Welcome to Gaia! ::

I saw your post and Figure I'd respond. You shouldn't be discouraged, drawing is can be tedious as well as fun. It has taken me quites some time to get to the point I am, and most of that time was spent practicing and hating most of my original stuff.

here are some things I did to get better......

1. Draw what you like, it's much more fun. If you know of an artist that inspires you, or a particular style that appeals to you, then you should try it out. Take some of you manga that sitting around and try to mimic some of the pictures in there. I know this sounds unoriginal, but it helps because it begins to give you and overall feel for what the style your looking for entails.......

2. Books are your best friend, and worst enemy. It's good to have a sense of balance and proportion in your art (especially representational art, like anime) because it enhances the sense of realism in the piece. There are lots of books out there that will attempt to give you insight, but not all of them are suitable for beginners. Here is a small list of the books I have used........

- Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy- by Christopher Hart is a great first book to start with. I know, it isn't an anime book, but it essential to have a firm understanding of the human body as it actually is so that you'll know how to use exaggeration and stylization more proficiently. This will take practice and dedication, and your results will not come overnight, because it's a skill that only improves the more you use it.

- The how to draw anime collection- published by graphic sha is the next step. Now that you feel comfortable with your knowledge, you can get to working on your own anime style. These books are great because they have specific volumes about particular subjects (like girls, guys, mechs, couples...etc). They will give you an indepth look into the manga and anime aestetic, enlightening you with the various elements that make this art form unique.

- How to draw anime: putting things into perspective- I put this seperate, even though it's part of the previous collection, because it's an absolute must to have a good sense of perspective. I found this book to be easy to follow and quite extensive.

Books, useful as they are, can become hinderances if you depend on them too much. Art is about trusting you own unique vision, and having the skill to convey it to the masses. Books will provide the direction towards gaining the skill, not the skill itself. That comes from you; the way you interpret the world around you.

Lastly, practice practice PRACTICE!!!!!!! You can only get better the more you go at it so DON'T GIVE UP! I know that it can be more than a challenge to finish if you think what your doing is crap, but you have to take the failures along with the successes with everything you do. But if drawing is what makes you happy, then go for it and don't let you limitations stop you.

Well, soory for writing so much everybody! I hope this offers some help to anybody who read this.

Good luck and Happy drawing everybody!

Have you tried copy a drawing before?

Well I guess the only thing you can do is to draw a lot and learn from it and draw again. razz
Learn by observing and comparing.

In addition to whats already been said, I advise finding an instructor. A good teacher helps point you in the direction, challenge you where you need to challenge, give helpful feedback, and motivate you.

Drawing is just a technical skill, and no matter what manga teaches us, all skills take a long time to learn, lots of struggle, and tenacity. Drawing from observation, be it from reality to illustration, is one of the best ways to learn, and artists far more talented than you or me continue to hone their skills with it. When doing observational drawings, try to understand what your drawing as you do it, instead of just drawing what you see.

Have fun; I hope too see some more of your stuff up soon.

Adding my own view to this. I'm not going to critique yet, not until you've found a style.

Trace. Get a picture and trace it. Try simpler stuff first, like the face or the hand. And trace it a couple of times until it looks more or less like an EXACT copy of the orriginal. People think tracing an image means its the same...noooooot sooo. But yeah. Trace and get your lines to be smooth and even. That's one of anime's calling cards. Consistancy!

Then after you've traced that image and it's BURNED into your head, do it free hand, comparing it to your other drawings time after time, until your FREE hand is as good.

Something else you could try for POSES, are gestural drawings. That's a vocab word all you artists should know. Draw flow you see, no detail, just sketchy. It's where ALL my art comes from. I find a picture, look at it for thirty seconds, then scribble a rough approximation of it on paper. It's good for a loose style, something that's not constrained by lines and is more...well free. Doing that a lot helps you understand about how things move. If you know that the arm can go only so many places, you kknow your ranges. Odd things will stick out immediatly.

Heres an example of a drawing HALFWAY done and made from a gestural. It's not got much in posing, but you can still get the idea. Just TY to ignore that bit of math work at the side there. It was my homework for that particular day crying Give im a click or two, to see what I mean.



It sounds long and tiresome there, because it is. There's no shortcut to good art, except to steal others.

I don't really know where else I can go to ask for help, and all of the tutorials just go over steps too quickly for me (or are too advanced). I'm quickly learning that books are only for thoese who are already at professional level or better.
I'd take a course right now but none are avaible until next simister.