Anonymous asked: Got any practicing tips? Got a friends that been drawing for a while but went into a depressive slump for a long white and stopped drawing. They are drawing again but feel like they aren't getting any better and seems about ready to give up again.
Hmmm, well generally speaking for any form of art, one thing I think helps me the most is to look back at the artwork I like and inspires me, they should ask themselves what art styles do they like? What pictures do they want to replicate in style and quality?
So what I do, is that I look at artwork or art styles I ADORE and love so much, that I actually take physical notes on how they specifically did their art so I can try and replicate it, so I’ll bring up some quick examples:
(From ‘Adolescence of Utena’) DRAWING STYLE:
- So the artist draws these characters with large, beady, but very detailed eyes.
- There is no actual pupil in her eyes, but the shading in the top part of her iris creates the illusion of one existing.
- Her mouth isn’t made up of one continuous line, but if you look closely, it’s made up of three separate spaced lines drawn in a way to create the look of a lip.
- The nose is low and very close to the mouth, the neck is thin, and the hair is relatively straight, but slightly wavy with a few strands hanging out.
Now, another picture, (From Pixiv [SOURCE]) COLORING/PAINTING STYLE:
- The whole color palette is uses many colors, but the colors themselves are not very bright or colorful, leaning towards more grey tones.
- Completely white background suggests bright lighting behind our subjects, I can see this when I look at their hair and the brighter it gets when it faces the background.
- I noticed that there’s really little shading at all, or at least hard, contrasting shading.
- There’s also little contrast in any shading that is made, making a soft-looking image.
- Actually little detail when it comes to the bodies and faces, most of that goes towards the hair, and any significant detail made on their bodies goes to the light shading when it comes to Madoka’s (pink haired girl) shirt
I could go on, but hat’s what helps me when I’m composing an image, and I can use this for manga, physical sculptures, or any type of painting, and I can apply this to whatever I’m working on.
Also another thing, a cartoonist I admire, Arin Hanson (hello Game Grumps fans :v) talked about the ‘Don’t break the chain’ technique, basically what you do is just draw everyday, don’t break that chain.
It doesn’t have to be a detailed super great drawing, but you just have to draw something every day, smiley face, flower, sun, landscape, anything, and that will hopefully create an incentive where you won’t quit.
This helps me, and I really hope it helps your friends too ^^
