Thread #7882306
I am finally starting to learn how to draw as an adult Anonymous 02/15/26(Sun)11:37:35 No.7882306 [Reply]▶
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What should I start doing, how much should I draw per day and how much should I wait before I can start working on full-blown projects beyond initial small things?
My goal is to draw like Yoshitobi Abe and write my own light novels with high detailed illustrations and covers inside (doing manga means having an high risk of being stuck in /beg/dom and lower gains per time spent drawing)
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>>7882306
1. Find some instructional material that you find enjoyable to study - you could be copying illustrations from a book like Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy or Morpho or Burne Hogarth, or copying from a video, or an ecorche. What is important is that you don't find it boring to study the material for hours.
2. Make drawings, draw what you like, try to finish them, show them off and bask in the praise of your peers, as well as soliciting critique when you are comfortable doing so. I can only speak for myself, but self confidence is essential to be able to do my best work, so I don't look for critique unless I'm in a good headspace for it, and I often compare my newer works to my older ones so I can see my improvement and bolster my ego - remind yourself that you are on the path to inevitable greatness.
3. All the secrets of gesture and color and composition are found in nature - draw trees and flowers and animals, the most interesting ones you can find, and read about how they work to get further inspiration for your personal drawings.
4. Draw until you feel yourself trying to take shortcuts or veering into stuff that isn't really contributing to the piece - this happens when you have run out of gas and you should stop for the day before you start to make the piece worse instead of better. The piece can also start to become precious to you the more you look at it, which makes you reluctant to make big adjustments or reworkings of areas that probably need it, or to call it good and move onto the next thing - if you stop and come.back the next day, you'll see what needs to be done and you will have the juice to be able to do it. For me it's about 12 hours, but I am a freak.
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>>7882339
A Light Novel is basically Japanese YA fiction. It's for middle schoolers and manchildren.
You should read webnovels instead. Start with Reverend Insanity.
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>>7882306
>how much should I draw per day
That's up to you, just be consistent
Learn observation and draw things from life, it will help you with proportions, if it bores you just copy Abe drawings carefully.
Or just do what
>>7882330 says and do what you enjoy, just remember to draw something and not get sucked into the "I need to get good before making a drawing" mindset.
>>7882339
LN are mostly garbage because it's anime but in text form. So it's way easier to produce slop while following the current trend just to pay rent.
There is a reason why all the top monthly LN are some kind of dogshit Iseka or haremi just like in anime or manga. At least in manga there can be good art.
>>7882345
>It's for middle schoolers and manchildren
>Proceeds to recommend content for middle schoolers and manchildren but chinese
You could recommend a book instead of manhua Xiaxia garbage that's only known for deconstructing the genre and pissing of China for being edgy, not for being good.
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>>7882306
advantage old fags have over children is they're better disciplined and able to learn, absorb and apply information in a systematic fashion, leading to a more efficient learning experience and a better use of time. split your time between studies (fundamentals, master copies and accuracy work) and fun/experimental play. also, if you want to get into light novels/making an illustration book/making comics or whatever I recommend starting asap.
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>>7882306
I started drawing as an adult and surpassed the artist that inspired me to begin (in art skill, not that I became more financially successful) in 6 years. Here's what I did to make that happen:
Year 1-2: Only grind studies, no boxes or other stupid shit. In this time I finished maybe 450 assorted studies, several thousand sketches and less finished/refined studies. This was covid so I had a lot of free time lol. I was just looking at random shit on pinterest and copying.
Year 3: Begin drawing things in the style of the person I admired. I tried to focus on their linework and all that, since the drawing is the real bones of it all. For color, I just looked at someone else's work and stole their color schemes because I was too retarded to do it on my own at that time.
Year 4: I could consistently make things in the style of my favorite artist, but not as well as I would like, but I had ended up being too much like them and inherited all their weaknesses as well. Weak compositions and center stage focus only, etc.
Year 5: Continued to refine technique, but also decided to focus on the things that I had been ignoring up to that point-- advanced perspective, differing compositions, etc. Decided to analyze my art inspo's gallary and examine where their weaknesses were, so I could work on those things.
Year 6 (this year): I have surpassed my original art inspo in skill but still make no $ from my art because I am a shy and am reluctant to attach my face to marketing material.
Start asap, don't be a constructoid, post your work online often to get crit, and realize 99% of ic is probably some retarded nodraw. I attribute massive gains to a long stretch of unemployment and underemployment due to covid and the shitty economy as well, since I was able to draw up to 8-10 hours a day. Not to tell you that you should drop it all to draw, but if you happen to be out of work for any time then you better draw like mad.
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>>7883262
just draw us a quick 5 minute sketch. Here's mine. Been at it for about a year now.
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>>7882306
Here's what you do, anon (from someone who drew a lot as a teenager and spent time in college studying practical and efficient ways of drawing for self-improvement):
>Memory Drawing: Take a live subject or photo reference and study it. Feel it, trace it, note the negative and positive space. Then remove it and draw it from memory. Then put it back, and draw while looking at it. Repeat until you're satisfied with the results.
>Contours: Do plenty of blind/continuous/modified/pure/cross contours.
>Grind shapes and curves/arcs and trace to improve line quality.
>Before you do construction, work on gesture drawing and line of action.
>Before you draw anatomy and bodies, study clothes, clothed bodies, and skeletons.
>Draw for at least 30 minutes a day, and if you spend more time than that, take a 30 min break for every 90 mins you spend drawing.
>Iterative Drawing: pick a subject to draw from memory 30-50 times. As you make a new drawing, do your best to fix mistakes/errors, and feel free to experiment. Then do another series of drawings but with a photo reference/live model.
>Pick something to draw from memory and/or with photo references. If you find yourself screwing up, look up references and tutorials, then fix your fuckups. Complete the drawing.
>If you pick a fundamental or subject to seriously study for an entire day, IMMEDIATELY implement it in your next set of drawings.
>Draw boxes from ordinary life (furniture, rooms, buildings, packages, cars, etc).
>Do exercises in pen.
>Trace, break down drawings into shapes, and make master copies to learn any art style.
>Draw with your whole arm and shoulder, but carefully and gently.
>Find as many references as you can of your subject.
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>>7883504
Other advice/help/tips:
>Master drawing/draftsmanship before you learn how to render/color/paint. Too many artists hide poor drawing skills with coloring and details.
>To develop hand-eye coordination, pick up knitting/sewing/puzzles/Legos/crocheting/a musical instrument/origami. Throw a ball and bike.
>To develop visual-spatial skills, play video games. Learn how to cook.
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>>7883504
>>7883521
pyw or all this is meaningless. anyone can give out beg tier advice
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>>7883524
i am mentally retarded
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>>7882306
Start...anythig really.
Start with googling.. how to draw... whatever it is you wish to draw.
You will likely learn basic construction (turn balls and squares into a figure of (i will use human as an example) a human
Proportions. How long or wide something should be . There are 2 basic units of measuring proportions that i know: head units and cranial units..similar but different. You will learn aboot basic proportions of the face, limbs, "Heroic " proportions. Proportions of kids, teens and adults ..think of marvel when it comes to heroes.
You will refine a figure with anatomical knowledge, of bones and muscles, no need to learn all but the more you know the better.
You will gib life with practicing gesture(using the brains ability to predict movements to give an illusion of motion)
With perspective, your figure will occupy a real space and get SOME 3Dimentionality and some life
With values (light and dark parts of a picture ) you will give the picture clarity.
Combine that with knowledge of light and things in your picture will be interacting with eachother. Remember, everything (except vantablack) is a very mild mirror at the very least. Red things reflect most red light, black things absorb all light a lot, ecc. If you shine pure read light, everything becomes red. If you put red stuff in shadow, it becomes black or grayish.
Use colour to further guide the eye , give vibes , and multiply the previously achieved effects of livelyness, and space.. color is generally less powerfull then values but can effect almost every aspect of a picture and enhance the emotional impact.
Composition is the bread and butter of making things look interesting but by it self doesnt do much.
>TLDR start with what you liek to draw and practice things litle by little.
>There are things i forgot to mention but >this should be most of it
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>>7882306
>My goal is to draw like
You will never be able to draw like the artist that inspires you, and I'm not saying this to put you down it's just that you shouldn't expect that to come true. It's fine to be inspired by them but to have your style become like theirs is unrealistic, you'd be setting yourself up for disappointment when you inevitably won't live up to that standard. Instead, you should create your own style while getting influenced by someone else's, that's a much more realistic and healthy expectation
Start drawing right not with some shit you think is cool or that fulfills you anyway, I like creating OCs and dressing them up myself, my pretty little dolls. Good luck anon, remember artan' isn't easy and you will hit some bumps but you should continue if you sense that it's something that you were made for
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>>7882330
>show them off and bask in the praise of your peers
i barely get a single (you) when i post on /beg/ or "draw this pose" threads and if I do it's usually a schizo
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>>7883097
You're not wrong. A lot of the fags here were already fucked due to them not building discipline early on. The fags here that are actually decent/good took drawing seriously/drew from a young age and still kept at it, unlike the regular doodler(most people) that only draws for 30 mins to an hour every 3 weeks to a couple of months. This is why the talent cope is so widely common, even among artist.