geting more serious about drawing need help with info

[creeptool]

I wanna take art more series..and work on my weakness which is eye and hand coordination and learning basic shapes and draw them in shadow...i'm guessing i need to studdy still life and draw people at coffee shops and stuff.

my problem is I only have $250 bucks and i have no idea what kind of art supplies i need or how much i need for still life drawing and drawing peopel at coffy shops...i wanna make a cheap shadow box or still life box and i need lapmps and stuff...i rilly dont know what i need lol...is a pocket size sketchbook good for drawing peopel at coffy shops lol pleas help i need info...what have i got myself into lol.

[TinyBird]

I notice that your last art post in your Sketchbook is from July 2011.
Honestly you can do a lot with a box of charcoal/graphite pens, a cheap lamp and draw stuff you have in your house.

[creeptool]

I notice that your last art post in your Sketchbook is from July 2011.
Honestly you can do a lot with a box of charcoal/graphite pens, a cheap lamp and draw stuff you have in your house.

hello yes it's been awhile since last I posted anything in my sketchbook i'm hoping that will change... now if i can only find my scanner lol.

[TinyBird]

hello yes it's been awhile since last I posted anything in my sketchbook i'm hoping that will change... now if i can only find my scanner lol.

Well, I hope that you have at least been drawing during this time?

[cro-magnon]

you need a surface, a medium, and friction. i hope you find them.

[creeptool]

Well, I hope that you have at least been drawing during this time?

i draw every so often.

[JeffX99]

Send me your $250...I'll send a kit.

[JeffX99]

you need a surface, a medium, and friction. i hope you find them.

That's what I tell the wife! *Budum-Tsssssshhhh...* Thank you...I'll be here all week!

[vineris]

You only need some paper, a pencil and an eraser. Especially for sketching people in coffee shops or on the bus -- the less equipment you use, the less you have to carry and the smaller the chance that you'll lose something or forget it somewhere. I usually use a plain 8x5" sketchbook (right now it's a cheap blank notebook with thin paper), a mechanical pencil, a white vinyl eraser and some technical drafting pens for inking.

[GuruGaia]

I made a shadow box out of cardboard and it worked well enough (basically free). Then I bought some alzo bulbs from amazon that simulated natural light 5500 K. Not perfect but a lot better then normal bulbs and I got 4 for about 20 bucks. I put one in an adjustable desk lamp and another in one of those aluminum light reflectors found at the hardware store for less then 10 bucks. All together its maybe 30 bucks. Then just use pencils and paper because you probably already have it, does not really matter what size. But it would be good to have some larger and some smaller paper to handle any situation. As you run out or your desire to try new things grows then buy a little bit and test it out, if you like it buy more. No need to stockpile supplies and waste money on thing you might not ever use. Good luck.

[creeptool]

Send me your $250...I'll send a kit.

sounds like a great transaction but before anything i have a bridge to sell to you lol

[creeptool]

I made a shadow box out of cardboard and it worked well enough (basically free). Then I bought some alzo bulbs from amazon that simulated natural light 5500 K. Not perfect but a lot better then normal bulbs and I got 4 for about 20 bucks. I put one in an adjustable desk lamp and another in one of those aluminum light reflectors found at the hardware store for less then 10 bucks. All together its maybe 30 bucks. Then just use pencils and paper because you probably already have it, does not really matter what size. But it would be good to have some larger and some smaller paper to handle any situation. As you run out or your desire to try new things grows then buy a little bit and test it out, if you like it buy more. No need to stockpile supplies and waste money on thing you might not ever use. Good luck.

thanks for the info about the alzo bulbs i'll check it out on amazon.

[creeptool]

i don't wanna half ass it with art supplies they don't have to be name brand or great...the last thing i want is not having the right stuff and being uncomfortable...do you think i should invest in a easel and if so what type?

[OmenSpirits]

Photocopy paper, a bag of cheap BIC pens, and 10,000 hours of drawing with an eye towards analyzing, understanding, and questioning why this looks like this and why does the shadow look like that, and reading art history books and mags and journals to increase your understanding of your desired craft.

Learning to draw is not only about siting down and drawing.

[JeffX99]

sounds like a great transaction but before anything i have a bridge to sell to you lol

Thanks for the offer but it's probably a bridge I already own!

If you really want to spend your money...I would say the half french easel is by far the most versatile thing you can own. Use it for drawing, painting, packing around, as a tabletop easel, etc. Get a large drawing clip-board and large pad of paper, both newsprint and sketch/drawing...a good selection of graphite, charcoal, chamois, some erasers a decent sized sketchbook and a handy box to carry your supplies. Good to go.

[creeptool]

Thanks for the offer but it's probably a bridge I already own!

If you really want to spend your money...I would say the half french easel is by far the most versatile thing you can own. Use it for drawing, painting, packing around, as a tabletop easel, etc. Get a large drawing clip-board and large pad of paper, both newsprint and sketch/drawing...a good selection of graphite, charcoal, chamois, some erasers a decent sized sketchbook and a handy box to carry your supplies. Good to go.

i was kind of playing devil's advocate with you nothing serious lol...thanks for the info

[sone_one]

just get drawing... and try to find your way around that whole drawing issue.

if it would be as easy, to possibly beeing spoonfed, dont you think less people would struggle with it?

[edit] its not an equipment issue neither....

[Arshes Nei]

i draw every so often.

Buy a scanner and post more often then?

It's kinda hard to tell you what you need on one level, it's like "Where's a great place to eat around here" without knowing your locale or what the hell you like to eat.

You have 250 now, well here...about 50 bucks new
http://amzn.com/B003VQR1UC

Post more then show us how serious you are. Then people can get an idea of where you're going, what you're doing and make more recommendations.

[Amarok]

It's not about what you use as much as it is about what you do. Honestly you can go a long way just using supplies you already have or really cheap ones (pencils + paper = ???)


(That said, every time someone draws on lined notebook paper, an angel loses its wings.)

[blogmatix]

Photocopy paper, a bag of cheap BIC pens, and 10,000 hours of drawing with an eye towards analyzing, understanding, and questioning why this looks like this and why does the shadow look like that, and reading art history books and mags and journals to increase your understanding of your desired craft.

Learning to draw is not only about siting down and drawing.

Yup. A clipboard for the photocopy paper also comes in handy. I was lucky enough to get hold of a small, size A5 one, so I cut the paper sheets in half. Works very well when sketching out in public, or, even more importantly, in boring meetings when I want to draw while pretending I am actually following whatever they are prattling on about. I don't even need to buy photocopy paper, because at work there's always scrap paper lying around, and the fact that one side has whatever printed on it does not prevent me from using the other side for drawing. I consider the huge amount of paper wasted by the average work place a boon.

Total costs of my drawing equipment: perhaps about R20 or so. That comes to about US$3.

Now I just need to find the time for the damn 10 000 hours... :-)

[JeffX99]

Hmmm...that's awfully small to be working blogmatix, imho - sure ok for meetings, doodles, working at a coffee shop. But in general you want to work larger and standing at an easel. The freedom of movement, drawing from the shoulder, paper set in the picture plane, etc. are all important factors in learning to see and draw well.

[thedeo85]

Well I work in a call center environment as a customer support rep and this gives me plenty of down time when I'm not working on a case. Due to this down time I have a notebook in front of me at all times and my bic pen arms reach. The best thing I can say about my job is how it allows me to have all this empty time to fill up with sketching. Practice makes perfect and its nice to have time to practice.

If you want to get good and are on a budget then it comes down to needing something to draw on, something to draw with, and subject matter to draw. You can get all of these things vary cheep to free thanks to the market today. I personally use a notebook / Bic Pen / and anything on my desk, out my window, or in google images search...

When you get right down to it you need practice and you need to read about your medium to learn about not only how something works but why it works that way. It's pretty tough to draw a human in any pose with any kind of cloths on if you don't understand how the body moves, what it looks like in that pose, how fabric moves, and how light plays on the surface of objects.

Sure there are LOTS of books out there and in these forms there are TONES of reference material that has all ready been sited by other artist so you know it must be half decent. I learned the most important skill when it comes to art no matter your medium is the ability to stick to it. If you do it only every once in a while in a blue moon then congrats your progression will grow vary slowly if even at all. Pick the medium you enjoy the most and work at it and research it.

[creeptool]

thank to everyone who replied to my post you've been helpful.

[blogmatix]

Hmmm...that's awfully small to be working blogmatix, imho - sure ok for meetings, doodles, working at a coffee shop. But in general you want to work larger and standing at an easel. The freedom of movement, drawing from the shoulder, paper set in the picture plane, etc. are all important factors in learning to see and draw well.

I suppose that's true. But I have never really had room for an easel and have little choice but to draw at a desk. I do sometimes use a small desk easel, because I find that it does help quite a bit to have the subject and the drawing in the same line of sight, rather than having to look up at the subject and then down at the drawing. But it's hell on my arm, which tires after ten minutes. I'll never make a good conductor. :-)

I guess I'm forced to be a Renaissance man... :-)

[Crane]

Well I think the most important thing is both entirely free and the hardest to obtain, and thats unrelenting dedication.

[jackthesketcher]

That's what I tell the wife! *Budum-Tsssssshhhh...* Thank you...I'll be here all week!

Oh god this comment made me lose it XD
am i really that immature.