Tips and pointers

[PhantasmicDream]

 

I thought it might be fun to start up a thing for people to leave tips and pointers of what they found to be helpful when drawing!

 

So a bit of what I have to say I'm just going to quote myself from another thread.

Don't be afraid to do a light sketch of the pose in a stick man style it can be helpful if you don't know what you're wanting to do (I do it all the time).

Using a measurement from foot to knee, a person is about three of that high, so foot to knee which then measures the same length as knee to the groin and then groin to shoulders. Shoulders are two heads wide, a person is about 7 heads tell, with resting arms, the fingertips reach to a bit above the knee (depends on the person mind you) and feet are the same length as you're forearm.

Unsure of how to do a pose? Search up references! There's thousands and they are helpfully.

 

What also helps when doing the stickman base is having a box or something to be be the rib-cage and pelvis, also, yes people are rounded and curvy and can sometimes be a distraction and you can find yourself focusing on making it rounded then the whole figure may start to look a little wack, so sticking with the straight lines for that isn't too bad to start with and then go back and curve it... if that makes sense...

 

Also stickmen are only guide lines, you don't have to follow them directly because most likely you would have just roughly sketched that out and some of the things might be odd on them.

 

And when drawing muscles use references because it can look really odd if you don't know what the muscle is supposed to look like (it's why most people I draw aren't muscular because it's a pain in the ass to draw sometimes)

 

Another example image.

 

 

On a later date I'll go into some more detail about what I mean I guess and have more drawing example thingy, just because I can't think of them at the moment because I'm tired...

 

[NTSAM]

 

thx <3

 

Now if only I still had stuff to draw with.

 

[Nomzy]

Quick notes from an average drawer

Forearm and upper arm are pretty much the same length

do a round curve for joints, unless the clothing is something that's weird at the joints or something idk but you seem to already be doing this

i find long hair easier to start with

you're doing poses well, make sure to work on legs poses so you can try an adapt to make full dynamic poses, like a mid-swing crowbar or somethin

this is as much as i can describe sir

[Tauka Usanake]

 

Only because you drew this now I want your take on my character Tauka in that pose. Just so you know however I drew him first! You have no domain over me!

 

[PhantasmicDream]

 

Another way to figure out posing and what not is doing gesture drawings, they are and easy a quick way to kind of figure out what you might want to do.

 

Here's some that I made up.

Normally when doing a gesture drawing you don't want to take your pencil off of the paper and you want to make sure you go through the whole figure, plus it's suggested that you start at the feet (which I personally have the habit of not doing)

 

 

Then of course you pick out a gestured that you liked, and draw it.

 

[DeletedUser]

Welp, now Dreamy teaches witchcraft to young heretics. Today's lesson: how to use a mess of pink warp-infused lines to steal the soul of your character/friends/family members... with witchcraft!

[Edd]

You could draw pauldrons by using the tips on this thread, Adr. Lots and lots of pauldrons.

[Tauka Usanake]

 

Also it's not guaranteed that anyone will reach her level of witchcraft. I mean I sure as hell won't get to that level even if I wanted to.

 

The knowledge is not the crime here. The misuse of it is. And what better way to burn witches than with the fire of witches?

I don't really mean it Dreamy, you're a nice person even though I don't like Canadians

 

[PhantasmicDream]

LIVE AGAIN!! Old thread from 2015....
With more people joining the forums to post their artworks,  maybe it's time to bring this around again.  Do people have different pointers for others?  Or perhaps you want to leave something you're struggling with and having someone help you fix it up?  We have artists of different levels and different skills,  it'd be interesting to hear what people have to say.  UwU

 

Some of my old points are still on good stands... I think?
Some basic examples of what the male figure would have.  

A sort of visual example of some things I said in my old post,  about measurements. 

 

 

 

Trying to figure out how to get a better understanding of the human figure?  me too
Something to do for practice and personal use is drawing over references!
  

If you do digital art,  you can past the ref on it's own layer, lower the opacity of it... and then on a new layer you want to block out the simple shapes you see.   This will give you a better idea of 'structure'  and less about the details.   Most of the time when we try to draw people,  we get all caught up with the small details.    If you're a traditional artist,  you can always print out the refs,  using a light box or a window you can place the ref on it then your paper over top then proceed to block out shapes. You can also use tracing paper. 

After doing that process for some time,  you can start looking a ref and block out the shapes separately instead of drawing over top of the ref. 

 

 

Drawing backgrounds?  Grids are your friends... it'd give your a better idea of what the ground would be, where your horizon line is, and it'll be easier to make '3D' shapes.

 

When drawing a scene?  What can make it interesting?   Why it's placement!

Know what you want your main focus is,  and try to make everything else draw your eye to it (you don't have to do this everytime, it varies on what your drawing).  Shapes and perspective are good to keep in mind as well.  What is in your background, mid-ground, and foreground?  Your "main focus" doesn't always have to be in the foreground.    UwU

 

 

Drawing clothing seams can make outfits more interesting.

 

Not every picture needs an intense background,  even a simple shape with colour can do.

 

 

 

And a most importantly,  we all start off somewhere.   
The want to continue and improve can take you a long way!

A drawing a did back in 2010

 

I'm always up for doing redlining artworks or just helping with any questions.  SO  do be afraid to post something here or just DM me. 
 

 

For example,  this would be what "redlining" is

[ConfectionCore]

I'm sorry, I've gotta.

For real though, this thread is great, thank you!

Advice I have taken from Proko's youtube (I recommend it, great advice there for anatomy beginners and intermediate learners) is to reguarly re-study your poses/images. Try a pose once, then try it again later, using references and practice to work on mistakes you made the first time. Try to do this regularly with poses you work with. It's a more thorough way to learn than to constantly draw new poses.

Video in question:

 

[PhantasmicDream]

Oh yeah. That's a very good video, and I imagine he has a lot more!

Honestly, there's just a lot of good videos about art on YouTube for people to watch.

 

This is one that I like to share with people who want to "improve fast"

 

It may repeat some points made before (or you may have already heard) but really the main thing about it is, when practicing take sometime to just practice and not to multitask. 

[PhantasmicDream]

Yes, but depending on how you practice can make a difference. 

Practice something where you keep making the same mistake doesn't help you improve which was something mentioned in the video gangelwaefre shared.  

Taking an amount of time to just draw/practice and doing nothing else could help keep the skills you learned to stick I'm your mind. 

 

But you're right, there isn't really a fast way to improve faster.  Everyone's learning and skill rate varies in time 

[PhantasmicDream]

Have you been doing art for a while,  and you're thinking "damn, I really want to try and make some comics"  well,  here's some helpful suggests from me... someone who has a love-hate relationship with comics.

 

Comic panels. 
There's isn't a specific size for comics these days,  you can have traditional size of 6.63″ x 10.24″ (16.84 x 26.01 cm) have a comic strip like in a news paper (or for some online comics) which could be a horizontal or vertical rectangle shape or even squared!    Strips are good for one shot comics, while pages are good for comics with a full on story, but at the end of the day you can do what ever.

When making your panels you don't have to make it all "interesting shapes"  throwing in an odd shaped panel in there once in a while can make the page more interesting to look at but you don't want to have too many on one page... or to have it happening to every page, variety is nice.   Whenever your comic is having a "new scene" or location, it's good to have one panel be an "establishing shot"(or "establishing the scene") so the viewer can see where things are taking place. 

Here's an example of a page I did that has an establishing shot in the middle.
 

Here's another one that has the shot at the end.

 

But ofcourse, "one shot comics" or comics that don't have an overarching plot don't need to have a defined "establishing shot" here's an example

 

 

Speech Bubbles.
It's always a good idea to know where your want to have your speech bubbles. And personally,  I'm the worst when if comes to it because I think about where to put them after the drawing...

Why figure out placement for the speech bubbles before you draw?  Sketching out a basic idea of where you want them will make the panels less crowded. You don't want to draw up your panel to then have your speech bubbles cover up most of it.      Now,  having the speech bubble being layered over a character isn't necessarily a bad thing too do, sometimes you have to do with when you have a "close-up" shot of the character where else would the bubble go?  But it's good to have some rhyme and reason to it. 

Try to avoid BIG! speech bubbles with a lot of text in it,  instead break up the text into two or more speech bubbles and connect them 

And remember,  not ever panel needs to have text in it,  sometimes you need to have the visuals do the talking. 

And example of a minor speech bubble overlapping. 

 

 

What is a comic but a page turning movie. 
I personally think of the layout of drawing for panels (and sometimes drawings in general) as scenes from a movie.   How would a camera be placed in the type of scene that is happening?  

When having characters interacting with each other in a scene,  you don't want to cross the 180° line.  you can have the view changing from showing both of them in a midshot, to showing one character talking at the time...  but once you flip the camera view to the other side (pass the 180 line) you can throw the whole scene off.  This would be similar things they do with shows filmed in front of a live audience, because if the camera passes that line you can see the audience.  

A time when you can break this could be when the scene is breaking up or they're no longer talking. Pretty much you'll have to keep thinking if the shots make sense. 

Here's an example of showing the camera changing view and following the character.

 

Angles
Bird's Eye -  These are views looking straight down from above.  Cause use this for a sort of "establishing shot"  or if you have a character up high (like in a plane) looking down.
High Angle -  To make things "look small"  You can use this sort of angle to make a character feel small,  they are at their lowest point,  will they make out of their situation. You're looking down at them.
Eye Level - A very neutral shot. Having no really emotion to it,  it's the basic shot you'd use to have characters having a conversation and such.
Low Angle - To make things "look big"  You can use this short of angle to have the character feel like they're towering over another character (or the viewer)  Putting a character in this angle you're putting the character in a higher stature.  You're looking up at them.
Oblique Angle -  It's is titled (a bit askew).  This can make the view feel that something is off, or not right (maybe something bad is about to happen) This can also be used to show that a character is intoxicated. 

 

Shots
Medium Shot - it's very neutral (similar to the "Eye Level" angle), it's the most commonly used shot from chatting to romance!  
Long/Full Shot -  This shows the character's full body,  gives the viewer an idea of where the scene is happening.  This can be used as "establishing the setting" 
Extreme Long Shot - This too can be used as "establishing the setting" as well,  but too a more epic scale.   The Extreme Long Shot reveals more than a Long/Full shot,  these shots are used more for outside scenes. 
Close-up Shot - Used to show off the emotion of the character in the scene. 
Deep Focus Shot - Similar to the Long/Full shot,  but everything is in focus (where in other shots part of the scenes can be blurred)

[PhantasmicDream]

Draw responsibly,

We get in the habit of believing that practicing a lot will help us improve with art (or anything in general) and while maybe this is true,  it's always good to know when to stop.   Taking breaks is important and will be good for you in the long run.   Drawing for hours in one sitting is bound to give you some problems,  mostly being pains.   Pains cause be either neck, back, arm, wrist, and fingers. 

 

What can you do to limit the chances of pains?
Taking breaks;  they could be in between drawings or even half way through one!   Take some time to do some stretches, before you start drawing or during one of your breaks.   Feeling a little sort in your drawing arm?  Can always running it under some cold water, or sticking your arm (up to the elbow) in a bucket full of cold water.    Try drawing with more of your arm instead of just with the wrist.  Working on a small surface (or being in a small area) may be hard to do full arm motions,  but even just a little bit can help put less strain on your wrist.  

 

Here's a video that shows off some stretches you can do,  or you can look up some other.   And remember to not push yourself with too hard of stretches! Cause you don't want to pull something cause you to hurt yourself. 

 

 

 

Don't forget to drink lots of water and to eat food!!  xP

[PhantasmicDream]

Draw with Confidence! 

 

When drawing or sketching,  try working with longer strokes!  A lot of newer artists tend to build shapes with short and time consuming stroke lines instead of quick and longer stroke lines.  Nothing wrong with having a "sketchy" look to the drawing,  but it's a matter of how it's being done.   And issue you can run into when dealing with drawing little strokes is that you can lose any defined shape your were original going for, it could give off the impression that you were unsure of what you were trying to draw up. You can still get a sketchy look when doing bigger strokes dues to over lapping any lines,  but you are laying these lines down with confidence, and possible not over thinking about the shape.  

Heck,  sometimes you just gotta draw lines quickly and not thinking about it at all. 

 

 

Avoid using ovals when blocking/sketching out your character's pose.   There's a time and place to use ovals,  and that's probably if your doing a cartoon (or over exaggerated) looking style, maybe they're a character on the heavier side of things, or maybe working on some sort of creature concept art,  but when drawing something semi(-realistic) to realistic store that shape away!   Using ovals can make your lose any sort of definition you were trying to go for when drawing the character.  It can make the character look to stocky when they're not.  Plus the averaged limb isn't shaped like that.  The world is made of edgy lines.  

 

 

 

Guidelines are friends,   and roughly blocking them out on a head before drawing a face is always a good idea... because the last thing you'd want is an eye floating off somewhere it should be!  But remember these guide lines shouldn't be straight,  they should be curving (or wrapping) around the rough shape of the head. 

 

 

Don't be scared of line work,  the line work should be scared of you. 

[PhantasmicDream]

Don't take the sprite work as face value!

 

The sprites have to really minimize on details due to their sizing, but you can add a whole lot more to it when drawing it! 

 

Figure out; what would make that weird pattern be more fitting on an outfit? Is the outfit a jacket and we're seeing buttons on it? Is there a zipper on this jumpsuit? How can you make the outfit more interesting?  Try to avoid doing the "bare minimum" 

The common thing I see with SS13 artists or players commissioning non-SS13 artists is that they make these outfit look like a sort of "graphic tee" that they just printed this image on a shirt threw it at their workers and said "here you go"

You don't have to go with the sort of designs I did up, but I do hope it can help inspire better designs. UwU

 

 

 

 

•remember, don't become as salty as me about art.•

[PhantasmicDream]

You're not stuck with the first sketch/concept. 

Sometimes we have to go through a few stages with in the sketching phase to figure out what we really want,  and that's okay!   Jump through as many sketch as you need, sometimes you need to go through some of the "bad ideas" to get to the "good ideas" 

 

Expressions are everything, they portray what the character's are feeling in their current situation that the scene is taking place.  and how their expression is can make or break the scene.  It can even change the scene completely. 

In one of the stages in the sketch here, we have Nurn'Kal (the Shadowling Ascendant) being rather calm, maybe having a little sass behind the eyes.

But in the end, that wasn't what I was wanting for,  I was wanting more of royally pissed off Ascendant.  So,  just the change of his mouth and a bit to the eyes gave me the look I was looking for!

 

 

 

Here's another example of a few expressions.




With the first and last one being rather similar in expression of being scared, while the middle one is just being annoyed of being in the situation.   

 

If you're unsure if the piece you're working on is going the way you're wanting it to go, take a break away from it.  Set it aside to work on other things, and then come back to it with a fresh set of eyes!!   Is the piece portraying the emotion you're wanting?  If yes, then proceed as normal.  If no,  you can work on tweaking it.  If you're unsure of what it's currently portraying,  then ask a friend of their opinion on it.  It can help having another viewer say what they're thinking of the piece to see if it aligns with what you're going for or not. 

 

 

Expressions!!

How can you get better at drawing expressions?   For a practice or for fun you can do up an expression chart for characters.  Using a base or creating your own sort of "chart" layout,  write out an expression for each section then draw a character of choice for each one.  Maybe each character's expressions for emotions vary.  One character's happy could be over the top, while another could be more calm and subtle. 

 

Even doing a progression chart for a sort of emotion could help you think about the different stages of the emotion.  Here's an example of a blushing/flustered progression chart. 

 

 

References for expressions?  If you find that you can't really portray the emotion you're thinking of,  googling is you're friend!  If you're thinking you just want to doodle emotions for character but don't have anything specific in mind?  Look-up  "Expression meme" and you'll come across a bunch of these over exaggerated expressions that you could or make a friend pick one out for you to try an draw yourself!     There's like hundreds of them out there... it's insane.    


(randomly grabbed image)

 

 

Here's an example of one I did up using Leaf's expression meme.

 

Seeing these different approaches of emotions could help you better understand how to draw them, and how to exaggerate them if you're doing a more cartoon like style!  

 

 

 

•Variety is the spice of life•

[Lalchi]

Speaking of expressions

I want to share this from Scott McCloud

 

Basically explained
Like colors there's primary expressions and by "mixing" those expressions you come to a large panel of expression.
It also talk of what Phant' already did, wich is the intensity of an expression.

[PhantasmicDream]

A friendly reminder that your works don't always have to be 100% all the time!

 

We all go through moments and times where are skills and abilities go up and down like a rollercoaster, and that's okay. It's natural.    We tend to get caught up and lost in what we do that we forget that everything doesn't have to be perfect.

 

During these times you may want to take a break, or just do things for yourself.  And you should.   Remember to take time for yourself, whether it's just something just for yourself and not worrying what others think or just something else in general.   Maybe think about keeping a sketchbook for yourself where you just draw or doodle things up without a care in the world.

[PhantasmicDream]

Art Style
And my personal hot take,  don't get too caught up thinking about it. 

 

You may be finding yourself in a dire need of having an "Art Style"  or  thinking what is my "Art Style" and that's okay we all go through thinking about this.  But a main thing to remember is that what ever you're creating from  your own hands will most likely be that "Art Style"      However, maybe you're thinking that you have an inconsistent "Art Style" that everything you're drawing looks way different than what you drew before.   Well,   that's just natural progression,  when you're still a new artist or still in the  learning stages of art your style will change. 

 

But why does it change?
It changes because you have picked up the ability to add new ideas/concepts to your art, and you're probably just unaware of it.   You're exposed to many different things and art every day and maybe you see something you like and mentally think you're like to try that some day (or maybe not?) and subconsciously you're adding these new elements to your art.   Your art style doesn't have to be a permanent thing,  and it should be growing along with you on your art journey. 

Everyone goes through an anime style phase... right?

 

Where do you want your art to go?
A question you could start asking yourself.   What things inspire you, and do you want your art to represent these things? If you like cute and soft things, your style will probably look more soft and flowy.  If you like comics or edgy things(?) you style may take up a more rough look to it.  If your a fan of anime or manga, your style may take aspects from the different shows/books you liked.  

 

But,  maybe there's more to it?  Maybe you've been doing the ground works for a while, have an idea of where you'd like your art to go but want some elements to change?

 

 

Steal like an Artist. 
A saying, you may or may not have heard before.   We're at a point in time where nothing is truly "original" but more of a bastard child of the many things you like.

Take inspiration from artists you like,  go and study the things they do,  then try to adapt that into your own work.  Maybe your like the way one artist draws eyes, and how another draw hair?  
 

 
 @Drakeven doesn't know that I just used her art for an example. 

The key thing when doing this is to take elements from a bunch of different artist,  don't take all the elements from the same artist. Elements you take don't even have to be done to a T, take your own spin on things.        Times like this you may just want to experiment and just try out different things... even take part in art memes where you just try to draw a character of yours in different styles from shows (or artists) 

 

Nothing is ever set in stone,  remember to try and have fun.  UwU

Edited February 21, 2020 by PhantasmicDream

[PhantasmicDream]

Colour Theory 
something Artist should know but most artist don't really care too much to know about it.   But what is the purpose of colour theory?  Basically to know what colours go well with each other, and how to use them to portray a mood you're setting. 

 

 

Primary Colours:       Red, Yellow,  Blue
Secondary Colours:  Orange, Green, Violet
Tertiary Colours:       Orange-Yellow,  Red-Orange, Violet-Red
                                     Blue-Violet, Blue-Green, Green-Yellow

 

 

 

 Hue Saturation -  
This would be colour before adding any lights or dark.  Most of the time you wouldn't use all of your colours in full saturation as it can sometimes be straining on the eyes, plus they don't always look well together. 

 

 

Complementary Colours-
If they're opposite from the from each other on the colour wheel, they'll probably go well with each other

Red - Green
Yellow - Purple
Orange - Blue

 

RGB - Red, Green, Blue
This is what the internet and computer normally uses
CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, yellow, Black
This is what printers normally uses 

 

Colours and Meanings
Colours can a many sorts of meanings, and can make people feel things.  So here's some examples that I took from my old book from college, "Color Workbook" by Becky Kornig.  Of course these colours can also mean other things to different people and regions. 

 

Red- Blood, Martyrdom, Sin, War, Anger, Fire, The Sun, Sexuality, Evil, Fertility, masculinity, Festivity 
Yellow- Treachery, Cowardice, Light, Truth, Warning, Cheerfulness, Spirituality, the Sun, Gold, Radiance, Earth
Blue- Heaven, The celestial sphere, Water, Baptism, Space, Coolness, Eternity, Faith, Serenity, Wisdom, Feminine
Green- Spring, Resurrection, Envy, Holiness, Charity, Regeneration
Black- Death, Evil, Darkness, Void, Witchcraft, Sadness, Mourning, Time, Rebirth
White- Light, Air, Purity, Marriage, Death, Redemption, innocence, Surrender

 

Picking colours
Picking colours can be a tough thing to do,  figuring out which would go well with what and do on.  

 

There's a few ways you could approach this,  you could stick with the complementary colours what were mentioned earlier.  You could stick with picking all cool colours (Blue/Green/Purple/) or all warm colours (Red/Yellow/Orange).  Similar to the previous point but picking one colour then having the two colours that would be beside it on the colour wheel for example if you picked Green you'd be using Yellow and Blue.  These would give a more "Harmony" look to picture rather than having a contrast.    But why not both?  In this case you could have two colours that would be more "Harmony" so for an example having Blue and Purple then for your contrast you could pick Orange or Yellow. 

 

Drawing a full scene,  what ever you may want to pop out of the piece the most should be the complementary colour to your dominating colour.  Green character over a mostly red to orange background. 

 

 

Sometimes you have to play around a bit with colours too.  Limiting your colour palette can be a tough thing to do,  but it can be really helpful with get a solid character design.   Figure out what you want for your main/dominating colour.  Then plan around that.  My character Dreamy has two dominating colours, Blues and Purples, and have the accent colour of yellow.   Play around with the saturation,  however having all your colours being high in saturation can make it hard to find the focal point as all the saturated colours are trying to grab your attention.  This is when you have to get your different values in, looking back at the hue chat from earlier.  Even though there's different colours, they can share a similar value and if all your colours are sharing it, it'll make for a vary flat and boring piece. If you're worried about that just make a copy of the piece and turn it to grayscale (art programs and even phone's image editors should give you the option to make something grayscale). 

 

There's nothing wrong with having a lot of colours on a character, but keep in mind that it could/will make the character's design look too busy. 

 

 

 

Some people don't bother or think too hard about this,  and just use mostly grays and blacks while having a single colour in it.   Most common is Black and Red one could say it's been over done...
 

 

Using neutral colours can be really helpful if you're having a hard time trying to figure out what you'd like.  Grays, Whites,  Blacks, and even Browns can be a life saviour!! 
 

 

In relation to the previous post,  look at other artists!!  See how they approach the use of colours, because at the end of the day you're not stuck with having to do what I mentioned here.    and a good example of use of colours is the Anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Were they have plenty of moments where they just play around with colours, not staying grounded to "real word logic" 

 

 

 

•Maybe art would be easier if everything was just black and white• 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by PhantasmicDream

[Drakeven]

These are fantastic and NOW I KNOW! You can't hide secrets from MEEEE

[PhantasmicDream]

Nyahahahaa

I do hope whoever looks at this section has been finding these posts helpful!  I'm not always the best at explaining everything thing. ^^' 

 

[McRamon]

Uwu whats this~

Maybe i will add a thing or two later

Excellent guides, Dreamy!

[PhantasmicDream]

Would be great to see you add some things here (everyone is ofcourse welcome to share things too)  UwU