Studying construction helps a lot, and using irl picture as reference is usually better than using other's drawing, because different artist tend to exaggerate different parts of the body, so you'll often get confused when different artist draw certain things differently
hi, another beginner here, like other commenters here i found a lot of improvement looking at figure drawing videos and getting a basic idea of the proportions of the human body, and basic ways to construct them. with this knowledge i then drew characters that i liked from reference and explicitly note how the reference would differ from my construction and keep a mental note on it, how anime proportions differ from real life propotions. i remember drawing a portrait early on drawing with 0 construction knowledge, it was completely unconvincing and looked wrong despite me making a conscious effort to replicate what i saw on screen, but after a month of practicing construction and studying the anatomy of the character's faces i was trying to draw, i revisited this image and found that i was able to make something quite close to reference with a lot less effort, a lot of the mental load of trying to replicate what i saw on screen was alleviated just from having good building blocks, i even felt comfortable enough to draw something imperfect initially and resize or move around parts of the face later whereas before i was deadset on getting things done perfectly the first time through. good luck on your journey.
Hey Arbiter Wolf, backseater here. I hope you overcome this crisis that you are facing! I was about to write a really, really huge text about my considerations, but it doesn't feel right to backseat some things. Instead, I'd like to get some insight from you on some things and give some recommendations. I apologize if my words sound a bit mean, nothing personal kay? I'd like to know what drives you to trace/sketch/memorize in the first place. Why must you do that before attempting to make a drawing for fun, even if it looks bad by the end? How did you come to know that method as a proven way to improve in drawing anime or, rather, making animations, being that your end goal? How long do you plan to keep practicing like that until you finally think, "Finally, now I can draw my original characters/stories"? Because my perspective is that real projects (aka doing the thing for real) are also a skill of their own, so tracing and copying anime for a long time might not help as much as you think. From what I've seen about you, you seem pretty analytical and methodical, which is pretty helpful in a lot of ways. I applaud your determination in drawing and making vlogs for more than a year now! But I also think that the analytical side might conflict with the exploration side of the craft. So I have a couple of suggestions. I already seconded Morpho: Simplified Forms, and I'd love to see you check out gesture drawing and dynamic sketching as well. They might seem like concepts that can't be applied to anime art, but those are actual building blocks that, when understood, memorized, and applied, might improve your skills more than copying anime 1:1. It's very difficult to put into words how I would shake out the frustration that you are feeling and solve those issues, so I will stick to saying: Don't give up and never lose hope. I wish you good luck on your journey!
Thanks you so much. For the trace/sketch/memorize I initially found results tracing then sketching after tracing. What helped with tracing is it helps give a feel on how a line or shape is drawn. I can also break down a image or drawing and see how its constructed also. Where the memorize came from was to test my understanding and help keep this understanding for future drawings. Since I saw some result before I thought this would help me. I think you are right that I am being too analytical and methodical. I think this may be taking the fun out of drawing. This also goes to what you said on how long will I practice before doing what I want. I do want to do a project building something with my art, but felt it was not ready yet. This is why I've been putting so much focus into trying to improve. That being said I think I will put together a project of what I want to do with my art. Along with doing gesture and dynamic sketching like you suggested. I am going to order that book and work through it once I get it. I do plan to keep with the 100 head drawings but explore and do different things. Not just going for perfection with each drawing. I hope this helps me see improvements and keep me happy drawing. Thank you so much for your time and support.
I definitely think that studying 3D objects would help you. A person is so much more difficult to draw than some mugs or jars. Drawing shapes in 3D would help you think in 3D form, which would help with your characters and improve line confidence. However, this is just one of the art fundamentals that could help. Other commenters have already said their piece already, just thought I could share a little bit of learning that I've learned too. ❤ Keep it up!!
as a young art journyer myself (2nd year of drawing), the "construction" skill is a big deal and helps with proportions, try to find measurements too, I use heads as a catch-all which has is downsides but basically, I try to see how tall the character is in heads (realistic proportions are around 6 heads tall, as an average of course), some styles make the head bigger so I would account for that too, then I follow some basic anatomy guidelines to try and keep everything in order as much as possible here's some basics (or reminders if you already know): -eyes have a gap between them that is equal to the length of one of those eyes -the brow line is in the middle of the head -face is divided into thirds, hard to explain with just words but the bottom of the nose should be around the middle, the mouth is between the nose tip and the bottom of the chin -around the bottom of the pelvis is where the middle of the body is supposed to be, I put mine a little below this line -top and bottom halves of the body are the same size, upper leg is the longest limb -Hand should be about the size of the face -looking at a person stading in a netural, upright pose, arms and legs pointing down: the limbs on the arms and the legs start off wide and they get thinner, each of the 4 sections follow that pattern but are not the same shapes. Oh and regular 10 minute gesture drawing session with like 1or 3 minute poses can do wonders for getting the hang of how the human body looks, I have this natural sense of kind of sort of feeling where the limbs should be, of course if you're adding perspective or if the art is stylized it could look "wrong" but at least you have an idea of what the body is supposed to look like I'm also really struggling with the head, mostly the shape of the face, the circle that I draw is the back of the skull, there should be a "mask" attached to that, I like giving the back of my head sphere a bit of volume to get closer to the shape of the skull, its not a perfect recipe but I think that might give you an idea of how the head is constructed. anyway I won't keep you longer, hope my rambling helped, cheers.
Thanks for the advice. Been seeing a lot of people recommend construction and it will be something I work on. Will also do more gesture drawings as well. Best of luck to you in your learning and thanks again for the advice.
Practice doesn't make perfect, especially if you're practicing the wrong things or just inefficiently. I'll spare you a block of text and instead encourage you to ask yourself "What's one thing I can work on that would make everything else easier?"
@@osku388 definitely a strong contender. It also looks like they might be using art as an anatomy reference. I would recommend real references as much as possible and once you have a convincing mannequin, only using manga as a stylistic reference
broo ive been checking in occasionally for like 20 weeks because your vids just keep popping up on my home page but you just keep going forward with the wrong lines, at least use liquify or transform god damn
Your drawing stills from anime without anatomical knowledge or understanding of perspective, that is a mistake. If this is the style you wish to learn then you should at least draw from Manga or look up "Genga" (Key frames) of the animated shows. The still of Ayanami you used as reference here is already a bad drawing since it wasn't meant to be the focal point of the shot. If progress is what you are after then you need to make sure that you're references are high quality. Generally speaking if you are serious about drawing then I would recommend splitting your activity into 50/50. One half dedicated to studying realism and the other dedicated for stylization. Speaking from experience, both personal and through witnessing colleges, the fastest process is made by learning how to do proper gesture drawings and figure drawings (i.e. going from 10secs per pose to 15mins over the course of 45minutes). Figure Drawing design and invention by Micheal Hampton would be a great source of reference for studying construction, anatomy basics and the human figure in general. Other then that I can recommend Bridgeman (Though this is advanced stuff since his drawings are very mechanical to help students understand how the muscle portion interact with another when in movement). Other than that, don't forget to keep having fun. Without that, no progress will ever be as efficient as it could be! Good luck!
Thanks you so much for the suggestion and advice. I got some art books that I'm going to be working thru. One is loomis's figure drawing book. I'll also look into Micheal Hampton and try your 50/50 split. Thanks again.
@@JourneyoftheArbiterWolf loomis is definitely the classic you can’t go wrong with. I can also recommend googling for the “free” pdfs in case money should be an issue (as much as I love suggesting material, art books tend to be really expensive haha). Good luck and have great enjoyment on your art journey :)!
Studying construction helps a lot, and using irl picture as reference is usually better than using other's drawing, because different artist tend to exaggerate different parts of the body, so you'll often get confused when different artist draw certain things differently
Thanks for the advice. I will do some more detail drawings with real life pictures along with practice construction. Thanks again.
hi, another beginner here, like other commenters here i found a lot of improvement looking at figure drawing videos and getting a basic idea of the proportions of the human body, and basic ways to construct them. with this knowledge i then drew characters that i liked from reference and explicitly note how the reference would differ from my construction and keep a mental note on it, how anime proportions differ from real life propotions. i remember drawing a portrait early on drawing with 0 construction knowledge, it was completely unconvincing and looked wrong despite me making a conscious effort to replicate what i saw on screen, but after a month of practicing construction and studying the anatomy of the character's faces i was trying to draw, i revisited this image and found that i was able to make something quite close to reference with a lot less effort, a lot of the mental load of trying to replicate what i saw on screen was alleviated just from having good building blocks, i even felt comfortable enough to draw something imperfect initially and resize or move around parts of the face later whereas before i was deadset on getting things done perfectly the first time through. good luck on your journey.
Tip: the rib cage is around 1.5 heads long. Also I will be tuning into your journey now!! Have confidence and faith!
Yes
Hey Arbiter Wolf, backseater here. I hope you overcome this crisis that you are facing! I was about to write a really, really huge text about my considerations, but it doesn't feel right to backseat some things. Instead, I'd like to get some insight from you on some things and give some recommendations. I apologize if my words sound a bit mean, nothing personal kay?
I'd like to know what drives you to trace/sketch/memorize in the first place. Why must you do that before attempting to make a drawing for fun, even if it looks bad by the end? How did you come to know that method as a proven way to improve in drawing anime or, rather, making animations, being that your end goal? How long do you plan to keep practicing like that until you finally think, "Finally, now I can draw my original characters/stories"? Because my perspective is that real projects (aka doing the thing for real) are also a skill of their own, so tracing and copying anime for a long time might not help as much as you think.
From what I've seen about you, you seem pretty analytical and methodical, which is pretty helpful in a lot of ways. I applaud your determination in drawing and making vlogs for more than a year now! But I also think that the analytical side might conflict with the exploration side of the craft.
So I have a couple of suggestions. I already seconded Morpho: Simplified Forms, and I'd love to see you check out gesture drawing and dynamic sketching as well. They might seem like concepts that can't be applied to anime art, but those are actual building blocks that, when understood, memorized, and applied, might improve your skills more than copying anime 1:1.
It's very difficult to put into words how I would shake out the frustration that you are feeling and solve those issues, so I will stick to saying: Don't give up and never lose hope. I wish you good luck on your journey!
Thanks you so much.
For the trace/sketch/memorize I initially found results tracing then sketching after tracing. What helped with tracing is it helps give a feel on how a line or shape is drawn. I can also break down a image or drawing and see how its constructed also. Where the memorize came from was to test my understanding and help keep this understanding for future drawings. Since I saw some result before I thought this would help me.
I think you are right that I am being too analytical and methodical. I think this may be taking the fun out of drawing. This also goes to what you said on how long will I practice before doing what I want. I do want to do a project building something with my art, but felt it was not ready yet. This is why I've been putting so much focus into trying to improve.
That being said I think I will put together a project of what I want to do with my art. Along with doing gesture and dynamic sketching like you suggested. I am going to order that book and work through it once I get it. I do plan to keep with the 100 head drawings but explore and do different things. Not just going for perfection with each drawing. I hope this helps me see improvements and keep me happy drawing.
Thank you so much for your time and support.
I definitely think that studying 3D objects would help you. A person is so much more difficult to draw than some mugs or jars. Drawing shapes in 3D would help you think in 3D form, which would help with your characters and improve line confidence. However, this is just one of the art fundamentals that could help. Other commenters have already said their piece already, just thought I could share a little bit of learning that I've learned too. ❤ Keep it up!!
Thanks for the advice. Will practice some more 3D shapes along with try and draw some mugs and jars. Thanks again.
as a young art journyer myself (2nd year of drawing), the "construction" skill is a big deal and helps with proportions, try to find measurements too, I use heads as a catch-all which has is downsides but basically, I try to see how tall the character is in heads (realistic proportions are around 6 heads tall, as an average of course), some styles make the head bigger so I would account for that too, then I follow some basic anatomy guidelines to try and keep everything in order as much as possible
here's some basics (or reminders if you already know):
-eyes have a gap between them that is equal to the length of one of those eyes
-the brow line is in the middle of the head
-face is divided into thirds, hard to explain with just words but the bottom of the nose should be around the middle, the mouth is between the nose tip and the bottom of the chin
-around the bottom of the pelvis is where the middle of the body is supposed to be, I put mine a little below this line
-top and bottom halves of the body are the same size, upper leg is the longest limb
-Hand should be about the size of the face
-looking at a person stading in a netural, upright pose, arms and legs pointing down: the limbs on the arms and the legs start off wide and they get thinner, each of the 4 sections follow that pattern but are not the same shapes.
Oh and regular 10 minute gesture drawing session with like 1or 3 minute poses can do wonders for getting the hang of how the human body looks, I have this natural sense of kind of sort of feeling where the limbs should be, of course if you're adding perspective or if the art is stylized it could look "wrong" but at least you have an idea of what the body is supposed to look like
I'm also really struggling with the head, mostly the shape of the face, the circle that I draw is the back of the skull, there should be a "mask" attached to that, I like giving the back of my head sphere a bit of volume to get closer to the shape of the skull, its not a perfect recipe but I think that might give you an idea of how the head is constructed.
anyway I won't keep you longer, hope my rambling helped, cheers.
Thanks for the advice. Been seeing a lot of people recommend construction and it will be something I work on. Will also do more gesture drawings as well. Best of luck to you in your learning and thanks again for the advice.
Nice Video
Tracing, more like racing 🏁
Practice doesn't make perfect, especially if you're practicing the wrong things or just inefficiently. I'll spare you a block of text and instead encourage you to ask yourself "What's one thing I can work on that would make everything else easier?"
construction?
@@osku388 definitely a strong contender. It also looks like they might be using art as an anatomy reference. I would recommend real references as much as possible and once you have a convincing mannequin, only using manga as a stylistic reference
broo ive been checking in occasionally for like 20 weeks because your vids just keep popping up on my home page but you just keep going forward with the wrong lines, at least use liquify or transform god damn
Your drawing stills from anime without anatomical knowledge or understanding of perspective, that is a mistake. If this is the style you wish to learn then you should at least draw from Manga or look up "Genga" (Key frames) of the animated shows. The still of Ayanami you used as reference here is already a bad drawing since it wasn't meant to be the focal point of the shot.
If progress is what you are after then you need to make sure that you're references are high quality.
Generally speaking if you are serious about drawing then I would recommend splitting your activity into 50/50. One half dedicated to studying realism and the other dedicated for stylization.
Speaking from experience, both personal and through witnessing colleges, the fastest process is made by learning how to do proper gesture drawings and figure drawings (i.e. going from 10secs per pose to 15mins over the course of 45minutes).
Figure Drawing design and invention by Micheal Hampton would be a great source of reference for studying construction, anatomy basics and the human figure in general.
Other then that I can recommend Bridgeman (Though this is advanced stuff since his drawings are very mechanical to help students understand how the muscle portion interact with another when in movement).
Other than that, don't forget to keep having fun. Without that, no progress will ever be as efficient as it could be!
Good luck!
Thanks you so much for the suggestion and advice. I got some art books that I'm going to be working thru. One is loomis's figure drawing book. I'll also look into Micheal Hampton and try your 50/50 split. Thanks again.
@@JourneyoftheArbiterWolf loomis is definitely the classic you can’t go wrong with. I can also recommend googling for the “free” pdfs in case money should be an issue (as much as I love suggesting material, art books tend to be really expensive haha).
Good luck and have great enjoyment on your art journey :)!