new to art, need advice

[SuperN00b]

hi guys I just got photoshop and I'm starting to draw. I don' think my art is too bad but I wish I can improve .Please let me know how I can become professional the fastest way possible. Tel me which tutorial I should find to become awesome very quickly, thanks!

Also, can someone please help me with my brush. I don't know how to change its setting so it isn't always very fuzzy.

I also need a tablet. I try drawing with mouse but I looked inline and it seems that everyone use a tablet. Please point me to the right place of this forum if there are info on this. Thanks!

[Elwell]

hi guys I just got photoshop and I'm starting to draw. I don' think my art is too bad but I wish I can improve .Please let me know how I can become professional the fastest way possible.

Put aside Photoshop, don't worry about brush settings or getting a tablet for now, get a big stack of paper and some pencils, and draw.

[Mrianna]

To expand on what Elwell said: Starting with pencils and paper is the best way to start, it's cheaper than getting a tablet, and it works just as well. it's also a lot more portable than a tablet so you can take it anywhere and draw draw draw which is what you really need to do to get better. Draw everything around you. Draw things not around you just to practice and have fun. After awhile start studying shapes and form and how shadows work, and how colour works with shadows and highlights and all that good stuff. It's hard, but if you keep with it it can be very rewarding.

[SuperN00b]

Huh wouldn't I improve faster with more advanced tools, like Photoshop?

[Elwell]

No, you won't. Photoshop isn't more "advanced" when it comes to drawing, just more complicated. Right now you need to work on getting your brain to understand what your eyes are seeing, and getting your hand to make the marks you want it to make. And for that, nothing beats pencil and paper. All the digital bells and whistles in the world wont help you if you can't draw.

[SuperN00b]

Okay....

[Elwell]

Why the ? You can still play with your new toy, just do the other stuff as well.

[eclip-se]

Elwell check your PM from me, thanks. And yeah boy, take the pencil, paper and draw!

[SuperN00b]

Why the ? You can still play with your new toy, just do the other stuff as well.

I'm just a bit disappointed, because it sounds like a lot of work. I thought I could just skip the paper and pencil stuff because I thought going digital would be easier and faster.

[Baron Flame]

I'm just a bit disappointed, because it sounds like a lot of work. I thought I could just skip the paper and pencil stuff because I thought going digital would be easier and faster.

Take it from me, it's neither. I had got myself a tablet in Dec 2010. I thought it'd help me out with sketching(and ZBrush, but that's a different matter). I, for a moment or two, was under the impression that I could jump onto it and adapt to it as well. What happened? I crashed and burned. I did do a bit of Zbrush work on it but after the whole 'I got a new tablet, I'm gonna get into digital art' thing got over, I was left in a bad shape. I knew what was right before but the whole 'new tablet' thing got to me somehow. I allowed it to blind me for some time. I was so disappointed with myself that I ran away from sketching and hid behind the excuse that had a lot of 3D assignments to do. 2 years onwards, my intuos4 is packed, still as good as ever and I am here (without any system(moved to Canada recently), without 3D, without any excuse) starting from scratch. Preparing to post a decent photographs(my scanner sucks) of some really basic perspective studies in my web infested sketchbook in a day or two( once I figure out how to get a acceptable photograph with a 5MP phone).

I tell this story to anyone who thinks along the same lines(and here have been a few), I might look like a loser but at least I get the point across that 'there are no shortcuts'. Grab a pencil, get yourself an A4 paper ream and start sketching.

[SuperN00b]

Here is my drawing on paper, with number 2 pencil.

[TinyBird]

I'm just a bit disappointed, because it sounds like a lot of work. I thought I could just skip the paper and pencil stuff because I thought going digital would be easier and faster.

If you're thinking art will be easy or fast or doesn't require tons of work, you're going to have a huge disappointment coming on... because like Mrianna says, draw stuff around you, real things from real life, practice constructing figures from basic shapes, perspective, figure drawing and all that to improve.
Just drawing the same animu boob girl or copying manga is not going to help you to improve very much.

Then again considering your name and that you ask for a tutorial to be awesome just makes me think you're a troll, to be honest.

[Metal Nunatak]

An important aspect to think of when drawing magna and comics is that both are simplifications of realistic/semirealistic styles, which means that you have to be able to draw and understand real human anatomy/form before you can do a good simplification of it.
But my best advice is that you do whatever you think is fun - its better to some art at all than just giving up because anatomy studies are boring.

Good luck!

[SuperN00b]

What is a good way to study human anatomy? Or is it too much for me right now? I would love to have fun but I also wants to do things that will help me improve.

I would love to practice, but I honestly don't even know where to start other than drawing anime characters because I watch a lot of anime. I thought I would do the simple cartoon style then maybe try realistic style.

I'm going to find some stuff to draw for practice. Is it okay to draw from photos, or do I have to look at real objects?

[SuperN00b]

Then again considering your name and that you ask for a tutorial to be awesome just makes me think you're a troll, to be honest.

Yes I call myself SuperN00b because I like to surprise other HALO players. I am actually very good at HALO and I am definitely not a newbie. In a way I guess you are right about me trolling the "real" n00bs on LIVE: I am a n00b but a SUPER n00b. Doesn't matter though since I got banned for other dumb stuff I did and I haven't used this name for a long time.

Just to make it clear that I'm not proud of my art at all but I know I am new to it, so if you think "super" sounds too arrogant, then I apologize but I didn't give it too much thought - it's just a name that popped into my head because I used it for a long time in a lot of games. I do not mean to say my drawings are good or anything. I literally just got Photoshop like two days ago.

[TinyBird]

Is it okay to draw from photos, or do I have to look at real objects?

Draw everything around you.

like Mrianna says, draw stuff around you, real things from real life,

Is everything around you a photo? So yeah, no one's going to kill you if you draw from photos since obviously if you want to draw a crocodile you're not likely to have a real one in your living room, but the point of drawing simple real things (like alarm clock, mug, egg, cardboard box) is teaching your eye to transfer 3D shapes to 2D which is something you need to do to improve. It's hard to learn to convey volume when the thing you're drawing (a photo) has no volume of its own.

[SuperN00b]

Thank you for the advice. I'm gonna draw the items on my desk as a start.

[SuperN00b]

Sorry to bother you guys again, but I just realized that maybe I should have started this thread in the "sketchbook" section, because I will be doing lots of practice drawings. Is i possible for this thread to be moved? Thanks!

[TinyBird]

Sorry to bother you guys again, but I just realized that maybe I should have started this thread in the "sketchbook" section, because I will be doing lots of practice drawings. Is i possible for this thread to be moved? Thanks!

Just start a new thread there.

[SuperN00b]

Then this is goodbye for here. I will see you guys at the sketchbook section, and I would continue to appreciate everyone's help as usual. Thank you all so much for your patience and your expert advice.

[Lightship69]

Hi matey

I wholeheartedly agree with all the advice you have been given, pencils and paper all the way and you must get yourself a good artists set with a good range of types. I also agree that you shouldnt just put photoshop aside until you are brilliant, get in there and play with it mate it takes a load of understanding and comitment to get good with that as well.

Ok I am rambling so I will get on with the reason for my post which is get yourself on the "Titan Books" website and have a look at the works of "Andrew Loomis", there are two that spring to mind that I myself have bought and they are "Figure drawing for all its worth" and "drawing the head and hands" they are very reasonably priced and well worth the money. If you are flushed with cash it would also be good if you bought a copy of James Gurneys "Imaginative Realism" that is superb and has loads of information in there that will help you along the way.

I really hope this helps you out, all the best and I look forward to looking through your SB.

[arenhaus]

Elwell has demonstrated godlike patience in this thread...

[self-epidemic]

Learn anatomy, boobs aren't balls stuck on a chest. Learn the structure of a body. Stop going OMG ANIME and actually -learn- to draw.

[SuperN00b]

Thank you guys once again for all the helpful advice. I'm starting to realize how much work there is to do. I offer my appreciation to your patience in advance.

[jamsession]

Huh wouldn't I improve faster with more advanced tools, like Photoshop?

quite the opposite. at times, digital becomes a burden, a block on one's way even. these tools are great, yet they bear the risk of rendering the aspiring artist dependent on them. don't get dependent on any tool. a pencil and paper are your (our) true friends.

[nouge]

I also need a tablet. I try drawing with mouse but I looked inline and it seems that everyone use a tablet.

It looks like you used a tablet too, judging by the pressure sensitivity on the strokes.

[SuperN00b]

Yes I did, which is why I said I need a tablet to draw. I tried drawing with mouse but it felt very awkward. And everyone seems to be using it so I think I made the right decision.

And I started my sketchbook thread. http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...b-s-Sketchbook