Heehee, anyone who posts must post at least one drawing tip, but it can't be something obvious like "practice a lot and you'll get better"



1) Start your drawing with pencil, and draw lightly.

2) When working with pencils put a sheet of paper under your wrist and where your pinky rests on the paper to reduce smudging. Don't do this if you're working with pastels though - you'll regret it ;)

3) When you're done with a pencil/charcoal drawing, spray it with hair spray - it works as a fixator so the medium doesn't smudge anymore. Only do this when you're done though because if you want to do more smudge-shading after it's very hard.

4)Relax yourself and don't be too hasty. And don't draw too quick, or your drawing might result in bad graphic or line problem...Just relax, calm down and draw what you want as a beginner. :D

Originally posted by Zero X@Mar 17 2005, 02:15 AM
4)Relax yourself and don't be too hasty. And don't draw too quick, or your drawing might result in bad graphic or line problem...Just relax, calm down and draw what you want as a beginner. :D
bwa hahaha, but i always finish mine in under 15 min...
anyways

5) it would have to depend on what type of artist you are. not all the rules apply...buuut for figure drawing...and you're having troubles...look in the mirror or use somebody as a reference

6) When shading, imagine in your mind the direction of the light hitting the "whatever" you drew, and then think about how the shadow would look like in real life

7)Draw big. Draw large. Draw humongous. That's how amazing details are produced (results may vary XP).

8) WHen you draw anime, or any other drawing, after you finished the drawing and want to send it to someone, its best to ink the drawing over, or outline it so it looks better.

9) If you really, REALLY can't draw anime and wants to, try drawing an already made character by looking at its picture while drawing. If you still can't, then try tracing to get your hand used to the movement of drawing the curves and cuts.

me bro told me..
(10) whilst drawing, and your picture looks kinda weird..(head to big.. etc) do not erase it just yet, because it could turn out even better than imagined... only erase when you have finished your idea and need to change those few little details...

11) Use an eyeshadow applicator (that little spongy thing) for fine smudging

12) The girl in your picture looks more like a guy? Believe me, eyelashes make a HUGE difference when it comes to distinguishing between feminity and masculinity!

13) when shading do it in 3 steps..........1, do the normal tone, 2 add the depth darkness to it then 3 go over where the light areas would be with a rubber to give the 3 dimensional look to your drawing

(this is how i do my shading and how i was taught at art in college so may not apply to most)

14) Be careful what pencils you use - using a really high B pencil for sketching means it's an absolute nightmare to rub out X_X

15)If you want to use a ink pen or other useful pens instead of using pencil, try to draw very lightly with pencils, after drawing lightly with pencil, shading it with the pen.Make sure you shade it carefully...

16)If you want to draw an anime character that you had imagined yourself instead of drawing anime character from the TV, firstly, observed the anime in comics or TV, then tried to use their skills.Make sure you have to observe carefully...

17) Using a ruler helps a lot when drawing any type of "shapey" object. It gives the picture a much "cleaner" look (less chance of erasing things).

18) to make something reeeally cool, draw normally with pencil, then go over ur lines with a fine black pen, the remove the pencil with an eraser.. uve now got a fade-smudge resistant drawing. it looks more professional too!

19) try drawing at many times during the day. i found that i could only draw good at some very precise hourz. by trying to draw a picture at every half hour, you can reasonably pinpoint ur best drawing times. works fo me! me its late at night or during class!!! :lol: :heh: if i try at any other time... well... its just ends up damn ugly. ^.^

Any tips on drawing eyes? I really suck at doing them and bodies...

20) Don't get hooked on drawing on lined paper.

21) When shading, shade in the same direction.

Here's my example of good shading.
My drawing of a car with my design of a body kit

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/xpeed/180sxFront.jpg

This is a separate rule for shading only

Shading rules:

1.) Don't go too fast. You'll leave some empty spaces out and some areas will have dark lines once you fill in the empty space.

2.) Be careful not to press too hard. There will be scratches where you pressed too hard and that scratch will show when you're shading. You don't want a ugly white line in the middle of a shade.

3.) Shade in one direction, if you shade in different direction, the shading doesn't look discreet and looks messy. For those long shading on big paper, shading in the same direction, don't stop shading at a certain distance, because if you shade the other part, it iwll overlap the part where you stopped shading. Shade a bit, and then shade it longer going in the same direction. That will minimize the awkward lines where you stopped shading.

4.) The lighting. Study the objects in certain lighting position. Observe it carefully. You don't want one object all shiny and the other object next to it all dark in front. It won't go with each other. For round objects, the bottom area is slightly lighter in color, more towards a white shade. This area is no wider than a line.

5.) Try to avoid using dark leaded pencil, like 7B and 8B. Anything over 6B is too dark.

6.) To avoid smudging, use either a xerox paper or wax paper to cover the already shaded area. Tape it down so the paper won't move around, smudging the area.

That's all I have to say on my own experience.

22) use a blue pencil(speacil type) if you want the lines to be there the whole time for reference. a blue pencil won't come up in a photo copy.

23) don't force urself to draw. you have to have passion for it.

24)stretch ur arms.

25) tortillions are the best thing to use when smudging pencil. i heard it works well on charcoals and pastel too, but don't quote me on that. & they are cheap too!

26) only ink in using a nib pen if you really know what you are doing. trust me.

27) listening to music does help give you passion for it.

28) start off drawing fan art in the style you wish to draw. it's easy.

29) don't get into somthing you can't handle(saying u'll draw this for a person, when you can't. that's why i don't offer my drawing ability to anyone.)

Stretching your arm? Never heard that before. Does it really help? I don't see how, but I guess everyone's different.

BTW, nice drawing there.

I can only draw cars. :doh:

This is the only advice on shading you'll get from me...

30) DO NOT BE AFRAID TO PUSH YOUR DARKS!!!! That's what gives an image it's depth.

31) Don't "overfold" clothes; sometimes simple is good. A few lines for folds will do, unless you're drawing anime "portraits" :D

32) Anime hairstyles consists of the bangs/decorations in the front (right above the forhead and ears) and the most of the time unexciting back part.

33) Eyes are usually spaced one of the eye you drew apart. (eg. the drawn eye is 2cm, the other eye is 2cm from the first eye)

34) Save eyes for last. The eyes give your drawing its personality and can completely change the feel of it.

Originally posted by Tranquil_Feather@Jun 9 2005, 03:15 PM
34) Save eyes for last. The eyes give your drawing its personality and can completely change the feel of it.
Woah... o__O I agree about the eyes giving personality but I do them second so you can adjust the body in how to go along with it... But whatever... @_@

*I personally do my eyes first ^^;;*
35) Define borders clearly. People don't want to look at blurry pictures unless you're blurring the picture on purpose. Otherwise, stress the main lines.