Reddit mentions of Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure

Im new to zbrush, but have done a fair amount of sculpting in clay. This book has proved really helpful in understanding the way clothing will react when wrapping around the human, or any other form.

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-People-Portray-Clothed-Figure/dp/1581803591

I'm learning to be a professional artist atm, but I'm also eighteen so take what I say with a grain of salt!

1. Overall, I like it! However, depending on what you want your viewers to see, you might want to do more research on the proportions of the head. That is to say, if you want it to look more like a real thing, like an object or a statue, go for the more realistic approach. But if you want it to be more cartoony and more emotional, you should stray away from that a little.
   
   
2. You should try to see about getting some shadows in there, like the inside of the collar and around his goggles and under the helmet. See this picture of a snake I did once: http://imgur.com/1DuoUN3 I made the outline hella dark so that the shadows didn't just look like features; you can actually tell they're shadows. (I wouldn't recommend using outlines that thick for everything, though. Just do what you want! The blank page is a playground, so play!) Shading is pretty hard to master, but I try to use the shape of my pencil. One side is almost completely flat, so I use it for light shading over a large portion of the picture. The tip is very sharp, so I use that for hard details and outlines.
   
   
3. Back to what i said earlier about cartoons versus realism. Here's a picture I did of my band director in high school: http://imgur.com/eNBNsXW Pretty realistic; I wanted people to see Uncle Sam when they saw that picture. Now here's a picture I drew of myself dancing: http://imgur.com/X9F8eRg That one's a bit sillier because there's not much I want to communicate to my viewer other than the fact that I'm being funny and my limbs are all wobbly.
   
   Something that I do from time to time when I'm learning how to draw in a specific style or medium is that I look at what other people have drawn and I replicate their drawings as an exercise. Or sometimes when I'm on a flight or on the bus, I'll draw the people around me. I guess what I'm saying is you should just keep practicing and do what comes naturally!
   
   Note: a really, REALLY good book on drawing people can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-People-Portray-Clothed-Figure/dp/1581803591

ORIGINAL DRAWING
FOUND IN: Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure

Glad I could be of help!

Watts Atelier is really amazing. It is beginner friendly - anatomy knowledge helps, but you wont be drawing the figure immediately. It will still be a good idea to learn anatomy while you continue through the program - I'll link you to some great anatomy resources.

To give you a rough breakdown of how the course works, you start by drawing simple shapes (spheres, cylinders, boxes, cones) focusing on form and value. Then you will start drawing other simple geometric forms applying the same principles. Then drawing fundamentals is finished with still life drawing. Next you move into portrait drawing fundamentals, then figure. If you are interested in painting, you can continue the course to portrait and figure painting, along with other specialized classes (landscape, drapery, composition, etc.)

On the issue of sizing, that is a problem that will solve itself naturally over time. It has to do with proportions and measuring, which is a skill that takes time and practice to get a handle on. Eventually you can visualize where everything goes and place it on the page in the right spot. But yeah, Watts Atelier will definitely help.

The difference between Watts and other free tutorials online is 1.) professionalism and structure: The course is taught by the founder of the atelier Jeff Watts, and it is structured like a true academic art class. Learning online gives you random bits of information which are helpful, but you can't contextualize them. The course is designed to take you from beginner to master. The tutorials online are fun, but don't have that structure.

2.) The teachers are world class artists. To give context, here is some of Jeff Watts work. You may not want to be a painter, but you can be confident that you are learning from a master. You can also google his drawings, they will blow you away. Also, the guy Stan Prokopenko who I recommended - and is often mentioned in this sub - was trained at the Watts Atelier by Jeff Watts.

You probably get the picture, its a great program. My experience with it has been an absolute joy. I wish I could go back in time two years when I started pursuing a career in art and taken these classes immediately. It would have saved me so much time and effort wasted trying to figure out how to grow as an artist on my own. What I do is pay for a month and watch all the videos and print out the handouts for the module (currently on portrait II), and then spend however long I need to get a good handle on it before I spend the 100$ for the next month. Also, if you have the cash to blow, you can spend extra money to get 1 on 1 coaching with teachers at the atelier.

I will note that it can get boring drawing spheres and still life all the time, so make sure you schedule time to draw stuff you love. Once you get into portrait and figure things get way more fun, but just be ready for that in the early stages.

Anyway, glad I could help at all! Feel free to PM me at any time, I have tons of resources I've hoarded over the years that can be helpful. Here are some links that might be helpful:

Here is a video of Jeff Watts drawing and answering questions, it will give you an idea of what his teaching style is like and who he is. Also the drawing is really good.

New Masters Academy is another great tool that has been huge for me. The anatomy and figure drawing courses are amazing. They aren't as structured as Watts, but can be very useful for when you have specific areas you want help for.

This book is superb for figure drawing. Also, this book is the equally amazing book on perspective. Also, a lot of books don't talk about drawing the clothed figure (which is pretty dumb considering most of the time, commercial art has to do with clothed people), which is why I also love this book. You are probably familiar with Bridgman's book, but if you don't have it - get it.

A lot of professional artists in many different industries (concept art, comics, film, animation, 3D, etc.) make gumroad tutorials for a decent price, here is a massive list of tons of these great tutorials.

If you want some inspiration while you work, I love listening to Creative Trek and Chris Oatley's Artcast. They both are mostly interviews with other professional artists and contain all sorts of wisdom and inspiration to help you out.

I have more, but I'll leave it there. I hope the best for you man! Keep up the hard work! Feel free to PM me for whatever reason.

If you want to draw people:


I recently found the perfect book (for me, at least). Not too technical with anatomy (pretty much everything but), but also not too simplistic. Has a ton of helpful tips! Drawing People: How To Portray The Clothed Figure by Barbara Bradley. I've never read anything by Andrew Loomis, but I'm always seeing him being recommended so I'm just going to recommend him too lol


Books and videos aren't the only things available, though. I think you should search all over online for drawing tutorials to start out. It's free!
I personally watched DrawWithJazza a lot when I started out. Sycra is incredibly helpful. You might like Mark Crilley and Proko too.


There are little infographic-type things all over deviantart and tumblr. They usually cater towards digital artists, so you're in luck! It's inactive, but this tumblr has tons of posts, and they're all organized!

There's Ctrl Paint, which is a free video library specifically for digital artists. I love this one, it's got tons of stuff.

Really just searching "how to draw ____" will get you tons of stuff.

A few random tips:

• Draw from life and from reference. Every artist does it, there's no shame, and it will absolutely help you.
  
  
• Watch other artists while they draw/paint/whatever. Youtube has tons of speedpaints, usually fandom-specific. These can give different ideas and different methods of doing things.
  
  
• You will get discouraged, and you most likely will experience art block. It's ok. I'm in a block right now. It's absolutely fine to take breaks. Once you're ready to come back, it'll be awesome :)
  
  
• If you like anime/manga/cartoon styles, you still have to learn the basics and the "rules" first. You need to know the rules to break them! Otherwise it just looks wonky and "off".
  
  
• Flip your canvas!! Or look at it in a mirror or take a picture + flip it or something. This is easier with digital. Flipping it horizontally reveals mistakes. It's crazy. Do this a lot when you're sketching, it's much easier to fix a sketch than fiddling around with all your layers and colors and whatnot
  
  
• Inspiration can come from anywhere ;)
  
  
  Good luck + have fun!
  
  edit: formatting