#art learning

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Jean Geoffroy (1853-1924) "The Drawing Lesson" (1876)

[imgomis]

Screencap redraw from Jaya arc :)

[barananduen]

Art Advice: The Misconception Behind "Study Realism"

Most people who draw anime/cartoons have, while asking for ways to improve, at one point or another been told to "study realism." A common response to this is, "But I don't want to draw realism!"

But, did you know that the purpose behind this suggestion is NOT so that you draw realism? They're not suggesting you change to a more realistic style. What, then?

Let's look at this through an analogy:

Say you don't know music yet and decide you want to learn how to play the Happy Birthday song. You're not interested in playing anything else, just the HB song, and you haven't started learning anything related to music at this point. OK, that's fine, and now we have our situation set up. Once you've decided this, you set yourself to learning the sequence of notes to the HB song. You practice and practice, and, after a while, you can play it really well without a hitch. After a few years, it starts feeling bland to you, and you ask, "How can I make my HB song better?" And someone tells you, "Learn all the other music notes," and "Study classical and other genres of music." And you reply, "But I don't want to play that type of music; I want to play the HB song!" (And that's FINE! It's valid; it's what you want to do.[*Footnote 1]) But without having learned all the other notes and other types of music, you can't make a remix of the HB song, or an "epic version," or a hip-hop-fusion version; you've capped at the end of the first paragraph of this story.

So drawing anime or cartoons is like playing the HB song, or any one song in our example.

And here's where our misunderstanding comes in:

"Study Realism" DOES NOT MEAN "Draw Realism"

Yes, you'll have to draw it to study it (not only your brain, but also your hand needs to learn the skill), but it doesn't mean that's what all your artwork will look like. It is meant to give you more tools to make your anime and cartoon work stronger, more appealing, and more unique.

How will it do that? The more music notes you know, the more types of music you understand and can play, the more original a remix /version of the Happy Birthday song you'll be able to make - and it will be unique. Because you will be able to take all that diverse knowledge and apply it to your song, making it stand out, and the next time you play the HB song, people will go, "Wow! This is a really cool version!"

So now we can be clear: There is a difference between learning something and performing it. You can perform whatever you choose, but by learning all the things, your performance of your "Thing of Choice" will be stronger.

What, Exactly, Will Studying Realism Teach You, Then?

I. VALUES

If you learn how to paint/shade with a full range of values (by learning realistic shading) that properly depict both volume and lighting, you will have no trouble simplifying that to cel-shading or gradient-shading in your anime or cartoon drawings, because you will at once spot when something is undershaded or the shadows are in the wrong spot.

On the other hand, if you try to do cel- or gradient-shading first, you are way more likely to a) undershade, and b) have an inconsistent light source. And when these things happen, you won't be able to tell *why* your drawing looks "off" or bland.

II. COLOR

By studying realistic coloring, you'll be able to learn how color varies across an item (say, a shirt) that is a "solid color." Example: you're drawing a character with a pink t-shirt, standing in the sun, at the end of the school day. The t-shirt is solid pink, however, the colors on it will vary from orange-ish to purple-gray, with some areas almost a bright red (and that's not even considering items around the shirt that would bounce light back onto the shirt and change its color). But you'll only know this (and how to do it) if you study realistic coloring.

Then you can apply that knowledge to your stylized artwork and make it stand out more.

Painting of a stylized pear, where I studied real pears to understand their coloring and texture. See how studying realism can enhance your cartoon work.

III. MAKE BETTER STYLIZED ANATOMY

By studying and learning realistic anatomy, you will be able to make stylized art that, for example, doesn't have one arm longer than the other, because you will have learned how to measure proportions, even if you don't draw realistic proportions. So that if you decide you want to draw unrealistically long legs (eg: Sailor Moon), you'll be able to make them look good and keep them consistent.

You will also be able to draw figures in any position, because you will have learned how body parts are made up and how they move, as well as foreshortening/perspective. Then, when you go to draw a pose you haven't drawn before, it will be WAY easier.

IV. UNDERLYING SHAPES

Although this is one of the least-mentioned aspects of art-learning, it is, in my opinion, one of the most important, because when you learn to see underlying shapes (the quasi-geometrical shapes that build up a figure), coupled with learning how to measure a form using other parts of the same form as reference (measuring the length of one body part by the number of times another body part fits in it, as mentioned in Section III, above), you will be able to DRAW. (Period.) You won't be able to draw just people. Or just wolves. Or just cats. You will be able to break down a new subject into its building blocks and come up with a very reasonable likeness. And whatever's different, you'll easily be able to make relative measurements to spot why and fix it.

Once you learn to identify underlying shapes and how to measure proportions in anything, you will also be able to pick up and reproduce any existing style without much trouble.

[link to Tumblr post with this artwork]

For example, this was my first time drawing anything Peanuts. I didn't have to do practice sketches for it (though there's nothing wrong with doing that). But I knew, from realism, that to achieve a good likeness, you need to measure body parts relative to other body parts, so I looked at Schulz's drawings and was able to determine: OK, Charlie Brown's head is roughly this shape, his body is so many heads tall, his eyes are this % of the head, the ears are this far in, the arms reach down to here, etc. I knew what to look for.

V. FOR THOSE WHO WANT SEMI-REALISM

If you want to do "semi-realism," you'll have a way easier time of it by learning realism and then stripping it down as much as you like, than by starting off with "100% anime" and trying to build it up without knowledge of realism. People think the latter is easier, because it *seems* less intimidating, but it's like trying to drive to a store you've never been to without knowing its address: you'll be driving around forever trying to find it, and it will be frustrating. What people call "semi-realism" is stylized realism, and you can't really hit it without knowing how realism works.

CLOSING NOTES

It also doesn't mean you should stop drawing anime/cartoons and focus solely on realism for X amount of time - you can do both concurrently. In fact, the most fun way to study realism is to do so on your favorite subjects; you can even turn your reference into your favorite character!

Studying realism is also one of the best ways to help develop your OWN, unique style; one which, when people look at it, say, "Oh, that's [your name]'s work!"

[*]Footnote 1: It is fine as long as you are drawing for yourself. As soon as art is a job and you're drawing for an employer, you have to draw in the style they tell you to. So, in this case, it's to your advantage to be flexible.

I hope this was helpful and helps clear up a common misunderstanding people go through when receiving feedback. 💞

MORE ART ADVICE ARTICLES

You can find the index to all Art Advice Articles [here] including:

How to Deal with Art Block

How to Have a Positive Outlook

How to Develop Your Own Style (coming soon!)

etc.

[raveneesimo]

If you like how I draw the Eds, I want to tell you about my Patreon tier called "EEnE Lessons"

I used to work on the show as a storyboard artist. I drew the characters for years and still enjoy drawing them.

We basically get together for a one-on-one monthly meetup to go over your art, so I can help you tune in to the style!

During the month I'll post deconstructions and other visual aids, including videos of me drawing the characters so you can learn thru observation.

[slytherinsomniari]

Drawing From Anime Reference: 1 Year

This is my art I did one year ago of Emilyko from Shadows House. It was the first art I did to start my art journey. It's terrible, I didn't know what I was doing, I was depressed and hated my art. I hated how bad I was compared to other people. Of course I knew it took years but I felt that I would never get good since I have never been creative before. I had so many negative emotions I didn't want to continue. But soon I started trying to do inktober in my own way but drawing sketches of characters. I saw some progress in that and I was happy. But I got a job and I didn't have much time to draw anymore. I got depressed again and barely drew. Then this year I started drawing for the Hogwarts Legacy fandom which was what started this whole thing.

Now, a year later I've barely drawn at all but I decided to redraw Emilyko from the same reference. The difference is absolutely astounding. I still don't know what the hell I'm doing and only imitated the reference, but its already so much better than before. I've learned to color pick and attempt shading. I've gotten better at imitation, though sometimes its a hit or miss.

[donoteatwingsoutapussy]

I drew a silly

[fishrybart]

Orange.

Tried dithering, colour theory and shading.

[aigeneratedfun]

🌌✨ Witness the splendor of a mythical goddess, dancing amidst the cosmos as she flaunts her incredible power. Every swirl, every flame, and every burst of color tells the story of her dominion over the elements.

[2dmax]

skretches from today

[ashton-the-draconid]

That moment when you specialize in drawing something that you haven't even posted to your blog that much and instead have been posting stuff that you've just decided to mess around with

I totally didn't make the lower legs into draconic ones because I didn't wanna draw human anatomy. Totally...

[afnguy]

ART CLASSES IN DRAWING AND ACRYLIC PAINTING FOR YOU! PRIVATE LESSONS AVAILABLE FOR $35. PER HOUR* (SUPPLIES EXTRA FOR PAINTING CLASS ONLY) CLASSES GEARED TOWARDS BEGINNERS, INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED RENDERERS. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. LEARN WATERCOLOUR PENCIL PAINTING TOO! ASHLEYNITKIN.WORDPRESS.CON AFN_4@YAHOO.COM OR TEXT ME AT: 1 (647) 403-9244

[voidoffline]

I’m tired of people saying this or that about what ways are bad to learn for drawing or coloring. Everyone learns differently man. If Becky learns best by eye dropping her colors from her reference, that’s how Becky fucking learns my man. If Darrel finds it easier to learn proportions and how to draw humans by tracing, and as long as they don’t claim the art as their own, that how Darrel can fucking do it. Stop trying to force different learning styles on people when the way you seem fit doesn’t actually work for them. I learn to draw different from the way people would consider to be ‘right’ and I’m doing just fine. I’m still learning, technically.

And no Christina, not everyone used this specific tool/method when they were art babies and learning to draw themselves. Don’t call someone a lier just because they learned differently than you did.

Everyone learns differently, and this includes art. You need to find whatever method of learning how to draw works best for you, I’ve quickly found that and have started improving quite a bit in the past year simply because I stopped listening to the people telling me not to learn a certain way. Go out there, look for different methods that help you learn. Find different tutorials, shift through them and find what you agree with and what helps you the most. Don’t listen to the people telling you to do things ‘by the book’ or whatever.

Learn your way.

[sherryrowen]

This one I made it a little over 2 years ago, but I still think it looks really good, and there’s a funny, (actually not so funny) story behind it.

A while ago I posted the speedpaint video of this drawing in a short in YouTube, and somebody in the comments complained at me because I had traced over the original picture. Yes, I did traced over the picture, that is not a crime, they complained saying that it is “rude” and went on to say that tracing is offensive to the original creator of the picture pointing out the effort they put in their work and how it “hurts” them when someone just “draws all over it” and their video blows up when that person didnt even credited them. Here’s the thing, last time I checked, wasn’t there a trend of artist tracing over other peoples pictures/selfies? Honestly thought, that made me feel a little guilty ngl, I mean I didn’t even know who the guy was, I found the picture on Pinterest without any credits or links to who the he was!! But I digress, I did ended up doing some research and I ended up finding out who he was! His name is George Pomogisebe, he’s a Russian model and influencer, he can be found in Instagram as @pomogisebe , so if you guys are interested, you can go check him out.

Now, the next few things are directed for all new artists out there who are reading this, (but if you’re a veteran, you can read this too if you want to, just letting y’all know you might have heard this before), listen, when it comes to tracing, the situation gets complicated, but all comes down to what you do after you’ve done it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with tracing, it is a tool that helps you learn, and tracing over real life pictures is something that helps greatly, to learn things like anatomy. What is wrong is claiming ownership over a piece of a work that was traced based on another artist original art work, claiming being the sole creator of something that was copied of someone’s else hard work is wrong. However, I’m not saying that you can can only trace real life pictures, and that you cannot trace someone else’s drawing, when it comes down to tracing other artist’s art work, there are two things you should always do, or at least try to if you intend to trace their work; first, ALWAYS ask for permission first, and second ALWAYS credit the original artist! Many artists are cool with tracing or redrawing if you ask them for permission and make sure to credit them, but this isn’t always the case, and if an artist tells you that you cannot trace their art works, then you should respect that! Respect the original artist wishes for their art work! And if for some reason you cannot get answer from the artist and you still trace their work, MAKE SURE TO CREDIT THEM!

I cannot stress this enough, there’s always been a big issue with tracing in the art community, and it is mainly because of malicious people that want to feed of off someone else’s hard work. If you see some one that traced over another artist’s art work and is claiming it as their’s, be careful, FIRSTLY do not go harass them over it, because that is also wrong, double check if this was done on purpose, perhaps they may have forgotten to credit the original artist by mistake, it happens, we are humans, and forgetful; but if you do see that they did this on purpose, and/or is not the first or only time they’ve done it, you should go report them, let the original artist know what is happening so they can take matters into their own hands.

That’s all, here’s the drawing!: (sorry about my ranting, I just needed to vent a little, and hey! I ended up teaching others something)

AND here’s the original picture: (credit’s to @pomogisebe on Instagram)

[singularinchwormforabrain]

Wolverine wip first attempt vs second. Not sure what happened- something just clicked. Can't wait to start adding texture.

[yggdrasylian]

This is my latest attempt at colouring

He is a OC for a Devil May Cry fanfic I’m working on, name’s Omea. I try to learn colouring as i can’t draw (dyspraxia), the line art was done by tracing on a picture of Griffith

I’m trying to improve so tell me if you have any idea to improve