Frustrated with "stuckness"

[yuanofcruxis]

Hello, so I have always done figures and characters but would like to now move into environment. With one huge problem. I don't know how. Does anyone have some ways of practicing that they can suggest to me? Like what to draw, and what kinds of exercises to do? I honestly just don't even know where to start aside from some simple perspective drawings.
Also for perspective drawings, should I be sketching more or should I be focused on actually gridding out a piece of paper and carefully creating a piece of drawing? Or a mixture of both?
And how would I go about studying light in environmental art?
I am so sorry for all the questions, any help you can provide me would be greatly appreciated. (Oh character art as well, since I am always wanting to improve.)
Thank you ahead of time for any helpful comments!

[QueenGwenevere]

Drawing and painting lots and lots of environments from life is one of the best things you can do to get good at environments... That can include interiors, buildings, landscapes, anything. If you start doing value studies and paintings of environments from life, that alone will teach you a ton of stuff about light and color and atmosphere.

Studying perspective enough to understand it is also pretty essential. Simple perspective exercises are a great place to start. You can apply perspective knowledge to pretty much everything you draw, including characters - if it's a three dimensional form, it has perspective.

I started studying perspective by constructing things from imagination using basic perspective techniques, which you can learn a lot from, but I've been taking a class lately where we've also been drawing things from life while trying to observe and maintain correct perspective, and I think it helps for understanding what I'm doing when I work from imagination... So personally I'd recommend both constructing perspective from imagination and also from observation.

[Shorinji_Knight]

Do what Queen said.

But, if that seems too hard, you can start off easy by drawing simple things such as your bed, a chair, table, cell phone, or car. Practice putting simple items into perspective and then tackle more difficult things.

[JeffX99]

If you really want to understand environment you need to get out in it, drawing, painting and observing. There aren't excercises or any of that.

Study the great landscape painters of the last few hundred years...as well as contemporary painters. See whose work gets you excited and learn about their approach.

"Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes" is a good starter. Also "Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting"...Gurney's "Imaginitive Realism"...plenty of others as you grow.

[Whirly]

I personally thought this DVD was excellent for a beginner starting out with environments from imagination and how to apply the perspective stuff you have been learning. Lots of useful info here, not just a look at all the cool shit I can do type DVD.

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/sto...-of-Feng-Zhu-3

Obviously concentrate on the life stuff that the people have said before as well

Also I think perhaps you might benefit in the future, from a more descriptive title like "Where to start for Environment concept art"

[Whirly]

Oh I thought I should add that at first it might seem like just doing the stuff in the DVD will be fine but you will find that when you come to sit down and invent there will be nothing there.

That's why what Jeff and QueenGwen is so important. Think of that as filling your head will cool shit and ways to describe it/communicate it through drawing that you find interesting. Constantly seeing cool stuff and communicating in a drawing or even making kinda boring stuff seem cool by focusing on what you like and adjusting. Once you have done this life study you can sit down with that Feng DVD and see how you would, in a studio environment, draw on that practice and utilise certain tools to create a world from scratch in correct perspective.

Now that I have attempted to sound like I know what I am talking about I'm going to go back to drawing my shitty stick figures

[vineris]

Also, don't overthink this. You know where to start. At the same place you started to draw people. You were probably five years old and they looked like a five-year-old's scribblings but you kept drawing people and improved.

So... why can't you do that with houses and trees? Is something preventing you from sitting down at a piece of paper and making a bad drawing of a cottage in the woods? No. Once you have one down on paper, you can find ways to improve it. Learn perspective and draw the house in proper perspective. Go outside and sketch the houses in your area and then bring details home to improve the next house you draw. Look online to get ideas. You don't have to get a video or organize a field trip to *start*. You just have to start and not expect too much from your first environments.