Hullo there,

I am giving you a warning. I am, in every regard of the term, an amateur. I never used to draw during primary/high school, and only picked up a pencil yesterday.

In spite of this, I would really like to have the skill to draw something that I see with a decent amount of detail. Of course, I'm not expecting myself to get incredibly good overnight, and I know this will take quite some time.

Why do this? you might be asking. Why not? I'm not in school, nor do I have a job (unfortunately) so I may as well use my time doing something I enjoy.

Of course, I'd love feedback/criticism. I can take criticism very well, so unleash your wrath ;)

Similar to HopelessComposer's (http://forums.ichigos.com/showthread.php?t=11202) thread, I'd like to submit a new piece everyday. It will most likely be a simple pencil drawing, nothing flash.

Thanks for sticking around, flame away!


Today: Ahsoka from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Expect some more Star Wars related drawings :)

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6800/29092009216.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/29092009216.jpg/)

Mine only lasted like a week though; hopefully you can do better than that. :heh:
Anyway, I think crits are pretty pointless when you're first starting out; all we can really say is "practice!"

If you draw every day, you'll improve very quickly. Good luck, and keep at it!
My piece of advice for you is to draw from realistic reference. Try posemaniacs.com. You shouldn't be trying to make things up (or copying cartoons) when you first start out!

Meh. I draw what I like drawing. If I enjoy doing something, then I'll do it. When it comes to boring repetition, I lose interest real quick.

Today: Jawa from Star Wars

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7711/01102009221.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/01102009221.jpg/)

Meh. I draw what I like drawing. If I enjoy doing something, then I'll do it. When it comes to boring repetition, I lose interest real quick.
*shrug*
It's your choice; draw what you like, and progress very slowly, or buckle down and practice and progress very quickly. There's no 'right' way to go about drawing, but if you drew from real-life reference, your star wars drawings would look noticeably better much sooner than if you choose to just keep copying from cartoons. Cartoons are simplified versions of their 3d counterparts; if you don't even understand how the basic object works, you can't expect to create a convincing stylized version of it.

Basically, good cartoons are harder to draw than good "realistic" drawings, as silly as that might sound. I don't know of any artists who can draw decent looking cartoons, and can't do good realistic drawings, but I do know a bunch of artists who can do pretty good realistic drawings, and only okay-ish cartoons.

Sooooooo, yeah! Practice however you want, but know that your cartoons will improve much more quickly if you draw from life, too.

Have fun either way though! Not much point to drawing if you're not enjoying yourself! :)

Basically, good cartoons are harder to draw than good "realistic" drawings, as silly as that might sound. I don't know of any artists who can draw decent looking cartoons, and can't do good realistic drawings, but I do know a bunch of artists who can do pretty good realistic drawings, and only okay-ish cartoons.


Some artists specialise in cartoon drawings for comic books, while others specialise with realistic drawings. Everyone has their forte, so you can't really say if you do one well, then you won't do the other kind of thing.

Some artists specialise in cartoon drawings for comic books, while others specialise with realistic drawings. Everyone has their forte, so you can't really say if you do one well, then you won't do the other kind of thing.
Yeah....but....the best comic artists are good because they can draw realistically. You can draw just straight cartoons if you want, but you'll learn slower. It'd be the same thing as deciding to learn how to multiply before learning how to add. Sure you could do it, by memorizing all the times tables and stuff, but you won't really understand what you're doing as much as someone who can add and multiply does. You could learn how to add after you learn how to multiply, but that's backwards, and much slower and much more inconvenient than just learning things in the order that you should learn them.

Uhmmmmm. So yeah, do whatever you want. I'm just advising you (from accounts from other artists, and my own experience): practicing how to draw cartoons is the slowest way to learn how to draw cartoons. I know that sounds backwards, so maybe another analogy is in order...

Imagine you're new to music (you're not, right?). Now, you want to play your favorite Star Wars theme on piano, so what do you do? You have two choices: either do the horrible, monotonous, boring work of learning how to read sheet music, or just jump right in and start picking out the notes by ear. To someone just starting out, the latter option might seem better - hey, you only have to learn one thing (the thing you want to learn!) instead of two, right? But to someone who's familiar with music, the first choice is obviously the best way to go about things; the person who's familiar with sheet music will probably a.)Learn the song faster in the end, and b.)play the song better.

And I'm done! I'm not gonna argue with you; you'll learn how to draw taking either route if you really want to draw. It's just that one way is going to be a lot faster than the other one. You'll have to put in a little more work up front to do things the correct way, but you'll quickly pass everyone else who doesn't want to bother with life drawing.

Also, thanks for the Jawa drawing. It made me remember how cool those little buggers were, and I just had a fun time sketching one out. He had a lightsaber in his hand, and a severed arm next to him, hahah! XD
It might actually make for a fun subject for a painting, but I always feel bad doing fanart, for some reason. Except for that Midna drawing...

Your point is valid, and analogies make perfect sense.

And I didn't think we were arguing. Just discussing.

Tommorow I'll draw something realistic. See the effect you've had on me already? And a Jawa w/ lightsaber would look uber. :P

Just to note, these drawings are not scanned, but taken by my camera phone.

Today: Mara Jade from Star Wars.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2949/03102009254.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/i/03102009254.jpg/)

When I first saw this thread just 5 minutes ago I was like "What? Phard draws:huh:" lol. Good as that you're starting to learn how to. Just a few tips though which I found could really help later on. 1, for long lines, curved or straight, try just drawing and joining multiple small lines, then erasing the excess later. I've found that this gives a cleaner less wonky straight line, also it can add some depth to your picture. 2, Perspective and Proportions. One thing I noticed with a lot of people (particularly myself) is that I'm always drawing out of natural proportions when I try to draw in anything but a straight front on perspective eg, hands to big or the legs too short etc. I'd advise try drawing very simple things, but practice getting them in correct proportions, for the specific perspective; even if its just a person made out of shapes like ovals or something. What I mean by perspective is how the viewer is made to look at a piece. Is the primary figure far away, on their side, lying down etc.

Just stick with front on drawings until you're comfortable with it though :lol: While the perspective bit might not come into it that much, the first one with the lines does. So just some advise.

Keep up the drawing by the way; can't wait to see what you come up with in 6 months time or something:lol:

Your point is valid, and analogies make perfect sense.

And I didn't think we were arguing. Just discussing.

Tommorow I'll draw something realistic. See the effect you've had on me already? And a Jawa w/ lightsaber would look uber.
Heh, indeed. Your newest picture isn't showing up for me, though.


1, for long lines, curved or straight, try just drawing and joining multiple small lines, then erasing the excess later. I've found that this gives a cleaner less wonky straight line, also it can add some depth to your picture.
Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree here. You should Never Ever Ever do that. The longer and stronger your lines are, the more confident and clean you work looks. "Petting your lines" is something a lot of beginners (and some mid-level artists) do, and it's something that everyone needs to get over through practice.

So here's my tip for long lines. When you need to draw a long line, just draw it. It's hard to keep them straight at first, but it gets easier with time, and making a bunch of little lines makes your drawing look fuzzy. Something to remember when drawing is to NEVER LOOK AT YOUR PENCIL. When you want to draw a line from point at to point B, look either directly AT point b, or at least look as far ahead of your pencil as you can. This will help your hand stay steady, and your lines will be lessy wobbly, without the downsides of petting your lines.

Also, don't draw from your wrists. Draw with a combination of your elbow and shoulder. This will also afford you more control over where your pencil is going.

Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree here. You should Never Ever Ever do that. The longer and stronger your lines are, the more confident and clean you work looks. "Petting your lines" is something a lot of beginners (and some mid-level artists) do, and it's something that everyone needs to get over through practice.



Well, everyone is different, I tend to prefer this though. I guess I just like the style, but I'd listen to hopeless more than me though since he seems to know what he's doing:heh:

Heh, indeed. Your newest picture isn't showing up for me, though.

I've re-uploaded it and edited the above post. Try now.



Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree here. You should Never Ever Ever do that. The longer and stronger your lines are, the more confident and clean you work looks. "Petting your lines" is something a lot of beginners (and some mid-level artists) do, and it's something that everyone needs to get over through practice.

I draw three lines, erase a few, draw a few more, erase a few until I'm happy. My drawings are extremely light until the very end. Am I doing something wrong?


2, Perspective and Proportions.

Yeah I know. I can never seem to get the eyes exactly the same shape. And don't get my started on lips.


Keep up the drawing by the way; can't wait to see what you come up with in 6 months time or something:lol:

Don't hold your breath ;)



Also, don't draw from your wrists. Draw with a combination of your elbow and shoulder. This will also afford you more control over where your pencil is going.

I had no idea you could control your pencil with your shoulder. I'm still confused as to how that would work. I need to work on absolute basics before anything else. From the elbow makes a little sense, but I think I'll stick with wrist for now.


HC, I think you missed Taemond's point. By drawing several shorter lines instead of one long one, you can teach yourself to draw long lines. There's no way you can start drawing long lines perfectly, so starting small and building up, I think, would be the way to go.

And also, thanks for the comments guys. I'm lovin' the discussion.

It's not a bad start. Keep it up! Practicing will get you anywhere.

Edit: My other post was totally tldr.
Basically, this: when it makes sense to just use your wrist, use just your wrist. However, don't be afraid to use your whole arm when that makes sense. If you don't understand when that would make sense, just keep drawing. You'll figure it out soon enough. :)
Also, stay relaxed when drawing; that'll help you use your whole arm as much as possible. Again, I'd recommend some figure drawing: posemaniacs.com. Don't worry that they won't look like people at all at first. It's a good exercise either way; it'll help you relax (you'll get used to making shitty drawings and stop caring about it after you do a few figure sketches. Mine still don't look anything like people half the time, hahah!), and it'll help you recognize the basic shapes objects are made of more quickly, allowing you to draw more quickly (and with more precision).

Sooooooooooooooooo, good luck!
And Taemond, I only seem to know what I'm doing. If what you're doing is producing good drawings for you, then don't sweat other people's advice so much. If your drawings aren't as good as you'd like, then feel free to try out any advice at least once, hahah! =D

For someone that is just starting you are doing well. Once you improve your perspectives and proportions of your drawings they will start looking a lot better and like not Egyptian figures. Keep drawing!

I have been a little lazy uploading but not drawing. Here are two samples of my noobiness.


Battle droid from Star Wars:
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1958/06102009282.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/06102009282.jpg/)

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clone Wars era:
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/2189/05102009268.jpg (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/05102009268.jpg/)

Today: Jawa from Star Wars

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7711/01102009221.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/01102009221.jpg/)
AWWW! He's so cute!!

I agree with X! How cute. Lol.
And so much for drawing something everyday. Lol. Keeping improving! :)

Yeah well, I was suprised I lasted for that long. Been very busy lately.

The droid looks nice. The angle is what make it look flat. If you did it in a different angle would look more interesting.

Hey, wake up! You planning on drawing again, or what? =P

When I made this thread, I didn't expect I'd be joining a writing team for a dev game. Been extremely busy lately -.-

I will try and draw some time tonight, all day today I need to write. I still want to learn to draw well, but time is becoming hard to find. I'll upload some scribbles when I get the chance.

When I made this thread, I didn't expect I'd be joining a writing team for a dev game. Been extremely busy lately -.-

I will try and draw some time tonight, all day today I need to write. I still want to learn to draw well, but time is becoming hard to find. I'll upload some scribbles when I get the chance.
Ah, the delicious excuses. Starting already! You'll be the same kind of artist as me, hahah! =D
*Points to his two dead threads* XD

Anyway, I'm looking forward to whatever you draw next, so hopefully you can find a whole half hour somewhere in your busy schedule. ;)