Learning to draw.

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Scyther

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Anyone have any idea what's the best way to learn to draw? I've decided I want to become really good at drawing and have given myself a few years time frame to get food at it, which seems reasonable. I've searched around a bit and it's a bit hard to decide which is the best way to learn to draw being a novice and all. I've already started on my own time attempting to draw about an hour a day. But I was wondering perhaps if taking a class on drawing be smarter for a novice like myself or is it all just the amount of time one puts into drawing all that matters.
 
Taking a class is never a bad idea, but drawing is something you can learn on your own. There are books and YT videos that can get you started.
 
What do you want to draw? If you want to draw people take a figure drawing class. Also look for classes that teach you specific techniques to accomplish what you want to do. A lot of drawing can be intuitive (like fighting) but also learning specific drawing techniques (martial arts analogy; boxing, muay that, bjj, wrestling) can make you even better.
 
im a self taught artist and like the dude above said you can do it on your own

just constantly practice

if youre going to get a book to help you make sure its ones on figures as it will be the most important one youll ever need
 
Magooglie said:
What do you want to draw? If you want to draw people take a figure drawing class. Also look for classes that teach you specific techniques to accomplish what you want to do. A lot of drawing can be intuitive (like fighting) but also learning specific drawing techniques (martial arts analogy; boxing, muay that, bjj, wrestling) can make you even better.
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Great advice thanks. I do want to draw people but also structures in the background.
 
LEGS MAHONEY said:
im a self taught artist and like the dude above said you can do it on your own

just constantly practice

if youre going to get a book to help you make sure its ones on figures as it will be the most important one youll ever need
Click to expand...

Thanks a ton.
 
TS, you need to work on sketching what you see everyday to develop the skill.

Don't just copy 2d stuff either, work on sketching shapes from 3d items -this will develop your sense for proportion and shape. although drawing from pics and other images on 2d is good for the hand/eye coordination develop needed.

also, I would make many marks in sketching and developing -don't try and make single permanent lines to represent things, instead make many many lines to describe a shape.
 
SevenSamurai said:
TS, you need to work on sketching what you see everyday to develop the skill.

Don't just copy 2d stuff either, work on sketching shapes from 3d items -this will develop your sense for proportion and shape. although drawing from pics and other images on 2d is good for the hand/eye coordination develop needed.

also, I would make many marks in sketching and developing -don't try and make single permanent lines to represent things, instead make many many lines to describe a shape.
Click to expand...

Sweet, thanks a ton.
 
Learning to draw WHAT is my first question?

Are you looking to do cartoons, comic book, realistic, life drawing? And how, you have anything in specific, pencil paper, painting, what kind of paint? Digital?

But to keep it simple....Drawing good takes a life time of drawing bad because as good as people around you say you are you will always want to be better and be your own worst critic. You cant just learn it in a few days, you can find a ton of methods, how to draw this or that. But you just have to start drawing, and do it a lot, every day and find a way to enjoy doing what your doing even if you give your work a hard time, if your not enjoying it, your not doing it right.
 
Blitz55 said:
Learning to draw WHAT is my first question?

Are you looking to do cartoons, comic book, realistic, life drawing? And how, you have anything in specific, pencil paper, painting, what kind of paint? Digital?

But to keep it simple....Drawing good takes a life time of drawing bad because as good as people around you say you are you will always want to be better and be your own worst critic. You cant just learn it in a few days, you can find a ton of methods, how to draw this or that. But you just have to start drawing, and do it a lot, every day and find a way to enjoy doing what your doing even if you give your work a hard time, if your not enjoying it, your not doing it right.
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Thanks. I personally want to draw cartoons. Do you have any idea how many hours a day I should draw.
 
Scyther said:
Thanks. I personally want to draw cartoons. Do you have any idea how many hours a day I should draw.
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as long as you like. it should never be a chore. when it does, it becomes tedious.

been working for years as an artist. the industry ruined drawing for me. it became work.
 
Scyther said:
Thanks. I personally want to draw cartoons. Do you have any idea how many hours a day I should draw.
Click to expand...

When I started drawing, it was maybe 4-5 times a month with anywhere from 1hr to 3-4hr sessions at a time. Occasionally I would go months without drawing anything too. I'm doing it as a personal hobby, so I pick subjects I can find interesting for hours at a time and from various technical and emotional perspectives (I personally like drawing women and old men). In a non-classroom setting, I can't really imagine splitting out personal time for drawing as "practice" in the purest sense (i.e. drawing crumpled cloth and baskets of fruits dozens of times)

I hear the sentiment from loyal above often from my friends who had potential to pursue professional musical careers (orchestra, etc). Some chose not to pursue music professionally despite going to some very prestigious schools, because they wanted it to remain a personal passion and not a chore.

I took an intro to drawing class in college and I'm taking oil painting classes now (12yrs later) on the weekends for 3hrs a week. This certainly helps you sharpen fundamental techniques, explore new ideas and mediums, and forces you to focus on getting some good "practice" in. I wouldn't recommend against it, but don't feel obligated to anything and make sure it stays fun.
 
Scyther said:
Thanks. I personally want to draw cartoons. Do you have any idea how many hours a day I should draw.
Click to expand...

As someone else said, as long as you like, it shouldn't be something that is tedious.
But at least an hour or two.
Sometimes it takes a bit to get warmed up.

Figure drawing is great practice. Even for a cartoonist knowing the correct structure and movement of the human body will help you a ton.

Here are a few sites you may want to dig through with some good videos.

http://www.proko.com/

http://www.alienthink.com/inventiontocompletehumanbeing.blogspot.html

http://www.freshdesigner.com/


Are there any artists in particular that you like?
 
What kind of drawings do you want to make, TS?
 
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