New Artists Seeking Help Come Here!

[Loveart]

Hey guys, I wanted to ask if I can join here as well?

Sarit.

[Athan]

I don't think anybody manages this thread anymore.

[Loveart]

I don't think anybody manages this thread anymore.

Hey Athan, well, it's too bad cuz this thread seemed to be at least really helping..

Have a nice day,
Sarit.

[Tiava]

I don't think I carry the needed qualifications for continuing this thread. I could try, if you like, though ^^

[Loveart]

I don't think I carry the needed qualifications for continuing this thread. I could try, if you like, though ^^

Hey Tiava,

Since that I am new to this forum, and was looking for help about shading from the mind, I found this topic so helping..so if we can have this topic working again it would be really great

Take care,
Sarit.

[Oblio]

it's up to you all to keep it working - there is not just one teacher.
keep posting.
post your art, and post your feedback to others.

[Tiava]

Hmm I'm not sure if this is very helpful to any of you, but I recently found out something interesting. It often looks better if you don't draw trees, scrubs or something for your background but put some random lines there. To create a sense of depth, you just have to vary the color depth, that means go from near (dark) to far away (close to white). This was just a doodle for me, but I found it better than my usual background paintings. Backgrounds are for background only, to create some kind of emotion. For that, color is important. If you focus too much on your background and make it too detailled, attention is pulled away from the important part of the picture. Told you, it was just a doodle, but I don't have as much time as I thought now, so I can just share this one with you. It may be interesting for you trying out this little technique, and playing around with colors a bit. I laid a filter over it to show you the different feel of it when using different colors.




Hope it is of some help to you

[Infinitum]

Hi Tiava, Your latest tips look good. I am the person that started this thread but life circumstances mean that I haven't been able to run it as I originally intended. I am impressed by the way that everyone has contributed to helping each other. That really fits with the spirit of this forum.

I hope that everyone keeps doing that and helps each other to learn. I will post as often as I can but I can not comment as I once did.

I think everyone is doing really well and I hope that everyone continues that.

All the best everyone,

Infinitum

[Learning2Draw]

Is there a newly formed Peer Project for new beginners going on elsewhere in the forums that I could possibly join with? I'd hate to start posting pictures of my circles and triangles from the first post way back when, while you have all advanced far beyond my skill (or lack thereof).

Also, I'm a BEGINNER at drawing...meaning the only drawing I ever did was as a kid, in my notebooks, during class, while I probably shoulda been paying attention. Anyway, I admire so much of the work I've seen in here, and would like to one day be able create like many of you are able to. So my question for anyone who might be able to suggest what a beginner like myself should do in order to be a better drawer, could you please throw me a line?

Thanks!

[novenus]

Have you read Seedling's Concept 101 thread yet?

[Learning2Draw]

No, where can I find it?

[novenus]

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81332

I look forward to your works!

[Learning2Draw]

I've been lookin' over it, but it doesn't seem like it's somethin' that's gonna teach me how to draw...or maybe I have the concept down all wrong...should I not be lookin' for somethin that says draw this circle...draw this square....shade this triangle....in order to teach me how to draw?

[novenus]

I've been lookin' over it, but it doesn't seem like it's somethin' that's gonna teach me how to draw...or maybe I have the concept down all wrong...should I not be lookin' for somethin that says draw this circle...draw this square....shade this triangle....in order to teach me how to draw?

What is your experience? Why not try the 1st assignment and see how it goes? Post it and I promise at least I will give you criticisms to help you draw better. Or do you mean you have never drawn anything in your life before and do not know how to proceed?

[Learning2Draw]

I appreciate the offer to critique my work, but honestly, I have no work...when I said I drew as a kid, it was just doodling to pass the time (wasn't much for school back then...short attention span, I guess). Anyway, so yeah I don't have any experience drawing...so i'm lookin' for the STEP 1 sign that every artist before me found. Just not sure where to look. Any advice?

[novenus]

I appreciate the offer to critique my work, but honestly, I have no work...when I said I drew as a kid, it was just doodling to pass the time (wasn't much for school back then...short attention span, I guess). Anyway, so yeah I don't have any experience drawing...so i'm lookin' for the STEP 1 sign that every artist before me found. Just not sure where to look. Any advice?

Try the first assignment on Seedling's thread:

*********Assignment #1: From Still-Life to Imagination************

Pick a real-life object to draw. It can be a shoe, a car, a tree – anything that is available to you for direct observation. Take your sketchbook to it and draw it. Leave space on the same page or a facing page for the second part of the assignment.

Using that first drawing as a guide, draw the same object from the same position – but change it somehow. Add an imagined element. If it’s a car, you could change the curves of the lines to make it look like it belongs in a science-fiction movie. Or turn it into a hovercraft. Or give it a crazy flame paint job and fins and monster truck wheels. Or make it steam-punk, or aquatic, or turn it into a thousand-year-old rusted wreck.

By doing this in two steps, you have both the benefit of direct observation, and you get the challenge of coming up with something from imagination and communicating that thing.

---------------------------

Everyone has to start somewhere. The most important step is to put the pencil to the paper.

If you think the assignment is too difficult, try choosing a very simple object for your still-life without the re-imagination of the object!

[Learning2Draw]

Novenus, you are right...gotta start somewhere. I just figured there are certain principles that I might need to learn (shadowing, perspective, etc) before I can draw anything.

Reguardless, I went ahead and worked on the assignment. I drew an object, but only the first part...when I draw the second half of it (adding imagination) I'll scan it in and show you. But what I said at the top of this reply...am I correct in thinking I should know some basic principles first or no?

Thanks for your help!

[novenus]

Off the top of my head, I would think that lights & shadows, perspective, proportions are the primary concepts one needs to pay attention to mainly. Congrats on getting things started! I can't wait to see your work. Let me go dig up my early art books and see if any would be helpful to your learning... so I will post the title later today. Cheers!

[novenus]

Nikolaides' Natural Way to Draw is my favorite discipline book for drawing and another good general reference is The Story of Painting by Anna C. Krausse.

[stratefaced]

Hey guys -
I have been a member for a while but never really posted anything because I'm not really good in my opinion. However, Im working on developing my skills and was wondering if you are still looking for "sketchlings". I would love to participate and work on becoming the best artist I can... man that sounded corny.

[krisknox]

ive been doodling all my life and i want to get serious about it and ive been sketching things here and there, and by no means is it good in any way, i just want to know if there are any tips for starting out, like what to draw or practice doing. thanks!!!!!

[Richard Rigney]

ahola ~ I am finding myself very technologically incompetent.

For case in point everyone I was trying to upload an older black in white grid scale oil painting namely black and white.

As far as traditional artwork I can paint draw black and white quite fine..it's when color comes into the picture that things get unsteady.

So my problem lies in unloading my jpegs... I have them saved on photoshop as what do you say...php..photoshop files Lord I sound dumb..sorry...at anycase

I was trying to resave a file of the black and white figure in photoshop by resizing the image size... however for some odd reason it will not reinterpret..or change over once I reset it..and file save as....

I tried for width 400 height-263 and document width 5.556 and hieght-3.653..that worked out to 411 KB ..which the size requirements I felt where 500KB for JPGS...so can someone set me straight...someone told me I had a bug on my computer...

For instance I made a file of 160KB or so I thought..the program/photoshop was not switching it over...so you see it said I had a limit of 723.3KB and it exceeded the forum limit by 3441 KB correct?

O.k. I'm going on tangents here with on clear path because I'm rather confused..

Richard is my brother's name..and biological fathers..as well as Rigney was my surname before adoption...I"m not a tranvestite or anything of the like...I just felt uncomfortable using a feminine name...

So the photo I took here is a campy sardonic viewpoint of be as a possible B movie star...it's patterned after the well known and very wealthy postmodern artist Cindy Sherman.

Thanks for the listen hope i make sense...to get help...I'm not quite sure if my newer work fits in here.I've been told I'm something like Ross Bleckner...well with much more practice I will possibly be..

Ciao goodbye and thankyou for possible help
Chris jdw

[w8ajiffyimspiffy]

hello!

so i was reading through this thread, and decided it'd be good for me to quit lurking and go through the exercises, but then i got to the end, and no visits this thread anymore! ... *tear*

if no one minds i think i'm going to commit to drawing out the topics so far, and anyone else who'd like some practice is welcome to join me. maybe we could even think of some more things to draw. i've had some art experience, so hopefully i can give somewhat helpful critiques.

ok so i was bad and skipped topic 1, but here's the second one:



yeah my photo taking skills are a bit crappy... oh well

i'll do another one tomorrow
see ya

[w8ajiffyimspiffy]

ok here goes topic 3.
forgive me it's worse than my camera

[Janooh]

Someone should take over the thread and become a teacher ;-;~
I would love to join, but sad as it is, I have no scanner/tablet to show my progress.

[w8ajiffyimspiffy]

yeah really. maybe if we keep talking someone who knows what they're doing will accidentally pop by and clean up this mess

i wish i had a scanner. trying to take photos at midnight never works out well. :/

[Infinitum]

Hello everyone. I would welcome someone taking over the thread. Due to changes in my circumstances I havent been able to continue this thread as I originally hoped. I apologize to all involved.

If someone takes over I will try and give advice when I can but giving advice to everyone every few days became impossible for me.

You have all done very well on your own though and have supported each other better than any one person could.

A good way of running this thread could be for you to take it in turns to post topics and all give advice where you can. I think everyone can learn alot from each other in this way.

[Azure_sea]

The light source is indicated by the rather shocked looking lion, which was originally intended to be a lightbulb.

Thank you for a most wonderful thread!

[Tiava]

Well I can't figure out the "lion" here, I think lightbulb would be more appropiate

I may have got something for you, we did it at school some time ago, and it's quite easy to get fine results. Take a photo of something you want to draw, then add a grid with let's say 10x10 squares. Then take a piece of paper and draw each square seperately as you see it. Do NOT use any rulers or something, just look at the original photo and try to redraw it. Use lines only and don't try to put in shadows and stuff. When you are finished, erase the grid lines and redraw the parts that you accidentally erased while doing that. Scan or copy the linework.
Afterwards, try to add lightning to the scene. You may look at the original for that, since it isn't that easy.
When finished, you should have a quite accurate drawing of the original. What's the use, you say? It's quite difficult to add shadows to a drawing when the linework is anatomically strange, because you always think hey this looks plain wrong. Because you have a copy of the lineworks, you can always retry your shadowing. You can imagine different lightsources coming from different directions. You will find that lighting a scene changes the scene mood completely - if you didn't know yet, which i doubt

Anyway, welcome back guys!

Tiava

[Azure_sea]

Thank you Tiava! I have heard about the grid method before, but have never bothered giving it a try. I'll go give it a shot now.