I have been wanting to learn how to draw otaku art for a while and Im thinking of finally getting serious. After watching a few tutorials and trying things out Im really lost on how I should progress because at first I was just thinking of following a few videos but good ones are hard to find. Im not looking for "How to get good fast" tips, just normal advice, I know ill suck ass for years, maybe forever. Please share any good channels or recommendations you have on learning how to draw! I have linked a video I liked, sadly he doesnt make tutorials.
This Proko's video on gesture was a game changer for me when I was starting, once you understand gesture your drawings will actually feel alive:
It's all about learning the foundations first and being on the grind as much as possible. Then learning how to draw specific muscle groups. Focus on a few things at first like understanding the different perspectives, git gud at drawing 3d objects without perspective grids with rotating cubes and practicing gestures. Once you feel comfortable at one of the above switch it out for another like practicing drawing in proportion instead of practicing perspectives. I'm still learning so I don't have many recommendations but there is a lot of videos I watched and stuff to learn that only wasted my time so I'll give you some that are actually helpful. For perspective I found these videos most helpful: For anatomy: Torso: Chest: Oppai: Torso-leg connection:
>>1706 Thanks hikarin. I will check the videos out, right now Im trying to learn how to properly sketch a head and facial features. After 46 attempts its slowly getting better, at first they looked like a 5 year olds doodles.
if you're a complete beginner, then I would suggest not watching any videos or instructional stuff for now. Just draw a lot and have fun. The basics of learning to draw, in terms of mechanical skill, is to break out of symbol drawing, learn any method of construction that works for you, learn how to work with light, and how to compose an image. there's a lot to learn when it comes to drawing. Anatomy is a complicated topic, gesture is something you'd study and never really stop studying. Another thing is that youtube videos are made for entertainment, not really education. (Look up hampton's analytical anatomy series to see what I mean. That's a formal university lecture right there.) A question i often asked was, "where is this youtuber getting their knowledge?" it's better to go straight to the source in that case, rather than rely on regurgitated information. I think the best way for someone to start out is to simply copy anime drawings or manga panels they like without thinking too hard about it. If you keep at it, you'll naturally find challenges, which might make you ask more pointed questions like "why do my drawings look so flat?" rather than generalized ones like, "what can I do to improve?" In my own case, I would compare my drawings to finished works of artists I liked, and try to see where I was falling short. In my opinion, there's only two types of useful study material posted by other people on the internet; process videos and completed drawings. I know you said you weren't looking for suggestions on how to get good fast, but I have a lot to say on the opinion of art education, so I can't help but type a lot. I took a look at various art curriculums for animation, illustration, concept art, etc, and from what I found most of these programs stress perspective as the most important thing. before learning to draw the body, most places would put you through the basics of perspective first. It makes sense, since you won't be able to draw a natural looking pose without understanding the concept of foreshortening. However, getting comfortable with drawing in a way where you are depicting forms in 3D space believably will not come with just a basic understanding of vanishing points. Anyway, a generalized art school curriculum would probably be something like: Term 1: -Intro to perspective -Exercises for penmenship and stability -Still life exercises and drawing from life (Texts: drawing on the right side of the brain, perspective made easy, scott robertson's how to draw - but just the penmenship exercises) Term 2: -Advanced perspective -Constructing vehicles and mechanical objects -Background drawing (Scott Robertson's how to draw, Erik Olson's perspective for artists) Term 3: -Intro to gesture -Intro to figure drawing -Intro to construction (Loomis's figure drawing books. You can't get better than this, really.) From there you'd go on to your second year, where you'd probably split off and start learning what you're actually studying. There's an infinite amount of resources to pick from afterwards to learn about anatomy and painting, though I personally think anatomy for sculptors and alla prima are the go to books. I use anatomy books as reference texts, looking up muscle groups after I sketch out a figure to see what I'm working with. If you're going to draw anime girls, you obviously don't need to know about the teres major/minor and the infraspinatus individually, though you would need to be aware of the serratus and the external obliques. At the end of the day, anime is drawn the way it is as a simplification, but it's very hard to simply something if you don't know what it is you're trying to simplify. Also, a lot of instructional content on the internet is structured for observational drawing, not drawing from your imagination.
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