Thanqol Learns To Draw!

[Thanqol]

Day 36: Enthusiasm

This is SO FUN! Screw video games, this drawing bizzo is where it's at. I'm so glad I got this tablet, there's so much I just want to try and mess around with!

I'm going to go back to drawing humanoids tomorrow, and work on perspective and stuff again. I swear.

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Time Taken: 2 Hours
Music: No Leaf Clover.

[Thanqol]

Day 37: A Return to Humanity

This tablet. I love it so much.

I think I'm going to stick to using paint brushes for hair in the immediate future; they add a nice irregularity. I need to work on smoother, narrower lines; I actually went over a few edges with the eraser to narrow them down a bit.

Oh yes, and I learned that a minor change to the lips can make a face that previously looked like a dude look like a chick.

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Time: 2 1/2 Hours
Music: 4th Mix

[Thanqol]

Day 38: Determinator

Evolution of the concept; a dash of light grey wash let me add a bit of shadows and depth to this face. Finally found a pen/size setting that works for linework. Progress was made, progress will continue to be made.

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Time Taken: 1 Hour
Music: Lightspeed

[Flickerdart]

I would recommend treating this as a painting instead of a drawing - don't be afraid to grab a large brush and put down some heavy underpainting or shadows. Also, try to avoid the thick black outline. When I paint digitally, I tend to reduce the sketch to 10% opacity when it's done, and then paint over it. In the final, nothing from the sketch layer is visible.

[Thanqol]

I would recommend treating this as a painting instead of a drawing - don't be afraid to grab a large brush and put down some heavy underpainting or shadows. Also, try to avoid the thick black outline. When I paint digitally, I tend to reduce the sketch to 10% opacity when it's done, and then paint over it. In the final, nothing from the sketch layer is visible.

I know even less about painting than drawing! Those are some interesting suggestions, though, I'll mess around with it tomorrow!

Day 39: Forces

I do like how this turned out, especially as it was an attempt at one of the ideas that I really wanted to draw when I first got into drawing. I'm going to try the same character again in two months or so.

Meet Jayden.

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Music: Life Is A Song
Time: 1 Hour

[SiuiS]

dayum, son. When I left you were but a boy...

I return, and you are the man!

So now that you have a tablet, do you still think you're going to bother with the scanner? You're about even pencil-skill and tablet-skill, so there is no immediate benefit.

Also; is that a NATG picture up there, of Pony committing a Crime? I am remarkably crest-fallen that I didn't do so first. More importantly though; that is some darn fine progress. Darn fine.

[Flickerdart]

By the way, if you don't like the texture of the tablet, try putting a piece of paper over it.

[Thanqol]

dayum, son. When I left you were but a boy...

I return, and you are the man!

:D

So now that you have a tablet, do you still think you're going to bother with the scanner? You're about even pencil-skill and tablet-skill, so there is no immediate benefit.

Gonna stick with the tablet for primarily financial reasons.

Also; is that a NATG picture up there, of Pony committing a Crime? I am remarkably crest-fallen that I didn't do so first. More importantly though; that is some darn fine progress. Darn fine.

Day 36? That's actually Shimmer handing out some dating advice.

By the way, if you don't like the texture of the tablet, try putting a piece of paper over it.

Huh. I'd have never thought of that. Thanks!

Day 40: Forces^2

I decided to do the same character again, and might a few times. I realise I can only learn so much from this style, but there's a bunch of fine details I want to mess with and poses and expressions I want to try. Also, I like drawing white on black.

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Time: 1 Hour
Music: 16 Tons

[Thanqol]

Day 41: Forces^3

I like the texture I got on the arms and jeans here but messed up the shape of the head a bit, and the torso didn't work out quite to my satisfaction. Experimented with a few different things; if nothing else I'm enjoying these permutations on the base concept.

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Time: 75 mins
Music: Four Part Plan

[Flickerdart]

If you're making it a habit to use coloured backgrounds, I would suggest a neutral tone, to make your shadows and highlights pop more.

[Thanqol]

If you're making it a habit to use coloured backgrounds, I would suggest a neutral tone, to make your shadows and highlights pop more.

Neutral tone?

[Thanqol]

Day 42: Calligraphy

42 days!

Bit fatigued today, so I decided to go sideways into calligraphy. I'm glad I did, it was a pleasant diversion, good practise for smooth line motions, brought back memories of studying Japanese in high school, and taught me something interesting about drawing eyes.

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Time: 45 minutes
Music: I'm Sorry

[Saeyan]

I maintain that it's impossible to do Eastern calligraphy with anything other than a brush.

Neutral tone - exactly what it says on the tin. 50% gray is the TN of neutrals but a color like the beige of this site works nicely too.

[Thanqol]

I maintain that it's impossible to do Eastern calligraphy with anything other than a brush.

Neutral tone - exactly what it says on the tin. 50% gray is the TN of neutrals but a color like the beige of this site works nicely too.

Ah, thanks for that.

Day 43: Prancin' about with yer heads full of eyeballs!

Well, this was definitely informative. Big ol' eyeball practise. Seeing as how I've never sat down and really thought about how to draw an eye in my life before, this was very productive and useful. Highlights are a particularly interesting case in eyes.

I find myself liking the solid fill + wash technique for colouring and shading.

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Time: 75 Minutes
Music: You'll Be Perfect

[Glass Mouse]

Heey, you've figured out pupil placement! That took me ages, haha

For your convenience, a few eye helpers. I really need to learn this myself. Eyes are so important.

[Domochevsky]

...
I really need to learn this myself. Eyes are so important.

Tell me about it...

[Remmirath]

You've made a lot of improvements - quite impressive! Eyes are definitely very tricky. I remember there was one tutorial in particular that helped me a lot, but since I can't find it (I might be thinking of a book I read rather than something online), I'll scrawl an inferior version of it instead (this took me under ten minutes, so... yeah. Very inferior, but hopefully not misleading or anything).

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My handwriting, as you can see, is garbage. Basically the words boil down to that a good thing to keep in mind is that the eyeball itself is round, and that determines the shading and the shape of the lids. This is especially important to keep in mind when drawing the eye from the side; it'll look mighty strange if you don't. Also that the pupil/iris are in the centre of the eye - as in the eyeball - but not smack-dab in the centre of the area you see (though you do seem to have caught on to that part!).

The other shadows around the eye are mostly dependant on the skull/bone structure. For most simplified eyes, you want to ignore all the shading-stuff except for the one defining the upper eyelid.

Apologies for the shoddy quality on that.

Oh, for books...

When it comes to faces and heads in general i would strongly recommend getting your hands on the Artists Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin. It's a very very very useful book and has helped at least me a whole damn lot.

Way far back in the topic, I know, but I can't agree with this enough. Got my faces from looking like this to this. Obviously I'm still not so good, but it was a noticeable improvement.

helpers

I'm guessing this isn't what you meant to link to? Just pointing it out.

[Thanqol]

Heey, you've figured out pupil placement! That took me ages, haha

For your convenience, a few eye helpers. I really need to learn this myself. Eyes are so important.

Ooo, thanks so much! These look really useful! I'll review these and try some updated versions tonight.

I'll also have to draw at least one car-eye though

You've made a lot of improvements - quite impressive! Eyes are definitely very tricky. I remember there was one tutorial in particular that helped me a lot, but since I can't find it (I might be thinking of a book I read rather than something online), I'll scrawl an inferior version of it instead (this took me under ten minutes, so... yeah. Very inferior, but hopefully not misleading or anything).

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My handwriting, as you can see, is garbage. Basically the words boil down to that a good thing to keep in mind is that the eyeball itself is round, and that determines the shading and the shape of the lids. This is especially important to keep in mind when drawing the eye from the side; it'll look mighty strange if you don't. Also that the pupil/iris are in the centre of the eye - as in the eyeball - but not smack-dab in the centre of the area you see (though you do seem to have caught on to that part!).

The other shadows around the eye are mostly dependant on the skull/bone structure. For most simplified eyes, you want to ignore all the shading-stuff except for the one defining the upper eyelid.

Apologies for the shoddy quality on that.

D'oh, I spent all that time teaching myself 'draw the entire eyeball and then draw the lids' and I forgot it today. That's so helpful, though, thank you so much for taking the time to make it!

I'll be looking these things over and do another round of eyes tonight, I think, while it's fresh in my mind.

Oh, for books...

Way far back in the topic, I know, but I can't agree with this enough. Got my faces from looking like this to this. Obviously I'm still not so good, but it was a noticeable improvement.

I'll look into it, then

[Remmirath]

D'oh, I spent all that time teaching myself 'draw the entire eyeball and then draw the lids' and I forgot it today. That's so helpful, though, thank you so much for taking the time to make it!

No problem! I'm happy if it helps.

I keep forgetting to do things I should already know (especially when it comes to proportions), so you're definitely not alone there.

[SiuiS]

Day 42: Calligraphy

if you've done Japanese calligraphy, then consider point of origin for your strokes. The same line has entirely different character when drawn left to right, rather than right to left. Even with very thin pencil. I hear it's very important in calligraphy, so you should be able to move that skill set sideways into drawing.

[Thanqol]

if you've done Japanese calligraphy, then consider point of origin for your strokes. The same line has entirely different character when drawn left to right, rather than right to left. Even with very thin pencil. I hear it's very important in calligraphy, so you should be able to move that skill set sideways into drawing.

I did, and I was aware of that. Always left-right, up-down. This particular picture was a shockingly poor example of appropriate technique because I wanted to try a bunch of stuff and see what worked; the better ones were done when I did it correctly.

[Silviya]

Hey, you're coloring the irises correctly! Most beginning artists just fill the iris with one solid color, but you're using multiple shades. I'm impressed.

A tip for drawing eyes: When shading the iris area, the lightest area should be the bottom, because light is shining through the clear stuff that's on top of the iris. The darkest area should be just under the eyelid, where light can't reach the iris so well.

Here are a few more tutorials on eyes. They're all by the same person, and some of them are kind of anime-ish, but they're realistic enough. I found those tutorials helpful, even though my art is mostly realism.

You're off to a great start with eyes. Keep up the good work!

Filling pages and pages with hard to draw things such as eyes is a really good way to improve. I recommend doing the same for hands, feet, mouths, and faces, if you aren't already.

Speaking of hands: Hands are evil, but all artists must learn to draw them someday. Here are some tutorials on drawing hands, for when you decide to work on hands. Again, these tutorials are all by the same person, but I found them very helpful.


And you're starting to do digital art. This is good! Trying all sorts of different media is good. I have some tips for digital art and colored drawings in general. First, I'm going to link to two pieces of digital art that I've done, because I'm going to use them as examples.
Here's drawing #1, which is a bad two hour speedpaint I did a little while ago.
And here's drawing #2, which is also not that great and it took me about ten hours total.
First, line art vs. no line art: This is all up to personal preference. I'm still not sure which I prefer. Drawing #1 had no line art, and I basically did a layer of dark grey for the sky, then made another layer which was a rough sketch of the forest and mountains, and a third layer which was the basic sketch for the dragon. Drawing #2 had line art (which was actually the same line art that I used for this pencil drawing). Other then drawing #1 being much skechty-er because it's a speedpaint, there is a difference between the line art and the no line art. I might have had a clearer idea of what I was doing in drawing #1 if I had line art, for example. If drawing #2 didn't have line art things like the wing membranes might look better. There are ups and downs to both, and the only way to figure out which works best for you is to try them both.

Now, color. Color is really fun to play around with, but it can also be really hard to get right. Color effects the overall feel and mood of a piece, and color can either tie a piece together or make it look chaotic and sloppy. I tend to use very little color, as you can see from my two example drawings (I really should practice using more color . . . .). First off, the viewer's eyes tend to be drawn to the area with the brightest color, or the area with the color that's most different from the others (for example, if you had a picture in mostly blues and greens and there was a bit of red, the viewer's eye would probably be drawn to the red). In drawing #2, I used no colors other than that blue. The idea was for the viewer's eye to be drawn to the dragon's face and then to the ruins on its wings. A mistake I made on that drawing: I put a hint of blue in the claws. I should not have done that, because it makes the claws a focal point, and I don't want the claws to be a focal point.
Here's an example of a piece that doesn't use much color (not one of my own pieces). It's got some hazy blues and greens in the background, and then there's the bright white and spots of red light on the tower thing, which draws the eye to it instantly. Another piece by the same artist, which uses practically every color. There's a lot going on in that piece, and without the color there might not really be a direction for the eye to go. I first noticed the bright orange lazer-tower-building-thing, and then I spotted the little person (who has just a spot of red on it, which helps to draw the eye to it).
Anyway, play around with color and see what works!


Now, book recommendations! The three books that I believe you must get are 100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures by Francis Tsai (which I may have mentioned earlier in this thread), The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin (which several posters have recommended), and Bold Visions: the Digital Painting Bible by Gary Tonge (which is an amazing book that talks all about line art verses no line art and how to use color and how to set the mood and focal point(s) and all that good stuff).


Also, if it would be helpful I can post links to all the deviantART tutorials I've found useful.

Hope this was helpful. You're definitely improving .

[Thanqol]

Also, if it would be helpful I can post links to all the deviantART tutorials I've found useful.

Hope this was helpful. You're definitely improving .

That would be the best; also, you are the best.

Day 44: Seeing Is Believing

I'd like to thank everyone individually again for the advice and suggestions, but, well...

I'll let the progress I made tonight show how much you guys helped me.

Seriously, thanks.

Tomorrow: Mouths. oh god mouths

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Time: Worked on and off for around 4 hours
Music: Coiled Copper Wire

[SiuiS]

I did, and I was aware of that. Always left-right, up-down. This particular picture was a shockingly poor example of appropriate technique because I wanted to try a bunch of stuff and see what worked; the better ones were done when I did it correctly.

interesting. I got my info third-hand, and all it said was that he direction of the stroke affects the stroke. Always left-right and up-down? I'll have to remember that. Anyway, try it out on something. Pick a face, and draw it twice; once using those rules, and once just sort of drawing the face (or maybe specifically getting the rules wrong). See if there is a preference.

Also, nice eyeballs. I like the black/orange, which is a good example of "pull the viewer with a single point of difference".

And the green is seeping onto other parts of the board now. Huh.

[Silviya]

Wow, that's a lot of improvement. I really like the black eye with the red iris. The way you've done the highlights on that one really make it look three dimensional.

That would be the best; also, you are the best.

I'm glad that I can help!


Here's the long list of tutorials:

Three tutorials on drawing eyes.

A five part step by step digital tutorial.

A tutorial on digitally painting hair.

Fur, clouds, snow, lightning, and fire, and grass, scales, and rock.

Water splashes.

Some pencil tutorials on drawing hair.

A bunch of digital tutorials.

Drawing hands.

Head perspective and angles.

Shading and blending.

Painting gems.

Drawing mouths.

A bunch of step by step tutorials.


Those are all the tutorials that I can find at the moment. I thought I had some tutorials on painting metal saved somewhere, but now I can't find them. When I find them, I'll post them, because metal is really hard to draw and the tutorials on drawing metal helped me so much.

Also, I haven't forgotten about the big long thing on art that I said I would write up and then post in its own thread. I've just been really busy lately, and I'm going to a camp in ten days, so I may get it done before I go, or I may get it done when I get back. I will get it done eventually.

[Thanqol]

Thanks for those links! I'll spend time going through them soon!

Day 45: oh god

Hate the hell outta mouths and lips. I can see why so many artists replace 'em with just lines or dispense with them all together. Interestingly, I've always hated mouths ever since watching Transformers as a kid - the cool transformers were Optimus Prime and Soundwave who had the faceless visors, and everyone else was lame in comparison. One way or another, I was dreading this update all day.

Anyway. I did it, and I learned some stuff - particularly how to get a profile view kinda right - and I managed to take a big step away from the Duelling Sausage school of lip illustration. And sausage lips are the most hideous form of art in the universe.

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Time: 1 Hour
Music: Tallon Overworld

[Devixer]

In my many attempts to draw, I've found that I hate mouths as well.

You're making good progress though, Thanqol! I can't give advice, but I'll heap praise on ya.

[Thanqol]

Day 46: Art Of The Line

To relax from the stress of actually learning things, I decided to colour someone else's lineart. I traced the lines manually rather than 'shopping it. Learned a bit about precision linework and colouring and had a lot of fun doing it. Will do something more challenging tomorrow.

Model: (Original by Siuis)

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Finished Image:

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Time: 1 1/2 hours
Music: Junkie Doll

[Ninjaman]

Thanqol, just out of curiosity, what program are you using?

[Thanqol]

Thanqol, just out of curiosity, what program are you using?

Corel Painter Essentials 4