Reddit mentions of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition

I started drawing when I was 25 you can do it too if you try! Most people can only draw stick people if the only drawing they ever did was in grade school. You’ll find at first that you draw like a grade schooler, because well, that’s the last time you drew. You just pick up wher you left off. I find that is what discourages people from continuing. It’s to be expected though. You can practice your way up in no time. I know you’re not exactly asking, but thought I’d throw it out there for anyone who feels the same and feels like they can’t draw. You’ll catch up quicker than someone who’s really a child but it’ll take some work and some practice obviously! Just don’t give up because you draw like a child... to be fair you pretty much are drawing like a child at first. I recommend picking up a couple book and checking a couple YouTube channels!

Edit: r/ArtFundamentals is helpful used to be known as drawabox. First book I picked up was Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I’ve picked up many many more since then!

I personally think the opposite. Photo realism is not "advanced". Painting impressionistically is not beginner either. What you need for impressionist painting comes off the back of photorealism. Copying a photo does not make you advanced. Infusing a photo with emotion and meaning makes you advanced. This painting is just that. And I love it. I am honestly tired seeing a photorealistic drawing and then clicking the comments just to see "Wow! I thought it was a photo" over and over again. Not to knock it, but this sort of work takes a different kind of skill. You need a handle (hah) on your brushwork and how you react to what you see. Difficult as fuck. Im still learning how to do this myself.

Learning "how to see" is definitely the cornerstone in becoming a better artist, though. That I agree with. Don't equate impressionism with not being able to do this. In my opinion they do it the best. I recommend anyone learning to pick up "drawing on the right side of the brain". Thats what personally helped me with getting things right. I used to draw photorealistic but I felt that it was an empty sort of exercise. Where do you go from there? Here. You go here. You express yourself.

Love the painting

I am by no means an expert artist so take this with a grain of salt but i can give you my advice:

it sounds obvious (and to be honest, pretty disappointing) but you just need to draw as much as possible, set aside an hour a day to just draw.

A good place is to start is to draw still-lifes with basic shapes at varying distances: something like this. this will let you start to develop an eye for lighting and how shapes and shadows interact. Search up how to properly shade if you're unsure.

while you're drawing these, start studying 1 and 2 point perspective: this slide makes it simple to understand and is pretty comprehensive. perspective is an essential tool which you'll need to understand.

keep drawing these basic shapes everyday, then start upgrading into more abstract shapes, things like wine glasses other shapes.
Maybe you can read Drawing on the right side of the brain?
It's probably one of the most highly regarded guide to drawing which really helped me to understand certain processes and logic behind drawing.

SIDE NOTE: Drawing from your brain memory/imagination is an incredibly difficult thing to do and not every artist is great at it. Use references and stills from life or books or the internet to develop your skill.

One of the greatest difficulties you will face is drawing what is there rather than what you think you see.

PM me if you ever need help with something.

Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain is a classic with some great exercises. Have fun!

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

Hey man, you might enjoy looking up this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342485946&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain

As somebody else who has resolved himself to learn how to draw, that book took me from shitty stick-figures to a Clint Eastwood sketch that still instills gushing feelings of inner pride from myself. All within days mind you.

Falar Top ajuda tanto quanto falar "ta uma merda" ou "foda-se". Mas aumenta o ego. Obviamente a pessoa que desenhou focou o tempo em sombras e luzes e detalhes, mas ta bem obio que quem desenhou não tem noção de anatomia, estrutura, proporção ou muita pratica. E isso é ok. Depende do que você procura. Se é um hobby, "só um desenho", ta bem legal. E muito bom que você passou 3 horas nele, mostra que você realmente gosta de desenhar.

Se você quer melhorar de verdade. Primeira coisa é aprender estrutura básica. Proporção, blocagem, anatomia etc. Entender um olho sempre vai fazer com que você possa desenhar olhos mais rápido, mais realistas e ai sim manipular ele para o tipo de olho que você quer. Seu desenho está muito 2D, mesmo com as sombras. tente entender que o olho é uma esfera dentro do cranio e envolta por pele. Não se preocupe tanto com sombras e luzes no começo, tenta primeiro fazer o olho funcionar.

Isso se da por vários motivos. Um deles é que você está desenhando o olho como um simbolo olho, o que vocÊ lembra como que seria um olho. Muito melhor tentar ignorar essa memória e praticar a observação, pelo menos até você entender. Tem um luvro chamado "desenhando com o lado direito do cerebro" https://www.amazon.com.br/Drawing-Right-Brain-Betty-Edwards/dp/1585429201 Recomendo bastante para entender isso.
Cílios longos, lápis mais escuro... Isso são detalhes. Não são eles que deixam seu desenho bom. O básico que deixa.
https://www.proko.com/how-to-draw-eyes-structure/ Proko é um mestre. Ignora as luzes, as sombras. Foca na estrutura.

Dito isso, pense agora no... Desenho. Um olho sendo só um olho não diz muito. Se foi um estudo, desenhe menor, desenhe mais. Um estudo não precisa de um olho renderizado. Ao menos que esse seja o foco do estudo. Um estudo precisa de 5 folhas, lotadas de olhos de vários angulos, alguns com contexto, olhos de diversas etinias, diversos formatos, com os 2 olhos muitas vezes (simetria é sempre bom de estudar). Se for um desenho finalizado, sempre pense num contexto, esse olho está no vazio? Numa pedra? num rosto? Numa pessoa desenhando um olho num papel? Desenhe esse contexto. Velocidade vem com o tempo, não se preocupa.

Espero que minha crítica, apesar de um pouco mais pesada tenha sido útil. Todo mundo que desenha já passou por essa parte. Se eu te falar "ta legal", você vai ficar feliz, mas vai cometer os mesmos erros pelo próximos 50 desenhos de 3 horas.

/r/learnart

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

These two resources will pretty much do you for a while. The book is like learning the abc's for drawing. It'll run through everything a beginner needs to know. The sub-reddit will allow you to post your drawings and then get critique for them: really helpful tool.

For drawing kit all you'll need is a pencil or a pencil set and some paper. Don't go nuts with buying too much 'cause you never know if you'll like it enough to keep going.

It does, but you don't need to know all of that to draw from a still photo of a face. Instead of drawing a skull, muscles, skin, you break the picture down into shapes and lines and draw those instead. You don't need to know any of the anatomy because all the visual information you need to draw it is already there without any knowledge of how it works.

It's possible to go from not knowing how to draw to being able to draw a pretty good face in just a week if you can learn to do this, there are several books that teach it. This is the one most people will recommend you. From there you just practice getting more accurate and learn how to actually do it (physical techniques to shade, how to blend, etc.).

He's being a dick about it but what /u/curdledS8 is saying is 100% accurate -- knowing how to draw from a still photo really well doesn't mean shit if you don't know how to draw form, how perspective works, etc.. It's not that impressive if you think about it this way.

Most people do not suck at drawing because they do not know the technique, but because they do not know how to see. What you want to do is train your eyes and I recommend the book "Drawing with the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. EDIT: Here is the Amazon link and I just noticed there is a 4th edition! If I needed another I would get this to check it out but I am sure she added a lot of good things. The author studied the human brain to have a better understand of how drawing works so I am sure she added new techniques and things from current studies.

Try to look for it at a local library, I am guessing you are either Australian or English so I am not sure if they will have the book but you can drop about 20$ and then some for shipping from Amazon.

About styles: you develop it over time. I am not really talking about manga style, but your own flavor of doing things. I recommend trying out the manga style, but I do not recommend making that your main form of learning. That is bad, because (1) you are copying another stylized piece of work (you want to draw from nature or non-photoshopped photographs) and (2) you most likely will be learning mistakes and it is really hard to fix mistakes. I read some manga and Kubo and Oda are two artists I love and if you look at their beginning work, it is almost flat out horrible to where they are now. There are small nuances to other people's work and you want to be careful what you copy. The only thing you can copy are the masters (Da Vinci, other Renaissance masters). Here is a website describing what Da Vinci did for practice which I recommend everyone to check out, but if you are a very beginner, I recommend checking out the book I recommended first. Practice, practice, practice. Try to draw something once a day, even if it is just a stick figure.

(3) Drawing from imagination is very, very, hard. In the beginning a lot of your manga/cartoon/stylized work will look so stiff and maybe not so fun to look at. That will be because of basics and experience. Life drawing will be what corrects this. Look into that after you got the basics. Backgrounds and landscapes are usually another set of classes/studies so check those out after as well.

Other than that, those are my tips. I want to be clear to you, and any other beginner, that I beat myself up when looking at my earlier and current drawings. Drawing can be a challenge because you need to know when to look past your mistakes and look at the tiny improvements. This is a sentiment shared with a lot of artists so do not think you are alone. Do not give up. If it is becoming stressful it is so great to take a step back, work on another project, or just take a week off. I find this to be the challenging part of drawing.

Any other questions? I will try to answer to the best of my abilities.

I used to think that too, but don't give up on yourself! I would certainly believe that art comes easier to some people than others, but you can learn to draw better. I recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which has really excellent exercises aimed at people who have always considered themselves bad at art, interspersed with pop neuroscience that you should mostly ignore.

I've thought of myself as incapable of drawing well, and went through it a few years ago. This is me drawing without a reference beforehand, this is me drawing my own hand beforehand, and this is me drawing my own hand after a couple months of practice.

IMO, the best way to start drawing is with a pad of unlined paper and mechanical pencil.

But if you want software: GIMP is free (yay), Photoshop is the well-known standard (and these videos are good), PaintToolSai feels more natural to draw with, and I just started using Mischief (which has a natural drawing feel, infinite canvas, and vector-based). My recommendation is Sai, since it's cheap, easy, and fun to use.

To learn how to draw people, start working through the Loomis books, beginning with Fun with a Pencil. A classic for learning how to 'see' like an artist is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. And when you start to feel frustrated with your work, turn to Art & Fear and Daring Greatly.

Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck with your art journey :)

if anyone's actually serious about learning how to draw by reading a book about it, I can highly recommend Drawing on the Right Side of the brain by Betty Edwards.

It's the only book that actually teaches you how to develop the perception to draw what you see and I can say that it's helped me. You are guaranteed results because you do a before-and-after portrait drawing to compare how much you have improved.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a book that teaches drawing as a skill rather than a talent, and gives tips like drawing upside down (which changes your perspective, thus how you draw something), etc. If I remember correctly, there are some remarkable examples of before and after drawings people did who didn't identify as naturally talented.

The best resource I have found for learning how to draw/ progress in your skills is the book "drawing on the right side of the brain" here is an amazon link to the BOOK
But it's very easy to find this book online for free as well.
Other resources were weren't actually drawing books, but more of anatomy books. They are really helpful to teach you proportions, and shows you how the body is built up from bones to muscles, to skin etc...
I would avoid those "how to draw ___" books. They only teach you how to draw that one specific thing and its hard to transition that into drawing your own thing. The book I linked above does a good job of teaching you how to "see" what your drawing. So when you are drawing an eye, or an ear, it teaches you how to break down the subject into shapes and lines. A couple angled lines and squiggles are a lot easier to understand and draw than a full image of an eye/ ear.

Get Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (not a referral link).

Follow all of the exercises. It takes a lot of the mysticism out of drawing and makes it a skill you can pick up, practice and become better at.

I read somewhere that the reason that most adults draw like eleven-year-olds is that we are very self-critical during that age, and just stop drawing. Which means no practice and therefore no skill improvement.

If you really want to learn, there's a book which claims that anyone can learn to draw at least decently using their method.

(Sorry for imposing if you're not actually interested in drawing, I just thought I should mention it)

I found this book to be especially helpful in overcoming the tendency to draw what you think you see.

I'm going to give you some advice... Advice that every aspiring artist needs to hear.

For the first while you're going to suck at it. But if you keep at it, never accept defeat and keep pushing yourself you'll start getting good at it.

And art isn't a talent that comes naturally to some and not at all to others... Like any skill it can be learned and you can train yourself. So, if you face anyone getting up in your face about how you should stop or whatever, just tell them to eat a bag of dicks and shut the fuck up. (besides, it's not like they came out of their mother's womb with a full set of copics and a tablet... They had to learn just like everyone else.)

I don't know if this is really what you wanted to hear since it seems you are hoping more for concrete examples to learn from... But it's all I can really offer that hasn't been said yet.

So, good on you for wanting to expand your skills and best wishes!

EDIT: If you decide that you want to pursue this a little deeper than for a couple projects then I'm going to suggest that you look for and pick up a copy of "Drawing on the right side of the brain." ( Amazon Link to book. I am not affiliated, it's just the first amazon result I found. ) It's a phenomenal book that will really give you the tools you'll need to become an artist that a lot of those "how to draw" books don't cover. Things like learning how to actually see what it is you're drawing, how to draw what you see (and not what you think "ought to be there.") and how to actually understand on a deeper level the process involved in drawing/sketching/etc. which should really give you a leg-up in your pursuit.

TL;DR: Draw EVERYTHING, draw CONSTANTLY, and TURN OFF YOUR LEFT BRAIN!


As an artist, I will tell you what all of my art teachers failed to ever tell me, and hopefully help kick-start you into drawing.


First of all, as /u/Im_A_Nidiot said, draw anything and everything and draw constantly. It's hard to train your fingers to do what your brain wants them to, so just like exercising to become a body builder, you have to draw constantly. Whether it's someone you passed by on the street wearing a funny hat that you want to capture, or something you just dreamed up, always draw. If you can, draw for at least an hour every day. For detailed pictures that's an easy task, but if you have a busy life and can't just sit down and devote time to it, then sketch every time something comes to mind. 10 gestures or sketches a day will be much more helpful in developing the skill than just one or two occasionally.


Secondly, a big thing my art teachers wanted us to do but never explained why, was drawing still life or from life. Figure drawing, inanimate object drawing, drawing your own feet from your own perspective, it's all incredibly important. Why, you might ask? Because it builds a library in your head of what things look like. If you have a pile of stuffed animals, and you say draw one each day as realistically as you possibly can, then after a month suddenly you'll know exactly what that stuffed giraffe looks like and how to draw it in various positions, even ones you haven't drawn before. Same if you have a pet cat or dog and you draw it every day in various positions- you'll be able to draw a cat or dog from your imagination without much issue. So even if it seems trivial, draw from life! An exercise I would do is I would divide my work space in half, and draw the boring realistic object in one side, and then draw the same thing on the other side but with added "weirdness" from my imagination. If it was a pill bottle on one side, it would have an octopus coming out of it on the other. That helps keep it interesting and helps you expand your mental library.


And finally, once you start building your finger skills and your mental library, as /u/jus_richards already mentioned, I highly HIGHLY recommend buying Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The entire purpose of this book is to train you to "turn off" your left brain, because it interferes with right brain activity which is what you use when you create art. Being an extremely analytical person, my left brain was always giving me fits whenever I would draw. Now I know how to quiet it down so I can draw, and it has done wonders for my work. If you are serious about wanting to learn how to draw, definitely invest in this book and do all the exercises.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Edit to add: https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/

1. get this book https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201
   
2. follow the method
   
   that's a very good start.

I recommend this book for people who want to learn to draw. I'm no artist, but I love drawing things. I'm about 1/3 a way through the book, and I'm already seeing my skills improve simply because I'm learning to draw correctly. Instead of drawing an object, draw lines that connect to other lines and are in relationship to other lines. Then, suddenly, you have a chip bag.

I did the same just using Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and about 1 hour a night of practice.

I really like Drawing on The Right Side of the Brain. Kind of unlocked my mind in how to approach drawing, it's helped me a lot.

J'ai appris à 38 ans, alors que j'étais incapable de tracer une ligne droite.
J'ai utilisé 2 ressources principales : Reddit (/r/ArtFundamentals , /r/learntodraw) et ce livre, considéré comme le meilleur pour l'apprentissage

The thing with the creative design process is that it is in many ways different from what you've been learning previously. Not just new, but essentially different. Actually, it utilises another brain process than the one you're used to.

People who just learns the tools and language of design, but not the way of thinking, usually ends up with creating stuff that lacks harmony.

Programming is creative; it requires logical thinking, problem solving, efficiency. These are typical left-side logical skills in your brain. Therefore, you are probably really good at using your left logical brain right now.

However, things like shape and form, composition, proportions, and the whole gestalt are not things that the left logical brain likes to handle. These are the skills of the right creative brain half. This brain half is hardly ever used by engineers, programmers, physicists, or linguists.

A book that takes you through the process of developing your right creative brain half is this one: https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

Traditional materials are the best place to start. Don't worry about anything fancier than pencil/charcoal and paper until you've got the basics down.

What you need to do first is study the Principles of Design and the Elements of Design. These are the first things students are taught before they can move on. Usually, they are taught alongside Drawing 101, where students become familiar with these elements in practice, drawing mostly contour drawings of still lives. You should also be learning about linear perspective. You should be focusing on how to break objects down into simple forms, like cylinders and cubes and cones and spheres. Learn to draw with your arm and not your wrist; you can do this more easily by drawing on large paper (18"x24" or bigger).

Once you've got those basics learned, you can move on to learning about drawing with value. Charcoal and a kneaded eraser work best here, I think. Start doing still lives of single objects, like eggs or fruit, small geometric forms like cubes and the like, and focus on how light moves around these objects. One thing our professor had us do is to wipe our drawings down with a chamois frequently. It keeps you from getting focused on your drawing, but gives you a vague guideline to continue from. It makes drawing more about process than product, which is ultimately your goal if you're learning; to understand the process of seeing and drawing.

Once you've got the concept of the process and how value works, start increasing the complexity of your still lives. See how large you can make them. Get some big boxes and chairs and stuff and set them up in the middle of your room and draw that. Then start drawing the room you're in. Now, go outside and draw the buildings outside. You might notice that they're like a larger version of the boxes you were just drawing!

If you can, take some classes at your local community college. They'll really help you along learning these basics. If that's not available, most schools base their teaching methods on Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Pick it, and the accompanying workbook up, and you'll be well on your way.

You should also look at Andrew Loomis' books to help study most of these principles. George Bridgman is another godsend for learning to draw, as well as Burne Hogarth and Louise Gordon.

You should always be studying things from life to keep your skills sharp. Always remember that reference photos aren't cheating. You'll find that more often than not, they're a necessity.

I also heavily recommend you check out CtrlPaint's videos. They're focused on becoming a digital artist, but have a section devoted to traditional work and its importance in digital work. He also goes over the basics quite well and provides links to outside resources, as well as homework assignments for every video. Check it out, watch a video a day, and do an assignment with it, and you'll be putting yourself on the fast track.

One thing about drawing is that it's going to take a lot of patience. It takes a long time to develop your skills. Don't get discouraged! Learn to handle criticism, both good and bad. Critiques are your friend and whether you agree with them or not, they'll help you grow. Never ever rely on the excuse "It's my style!" because more often than not, if you have to use that line, it's a mistake you don't want to fix, not a stylistic decision. I've seen many people with great potential fail out of the art program I was in simply because they couldn't handle criticism.

It's a good start. Obviously you're unpracticed, but drawing is a very learnable skill and you've got everything required to learn it.

I'd recommend getting your hands on a copy of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It'll get you past a lot of the common mental blocks that people who are new to serious drawing struggle with and you're right at the skill level where it'll be most beneficial. If you work your way through that, you'll be astonished at what you're capable of within a few weeks.

The neuroscience it talks about has largely been debunked, but the exercises and basic concepts are still spot on.

I took a drawing class at a community college. Cost me $35 plus pencils and paper supplies. It gave instruction and a reason to spent the time and focus on learning. I'd recommend that as the primary strategy.

A big part of learning to draw is to learn "to see". Most people don't actually see what they look at but instead they let their brains tell them what their brain/memory presumes they are looking at, abstractly.

This is where/why you get amateurish child-like drawing that look horrible initially - your brain "knows (better)" superficially and overrides what's actually hitting your eyes. Then you draw this abstraction and it's always wrong and unrealistic looking. So you have to "unlearn" this way of seeing things to learn to draw.

There are a lot of books on this subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Techniques-Learning-Peter-Jenny/dp/1616890541

http://www.amazon.com/Learn-See-Draw-Larry-Wither/dp/B0013MELQS

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Artists-Brain-right-brain/dp/1440308446

These books can be helpful and are often used in drawing classes but the first thing is to start drawing.

One other hint I've learned: the #1 and #2 parts of the face you MUST get right (and in fact you can do only these two parts and create a recognizable portrait - of a Western person for a Western audience) are the shape and details of the eyes, and of the nose/mouth. It's different if you are in Asia (asian models) - then it's the outline of the head/hair and nose/mouth.

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnHentaiDrawing/comments/c1izah/faq_21_we_have_a_discord_and_patreon/

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https://drawabox.com/lesson/1

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https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

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The links above should set you on a good start. Do the lessons from drawabox, do the lessons from drawing on the right side of the brain. Unless you have a physical disability preventing you from picking up a pen, I promise you can learn. I will not lie to you and tell you it is easy, it is not. But learning the fundamentals will aid you greatly in getting better. There is no doubt in my mind it can be straight up tedious at times, and frustrating as all hell, but it is worth it.

​

The trick? Actually doing the lessons as they are told to you and not skipping around.

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You can do it my dude, best of luck and happy lewding!

Have you done the exercises in drawing on the right side of the brain? Stuff like blind contour drawing helps with those skill significantly, and seeing the atrocious craziness you get from it will help disconnect your "inner critique".

Another trick is to draw like you were a kid. I doubt that you were forcing it so much when you were a child, just do it the same way again.

Finally, have explicit process goals of doing 100 drawings or drawings in a few seconds. That'll help your mind focus on what you can control.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585429201/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1463435275&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain&dpPl=1&dpID=516I7mz%2BZEL&ref=plSrch

This is a good book to learn how to look at things

I can't really add anything to this conversation seeing as Maxwell Lord left such an excellent and thorough critique. However, one thing I will add is that you should definitely go out and pick up these two books:

• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain -- this is one of the most important books I have ever read, as it teaches you how to view the world around you with an artist's eye. That may sound pretentious, but it had a hugely positive effect on me and my approach to art when I picked it up some years back.
  
  
• Understanding Comics -- Every comic artist, no matter how new or seasoned they are, absolutely needs to have this book in their collection. If you are even thinking of becoming a comic artist, read this book.
  
  I would also recommend that you get the superb art instructional books by Andrew Loomis. Unfortunately, a lot of these are long out of print but - thankfully - you can download some free, digital versions here.
  

/u/AppStoreVeteran gave you a great reply, but I just wanted to add in another perspective:

If you're interested in a more traditional approach to learning art, you can get to the point where you're making decent (not mind-blowing, but functional) illustrations with just a few months of serious effort. If you treat it like a semester-long course and put in the work, you can reach art student levels in a little under half a year.

1. Pick up either this or this book (I recommend the first one if you lack confidence/motivation, but the second one is great too; in fact, pick up both if you can).
   
2. Set aside 30-60 minutes every day to practice (using the book[s] as a guide).
   
3. Practice faithfully and with legitimate effort.
   
   Art is learning just like programming, playing an instrument, or public speaking, so, if you're even vaguely interested in it, I highly recommend you give it a serious try.

Everyone starts off not knowing how to draw (with some very rare exceptions). It is definitely something that can be learned. For example, Van Gogh started learning art when he was about 27.

You should check out Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It's more than just step-by-steps and tutorials. It goes into detail about how to learn to draw and how your brain perceives and processes imagery. Once you do get started, keep at it! ...and marvel at the new super power you've acquired! :D

This seems like the perfect place to get started, and having the kind of confidence that it takes to be able to ask for help when you need it is exactly the kind of thing you need to be successful with drawing. I've been on my own drawing journey for about six months now, from a starting place quite similar to where you were, and although I still have a long way to go I'll do my best to share what I've been able to find out along the way.

Drawing is much like learning any other skill, like math or a sport, and as such the best favour you can do yourself is to know how you learn things best and to focus on that. Always try to go for several different methods, since variety will help your learning process from getting monotonous, and remember that any type of instruction will be better than no instruction, even if it's not your first choice.

Also, drawing on a tablet is hard. The disconnect between pen and screen as well as the small surface and lack of completely accurate touch feedback can make it a difficult way to begin making art. It's fun and you should certainly keep it up, but I found it was much easier to learn the basics with a good old pencil and a cheap sketchbook, and then apply what I learn to my tablet paintings afterwards. Sketchbooks also have the great benefit of being portable, and going around and drawing things that you can actually see in front of you is essential to learning to draw well.

Books did wonders to help me. Check you local library to see if you can find some on the cheap. Try to avoid books that only deal with drawing on specific thing, like "How to draw cars" and such, since these are often far to specific and narrow in scope, when what you really need is a solid drawing foundation. Probably the highest recommended one for beginners is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It covers all the basics and is geared to the complete beginner, and unlike a lot of art books that focus primarily on techniques it also talks a lot about the thought process behind drawings. Judging by your work, I think it would be the most help to you of anything, as your major problem seems to be that you are relying on "symbols" that represent what you are wanting to draw rather than direct observation, which is extremely common and was my major problem too. You can also find videos of her teaching the lessons from her book on Youtube, but I'd still recommend the book, as it allows you a better view of the examples, lets you double check the instructions and makes it so you can work at your own pace.

Taking a class can be invaluable, since you have someone with experience right there to put you on the right track. Many colleges and community centers offer art programs in evenings or weekends (and during summer break, since you seem to be a student) where you could get started. Asking at a local art supply store might help to put you on the right track there. My work schedule prevents me from taking classes on any regular basis, but I'm always on the lookout for short intensive and drop-in meetups that do fit in.

For web based ressources that deal specifically with digital painting, nothing beats Ctrl+Paint. You don't need to bother with the videos that require you to pay for now, there is a great deal of free tutorials that will help you get started.

After you learn the basics, it all comes down to practice and choosing what you want to focus on at any given time. More advanced books and classes can focus on different mediums or subjects, and the fun part is often exploring and experimenting on your own. The trick is to think big, avoid restraining yourself, laugh off every mistake and try again and practice, practice, practice.

Alternative approach would be learning to draw. Contrary to common belief, it is actually a learnable skill. You won't be making Mona Lisa in a few months, because as with everything it takes practice, but you can shrink your restrictions and get a better understanding of what you can and cannot do.

I would recommend books and youtube video series for learning, few examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

https://www.drawspace.com/lessons (used to be all free, now might require free account or a paid sub I don't know)

http://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/

If you follow the first book along, I can speak from personal experience that not only you will get a better understanding, but you will also actually learn to draw (this is coming from a guy that barely could draw stick people). You just need to stick to it and follow it to the letter.

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

This was recommended to me, and I'm just starting it myself. So far, really does make you believe that this is something a non-artist like myself could accomplish.

Well this isn't an overnight method but in all seriousness, this book is amazing. You work through the lessons and you will learn to see things differently, allowing you to capture, in a drawing, an accurate representation of what you see. I loved it.

Pencil to digital is just a matter of practice. If you have a few extra dollars, I'd also grab Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. That'll teach you how to draw. To learn what to draw, i.e. be more creative, get The Keys to Drawing with Imagination. Transferring to digital is just a matter of learning how to use photoshop and a scanner or a drawing tablet.

I apologise, those are Canadian links, but the books are also available in the US.

Drawing on the Right side of the Brain is a very impressive educational resource:
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/

I can't draw well, but this book is helping me get better. I need to spend more time with it and practice more, but it definitely showed me that I could do it.

Don't believe it.

Anyone can learn to draw. You first need to learn how to see.

Start with https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

Your friend is sort of right about the pen. It can help do away with the "chicken scratch" method of drawing by forcing you to be more confident with your lines but you should stick with pencil for now.


I'm mostly self-taught as well (although I learned a bit from Watts Atelier until it got to be too expensive) and the sheer amount of information out there can be really overwhelming. I mean, there's so many things to learn: perspective, line weight, figure drawing, portraiture, landscape, etc.


What definitely helped me is realizing that I'm never going to stop improving as an artist. That means that I'm going to have my entire life to hone my skills. Even if you have to unlearn a lot of bad habits, you've still got plenty of time to practice slowly, deliberately and mindfully.


If you understand that you've got your whole life to get better, it's easier to formulate a strategy to get better. You've got to think about this in the long term. That means taking a month to work solely on anatomy, another month to work only on perspective, another month to work on tone and values, while always revisiting the skills that you've already cultivated.


For example, I've laid out my artistic goals 3 months in advance. That means that for the next 3 months, I'm only focusing on anatomy and gesture/figure drawing. My daily schedule this week looks like this:


warmup

1, 2, 5 and 10 minute gesture/figure drawings

study/copy hands from Bridgeman's Constructive Anatomy book

draw 50 hands

spend about 10-15 minutes drawing hands from memory and comparing them to the references I was using earlier

work on something fun


If I have extra time, I'll work on some more anatomy studies but it depends on how busy I am with work/life. After this week is up, I'll move on to arms, then the core, then legs, head, etc, following the same setup I've made. Maybe the next 3 months, I'll move on to perspective drawing but I haven't thought that far ahead yet.


If you're confused about where to start, just pick something that you're the weakest at and start drawing that. It's a grind and you're going to be producing hundreds, if not thousands of drawings but that's the way to get better.


Like I said, if you start thinking in the long term, it gets less overwhelming. I'm gonna link some resources that really helped me out.


Books

Perspective Made Easy

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Fun With a Pencil Actually, anything by Loomis.

How to Draw Kind of a technical book but goes into really great detail about perspective


Youtube Channels

Watts Atelier Highly recommended. Watch his figure drawing videos. Also, if you can spare the cash, join his online school. It's fantastic and very structured course in drawing. Definitely look into this if you have trouble deciding what to learn next.

Proko This guy has great intro videos for figure drawing. I think he learned at Watts Atelier as well.

New Masters Academy They have a ton of great videos about everything. Definitely look into Glen Vilppu's figure drawing series. He's the god of figure drawing.

Alphonso Dunn Really great pen and ink tutorials


Sorry if I overwhelmed you (ironic, considering your original post) but I just wanted to share some stuff that's really helped me develop a schedule and get better. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to help you a fellow art student out.


TLDR: You have plenty of time in your life to get better, so make a schedule and stick to it.

I would absolutely recommend beginning by reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and doing the exercises. I'd follow it up with The Natural Way to Draw, again, doing the exercises.

1836to1846 has the right idea about focusing on shapes, not ideas, and drawing upside-down while you're first training your verbal mind to get out of the way and let you draw what you see, rather than the symbols you think you see. Drawing on the Right Side is exactly about that - teaching you that you can draw, and teaching you how to get out of your own way. After that, Nicolaides' book will teach you how to practice effectively.

Practice is absolutely the key, but getting some grounding in what to practice and how to practice effectively will allow you to get more out of it faster.

drawing on the right side of the brain. It's a fantastic reference, and I guarantee you can find a cheap copy or borrow it from your library.

1 month ago I thought it was impossible for me to draw something "nice". Now, even though I'm no DaVinci, I have improved my drawing skill. How, you ask? Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain book.

You don't need any prior experience, and just by dedicating 30 min/ 1 hour a day will improve your drawing skills dramatically.

Good luck!

Pick up introductory drawing books. I whole-heatedly recommend starting with one and only one source: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201.

As you start you'll need to learn some fundamentals: draw what you see, not what you think you see; don't draw in symbols; learn about value, line, and shading; learn about constructing volumes that look like they inhabit three dimensions; learn about proportion; make a habit of practicing every day; perhaps more importantly, learn how to take and give artistic criticism.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain will teach you to do all these things and is certainly enough to get you started. Do not proceed with trying to draw in a stylized manner, you'll simply learn bad habits. You can proceed to style after you've made some headway into drawing realistic forms and figures.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1585429201/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aHx9BbTMCRC26

Vamos lá. Minha experiência com desenho:

• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, da Betty Edwards.
  
  Tentei, cheguei até um pouco antes da metade. Me frustrei e desisti.
  Motivo da frustração: Grande parte do livro é a moça te falando "agora você deve estar satisfeito com o que fez, olha o que meus melhores alunos fizeram para você comparar". BITCH EU NÃO ESTAVA SATISFEITO OK?!
  
  Depois de anos, revisitei meus desenhos e pensei "Olha, até que ficaram legais sim, pqp".
  
  
• Já testei o /r/ArtFundamentals (Drawabox).
  
  Extremamente massante e arranca a tapa toda a maravilha de desenhar algo. Fiz durante uns 3 meses, não cheguei nem na lição 3 (depois de formas livres). Mas foi o que mais me manteve disciplinado, e a qualidade de alguns dos meus traços (até na escrita) melhorou um pouco.
  
  
• Ctrl+Paint:
  
  Testei muito pouco a parte de desenho "clássico", mas o cara desenha bem. Minha crítica é que logo na primeira aula ele já recomenda comprar um lápis que não é lá muito comum.
  
  
• Drawing for the Utter and Absolute Beginner, da Claire Garcia.
  
  É interessante, as primeiras lições são uma mistura das lições do Drawing on the Right Side e do ArtFundamentals. Não consegui avançar mais por falta de tempo, mas pelo que eu folheei o livro, é o que mais mostra técnicas diferentes (e por isso, aumenta o custo de materiais).
  
  
• Curso presencial:
  
  Fiz um uma vez um tempo atrás. Não suportei mais de 3 aulas porque o professor era péssimo.
  
  
  Dito isso, vou de acordo com o /u/crazy_student, vá com o Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (se concentre só nas técnicas).
  Recomendo também o ..For the Utter and Absolute Beginner. O livro se baseia nas mesmas técnicas da Betty Edwards no começo, tendo em vista o desenho observacional (na vida real), então um complementa o outro.
  
  
• Bonus: Eu tenho também o You Can Draw in 30 days. Dá pra brincar de perder o medo de produzir algo.
  
  NOTA:
  
  
  Eu sei que existem outros autores, livros e conteúdos. Sempre existiu e sempre existirão, mas foram esses que eu corri atrás.

Me too! But I started reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and went from this to this in three drawings. Completely changed the way I thought about drawing things!

Edit: Bonus drawing from when I was three.

It's a good start! What you need to learn now is how to see what's actually there versus what your brain thinks is there. The brain likes to lump things it sees into symbols, 'lips', 'eyes', etc. To improve at drawing is to train the mind to not do that, but look at what it actually sees. Not sure I'm explaining it well, but a lot of people love Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain because it teaches these skills.

Have you read Betty Edwards' Drawing on the right side of the brain? I personally went through a similar before and after transformation as these student pictures show.

Try the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Highly recommended. I got it out of my local library.

My best advice to you is to practice drawing from life, a lot. There are also a couple of books I recommend, Anatomy for the Artist and Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Anyone who wants to make a graphic novel, regardless of their chosen style, should put in lots and lots of hours of drawing nude models in dynamic poses. Find an artists co-op in your area that meets regularly with life models and practice, practice, practice.

If you don't mind giving you tips from my experience after 20+ years drawing, i'll bullet list it and you're welcome to add-on or change anything. I'll give you my own tl;dr at the end.

1. purchase this book: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376710571&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+with+the+right+side+of+the+brain
   
   
2. purchase the workbook: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Workbook/dp/1585429228/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
   
   
3. Purchase a 100 page sketchbook and draw 4 things per page front and back.
   
   
4. Use real humans and reference pictures of animals to practice drawing anatomy
   
   
5. Once you go digital, get or somehow download, Paint Tool SAI
   
   
6. Play around with it, but honestly, find as many tutorials with it and keep working with it.
   
   
7. When drawing digitally, make sure you zoom out periodically to make sure your proportions are matching up
   
   
8. since you have photoshop, paint tool sai will work with it since it can save .psd files
   
   
9. tablets are amazing, I personally have a widescreen format wacom tablet
   
   
10. practice every day, as much as you can and however time will allow you, just practice, but more importantly, draw from life. Real life stuff will lend to your own personal style and you can develop it from there.
    
    
    My TL;DR
    
    I've spent my whole life drawing. I'm 30 now and my mom says when I was 3 I picked up a crayon and drew a witch and it looked like a witch. Ever since then, my family only ever bought my art supplies for birthday and christmas. I spent my younger years thinking i'd animate for Disney, then I discovered comic books. I eyeballed the characters and drew them over and over till I could draw them from memory. Eventually I was making my own.
    
    I was slatted to attend an art college out of high school, but money and family fell through and I was left, literally, heartbroken. Feeling as if I wasn't good enough, I spent the next 3 years working and not doing any art at all. Eventually I couldn't put it off any longer and I decided to start up again. Still drawing based on other artists, my style developed very slowly. I had the usual artist anger of feeling stagnant and then eventually getting over the hump.
    
    I've dabbled with online webcomics, i've made tattoos for folks, and i've done some character designs, but it wasn't until last year that I decided that I should take my love of character concept design and try and put it to use. I googled "good video game schools" after having a bad run in with art institute, and found a place here in Washington called Digipen.
    
    I was accepted and part of my summer assignment was to purchase the book "Drawing with the Right side of the brain". Honestly, i'd never been much for reading books to further my art, but considering I had to do this for my summer assignment, I did. I've been doing exactly as they instructed me, and after practicing with the portions of the head and etc, I immediately noticed a difference.
    
    http://sammiblackrabbit.deviantart.com/art/Riverwind-comparison-390032834
    
    the right side is a sketch I did the night before. The left side is one I did the next day. I was floored by the improvement. I know my style isn't what some like, but for me I felt 100x better with my progress and that was just a single night.
    
    Working with this book has been so inspiring to me and so amazing.
    
    I will say that I too had started out with pen and paper and hesitantly moved to digital, but paint tool sai makes it so easy to sketch, line and color all in the same place. Tablets make it that much more joyful and I feel like i'm unlimited in my creativity when I work digitally.
    
    I hope some of this helps, and I hope you find your groove :)

This is the book we used in High School way back when. Others have also told me to get it when I asked about getting back into drawing.

I am sure others in here will have way more experience with this stuff than me though.

Don't be intimidated by the tough to draw parts. Try drawing the contours of the ear, and the fine details in the eyes and face. The worst thing that can happen is you'll see the mistakes, and gradually learn how to do it better next time. If you want to improve , just keep practicing and check out some books like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It has some outdated psuedo-science to it, but the exercises can really help you learn some of the basic skills essential for portraits, and you've already finished step 1 of the book the self portrait.

The proportions are perfect. Probably because it was traced, but the drawing lacks soul. The contrasts are off. The line quality is poor. All in all it probably still took you a long time and the practice will pay off down the road.

I suggest paying more attention to the subtle changes to the contour of your subject. A great drawing or painting also has good contrast transitions aka shading. Pay very close attention to the transitions from light to dark... especially subtle transitions.

Keep practicing my friend. This painting was only a stepping stone.

A great book that helped me a bit is Drawing with the right side of your brain.. Give it a read over and then get back to drawing. :]

Só precisas de uma coisa. Este livro: Drawing with the Right Side of the Brain



Lê umas críticas e vais perceber.

Last year I hated drawing realistic, until I read the book Drawing on the right side of the brain. (You can easily find the PDF online)
With simple drawing exercises you can really improve the way you see things and then draw them. I think it helped a lot of people at different stages of their art.
When I tried it there was a self portrait you draw at the beginning and the same at the end and you can see a real progress. Try it on, invest some time and show us the difference.

Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain

If you're just starting out, I would suggest 2 things. First, go through Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It will get you going quickly.

Second, learn to critique your work. You can't fix what you don't know is wrong. It's a simple, but not easy thing to do. Every time you do something, when you're done look at it and honestly answer 3 questions, how do you feel about the piece overall, what do you like, and what could you improve on. The most common mistake I see people make is to make excuses for things they don't like. If you can see it and it bothers you, it will bother someone else.

There are a number of other things that you can do to help, but starting with a good foundation and a comfort with self critique will get you far.

if you're interested in taking some time to read a book and maybe buying a few art supplies. "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" a book by Betty Edwards is pretty amazing for improving your drawing technique by leaps and bounds(from personal experiance). You can find it on Amazon.Link

Definitely skip 2D CAD. 2D CAD is just a way of automating drawing by hand.

Go with 3D. With 3D you actually build the part virtually and catch all the interferences, check fits, evaluate clearances, etc. I don't know about SketchUp but all of the commercial packages can generate 2D drawings from the 3D models automatically.

Also, regarding artistic skills, get the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Even if you just spend a tiny bit of time working through a few of the chapters it will radically improve your ability to draw what you see/imagine. The book is geared towards artistic drawing but I am an engineer and the book helped my sketching/drawing skills tremendously See this comment

Also, if you aren't already familiar with the basics of drafting I highly recommend the book "Freehand Sketching for Computer-Aided Design and Engineering Graphics".

TL;DR: skip 2D (AutoCAD, DraftSight) go with 3D (SketchUp, Inventor) get some books

I'm not far from your age, and while I've been drawing off and on almost my whole life I've only recently been getting serious about improving. I'll share some things that have helped me.

One book I'd recommend you buy above all others is Drawing on the Right side of the Brain - Betty Edwards. It's good even if you have never drawn before. Cartoons are a stylization of a person, so its good to study and draw people. If money is a factor, Andrew Loomis ebooks are free. Fun With a Pencil in particular has stuff thats good for cartoons.

Communities such as here and /r/LearnArt are good to get critique and to get help if you can't see where you are going wrong. If you are dry for ideas there is also /r/SketchDaily and /r/DailyDraw.

Youtube is an awesome resource. Proko did a good series on the Loomis method for drawing a head and its features. Will Terrell is one i found recently that's fun to watch, does a lot of cartoon/caricature and comic stuff.

The only way to improve is to practice. Get you a sketchbook and a some pencils. Don't worry about making every page a masterpeice. Beat that thing up, doodle, draw whatever in it. If you mess up, just flip to the next page. Draw draw draw! Things that catch your eye, old comic super heroes, Bugs Bunny, anything really. Draw as often as you can, I'd say an hour a day if that's possible with job and family. If not, just whenever you got some time. If time and money allow, take a class if you can.

Don't be afraid to use references. The mind can't remember every detail about everything. Even masters use them.

Are you a reader? Check out Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I know it may seem silly, reading a book about drawing, but the approach they take is that really a "lack of drawing skill" is an issue with perception. Something else you can work through are the Loomis books. There are .pdfs of them to be found here. I've just been reading and plugging away at the examples in the books, picking up tips and tricks along the way.

SUBREDDITS: Even if it's just to see someone else's work and be inspired, pick up techniques. /r/drawing is great to see a lot of pencil stuff. Also, they have a whole sidebar of resources. /r/redditgetsdrawn may be one of the best modded and fun subreddits there are. You get to see so many different styles, and now they just launched /r/watchredditgetsdrawn for time-lapse videos of some process. Most of these are digital paintings, but you still pick up tips and tricks. But on RGB, all skill levels are welcome, there is no down vote button, and people are very positive and willing to critique. Plus, you get a some interesting things to attempt to draw, generally people, but some of the submissions are fun. I actually created an "art" multi reddit that contains:/r/doodles, /r/drawing, /r/drawings, /r/Illustration, /r/learnart, /r/redditgetsdrawn, /r/SketchDaily, /r/Sketching, /r/watchredditgetsdrawn. Don't be afraid to put your stuff out there. Eyes on something with tips and helpful critique will go a long way.

And lastly, break yourself of this notion that drawing is a magical skill or talent that some people possess and others don't. Very few people are able to free draw something straight from memory, and if they do, they likely practiced that form many times before they could do it. Practice, practice, practice and have fun. Don't be afraid to use trace paper to fix a first version, don't be afraid to experiment. Watch any drawing video you can and look at as many drawings as you can.

I recently started about a month ago of wanting to learn how to draw and have found the above super helpful. The amount of improvement I've seen in just a few weeks from a lot of the above is so encouraging. My trade is motion design, and I can't wait to see how learning a new technique or skill will shape the way my work comes out. Don't get discouraged, it will feel hard at times, and it will feel like work. Make a habit of sketching or drawing something daily, even if it's just an artists mannequin. With pencil, realize almost as much erasing goes into a drawing as lead does.

Enjoy the journey.

Can I recommend "Drawing on the right side of the brain" by Betty Edwards? The neurological stuff is a bit washy but the overall concepts and teaching to draw what you see are the most valuable thing I have found for general drawing skills.

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406140554&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain

It will take you a long way in a short space of time.

I am by no means an expert, been drawing for six months definitely still a noob but this is the only book I've ever read http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585429201 and I highly recommend it.

It doesn't teach you how to draw, it teaches you how to see, and how to trigger the right side of your brain. Which is life changing and can be used to learn things like mediation, or yoga as it is such a great release.

When the right side of my brain is operating I get into this amazing zone where I can see life in a completely different way. It's hard to stay in this zone but when I'm in it time passes by unknowingly, the music I'm listening fads away and I'm completely grounded. In this zone I can see every facet of someone's face, and understand how lines bend, curve, and contract.


This is when my drawing comes to life, and I'm actually drawing what I am seeing. Unfortunately in the beginning and even now I can only stay in zone for short periods, but the more I practice the longer it stays and the easier it is to trigger.

I learn how to draw by trying to draw what I see then if I get stuck I look at everyone else's work to see how they saw it and compare the two.

For example that one chick who posted "I was told to post my mug here." The bridge of her nose was immensely hard to draw and also for me to understand what I was actually seeing there. If you go through you'll see some artists got it right while others changed the pose, or how it looked.

Or artectors post I saw it and just started drawing all those amazing shapes in the shadows of his face. I never finished it http://i.imgur.com/tdVRMXg.jpg but I learned a tremendous amount from it. Like the top right curve of his check starts the curve down to the chin. Or the right side shadow at the end of the mouth not only curves up but outlines the cheek and the smile. Now I can see that in other drawings I can't really draw it yet but that will come with practice.


So for me I'm learning to see first then the technical part of actually putting that on paper will come after that. I hope this helps.

Also I feel obligated to say I just got out of a bubble bath, I'm in a robe and bette mildler song came on my mp3 player while writing this . So it might explain all the feels. Lol


Oh and here's my first drawing like six months ago of the wifey http://i.imgur.com/sAbnfpX.jpg BOOM!


~Eric

What are good starting points?

I just got a Surface Pro 4 a while ago and the pen that comes with it has really got me interested in drawing. It's something I've always wanted to do, but thought I never could do. With the Surface though, I could make as many mistakes as I want (and learn from them) without having to start from scratch or need fresh supplies constantly.

I'd absolutely love to draw or paint a portrait of someone, for starters, but the problem is I have absolutely no idea where to start. There's just so much out there to pick and choose from. Any ideas?

I've heard the book Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain is good, but there's just so many resources out there it's a little overwhelming.

The next hobby I spend the most time on after knitting would be (pencil) drawing. It's a cheap hobby, won't take up space, and at least for me it's meditative in the sense that after a few minutes I get into a deeply concentrated state, where time flies and all other thoughts get blocked out - it's just shapes and shades.

I never thought I knew how to draw, or that I'd be good at it, so I got a book. I went through (an older version of) this book, and honestly - it's like learning to ride a bike. At some point it just clicks, and it's a whole new world after that. Drew this a few weeks ago (from a reference photo), and that's coming from someone that maybe knew how to draw stick figures before really deciding to learn how to draw. If I can draw something that makes me go "oh wow, I managed that", so can others.

Why does this keep happening to me?

Stalkers online and IRL everywhere.

I learned with this book https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

Take the time to do each and every exercise even if it feels trivial. And it's important not to be interrupted during the exercises.

I've spent a good chunk of my life single, and I agree. It's easy to fall into a comfortable rut.

One of the things I do is try on a new hobby every three months. The current one is drawing; I picked up a copy of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the associated workbook, and some pencils and I'm working my way through the exercises. Even if I end up not sticking with it, I'll pick up a skill and--more importantly--I'm keeping my brain soft and open to new things.

I've got a long list of things I'd like to try but alas I'm a poor grad student who hasn't yet found work, so I'm kind of limited.

http://www.penciljack.com - Level up through the forums. Loston Wallace + Smitty (The Legendary Paul Smith) are frequenters. Get tips from people that know what the fuck they're talking about.

I suck at drawing, but I know the good books, and they'll likely recommend them too:

http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377364025&sr=1-1&keywords=andrew+loomis

Anything by Loomis. Steve Rude, Alex Ross, and many more see his books as integral to their artistic education.

http://www.amazon.com/Perspective-Made-Easy-Dover-Instruction/dp/0486404730/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377364049&sr=1-1&keywords=norling+perspective+made+easy

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377364114&sr=1-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain

Good luck!

RESOURCES!

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - I hear it's an awesome book. Definitely on my wishlist.

Mark Crilley - Awesome dude, and just plain fun to watch. He doesn't really go into much detail on most of the stuff he does, but it's really cool to watch his workflow. Check out his videos on perspective drawing.

Proko - In my comment above. Does really nice figure drawing stuff.

Ctrl+Paint - Mainly for digital painting, which I'm trying to get into.

Draw with Jazza - Really good illustrator. Hard to follow sometimes, though.


I'm probably forgetting a lot, but resources are everywhere! Go find em!

You should check out the book "drawing with the right side of the brain", super critically acclaimed book that is great for learning

also, yes, anyone can draw well with enough practice

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457397330&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+with+the+right+side+of+the+brain

I have seen "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" recommended a few times when this question has came up: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/

Essentially the book teaches you to draw 'what you see' and not what you know is there.

Check out a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201. You'll immediately improve as you learn things like not drawing from symbols and learning to draw what you see. Most people get stuck in the symbol drawing stage when they're in elementary school, which is why it's embarrassing to pick it back up as an adult. It'll look like a child's drawing until you learn WHY it looks that way, and learn the proper way to perceive things you're drawing. It's also extremely friendly and approachable for beginners.

Classes will not curb your individuality.

​

A lot of people have this fear. The paintings you make in class will look academic. This means other trained artists will be able to tell they were created for learning purposes. Studies have a distinct look, but many studies are revered.

​

Ultimately, classes will get you closer to your true style. All humans have an innate way we draw. Drawing with The Right Side of the Brain goes into this well. I highly suggest picking it up. It is my opinion that formal training will get you through these predictable stepping stones quicker than teaching yourself. In this way you will achieve art with individuality faster than self taught artists. Teaching yourself is a viable option. It just takes a lot longer.

​

Step one to being a good painter is learning how to draw. Pick up a sketchbook. Draw what you see very often.

I would truly start with classics of art and design:

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

https://www.amazon.com/Primer-Visual-Literacy-Donis-Dondis/dp/0262540290/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=a+primer+in+visual+literacy&qid=1550624258&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull

​

https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Perception-Elementary-Two-dimensional-Perception/dp/3721202775/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=2d+visual+perception&qid=1550624302&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull

​

https://www.amazon.com/Portfolio-Beginning-multidimensional-approach-learning/dp/1633221423/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=drawing+basics&qid=1550624463&s=books&sr=1-8

​

You basically want to dig deep into the absolute fundamentals presented in drawing and design and apply them. Think daily sketches, daily exercises in composition, life drawing, etc.

Admittedly both artistically trained and not a parent, so I don't know if this is too out of left field. Though were I to have kids, and find out they have a thing for narrative art. I'd get this book and this book off the shelf and show it to them. I wish I had these books when I was just learning how to draw.

Don't force them to do any of the lessons out of it or anything. Just keep it as a reference book for them, if they choose to want to go beyond stick figures. These two books have pretty much all the information required to render objects and people correctly, and apply that towards the conventions of comics and narrative story telling.

As an aside though, drawing in particular is a trained skill. You could learn alongside your kid if you had the time/energy.

Old skool style book: Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

This book more than any other got me to get past the brain's symbols that were getting in the way of the drawing, to see what was actually in front of me.

Then this book is made for you. Autor here focus on encouraging persons who thinks they can't draw and convince them that everyone can do it. Great book.

Good news for you:

1. You're drawing
   
   
2. You realize that you need improvements
   
   
3. This book "Drawing with the Right side of the brain" is a self paced guided method to learn drawing by un-learning what we know that's not useful. The book is inexpensive, I am sure your local library has it, or you could buy it online, no need to get the latest edition, it's a classic, so even an old edition will do the trick.
   
   
4. Keep at it.

Nice work! I love the texture of the hair.

If you want to get more realistic you'll need to start trying to draw what you see instead of what you think you see, if that makes any sense. For example, the eyes you drew are symbolic eyes, not really what eyes actually look like. They may resemble your eyes but they're missing the anatomical structures that make real eyes work.

I just picked up this book which covers pretty much exactly the problems you're having here: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201. So far I really like it and I bet you'd find it helpful.

(And if you don't want to get more realistic please ignore me! You didn't say what you were going for so I was just guessing.)

I'd definitely recommend 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards. It assumes absolutely no prior skill and focuses on showing you how to properly translate the things you see onto paper. The trick is to forget what you think you know about the things you are trying to draw - 'eyes should be an oval shape, the sides of the table should be straight' - and just draw the actual visual information you're getting.

I've recently worked through the book myself and gone from having no idea what I'm doing to having the confidence that I can become good if I keep practicing. Here's a comparison between a self-portrait I did just before going through the book and one I did three weeks later. It by no means gives you a lot of information about how to draw but it shows you how to get started and move forward with your drawing.

I highly rec. this book: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

This describes the premise of a left brain and right brain in layman's terms. For a whole book on the topic go read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It explains the idea of symbol drawing more in depth and provides a bunch of exercises to go with it. Some exercises require you to have a see-through pane (like glass). I've read that some people think it's okay to just skip them, but I did those too. You can work through the book in about a week of 2 hours each day and hugely improve your life drawing skills. You can see some before/after pictures here and I can attest you that the progress depicted is accurate.

Overall, I think that the author uses way too many words to describe the concepts presented, but there simply is no other book (I've heard of) that describes the same concepts.

This guy helped me a lot! http://www.dueysdrawings.com/drawing_tutorials.html
Drawing is one of those things that anyone can learn to do well, it's just a matter of practice and patience. But Duey's tutorials give a great run down of basic techniques to master, good tips most people starting out wouldn't think of and even gives a great list of essential materials and how to use them properly. I had been drawing for years without knowledge of all the right tools and blending with my fingers (a drawing sin as taught in school!) before I stumbled upon that site and found out that the oils on your hands are bad for the paper and to blend with tissues and blending stumps! Had always been artistic growing up but Duey honestly helped bring my work to a whole new level and made me appreciate the art form all the more. His free tutorials are definitely enough to become really good at drawing but if you want to refine or further advance your skills, he mentions a book on his site that he learnt a great deal from, which I ended up buying and definitely recommend. There's also another really good one here: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201
No matter what method or techniques works for you, the most important and also the most difficult thing is to just stick to it and keep drawing!

You can't learn to draw by wishing.
Do it by setting a goal and start to learn. Spend a few bucks and start with :
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

This is a very efficient and science based approach on how to draw. It really works very well.
Within a few sessions you will be amazed at how much better you can draw.

Just do it! :)

I cannot over stress how damned good this book is at teaching you how to 'art'
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585429201/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Do one a day and you'll be amazed at the progress you see in two weeks. You're exploring so you're gonna hit on improvement (for example in the hair I see you've attacked drawing it in three different ways).

Your eyes are too large and high up, see here](https://68.media.tumblr.com/baeae7bb0a57a3f01f6c68f1bb84faf3/tumblr_ooxwx3zTfT1tt3t2so2_500.jpg)

You could try Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Amazon link, but I recommend getting it from the library since you only need it once in your life) and Proko (linked in sidebar)

For your next drawing, try a 3/4 view!

Could be anything, but this is a pretty well known one: Link

here's my real critique if you want it: You should try studying life drawing for a while. This drawing isn't successful, for too many reasons to get into, but that's ok. Just draw something every day.

Also go to the museum or wikipedia your favorite artists, learn about them, study their careers. DRAW EVERY DAY. Take in as much about art as you can, be open to ideas in art you think are bad. I see all the time people look at Pollock and go 'thats not art, i could do that' without trying to get it at all.

that last bit has very little to do with you, except in that I think it'd help you a lot to study as much as you can and DRAW EVERY DAY.

There is this awesome book called Drawing on the right side of the brain. It's helped millions learn to draw in proportion and perspective.

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

Then there's an art appreciation book called Move Closer. It's my favorite art theory book.

http://www.amazon.com/Move-Closer-Intimate-Philosophy-Art/dp/0374527822/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369903747&sr=1-2&keywords=Move+Closer


Good luck and have fun.


Edit: just looked at your submission history, you know how to draw, u just trollin.

I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

It teaches you how to draw and how to summon the flow at will. It also reinforces that art-making is actually a learnable skill, and gives you the framework on how to approach other lines of art so that you can learn how to craft artwork in the most effective way.

Read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It may help.

Become an artist, learn to draw. It's really not that hard - this: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201
will set you on your way. This will really get you into understanding why someone would frame the way they did. You mentioned lighting 101, find someone you like as a photographer and attempt to copy their stuff. You're going to pick up the creative thing as you go along. Fake it 'til you make it-

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

This book is geared specifically towards teaching non artists to masrer drawing. It will change your game.

Only 5~ months ago did I decide to get serious about improving my art in my free time. For most of my life I only doodled occasionally. So I thought I would describe my plan of action with books and resources that I will likely be using. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My process will be basics of construction-> perspective -> figure drawing -> digital art and rendering. Approximately 45% will be improving, 45% will be doing what I want for fun and 10% will be a daily sketch(this subreddit) that takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to complete. for fun I will be doing anything from digital to water color.

Construction and perspective: First I am starting my art journey by completing draw a box . Next I will go through Marshall Vandruff's Linear Perspective Videos and Perspective Made Easy simultaneously while referencing with how to draw by Scott Robertson. Briefly I will gloss at Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or keys to drawing pulling ideas of where I might find weakness.

Figure drawing: Once those are finished, I will begin my figure drawing phase. I will move onto free proko subsided with loomis books such as this, other photo references sites like http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en and Figure Drawing: Design and Invention. I will also reference Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist and maybe more depending on my budget.

digital art and rendering: For the final stage of my journey, I will venture into ctrlpaint. Simultaneously I will be reading How to Render, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter

After that.... I don't know. We will see were I am in a year.

This book goes over the idea very very well. http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

You can find a pdf of it online, I'm sure. Good luck!

ah one more thing i would advise: those mauve areas on her dress.. don't just draw a darker shade of gray, i recommend using crossthatches or something of the sort for shading them since you want greater disparity between elements of the same object - in this case a dress. if your drawing is pure pencil then manipulating/alternating the texture is what you want to be doing.

for excellent shading drawings, check out gofu's style

as for the duration of the sitting.. i recommend reading Drawing on the right side of the brain.

If that's as far as you've got in "years" then you need to approach the craft from a different angle. Study typography (for letter structure) and architecture (for learning how to draw).

Two books worth reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

http://www.amazon.com/Keys-Drawing-Bert-Dodson/dp/0891343377/ref=pd_sim_b_5

Books, books and more books. Or courses.

I like to draw anime and I spent a few years just photocopying.
https://www.instagram.com/chrissyatsea/
The problem with that is that it made me better at copying not composing. Also I didnt like to get off my comfortable areas. I didnt know why the artist drew it like or how they did it. I just copied it. Like if you are copying a math problem you dont know what it means at all. So you need to be taught why it works like that. Unless of course you are gifted.<br /> <br /> So there is a good handful of books out there to help you with such things.<br /> <br /> The whole case on books is that if you arent a talented or gifted artist youre gonna have to do what we normies do best. Learn the fundamentals. Gifted people are gifted with the ability to just do and not know. Since we arent we start here.

Another thing to ask yourself if you arent willing to commit atleast an hour or more a day or atleast a good amount of hours a week on drawing is this: &quot;Does this just sound good or do I really want it?&quot;<br /> <br /> Here is a few books<br /> <br /> http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201<br /> http://www.amazon.com/Keys-Drawing-Bert-Dodson/dp/0891343377/ref=pd_sim_14_5/189-6540426-4014231?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;dpID=51BQ2AW%2BCWL&amp;amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR124%2C160_&amp;amp;refRID=181BN40T9TTX026F0EBF<br /> <br /> I am currently working with anatomy on George Bridgman Books.<br /> <br /> http://www.amazon.com/Constructive-Anatomy-Dover-Artists/dp/0486211045/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;dpID=51vQXcL6ZyL&amp;amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&amp;amp;refRID=13K2R2Y1Y6FZD3BJCBKK<br /> <br /> (Oh yeah try to find all the PDFS to these if you can`t afford them. I know that sounds wrong but these books are bestsellers if that makes you feel any better..)

Nice cheesy joke. You’ll fit right in.

I especially like the cool design for this sub. Don’t overthink it... I need to keep that in mind.

If you really wanna improve on the drawing to look more like Bruce lee I’d recommend one book.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

It changed my perception on drawing. Even though I’m no where close to being where I want, I believe I can make it there.

Keep going!

This is a good book:

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

It kind of teaches you to stop thinking you can't draw and just see what you see and get it on paper.

Youre not wrong, art is like anything else in life. You get out what you put in, and it helps to have a roadmap.

If youre stuck- Try this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/

It'll teach you techniques to see what youre looking at. Once youve understood that, art will seem less mystical.

Unfortunately, it wont turn you into a good artist. Next, start building up your foundation skills. Figure drawing from life by combining simple geometric shapes. Perspective. Color theory. Analyze and imitate good artists. Develop your eye with deliberate practice.

Make_lots_and_lots of game art, then look back every couple months and analyze what you need to improve.

Takes years but theres no end point so dont get hung up on being proficient. Just focus on getting better than you were yesterday. Every great artist ive known have had one similarity. They all made tons of art, ALL THE TIME for at least one period of their lives.

Sorry, that probably did come across as more rude than helpful. I don't mean to discourage, more that you're just inexperienced. Google is your friend and just searching art fundamentals and picking a topic that's interesting or appealing to you probably will get you far at this point. At this point I'd experiment and try a bunch of different stuff rather than obsess over something specific. Here are a few topics that would be worth searching out:

Perspective (thinking about creating the illusion of a 3D object in a 2D space)

Value (understanding how to use light and dark to form objects and not just draw symbols)

Color theory (What are pleasing color palettes? More advanced: how does light affect color?)

Ask if you have more specific questions and you are 100% welcome to send me PMs if you want more detailed feedback and help, but this isn't really the place to ask for an art curriculum when you can find great resources on Amazon

EDIT: I'm a little worried that you're conceptualizing "ART" in the wrong way, from reading your reply. It's not like fundamentals are something you either have or you don't have, it's about growth and learning. But there's a foundation level that needs to be built first.

Different strokes for different folks. Depending on their learning style, some love Loomis but hate Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or say Keys to Drawing didn’t help them a bit. Truth is, most artists eventually read them all and use portions from each of them.


My personal reading focused more on the philosophy of art. I wanted to learn the traits and mentality of a successful artist and why they do what they do.


Books by Steven Pressfield:
The War of Art,
Do the Work,
Turning Pro.


I also re-read The Art Spirit by Robert Henri.

The sidebar has good stuff (the Loomis books are pretty good). If you've got a little bit of money to spend, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards is fantastic.

Your best bet is to find a class. A good teacher can identify your weak spots and give you tips and exercises specifically for overcoming them.

As far as websites go, I really like wetcanvas.com for its forums. The artists there are (in general) fairly advanced and a lot of them make a living from their artwork; but they are generally supportive of beginners and will provide honest, direct, blunt critique if you ask for it.

Keep in mind that no amount of reading or video-watching or class-attending is going to make you a better draftsman. It is all about practice and identifying mistakes. Do the work, get critiques, do more work.

I have a lot of respect for this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

You would probably have an easier time if you weren't so heavy-handed with your pencil. I can see where you've dug into the paper and the marks didn't really erase. Practice making lighter marks and check out the lessons on drawabox. Another good resource to start out with is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Once you have the basics down you can look into gesture and figure drawing as well as studying anatomy.

This is where/how I learned about negative space. I learned about composition from my photography days pre-painting; mostly from Andreas Feininger and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Any kind of drawing you do is great! But if you wanted to draw in a more realistic way, take a look at the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It's for total beginners and you advance SUPER-rapidly. The neuroscience behind it is not accurate, but the exercises are really amazing. You realize that the main thing is 'seeing' better, not 'drawing' better. And you can really 'get it' pretty quickly! Just in case it's something you want to explore. :)

Reference! When drawing a character always rely on reference! No need to reinvent the character unless that's what you are going for.

Draw what you see not what you think you see. This tip is a bit more ephemeral though and ties into references. When drawing from reference really look at how each body part curves and connects. There are usually a lot of subtle curves.

Anatomy is your friend. Once you understand how anatomy works you can kinda bend it to your will. You can mold it and still have it look "right."

Other than that, to get rid of the hairy/scratchy looking lines, commit to the lines you draw. Don't constantly redraw the same line over and over trying to get it just right! (unless this is a rough sketch, then scratch away!) Usually for inking a drawing you should have a rough idea of where you want your lines to go in pencil. Practice the line you are going to draw in your head. Ghost your line a few times. And then commit and put your line on the page. Dont go so fast you cant controll the line but dont go so slow you get all the tremoprs in your hand to show up in the line.

Hmm, for other tips I wish I knew when starting, dont be afraid to reproduce someones art. Copy (do not trace) it onto the page as close in detail as you can to the original image.

Im a huge advocate of this book as well, its hugely eye opening for a beginner if you have no sort of training. It does contain lessons and requires you to have supplies on hand but its well worth the effort of going through it.

Lastly here is the first time I drew Fidget and the most recent redraw attempt! The first was when I first started drawing about two years ago. The second was about seven months ago.


P.S. Keep ALL your drawings. Whenever you feel like you are not making much progress go back and look at them. You will definately notice your progress.

Learn it :)

Drawing isn't messy. I immensely liked Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (well the half I read anyway). Super impressed by what I was able to accomplish (maybe I'll try to pick it up again). Check into welding and metal working / sculpting. The dark welding helmet only allows you to focus on the little puddle of molten metal directly in front of you; I don't think about anything else when welding. Don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't start with TIG welding.

I am not an artist, but I did want to learn to draw better. It was recommended that I read drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards. It's a pretty awesome book. I definitely enjoyed reading it, and improved my drawing considerably by working through it. I got the latest edition, but any edition should help you.

The biggest part about getting better is time. Drawing takes time. Practicing takes time. So when you start, keep at it.

Not a drawer by any means myself, but a buddy of mine learned and swears by the book Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain as a resource for people who are not 'natural' artists.

He also suggests drawing things by turning them upside down and copying them, as a way to force an emphasis on mechanics and technique by drawing something unfamiliar.

20 y.o. Here's a bit of mine

Make money- I want to open a surf shop in the town I grew up in. I want to be my own boss so I'm taking business courses and I'm trying to learn how to make my own clothes. I worked at a place on the boardwalk this summer and I had a chance to print t-shirts and see the process of the business. It's really not that hard and I think I can handle the business part of it. There's probably not a lot of money in it, but in the off season, I figure I can do something else to make money.

Keep in shape- Sorry man, but I don't think you can count going to the gym as a hobby. It should be more of an obligation really. You should enjoy it, but because of the good that you are doing for your body. Find a sport to play there's so many I'm sure you'll find one. Who cares if you suck, you will find people your level. I've been a tennis player pretty much all my life. It's a great sport and you only need a few things to have a great time. A racket, a couple balls, and a partner! I work at tennis courts in my town too and I see people in their 80's still playing! And like a bunch of other sports I'm sure, you can take lessons to get better! The gym is great exercise, but you should really try to get the thrill and competition of a sport.

Creative- This is my favorite one. Over the last year or so I've been going crazy trying out new ways to express myself and it's honestly the most fun trying to tap into it. I like music a lot. I spend a few hours a week just looking for new music. All kinds, have an open mind to new things! Then last january I said fuck it and bought a guitar. There's a bunch of free opportunities to learn to play whether its from a friend or online. This is the site I've been using and I'm not great or anything, but being able to (somewhat) recreate some sounds from my favorite bands is so satisfying. I've also started to take up drawing. This is the one that's most difficult for me because I was always aweful, but I bought a book to teach me. I've realized you're going to need a lot of help if you want to learn or do something. And that's ok! I've been taking videos and playing around a bit with some old editing software I got a few years back. Unfortunately this hobby is halted, since my video camera was confiscated at a concert :( Also, I'm not really sure which category this fits into, but I've taken an interest in cooking as well. Nothing crazy, but I can put together a few decent and healthy meals. It's really rewarding making a meal for yourself. Even more-so if you share it with friends for the hell of it!

Dude start trying anything. Really anything you can think of that you are interested in. You'll realize things aren't really as hard as you think. If you aren't good at something, well that's ok too. Just find something that interest you and work towards it and slowly get better. Cut out time wasted and put it towards creating something that you can be proud of. It doesn't even have to make money.. any skills you learn will benefit you in some way, or at least give you an outlet to clear your mind. Play around with life! Test yourself and see what you can really do. I might be going a little overkill. I almost feel like I'm hitting a mid life crisis already hah but you should really experiment, it's a hell of a lot of fun. And not I'm not speaking directly to you, but generally people just need to cut out some wasted time being distracted watching tv to do something that requires thinking and action. At least substitute some tv/movie time for reading. It gets easier to find things that interest you once you get going! I'm sure you'll find something man just remember to have fun with it. Hobbies are hobbies, thats all theyre for, so don't worry if you think it might not benefit you in some way, because it will.

Edit- Formatting

That's solid for 12 man, congratulate him. And if you are thinking about encouraging this but don't know how, maybe consider getting him some books to study if he wants to be harcore.

...Now, you draw one so we can power rank your skills.

I think you did a pretty solid job on both images, especially the dancer one. I would recommend that you use more really dark blacks in small amounts just to create more contrast. Also, more gradual and soft blending (try a blending stump) although much of gradual blending takes practice. When I took Drawing I, I read this book...

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

and it is truly amazing. It makes you think about drawing and seeing the world around you differently. If you are serious about drawing I would definitely read it.

Good work and good luck!

Keep working on it. You have a sense for humor and timing that is deserving of the effort to refine not only it, but your art as well.

Some books that may interest you:

• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards - This is handy as an inspiring introduction to the mental perspective of art, ie how to draw what you see and not what you think you see.
  
  
• How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema - There are hundreds of lousy books with instructions on how to draw cartoon characters. This isn't one of them. This is a breakdown of how comic art is formed, from the elements of illustration to the basics of composition, all packaged in a format to be enticing to novice artists who happen to be comic fans.
  
  
• Perspective! for Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea - A straightforward guide on how to represent perspective in illustration, with lots of supplementary explanation and art, in an amusing comic format.
  
  

Here you go this is an incredible book.

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

http://www.welcometopixelton.com/downloads/Animation%20by%20Preston%20Blair.pdf

warning: long post incoming

tell your son that he is at the best possible age to pick up drawing. if he draws a lot now and keeps it up for the next several years he'll eventually become good. by the time he's out of high school he could be almost pro depending on how his artistic pursuit goes.

every single artist, even those with natural talent, started off from the same place. it takes a very long time and a lot of bad drawings to get to a place where your art "looks right".

"how to draw books" are largely crappy because they tell you "copy this" without actually teaching you the basic fundamentals that all artists have to learn. there are very good books out there but you have to talk to actual artists/be part of actual art communities to really learn about them.

honestly, the most important thing at this stage for your son is for him to learn not to be too hypercritical of whatever he does and for him to have fun drawing. i can't stress the "fun" part enough. of course this is probably hard for him to do at this point because he's a kid and kids get frustrated pretty easily, but keep encouraging him.

one thing that might be helpful is showing him "here and then" comparisons which show that artists get a lot better over time. i could give you some examples if you want, from my own art even.

while the main thing is just for your son to learn to have fun and keep drawing, i suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to post a couple of the resources i've amassed over the years. However I cannot stress enough that no book, video, tutorial, or whatever can substitute the hours and hours of drawing that are required to get better. again, the most important thing is for your son to draw a lot. the rest will come with time.

another thing to keep in mind is that everyone is different, there are many ways to learn art and everyone learns better through different ways. some artists mostly just copied other people's art to learn, others did detailed focused studies of art fundamentals, some used tracing as a learning tool (not to claim the art as their own). there are many different ways and techniques that are all basically rooted in the same fundamentals. i'd say it's most important right now for your son to try a bunch of stuff out and see what helps him the most. there is no "best way".

with that said...

http://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/

this is a site focused on digital painting primarily but there are a lot of videos about basic drawing techniques and a lot about the struggles/psychology of art. this is a good place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5dyu9y0EV0cSvGtbBtHw_w

this is one of the best youtube art channels around. these [are] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck4NuQWZ-kk&list=UU5dyu9y0EV0cSvGtbBtHw_w) some good videos to get you started out.

http://funkymonkey1945.deviantart.com/

this guy is a phenomenal artist and has tons of amazing tutorials/breakdowns on his page. give it a look, you can try and ask him for advice yourself if you want. he's a super nice guy so if you ask politely for advice i'm sure he can give you better direction than i could.

books that i think would be the most useful/important for a beginner:

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain don't pay too much attention to the "science" in this book, it's the drawing exercises that you really want. it will teach your son to draw what he sees much more accurately.

Fun With a Pencil Andrew Loomis is renowned for being a really good art instructor. any of his books are worth owning but for your son i'd recommend starting with this.

Vilppu Drawing Manual In terms of introducing a beginner to basic artistic fundamentals (especially form) this is the best book i've found so far.


i apologize for the long post, but this is a topic i'm pretty passionate about. if you want more help, guidance or resources you can feel free to pm me and i'll help you to the best of my ability.

This book has helped a lot of people improve their drawing skills by quite a bit. My middle school art teacher ran us through something similar.

A set of before and after examples

Try Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

This is worth working on, starting from scratch if you have to.

Unfortunately you can’t go tell your parents/caretakers/teachers to spend more time working on your hand-eye coordination at age like 2–10. That would have saved you a lot of trouble. But it’s never too late to start practicing.

Perhaps start with https://amzn.com/1585429201

You might also find this book inspiring, https://amzn.com/1626541841 if you aren’t so excited about drawing per se.

You can also find various books for adults about teaching yourself to write in italic script (or pick your favorite alternative cursive-like script). Consider picking up a cheap fountain pen – these teach better habits than ballpoint pens or pencils.

The good news is that if you actually consistently practice a bit every day, you will be able to improve pretty rapidly (possibly after getting over an initial hump), and the progress is quite visible/tangible.

I have handwriting and drawing skills that are average-ish but I’m not super happy with them. I’m looking forward to having some time to practice with my (currently <2 year old) kid when he gets to be a few years older.

Wow thats awesome! I would love to see a pic man. Can i ask you, what version of the book did you get? is it The 4th edition?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585429201?pc_redir=1396580466&robot_redir=1

Drawing is all about regular practice, I used to be terrible at it, but after an absurd amount of practice I'm halfway decent in general and actually pretty good at my favorite kind.

This is the best book I've found for people who want to learn to draw.

If you mean artistically creative, then learn to draw. This book will be helpful if you don't know where to start:

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Older editions are good. To learn to draw figures well, you will need to take life classes and study basic anatomy.

If you’re still interested in improving your portrait skills I’d recommend you to get the book called “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”

Here’s the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1585429201?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

This can't be considered "finished" by the realism standards, you should consider filling the contours with pencil, even if lightly, and if you still have your reference, try to look a little more at it, see how light and shadow behave on its surface.
Realism/drawing from life is mainly observation, would be great if you read some books on the subject. keys to drawing and drawing on the right side of the brain are a good place to start. They may help you learn how to hold the pencil correctly, measure effectively, also may show the basics of light and shadow, and perspective.

blog answer:

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

my favorite pen: homemade quill

If you are interested in learning to draw, I can only recommend one book. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

I used this book and realized that I could draw, which I had no idea I could do since I only was able to draw stick figures before.

You can most definitely train those things. Drawing a lot (a lot) helps. Talent is a significant factor in art, sadly, but it doesn't mean you can't learn how to draw well. You just won't be Salvador Dali at age 5, well, neither was he. Some artists were early prodigies, some weren't.

But, seriously, muscle control and visual thinking are trainable. The whole problem with this "talent" stuff is people start thinking it isn't just because they weren't born with it.

Look at http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

I see you have a good start to what could become a great passion for you. I personally love drawing and I think this book could be just what you need to teach you how to REALLY see things. There are things in the book that regular drawing teachers don't tell you how to actually visualize things. If you actually read it and do all the exercises I think you will find it very helpful! I did. :)
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

[for drawing] (https://www.amazon.ca/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504842367&sr=1-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain)

[for animation] (https://www.amazon.ca/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Formulas/dp/0571202284)

are you looking to get into 2d or 3d animation?

That's not terrbible.

This book helped me a lot.

This is apparently amazing: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449621843&sr=8-1&keywords=betty+edwards

I'm going to suggest a book I found very helpful when I was learning how to draw - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. While some of the "neuroscience" may be a bit out of date, it is an excellent introduction to learning how to draw what you are actually SEEING as opposed to what some mental construct tells you you are seeing. This is a critical key to life drawing and to seeing that it is a skill that can be learned just like any other skill, with practice.

tldr for http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

I absolutely LOVE seeing aspiring artists :)

I will say the same thing to everyone who is at this point who is truly serious about improving their artwork. I suggest picking up the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards.

It's a 1 week, 4-8 hour a day book that will teach you how to see your art in a better light, and I think it will be much more useful to you than anything I could say about your work. (If you put up with the psuedoscience in the book, it's very worth it :)

So, I'll give some advice that will help after you've read it, just so I'm not leaving you dry with only a book, but I cannot stress this enough, don't do anything else until you read this book!

-----------

From a compositional standpoint, I love it. It shows character with the pose that he has, having a large sword, not wearing anything, giant demonic wings.

From the larger perspective, you have everything you need, but I suggest really emphasizing a lot of the strong points here. Make the sword much larger, make his pose more exaggerated by making it look like his weight is truly shifted on one leg (Try copying the pose yourself and see what you can change. Take a picture if you have the option, even better have someone else take a picture)

Really emphasize that explosion in the background. Curve the wings more, and try to get them to flow with the pose, and really push out his casual attitude. Maybe even having the wings retracted could help in this :)

These are all fairly minor things in the grand scheme. I love it, so please, please keep going forward! Read the book, and what I say will make more sense. If you need any help understanding the concepts behind this stuff, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction. I really hope to see where you go with this!

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

This one's a bit wordy but it's more about teaching you how to learn to draw instead of how to draw, if that makes any sense.

http://www.amazon.ca/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

This is a great place to start.

>I've been around MFA on and off since 2011 and noticed that a common problem still crops up in threads all the time: people get bored with a basic or formulaic way of dressing and don't know what to do next.
>
>I've begun writing on this topic privately for some friends, and wanted to see if there were others on /r/MFA who also wish to reach the point at which they can confidently understand how to dress in more complex ways than the typical uniform. A lot of times the advice is "lurk SuperFuture or Styleforum," which, while helpful, is not directly instructive and requires a ton of time, absorption, and wading through less-than-useful threads to progress.
>
>My method to get you past the MFA uniform doldrums is based on Betty Edwards' bestselling "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." Edwards' book teaches readers that drawing successfully is less a matter of mystical or innate skill, and more a matter of learning to really see what is in front of you.
>
>Usually, those who don't know how to 'see' will pull from a library of visual symbols learned in childhood, when drawing: a football shape with a dot in the middle is an eye; a square with a triangle on top represents a house. Obviously, drawing these things don't capture the accuracy of this eye, or this house. The symbol-library is a left-brain approach; the 'true sight' is a right-brain approach. Edwards' mission is to get inexperienced drawers to activate the malnourished right sides of their brain.
>
>Likewise, I believe that current instructive fashion material skews heavily towards the left brain. Categories like 'peacoat' and 'button-down' are delineated and form the building blocks of understanding dress. I believe this is left-brain thinking that prevents people from 'seeing' in the way Edwards describes. It is rare (from my perspective, unheard of) that anyone is taught to look at garments in an artistic sense. There is a 'you get it or you don't' mentality, and I believe it doesn't have to be this way.
>
>The writing I've done so far, and hope to delve much further into if people are interested, explains how learning to view clothing in the same way that artists view drawing will let you move beyond the MFA uniform. In addition to the explanation, I am also working on a series of exercises that will help you put this newfound understanding into practice. Whether you want to go for crazy silhouettes or stick to a warm, minimalistic look, you'll have gained a new way of seeing clothing. With that comes a new command over a language, not just that of looking good in the GQ or Esquire sense, but of self-expression.
>
>tl;dr I'm gauging interest in an eBook that will propel you out of the basic MFA uniform to dressing like your favorite Internet fashion people. If you are interested, please send a note to "post.r.mfa@gmail.com" letting me know so I can notify you when the ebook's ready.
>
>edit: This book does not supplant learning, or a natural transition into developing your eye, any more than reading and putting into practice Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain instantly makes you an accomplished artist. It is just meant to speed and smooth the transition. I also see the book not as a prescriptive guide, but an interesting new framework in which to view fashion, that will be interesting to people anywhere on the fashion experience spectrum.

I've just started learning to draw. Actually, I've always sketched a bit, but I wanted a firm foundation in drawing. I'm currently reading and doing the exercises in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201 It's been recommended by a lot of people.

It's really good, and I already see improvement in my drawing.

And read this book while you're at it (it's not just about comics but about drawing and symbols and how they work on our brains): http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-The-Invisible-Art/dp/006097625X

They look roughly like Mass effect characters though it looks like your need to practice drawing with regards to perspective such as in the Garrus drawing.

My advice: Study this book

I heard this book recommended a lot on this sub, so I picked it up the other day. Reproducing Picasso's portrait of Igor Stravinsky upside down is one of the exercises, soI figured a lot of you guys have probably done it as well.

Looks like a pretty good start to me. How did you do this? Did you copy from an image or drawing or just go from scratch?

I'll throw out a few pointers if you don't mind, but I guess you wouldn't because you asked.

When shading, me mindful of the direction of your strokes. If the thing you're shading is curved, your strokes should follow that curve. You did this well in some areas, like the largest valve coming off the heart, but you have more of a flat shade on others (like the 3 top ones), and the result is that it makes the image look flat.

Get a nice and defined outline of your heart. Typically, the edges of round objects are darker than the front so it's okay to get a nice thick line around your subject like this. Some areas, like the bottom of the heart, are too sketchy.

Maybe use more than 1 lead hardness. Use softer leads for darker lines when you need them.

Having something to complete the image would help, like a background or something.

I'm no expert, but I could never sketch all through highschool, then I went to college for architecture and we were required to read this book and it really clicked for me. That, and practicing sketching in class for a semester, and I'm no expert, but I love sketching now. Here are some sketches I've done on a recent trip to Italy.

I'd say, keep practicing and enjoy the time.

The point is to draw, it's the process, not the end.

Do this program https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201 it works, and not just for nudes! LOL

Layout + Color

Picture This by Molly Bang

Typography


Second vote for Elements of Typographic Style, excellent book.


Drawing, honestly at the start the biggest key to growth is going to be drawing as much as you can. You're going to suck for a while so start getting those bad drawings out of you. There's a ton of great people to watch on YouTube (Sycra Yasin, Glenn Vilppu, Stan Prokopenko, Steve Huston). I've seen Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain recommended by many. I'm not crazy about it myself but I didn't read as a beginner artist so I probably didn't get as much out of it as I could have.

I recommend this book. The exercises in it can be really difficult, but if you do them, you will improve.

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

you might wanna checkout these two books too while you are at it -

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition ...

You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn ... - Amazon.ca

​

good luck!

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, 100% amazing and really worth plugging through it. No need to take a class, this book really trains your brain how to look at things differently. Get some good Dixon Ticonderoga pencils to start with.

A doctor suggested this to me as a way to deal with recovering from an illness after a week stay in the hospital about 15 years ago. I can't recommend it enough.

I like the last two, I can feel the mood they're giving. First of them is quite regal, the other really into their guitar. I want to give gesture advice but let's back up.

• Practice your lines. Draw less of them, and draw them more confidently. Draw lightly to compensate. Draw straight lines for practice. Lots of them. Straight lines, curved lines, circles, ovals. Try to repeat the same line / curve / shape over and over in your practice.
  
• Drawing is about seeing. Drawing what you actually see. Our brains are damn good at simplifying. Practice drawing objects in real life.
  
• This book was invaluable to beginner me: https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/
  
  Gesture / quick drawing advice:
  
  
• Try sticking with straight lines. Short ones when you need a curve. It's easier for me and looks structured.
  
• Gestures are quick and simple but they're still 2d images pretending to be 3d. Instead of drawing a circle and a rectangle for a subject's head and body, gesture out an egg shape and a rectangle shape.
  
  Best of luck! You got this!

[Excellent book] (http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201) for quickly learning the fundamentals of drawing.

I would suggest a book to help guide you called Drawing on the Right side of the Brain.

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

You will get more in depth knowledge and ideas from this book than I can convey on Reddit.

Its been a long journey but I am definitely still learning. The book Drawing with the Left Side of the Brain has a lot of really decent activities that can get you started: https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

The problem is that it is like any other skill in that the time involved getting to a level you are happy with can take a LOT of time and forces you to neglect other things you could be doing with your time.

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487777403&sr=8-1&keywords=drawing+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain

An absolute must have book for every artist. I wouldn't trade this one book for an entire year of art school, it's that good and it's that helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GEZP1G/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2FQ5GG01HBOZ1

I'm in love with the tri-grip design of these pencils! Comes with sharpener and eraser, now just snag a Strathmore sketch book and boom you're all set!

Just always remember a few things. It's not about the product it's about the process, meaning have fun with it and don't worry so much about how it'll turn out. Don't let anybody discourage you, especially yourself! You obviously have a passion for this, I think all you need is the right tools and a push in the right direction and you'll just take off. Draw everyday, draw everyway. Art is simply a way to communicate feelings and perceptions when words simply won't suffice.

As far as this particular sketch goes. It really isn't that bad and there is no right or wrong answers, it's all about what you want to do better. The only thing I would have done differently is turned the entire face about fifteen to thirty degrees to the left and I would have chosen a light source from the very beginning before I even begin to draw the subject. Yeah for some reason humans are the most difficult thing for us to draw and paint. Which is way it's such a good place to start!

Personally, I'm more of a learn-by-doing person. I would suggest looking for some local art classes. Color theory sounds like it would be the most useful thing for you.

If you do end up buying a book, try to find one that has lots of exercises, and basically treat it like a class. Don't just read all the way to the end of the book in one sitting. Read a chapter, do the exercises from the chapter, and then wait a day or two before you move on to the next chapter.

The book Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain is a good example of what you should look for. It's obviously tempting to say "I don't need to know about drawing!" when you work primarily digitally, but learning drawing really teaches you a lot about the fundamentals: perspective, composition, light and shadow, etc. To re-use my musician analogy, pretty much all composers start by learning to play an instrument (usually piano) before they start writing music. You don't need to be an expert, but it's very important to understand the fundamentals.

Oh, also apparently the same author has a book on color theory, but I haven't personally read it. Might be worth a try.

Drawing on the Right Side of The Brain

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201)! Lots of tips for improving drawing skills and portraits in particular.

Just throwing out some topic areas that have interested me lately:

• Manual metal machining (lathe/mill)
  
• Welding / brazing
  
• glass blowing / lamp work
  
• cellular automata
  
• superconductivity
  
• watchmaking / clockwork
  
• thermodynamics / entropy / heat engines
  
• common lisp
  
• turtle geometry
  
• hypnosis
  
• reading body language
  
• woodworking
  
• electroplating / electrochemical machining
  
• Bayesian probability
  
• analog translinear circuits
  
• cellular biology
  
  Things on my todo list to learn more about in the future:
  
  
• chemistry
  
• differential equations
  
• plastics
  
• knots
  
• metallurgy
  
• fractional calculus
  
• space filling curves
  
• self-assembling / self-replicating machines / structures
  
• Quines
  
• jewelry making
  
• metrology
  
• molecular biology
  
  Other things...
  
  
• regular expressions
  
• Astronomy
  
• Telescope making / optics (grinding mirrors)
  
• topology
  
• Theory of relativity
  
• ice sculptures
  
• philosophy of math, intuitionism, ultra-finitism.
  
• wood finishing
  
• switching power supply topologies
  
• bicycle making
  
• illusions / magic tricks
  
• electrophoresis
  
• social insect behavior
  
• Godel's theorem
  
• Game theory
  
• tesla coils
  
• gun smithing
  
• drawing
  
• n-body choreographies
  
  

Try the book "Drawing on the right side of the brain" by Betty Edwards. It's inexpensive and contains many exercises and techniques one would find in an entry level visual arts course.

The book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is basically exploiting the probable differences between right/left hemispheres of the brain, and cites this clinical case.

It looks like wizardry, but it really isn't. I drew like a five year old until I resolved I was going to learn how to do it. I learned "the secret", and actually lost interest because "the secret" was actually more interesting than putting in the work to getting good at it. And that's really all it takes... practice. The OP is good because the OP has practiced for a lot of hours. And that's not to diminish the OP's skill, because it is definitely an extremely skillful drawing. Only that it's not magic, it's practice. I respect the amount of work that the OP put into learning the skill.

The "secret", by the way, is that you don't learn to draw, you learn to see. When you learn to see what is really in front of you, that's when you start to draw realistically.

There are numerous books that teach you the basics, but the one I learned from was Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. (Clean amazon link).

If you look at the sample drawings from that book, it looks like magic how much improvement people go through in the first 8 weeks. It's not. If you go through the exercises, you too can destroy the sense of magic of seeing someone draw realistically. :)

Edit: Look at page 19 and 20 of the sample display. Those are actually after only 4 days.

Here is the desktop version of your link

Well, the top things that people will probably tell you to focus on are value and perspective. Probably because they tend to be the hardest things to just pick up. There are loads of places online to get help with these, many of which are probably over on the sidebar of this sub. Many people recommend Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain if you're into books. I'm not sure you'd love the exercises in there, but they're valuable.

Honestly, I think if you draw as much as possible, seek criticism of your work and use it to improve, and do it mindfully you can go pretty far.

drawing on the right side of the brain by betty edwards. excellent book.

http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

I want to start practicing, do you have any tips? I've heard good things about drawing on the right side of the brain, might try that book out.

Haha. That's a valid technique.

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

I picked up that particular book (I assume it's this one ). And I agree, it's really, really dumbed down. If you just google "how to draw anthros" or "anthro line art" you'll find plenty of free blogs and the like with just as much information as the book. It's not that the book is bad, it's just not worth what I paid for it.

/u/jackiebird has some great suggestions, but I'd also like to add Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It's not specific to anthro drawing, but gives a LOT of good concepts to build a foundation. It focuses primarily on how to get into the proper mindset for drawing and it really helped me get started (even though I still have a lot of practice ahead). It's targeted specifically at beginners.

mis-remembered

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Look into Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain. It actually addresses your complaints, which from what I can tell, Art Fundamentals does not.

I see a lot of improvement and you should be proud of yourself.

As for suggestions, at this point the most important thing for you to do is to keep getting the mileage down. I know that's not what you want to hear, but drawing every day and drawing a wide variety of subjects will objectively be the key ingredient to moving forward.

If you want a more specific critique, I think your edges need work. You're doing a lot of line petting, which shows a lack of confidence when you lay down marks. This is completely normal and will go away with time, but training yourself to lay down confident lines will help sharpen a number of skills in ways you wouldn't expect.

I tend to advocate this book frequently, but I would really recommend picking up Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. You can find a used copy relatively cheap, and there is a library's worth of valuable information inside. The book is highly focused on stepping away from "symbolic drawing," and actually drawing what you see - and while you are clearly past that point now, she thoroughly covers a ton of different subjects and exercises, many of which I think you could still learn a lot from.

One last bit of advice: you should consider working on studies. A study is a drawing you approach with a specific learning experience in mind. For example, you could potentially benefit from putting some time into a value study - that is to say, a drawing where you put the most energy into making sure your darks and lights are as close to the reference image as possible. Print out a simple black and white picture, then do your best to recreate what you see accurately by comparing them as you go.

Good luck, keep drawing!

Check out Drawing on the right side of the brain http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

It really helped me.