/ic/ - Artwork/Critique » Thread #900932

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Anonymous !!pslLRVdFRLW Wed 23 Feb 2011 18:55:00 No.900932 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By:

Lets see if you can help me, /ic/.

Long story short, I did something I never thought I'd do; I stopped drawing for an entire year. I blame it on the fact that I recently moved houses and changed which parent I was living with. That and the fact that my new room is far smaller thanmy old one.

Here, I just feel flat and unorginal and just can't be screwed picking up a pencil. I've let someone who I've always competed with in art get FAR ahead of me, which feels really bad for some reason. I really MISS drawing, but I just can't bring myself to do it, like I'm scared.

So my question is this, does a change in scenery/lifestyle actually effect how creative I am and how I express it? Or is it just me?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:07:00 No.900934 Report

Quoted By: >>900935

I stopped drawing for 2,5 years when I went to college, despite really loving it in high school. Then I did some figure studies with a friend. It was for fun, but it was the first time I actually studied properly. After a week or two I noticed my portraits suddenly started looking like the people I drew, and that fired me up like there's no tomorrow. I've been drawing and studying almost every day for 1,5 years now. Sometimes it's just one quick gesture drawing, sometimes it's 10 hours of straight studying, sometimes it's something original. I can't believe the progress I'm making. I keeps me incredibly motivated.

So my advice is, do some studies. You don't need inspiration for it, it's easier and less stressful than creating something new, and in order to get better you need to study anyway, so it's win-win-win.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:09:00 No.900935 Report

Quoted By: >>900937

>>900934
That would a godsent if it worked. What kind of studies do you suggest I do? I'm not sure where to start.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:22:00 No.900937 Report

Quoted By: >>900939 >>900942

>>900935
I'll just describe my process.

First I did the figure drawing. Me and two friends alternated posing and drawing each other, and we critiqued each others work after we were done. I improved a little and that's what started this all.

After that I started doing 30 second gestures on posemaniacs.com. They look horrid by they aid in getting familiarized with the human form. I also drew my hands often, made weird faces in the mirror and quickly sketched them, and drew the people on tv.

Then I added doing still lives to my routine, because suddenly I was like 'hey wait people are not the only thing in existence'. So I picked up some stuff I had lying around the table (mobile phone, lighter, pack of cigarettes, deodorant, etc) and drew them. I was amazed at how good they turned out, because before, when I was trying to draw an object I never used references. So I kept doing still lives, and that helped me with my form, values, colours, etc. All of this is very exciting to me, and it aids your overall drawing skills.

Finally, I started doing backgrounds and streets/buildings in an attempt to understand perspective more.

So now I'm in a phase where I bring my sketchbook everywhere and basically just draw everything I see, every free moment. Sometimes I go outside and sit at a coffee shop for three hours, alone, drinking tea and drawing the view or the people around me.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:29:00 No.900939 Report

Quoted By: >>900942 >>900944

>>900937
The most important thing I learned in the beginning of my journey was that nothing is too hard to draw. In fact, studying is ridiculously easy. You just need to look at your object and draw what you see. Don't let your brain fill stuff in for you, actively LOOK and then draw what is actually there. Even if it seems like you're drawing abstract shapes at first (like when you draw glass or liquid for example), it all comes together eventually.

I learned a lot of other important things as well, but this realization, that nothing is too complicated to draw, it keeps me going. Whenever I think something is too hard I just think 'if you took a photo of this and then made it black and white, you could still see what it is, and pencil is basically making stuff in black and white, so it must be possible to draw this. I'm just not good enough.. YET.'

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:38:00 No.900942 Report

Quoted By: >>900947

>>900937
>>900939
Thanks for sharing all this.

I guess I'll start by doing some poses from posemaniacs and see where that takes me. I'll try drawing things around me too.

I feel a little more inspired now, thanks man.

If anyone else has any tips I would love to hear them too.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO therapysession888 klein.jpg, 242KiB, 667x664

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:42:00 No.900944 Report

Quoted By: >>900946 >>902696

>>900939
This is a recent study done by me, by the way.
>>900539

I'm nowhere as good as I want to be (again, YET) but I'm improving fast and steadily. Here's a drawing from 2007, right before I stopped drawing entirely. You can see the difference.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:50:00 No.900946 Report

Quoted By: >>900948

>>900944
You only posted one picture

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:51:00 No.900947 Report

Quoted By: >>900949 >>900951 >>901893

>>900942
You're welcome. I suggest you do ten to fifteen minutes of posemaniacs and then draw one or two objects you have lying around you. Posemaniacs is good for loosening up and getting familiar with how humans look, but it's crap for motivating you, because (since you only have 30 seconds) all the sketches will look like crap. Drawing objects around you is much more rewarding, because you can actually see the improvement. I was like 'holy shit how am I so good' the first time I did a few objects from life.

Also, set Posemaniacs to 60 or 90 seconds if 30 is too fast for you. And don't try to do all the details, just draw the important lines/shapes and note the general position of muscles. Also, don't try to make it 'good', just draw. You can't have hangups about your studies being good, or you won't take risks. Without risks, you don't make mistakes, and without mistakes, you don't improve. You can't be afraid to draw something ugly, or you'll be forever stuck on your current level.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:52:00 No.900948 Report

Quoted By: >>900951 >>902852

>>900946
I linked the other one, here: >>900539

It's in the draw thread already so I can't post it again.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:53:00 No.900949 Report

Quoted By: >>900952

>>900947
Except don't use posemaniacs, because 3D renders in awkward positions aren't that great.
http://www.pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html
http://lovecastle.org/gestures/

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:58:00 No.900951 Report

Quoted By: >>900981

>>900947
I'm going to force myself to do this, text saved. I actually feel enthusiastic about this, like I can do something to fix the rut i've been in, thanks again.

>>900948
You've definately motivated me.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 19:58:00 No.900952 Report

Quoted By:

>>900949

Even better, thanks.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO progress tehmeh.jpg, 148KiB, 866x923

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 20:56:00 No.900981 Report

Quoted By: >>901613 >>902894

>>900951
You're welcome. And don't worry, it's never too late to start practising. I was absolute shit in 2007 and didn't start practising until early 2010/late 2009. I was 23 back then, but even if I was 43, it wouldn't matter. All it takes to become better at drawing is a lot of practice. As long as you have functioning hands and eyes it's never too late to improve. And if you know what to focus on (lurk /ic/, you'll find out gradually) you'll improve even faster.

Here, have another inspirational image, it's tehmehs progress chart. Look at how much progress he made in one year, and he's 22 now if I remember correctly.

Another wildly inspirational example:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

That guy was well in his twenties when he started. Flip through the beginning of that thread. Then go through the last few pages. Note the still life over at page 64. That's what consistent study will do for you.

The first time I saw that thread (right when I was just starting out with studying) I read it from cover to cover, by the way. It was amazing to see that man's progress, but it's even more exciting to see yourself go down the same road as him, even if you're not as far along as he is. Because you know what you can achieve if you keep travelling.

So come travel with us, OP. It's easy. All you have to do is study and draw every day, one day at the time.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 21:02:00 No.900983 Report

Quoted By:

Oh and as for posemaniacs vs. pixelovely, I use both. Posemaniacs has the advantage of showing the general position of muscles and the ability of rotating models, pixelovely has better (more natural) poses and different lighting conditions. Try both and see what you like more. Or use them in combination. It doesn't really matter, they're both worse than actual figure drawing (like, with people) but they're both WAY better than doing nothing. So they're both useful, and choosing (or not choosing) between them is a matter of personal preference.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 23 Feb 2011 21:04:00 No.900985 Report

Quoted By:

I'd like to add that you can vary the time you spend on each drawing, going by say, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes on seperate drawings, you'll loosed up sufficiently and manage to properly define your lines (not making it a sketchy mess). Things you need to watch out for is construction, since making gestures often lets your anatomy blurred. Apart from that I suggest you pick up other drawing techniques and just draw what you want to draw

The key to motivating yourself is drawing something you can immerse yourself in. The thing about anxiety and worry is that you'll quit drawings half way because you're disgusted by them. You'll have to tone down your expectations - not much - but at least don't have unrealistic expectations of yourself. This will help you have fun drawing instead of quitting early on quickly.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 07:12:00 No.901457 Report

Quoted By:

Bumping so noobs can learn.

MrFoals !!pslLRVdFRLW

MrFoals !!pslLRVdFRLW Thu 24 Feb 2011 07:20:00 No.901461 Report

Quoted By: >>901500 >>901573

I approve of this thread. Bump for great justice. /ic/ needs more threads like these. Give advice and be kind mentlegen, for fuck's sake.

This thread gives me hope. Truly.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 08:03:00 No.901500 Report

Quoted By:

>>901461

Fucking this, I'm inspired as fuck.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 09:18:00 No.901563 Report

Quoted By:

shit I feel the same way about LEGO

I used to love building legos and creating all kinds of ships and bases and vehicles but I stopped for like years and I just cant get back into it, I've had periods where I stopped drawing like you OP but I just remembered a quote from a book I read "No artists is a vacuum" meaning that you should surround yourself in inspiration, look up things you would want to draw etc.

After a while of kinda meh drawing and easing back into it I was inspired to draw greebles since I fucking love drawing greebles and it helped me overcome the fear that I wouldnt be able to draw good again. Now if I could only get back into legos again ;-;

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 09:31:00 No.901573 Report

Quoted By: >>901580

>>901461
I suppose I will contriboot.

When feeling down, you can also try the FUCK YEAH mentality. It's easy, just add FUCK YEAH to the end of everything.

Did you draw this? FUCK YEAH
Did you enjoy it? FUCK YEAH
Does it suck? FUCK YEAH
etc

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 09:42:00 No.901580 Report

Quoted By: >>901581

>>901573
I just heard all of those fuck yeah's in the same voice from team america

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 09:42:00 No.901581 Report

Quoted By:

>>901580
Good.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 10:24:00 No.901610 Report

Quoted By:

Are you me, OP?

Seriously, I moved back home, even graduated college and I'm just burned out and uninspired. I've done small projects here and there for money but I never feel good about them. A change in environment would help a lot I think and being comfortable in your surroundings. I currently sleep on a couch in a sunroom, no privacy, always woken up in the morning. Shit sucks man.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 10:26:00 No.901613 Report

Quoted By:

I just started my studies a week ago and I gotta say using posemaniacs has helped me TREMENDOUSLY

I literally went from drawing every single figure completely flat to depth in less than 2 days. It's still not good (I'm the one posting the headless figures in the drawthread) but it's defiantly getting funner now that I'm able to draw something that doesn't look like a bunch of scribbles.

>>900981

Thanks for the inspiration. I'm gonna flip through that thread you posted, it seems like there's some helpful tips coming from the posters there.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 19:44:00 No.901878 Report

Quoted By:

I want to hear back from OP and see whether he managed to start studying.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 24 Feb 2011 21:00:00 No.901893 Report

Quoted By:

>>900947

And don't try to do all the details, just draw the important lines/shapes and note the general position of muscles. Also, don't try to make it 'good', just draw. You can't have hangups about your studies being good, or you won't take risks. Without risks, you don't make mistakes, and without mistakes, you don't improve. You can't be afraid to draw something ugly, or you'll be forever stuck on your current level.

not OP but that was a blast of inspiration thank you

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Batmotivation.jpg, 41KiB, 560x824

Anonymous Fri 25 Feb 2011 13:24:00 No.902376 Report

Quoted By:

God, bump this shit up. An actual good thread and it's being pushed off with bullshit.

Have a pic for encouragement, too.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 00:58:00 No.902648 Report

Quoted By:

bump

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 01:23:00 No.902666 Report

Quoted By:

This thread needs archiving I think.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 01:57:00 No.902689 Report

Quoted By:

I'm in OP's boat as well and all i can say is either find a new medium or dont draw at home. this is the only thing that's helped me. also its not about drawing as much as it is just creating.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 02:02:00 No.902696 Report

Quoted By: >>902697

>>900944
the perspective of the box and the door contradict each other unless it's precariously posed on its corner or something
anyway dude just learn a little bit of perspective, you'll soon understand and be able to use it and all sorts of other quick tricks to draw things more accurately and then you can be imaginative with imaginary things

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO so many red line.jpg, 355KiB, 667x664

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 02:03:00 No.902697 Report

Quoted By: >>902852

>>902696
oh yeh
image here if you want

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 05:44:00 No.902852 Report

Quoted By:

>>902697
You're a good guy for trying to help, but dude, you're redlining a drawing from 2007.

>>900948

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 26 Feb 2011 06:06:00 No.902864 Report

Quoted By:

This isn't too bad but you need to be persistent as fuck though, it's like starting from scratch almost. Good luck

Dreamslayer !!LAjbMoeVU5/

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO painting.png, 279KiB, 471x294

Dreamslayer !!LAjbMoeVU5/ Sat 26 Feb 2011 06:45:00 No.902894 Report

Quoted By:

>>900981
Is there any other artist in terms of realism that comes close to this picture in terms of realism?

anyone?

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