HOME | DD

glitcher In reply to TheTriforceMaster [2018-03-21 17:13:45 +0000 UTC]

If you suck at art, I suggest you give up git gud. We talked about your education on my last stream where you mentioned you don't have much formal training in art. That would be the first step to take if you're eager to improve. Even if it's not part of your college course, I'm sure you can find night classes in your area that can help you with that.

Of course, the greatest improvement comes from your own personal commitment. Education will only get you halfway; you really need to practice in your own time with the technique you want to use. I don't put much stock in those online "How to draw this character" tutorials because they're subjective to the artist's personal style. Even if Tracy Yardley posts a tutorial on how to draw Sonic characters, it won't teach you how to draw them the way Pat Spaz does. For me, reference images are the greatest teacher. Collect a scrapbook of reference images you think are good for a particular character, showing a variety of poses and expressions. (When I draw Sonic characters, I always keep Shira-Hedgie's character pose collages on display.) Study these pics carefully. Visualize the different body parts as simple shapes and how they're arranged, depending on the pose and viewing angle. If you need to, grab a pencil and trace over these pics to familiarize yourself with the character proportions. It develops muscle memory and you can reproduce the character more easily over time.

If you're looking to get involved in digital comics, you need a good drawing tablet to begin with. For the record, I'm using a medium Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch . Drawing with this kind of tablet is something of an acquired skill, since it requires the artist to draw on one surface while looking at a screen. That can be off-putting. Artists who can't tolerate this usually buy the more expensive Cintiq models, but that's a big investment this early in your development. One advantage my tablet has over Cintiqs is that it's smaller and more portable, so I can easily use it in conjunction with my keyboard, which is what this tutorial teaches. Either way, the main advantage with digital drawing is that you can edit your sketches more easily with layers and using the Free Transform tool, so I suggest you practice with a tablet soon so that you can develop your technique by focusing more on refining proportions rather than fixing messy mistakes like you would with a pencil and paper.

If you're looking for other guides, I used to read those "How to Draw Manga" books when I was in college like you. Two of those books I would recommend are "Vol. 3: Compiling Application and Practice " and "Vol. 7: Amazing Effects ". Those ones cover all the bases for drawing and creating comics (even though they're more geared towards paper comics, but it's the same principle). Other than that, it's up to you to show some initiative and improve your artwork the way you feel is best. Most of my work is self-taught, which just goes to show how far a proactive attitude can carry you. Don't let moments of self-doubt bring you down. The best artists are the ones who push past those barriers and strive to develop their craft throughout their lives. Good luck!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0