#art learning

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

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

[emeldiir]

Wip! Fat people are beautiful!

I highly encourage artists to learn how to draw fat folks it’s a super accessible way to level up your technical art skills especially if you struggle with anatomy.

You (the art community) are free to reference or trace over this art if you need/want to practice how to draw fat rolls. no need to keep it a transmasculine individual either, go crazy and see what fat characters you can make!

I want art to be more accessible for people especially younger folks, so if you see a piece of mine you really like (either here or on my IG) and you want to trace it fully or partially ask me for permission and i’ll most likely give it to you! tracing is a great way to learn :>

DISCLAIMER: do not trace over other artists who do not give permission, and you are not allowed to copy my characters in story or likeness without permission. if you do trace my art tag me please! I’d love to see what you create

My IG: Here!!

[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.

[kttytsune]

doodles

Hatsune miku !

[pancakex3]

Ello! I’m looking for art criticism. I wanna learn what I need to improve on so I can get better :3

Here’s some of my art! (They are ordered from newest/most recent to oldest. Left to right, top to bottom.)

P.S: clicking the image helps you see the full art in higher detail/quality so I would recommend u do that :]

What/how do I need improve/fix?

(Thank you to everyone who gives criticism! I probably won’t respond to most of them but I definitely do see and appreciate them :3)

[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.

[insertthenewblhere]

Cartooning lesson. Artstyle

Short little piece of advice. Having a consistent artstyle is NOT about having a list of ways to draw each feature. It’s about applying the same design principles to each character.

The best example I can think of with this is Billy and Mandy

Mandy has eye whites. No nose. Solid teeth block. Front facing mouth.

Billy has dot eyes. GIANT nose. Segmented teeth. Side mouth.

How do they look like they belong in the same show?

Despite being drawn differently, they have the same level of exaggeration. Billy a little more because he is the silly one, but Mandy matches Billy’s goofiness with small details like her impossible hair.

They don’t look the same, but they’re the same LEVEL of cartoony.

(Obviously colour and linework also help in making an artstyle consistent, but we’re ignoring that rn)

If you are conscious of “same face syndrome” try to avoid planning how to draw features and just play around with shapes and proportions. The more you’re willing to draw weird/ugly looking characters, the more vitiate your characters will end up with. (Let the planning stage be imperfect)

And to quickly touch on same face syndrome because I know there’s an argument around it… Yes, it IS a thing and allot of shows have it. No, it’s not a bad thing and there are times where it’s even appropriate for the show. (Most Anime is a big example of that)

“Actually they have different shaped eyes” they could have different shaped HEADS. That’s same face syndrome…

[quirk-nova]

Quirk-Nova Learns to Draw: Faces

Like the title says, I tried to learning how to draw faces today, making it the first day of my art learning journey.

To be honest, I struggled a little bit with drawing faces in a 3/4 quarter view and back view

I tried to learn this through the following tutorials I found on both YouTube and Pinterest:

[donoteatwingsoutapussy]

I drew a silly

[figs-art]

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

[lowluckrat]

Day 3 of learning drawing. Goes good (as much as I can call it 'good'), I think I'm gonna try to draw a full piece next week to know what I struggle with. I think anatomy is on presentable level, so I should move to head and faces.

It goes better than I expected at first. 🎲