Topic: artistic skill

[El_Buro]

Although it was designed for more architectural or engineering purposes, Sketchup 6 is a great, intuitive 3d modeling program.

I've seen some pretty amazing stuff from that program, for example pages 8 and 9 of this thread:
http://www.fl-tw.com/InfinityForums/viewtopic.php?t=2489&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=175

[shadowlord18]

I can't draw either. I can't draw a circle that isn't lopsided. Or a straight line....

That's what compasses and straight-edges are for.

i have tried that i all way twitch and  move the edge

[shock223]

i can't draw but i had the writers hand

[shadowlord18]

http://www.gamingsteve.com/blab/index.php?topic=9944.msg391379#msg391379

for those of you wanting to see my bad art

[GrapeFruit]

On your drawing:
Whenever I start drawing I have my eraser at hand, because you (anyone) can't draw what you want right away. You need to 'experiment' with your lines. Start with the easiest part of the things you want to draw.

Don't press too much, actually you just want to tickle the paper with your pen. Most lines in my drawings are formed by about 4 thin lines or more (varies, depends on how experienced you are with a certain object). With this technique it doesn't matter if you can draw a perfectly straight line or round cirlce on the first go (I can't either), it's actually better if you don't because you'd just narrow yourself in your creativity if you constantly worried about how this line went too curvy or that rectangle has not perfect 90° angles or whatnot. You just try until you deem the average line you've drawn fits, then leave it at that and go on somewhere else on the drawing.
But how do you see if it fits? Well, after you've drawn your first thin line, you'll probably say, 'That oval is not wide enough' or 'This line needs to be more curved at the end'. Then you keep drawing thin lines until you can see how it fits better and better (this part can be difficult and I think this is the point that actually determines wheter you are good at drawing or not)

Draw all the lines, also the ones you won't see in the final picture, because they can help you a lot later in the drawing process.

If you want to draw animals, simplify the shape of the body to basic geometric shapes, like circles, straight lines, rectangles etc.

I guess I could give you even more advice, but I'll leave it at this. Hope I'm any help at all.
(Maybe I'll do one myself and scan it, so you can see what I mean)

[GrapeFruit]

Ok, I grabed my cat and made a quick drawing to show you what I was trying to say before:
(My apologies for the bad quality, not the best scanner)

Step 1 (~5mins)
First of all I sketched the outlines of the overall shape, (i started with the circle that will be the head). Then I made soft inner outlines of the legs and up to the root of the tail. I also added a mask for the facial features. The ears are pretty easy (for me) so I did them already.

Note: No details at the beginning, keep it simple, keep it 'ugly'

Step 2 (~6mins)
Added first sketch of facial features, corrected and solidified outlines, added a few details. Look at the hindleg (if it's possible to tell where it is ). It's very shaky, it has no definite outlines, you can still see that I first drew it far too short (twice). I was more or less satisfied with the third iteration.
At this point the face creeped me out, because it didn't look anywhere near good, so I erased it softly, so I could still see where my former lines were. With that shimmer of a line I redid it and I was still creeped, because it still doesn't look as good as I wanted it, but I left it at that.

Note: You need to tweak your details. Never assume you get it right at the first try. Redo lines over and over until you are satisfied (erase if they get too bold). It's hard to keep going, because it just doesn't look like you want it to be. But hang in there, it will get better.

Step 3 (~14mins)
Added first fur, Whiskers and eyes.
It's pretty challenging to draw fur in greyscale... , specially if the hairs have different lenghts. After I added the actual eyes, the face looked much better. You may notice that some lines in the face have gone less bold, that's because I had to erase it again. (I think faces and eyes specially are one of the most difficult things to draw realistically). I also bolded some details.

Note: Details are the flesh on the bone of your sketch. But beware: don't overdo it, because it might look weird.

The "final" version (~5mins)
I added some shading (hard to see on the scans) and more fur, replaced outlines to look furish

I wanted to finish the drawing at this point, because most things I wanted to point out were allready included and because it's almost 2 am.

I'm more or less satisfied with the outcome of my 30 minute drawing (considering the difficulty of the object). There are some things I don't like about the drawing which I'd change if I continued this piece.

I hope it helped.
I don't think anybody just can't draw by default (except they have no hands, feet...mouth?....a******  ), it's just the lack of technique and patience that makes it so hard.

Disclaimer: I don't say my technique is entirely flawless. It probably doesn't fit other people and it should not be taken as the ultimate truth. It's just the way I think it's easy to get something decent without despairing.

[El_Buro]

That's a good method for people who want to learn, but nowadays I tend to do a basic skeleton (if it's a figure) then add basic muscle shapes, and add details at random. I remember doing a roman guy who was barely a sketch, but had an extremely detailed (for me, anyway) sash.

I really ought to post some of my work sometime.

[LadyM]

@ grapefruit, nice example, that was very helpful. 

[MetallicDragon]

Yeah, if I were to make a drawing guide it'd be like that except not as good. Bravo.

[Tesla]

I know this is nothing like a good guide but ever since I was ten I've been able to draw what I see very well. In fact, I found it difficult to understand how you couldn't. It was just like copying a picture, after all. People told me this was abnormal (yay!). That's why I'm literally about ten times better at still lives then other drawings.

So, when you are drawing something imagine you're tracing it. Don't be annoyed if one of your lines is at a wrong angle, just tweak the drawing to watch that angle, in fact, most of my drawings are at a slightly different perspective to how I see them. You can never how too many little details, but try not and have the all on top of each other. The bigger, the better. And remember, nothing natural will ever have perfectly straight, or even curved lines.