Which way...?

[Flying Falcon]

Hi all.

Its been a long time since I posted on this site, but its also been a long time since I ever bothered to put pencil to paper and gaddam draw something!

This 'life' thing sucks and I find myself with rarely enough time to draw, but I know it feels good when I do. Its always important to have an outlet for a creative mind...I think. Anywho whenever I draw I get too serious, I concern myself with progress, projects and perfection WAY too much. I know putting rules and regulations around my drawing is what makes it less appealing, but im always doing it...

So, my question is...to try and get back into drawing should I focus on my own original projects or do a few 'fan-art' pictures. Iv never really bothered with fan art, but I feel it may be a good way to do less...demanding drawing.

[Zeratanus]

I just draw whatever is on my mind at the time (My stuff, fanart, whatever). Ive got stuff going on in my head all the time anyway so whatever ive been thinking incessantly about is what ends up on paper.

But yeah, you cant get hung up on perfection. No one just is perfect - you have to let yourself mess up :P. If you can look at something you draw and go "Well THATs wrong" then congrats! That means you've recognized a problem and will know better what not to do next time.

Not only that, but give yourself a good amount of time to warm up when you start drawing. Do some doodles to get your brain going. I dont do it too often myself but stuff at the beginning of my drawing sessions always are worse than the later stuff, even with stuff Ive been drawing for years.


Lesson being - mistakes are good! (well... in art!) because without them we'd never learn what needs to get better. If you can find some folks that give good critiques (not just point out flaws, but explain them), that's often the best. It sucks to watch your work get picked apart, but when you come away knowing more than you did you can make the next piece that much better.


(Also - lol. post 69. oh immaturity.)

[Flying Falcon]

(Ah, had I known it was post 69 I'd have made a funny :/)

Thanks for the advice Zeratanus, I think youre definitely on the mark with the warming up. Ive tried so many times to go straight into a piece and not getting anywhere!

Heres another question, say Im drawing out some sketches of characters Ive had in my head for some time. In your opinion, whats the best sort of things to draw in order to help bring them to life. I often end up only drawing their face from a couple of different angles and moving on, but then I never feel Ive got to know that character or settle on a design for them...

[Zeratanus]

I suppose different people probably go about it different ways, but to get to know the characters I think of their personality and try to draw them doing something that reflects that - playing games, doing yoga, whatever.

I was reading some comic artist's blog the other day and they said, basically, to not just draw people standing around doing nothing, but to try to express something with each doodle and drawing. It'll better express who the character is, make the drawing/doodle way more interesting, and give you practice drawing different poses and such.

You can also practice different expressions like they have in those memes and such you can find on deviantart. Facial expressions and body language are how you can show the characters personality beyond just clothing and hair, so practicing the two is a good idea i'd say.



(not really meaning to dominate the conversation, but im bored at work and no one else is on this time of day apparently~)

[Flying Falcon]

As usual thanks for the good advice, I really appreciate it. What are the memes you mentioned. Also I'd like to get my da account up and running, are people from here on there...or is it a no go?

[Zeratanus]

Im not sure where exactly to find any of the memes. you can try a search for "expressions meme". theres plenty of others too, such as one for age, and all sorts of such. Many of the people who do the meme also link back to the original template in their description.

And a lot of us are on dA, to varying degrees of activity, though under different names in some cases. On the MR Club theres an older journal that had a list of who was who (that told me)

[Flying Falcon]

So its just like...six or so of the same face doing different expressions, just the face? Not sure Ive seen them, then again I dont look around DA all that much.

[Nyx]

I try to stay away from dA or any other art communities. Not a lot of people know where I frequent now and I plan to keep it that way lol. Just a personal thing.

To answer your question, it's different for everyone. Some get their creative juices flowing by drawing fanart, some get outside, observe and take photos while others can just work something out after staring at a blank sheet of paper.

Personally if I ever get stuck, I briefly cycle through old references I have (artbooks/photos I've collected/artists I like) until I get a eureka moment. Sometimes I would draw something outside of my comfort zone (ie, I hate drawings hands. Solution? I'm gonna' keep drawing hands)

And sometimes I take part in popular memes; right now eeljinkas are incredibly popular, I can't stop drawing these.


Just play around and see what works best. The best part of sharpening one's artistic practice is that you're constantly learning and discovering new things.

[Springs]

I'd say let loose. Whenever I'm stuck in a rut, I always tell myself "you know what? Fuck you brick wall, I'mma do my own shizz" and then really, draw stuff. It can range from simple doodles with no meaning to elaborate pieces. Sometimes these tiny doodles lead to greater things.

But I think what it boils down to is resolve. If you don't have the resolve to get better and do something with your artwork, you're not going to really be getting anywhere. Find a purpose for it, why am I doing this? What for? Etc.

Then of course, draw from life, because staring at people/things in public is always fun.

[Flying Falcon]

For me its getting a balance between taking it too seriously and not at all. To know its a hobby, not a career. But hey this is me thinking out loud now basically :o