Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > General > Artist's Forum > I wish I could draw

[themagicroundabout]

Yeah, sometimes i wish i could draw too
but, you know what they say, practise makes perfect

good luck with your drawing

[Shimeng]

When you feel sure about the anathomy in a picture, try drawing it upside down - that will take away your cliché way of drawing (since we all have an picture in our head of how to draw a nose, how to draw eyes, and so on). Drawing it upside down will make you draw what you see - not what you think you see.
Also, looking at a picture in a mirror, might help - or swich it vertically in an computer program (if you have one, that is).

It is important you develop a systematic way of drawing - especially if you are going to try to become an manga/comic artist.
Test a lot of ways to begin and try to figure out what suits you best.
(Me - I always starts by drawing two egg-shaped cicles for the head, and then a cross in the middle of them to determine where to put the eyes, mouth and nose.)

By always beginning the same way it will make it easier for you to deviate from your ideal-character and create different looks ^_^

(after drawing the head, I start with the body as raw lines - one for the shoulder, one for the spine, one for the hips, two for legs, two for arms, and then mark all the joints as cicles. When I feel I have got the proportions right I start drawing muscel tichue --dunno how to spell that ^^' sorry--, clothes, hair exc.)

Shading comes last, since you don't wanna put down a lot of work on something you might have to erase later. ^_^

Studying other artists might help. And don't panic if you feel like you don't have your own special style ^_~ It will come to you by time.

Practice a lot, and try to draw as different stuff as possible - but keep it fun! - to expand your viwe.

Feel free to ask if there is anything - I'll be glad to help in any way. ^_^
(rather ask and be stupid, than to be silent and remain stupid)
Good luck!

[*__*)]

Wow you're really helpful Shimeng! I actually took a few art classes in high school, it was mainly things like making a color-wheel, and I remember us drawing our hands a lot.

But you really did have a lot of tips, I'll try to remember them when I practice my drawing. And yes, I did have a fear that my drawing will be too cookie cutter, and that I won't have a good and unique style all my own. Thanks for the help, I apriciate it!

Oh, and I saw the gallery on your website. I don't understand Swedish, but those were nice!

[Celtic Commando]

What you wanna do, Cait Sith, is what I did. Copy a drawing of whatever you wanna draw loads of times and then you should be able to draw that person/ thing in any pose easily enough.(You might wanna know their personality and way of movement well too.)

[Shimeng]

Thank you, cait sith. ^_^
I guess I tend to spend to much time, drawing, but hey - that's my addiction, ne? ^^ Hehe. (that and Gack, I guess... well, well... )

I'm just glad If I can help.
And if you want to, you can always email me drawings that you're stuck on, and I can take a look and see if I can find what's missing ^^
That way you won't have to feel like you're posting something that isn't finished. ^_^
(stealing cait sith from them others *muhahahaha!* ^_~ Just kidding.)

[Garnie]

take a look at this...i drew this while waiting for advent children to download iv only seen it in japoanise but the graphics and my love for final fantasy inspired me. if you can focus what the charictor looks like perfectly in your mind all you have to do is perfect on how to shape it on paper.but bare in mind iv been a keen artist since i was 5 so it gets easer for me all the time but if you keep practising youll get there.

good luck on the matey<3

[sdcopp]

Ok, my 2 cents now I guess. Learn from what you would like to draw/do. Meaning, you wanna do comics, study comics heavily. You wanna do pin-up style, collect alot of pin-up style. Draw. Alot. And then when you think you've done alot, do more. Alot of colleges will have a night a week or so that they will host a model for drawing, painting etc. so check that out. Get loads of magazines and build a photo reference file. Take tons of pictures for the same reason. If you are looking for books, anything by Burne Hogarth is fantastic and indespensable. Don't limit yourself either to just drawing. Painting was actually a helpful tool to strengthen my drawing, because without good structure it all looked like crap. Enjoy it is probably the most important thing here. Things may not turn out how you pictured them, but it doesn't mean it's bad either. Keep everything you do and file it away so you can reference back to it to see where you are growing and where you may need to focus on improving.

"Study and grow strong"

[Yu-Yevon]

heres a site I found thats has a tutorial on how to draw manga ...http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial.html ...hope it helps