need to observe how the eyebrows look relative to other parts of the face.
This can be frustrating at first or seem stupid but if you go threw with it you will get better really fast and it will start to become fun. At least that's how it was for me.
Feel free to ask more questions if you need any more help or if something I said didn't make sense
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Very helpful Caleb. I am going to start right right now, and thank you for the advice!
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I have found that most "bad" artists are either thinking of the components as either too simple (as is the case with hands) or too complex (as is the case with most other things) and even though I remind them to draw only what they see, it is very difficult to get across how exactly to represent that... Of course, you seem to have a pretty good method here for getting the lines and shapes you are looking for. Very nice.
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Thanks!
Oh, but this isn't necessarily my method, a lot of the thoughts in this tutorial are mine and i put kind of a different spin on it but it comes from... well i'm not sure of the original source but I've read about it in a few books and a lot animators and storyboard artists use this idea, but more for the functions of the lines (the part i mentioned about the "S" curve having the least tension and the Straights having the most tension).
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Thank you very much for do this!! You don't know how much you helped me!
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I found this very helpfull. Is easy to understand.
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i guess i havent thougbt about it really, but now that i think about it, i think i actually do it kinda like this anyway... lool
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Only 6 steps for making a very good work. Great tutorial!
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I never thought it was that simple. Thanks a lot
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You're like ... my favourite Deviant right now. I've actually just facepalmed at how much simpler you've basically made all my drawing mountains.
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Aaaawwww, Thank you
Glad i could help!
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This is really good! I've never thought of breaking things down into lines instead of shapes, wonderful! Thank you
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This can help me out so much!
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That...would explain why I have such a hard time drawing. LOL
I keep telling myself to lighten up but I don't Dx Thank you for this.
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You're welcome!
Yep, i had the same problem, but sometimes it's hard to take your own advice, hopefully now that i'm telling you you'll actually do it. hahaha.
If you still have a hard time lightening up i really recommend taking a break and exercising for awhile, it really releases the tension and it's good for you
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It's funny seeing this because I've recently been telling myself to loosen up and stop leaning on reference so much (not that reference doesn't help but sooner or later instincts and skill play a larger role) and I've actually been drawing better than ever...at least I think so. Though I never gave a name to the method, this is pretty much how I build everything, after doing a very basic skeleton (which is really just larger "C" and "straight" lines); just making basic shapes out of those simple kinds of lines.
Nice tutorial.
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Thanks!
My biggest recommendation is to use reference for a study than draw several sketches using bits and pieces of the knowledge you gained from the study (don't just draw exactly what you drew in the study). Then all of that information will be memorized and you can draw better from imagination.
yep with the skeleton method you are pretty much getting to gesture which is very helpful in drawing
Keep it up, man
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Ah, of course! Drawing is just like music, or any other form of art: Sure, having some natural talent helps you along in some way or another, but in the end, it's the amount of work that you put in that determines the final product!
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I agree completely! Recently i've been having a lot of debates on the subject with people in real life. Pretty much everyone says it's all about talent and natural creativity, but then again they are the ones saying "it's so hard to make it in the art industry" while i'm getting job offers... so obvs they are wrong, haha.
I also agree with you about music being that way as well, which even more people disagree with
Whatever though, all of us people who believe in hard work will show them when we are successful
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