Teaching yourself to draw

Grandmaster Fap! · 10 Feb 2011 at 13:35

jp_bl_68 said:
I've heard good things about 2000AD but I've not read any of them. Are any of their anthologies worth reading?

Calabi said:
They are.

They are indeed, to be honest any of the early artwork is great for practising with, get yourself a graphic pen, a decent sketch pad and just copy copy copy.

Never underestimate being comfortable while you draw too, the amount of people ive seen trying to balance pads on their knees, making a mess and wondering why. Draw at a desk and walk away for ten minutes when you get sore or tired.

wildman · 10 Feb 2011 at 13:41

with arty type skills I thought you had to have a natural aptitude for it (read as naturally gifted / creative) and that creative skills like this could be taught to a certain point but you would never really excel at them unless you were already "gifted"

I am a technical geeser so to be honest I don't have any freaking clue

SiriusB · 10 Feb 2011 at 13:41

Arcane said:
On a recent visit to the parents I was mortified when they informed me that they'd "emptied the loft", this included my 2000ad collection progs 1-1000 inclusive, almost brought a grown man to tears, all that Brian Bolland magic thrown away.

If it's important you shouldn't leave your crap at your parents' house!

neoboy259 · 10 Feb 2011 at 14:06

If you're serious about learning to draw, I'd recommend doing some still life sketches to start off with. I'd say that drawing is a skill that anyone can become proficient at.

I had a folder full of pencil drawings at my mums house that got accidentally thrown out wen she moved house. Was almost 20 years' worth of work! Oh well.............

Calabi · 10 Feb 2011 at 14:09

Castor said:
They are indeed, to be honest any of the early artwork is great for practising with, get yourself a graphic pen, a decent sketch pad and just copy copy copy.

Never underestimate being comfortable while you draw too, the amount of people ive seen trying to balance pads on their knees, making a mess and wondering why. Draw at a desk and walk away for ten minutes when you get sore or tired.

The Nemesis Books are one of the best ones(my favourites anyway). Its All black and white but hardcore freaky stuff, you may have trouble copying it.

Just for the hell of it heres a sampler picture.

Chaos · 10 Feb 2011 at 17:35

I would start with these books -

Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards
Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson
Drawing essentials by Deborah Rockman

Holliday · 10 Feb 2011 at 17:42

I would start by drawing, haw haw. No but seriously it depends on what type of drawing you want to do, from imagination or realistic or what.

Personally I like doing portraits. The best method I find is getting a high-res photo of said subject, grid it off, grid off your piece of blank paper and just draw what's in the photo grid to your paper, then you have to shade of course which is the tricky bit!

I have drawing on the right side of the brain book but never really read it.

Practice practice practice.

Shameless pimping of some of my work;

powelly · 10 Feb 2011 at 17:42

im quite an arty person

tbh if i were you i would start with some observational drawing

getting some paper and a pencil, rubber and something to lean on and then get a picture of some sort up on your screen you want to draw, your eyes should be on the screen 75% of the time, its a great way to get used to drawing in my opinion

Narj · 10 Feb 2011 at 17:43

I used to do a lot of copying of stuff like ABC Warriors and used to try to create my own, similar characters... I've not drawn for years now, so have ordered the "Drawing on the right side of the brain" book to see if I can get back into it... thanks very much for the recommendation!

Grandmaster Fap! · 10 Feb 2011 at 19:48

Holliday said:
Shameless pimping of some of my work;

Very good mate, impressed

jp_bl_68 · 13 Feb 2011 at 02:52

Internet cookies to anyone who knows who this is:

doofer · 13 Feb 2011 at 03:34

jp_bl_68 said:
Internet cookies to anyone who knows who this is:

Princess Diana?

jp_bl_68 · 13 Feb 2011 at 04:06

lol

Not quite.

doofer · 13 Feb 2011 at 04:17

Penelope Keith?

jp_bl_68 · 13 Feb 2011 at 04:27

Not her either. The lips are a little bit too girly.

cheets64 · 13 Feb 2011 at 04:36

draw some circles
draw the rest of the owl

Google this

Plunk13 · 13 Feb 2011 at 09:27

jp_bl_68 said:
Internet cookies to anyone who knows who this is:

Stephen Fry

Yeah, my advice on drawing is concentrate on a subject you like, and keep practicing. Definitely use other artists work as a refence, and copy or trace to get the feel of things.

ElliorR · 13 Feb 2011 at 09:55

Holliday I wish I had a fraction of your ability but one thing (which is probably just how my brain is wired). Why does that head look like it's coming out of a vagina?

jp_bl_68 · 13 Feb 2011 at 12:10

Plunk13 said:
Stephen Fry

I don't think it was too bad for a first attempt. Definitely need to keep practising though.

Holliday · 13 Feb 2011 at 12:35

ElliorR said:
Holliday I wish I had a fraction of your ability but one thing (which is probably just how my brain is wired). Why does that head look like it's coming out of a vagina?

Haha, she was wearing a turtle neck top and I couldn't be bothered with trying to draw the texture of it so kinda just blurred it. Looking for the original photo now to prove she's not appearing out of a magical vagina.

I think the main problem people have when drawing is they don't necessarily draw what they see but instead what they think they see. Everyone has an idea of what a nose should look like. So instead of drawing what they see someones nose look like, they'll end up changing it to fit their idea.