A while ago I decided I wanna get better at drawing. My main issues I'd say are proportionss and perspective. What's the best way to practice, Should I draw real stuff or copy other drawings, stuff like that ^.^

Oh and just to convince you that I'm not one of the 'How do I get good enough to post my porn here in 3 days' people:

What I don't expect

• "From mommys fridge door to museum in <2 weeks"
• tons of links to expensive stuff
• >1000 likes on e6

What I do expect

• Tips that will help me improve over time with a bit of practice every week
• Maybe a couple of youtube videos
• Hopefully one day getting good enough to meet the e6 quality standards

avoid copying other people's drawings. if you copy from other people's art, you are playing broken telephone. like instead of learning actual anatomy, you are creating your own interpretation of someone else's interpretation of anatomy. use real life references. meaning stock photos, anatomical diagrams and stuff like that. also 3D posing programs are good for figuring out proportions. also pay attention to color theory, it plays surprisingly big role in making art look better.

Use stick figures as a base around which you ''wrap'' hands, arms etc. It can be really helpful when just starting. Also what siikaprinssi said, don't copy because you aren't learning anything.
Practice often, it doesn't have to be 5 hrs every day, but a quick sketch or doodle every day keeps you from rusting.
Also, use good software like Manga Studio or Photoshop and get yourself a drawing tablet if you aren't doing it traditional style because mouse alone is terrible for drawing (i got one and though it was weird at first, by day 3 i was quite comfortable with it, you can buy the cheapest models and i recommend Wacom because they are among the best brand).
Lastly, keep practicing, don't let a month go by that you didn't draw something, it doesn't have to be a Rembrandt, just keep practicing.

Hope you have fun :)

MyNameIsOver20charac said:
A while ago I decided I wanna get better at drawing. My main issues I'd say are proportionss and perspective. What's the best way to practice, Should I draw real stuff or copy other drawings, stuff like that ^.^

Oh and just to convince you that I'm not one of the 'How do I get good enough to post my porn here in 3 days' people:

What I don't expect

• "From mommys fridge door to museum in <2 weeks"
• tons of links to expensive stuff
• >1000 likes on e6

What I do expect

• Tips that will help me improve over time with a bit of practice every week
• Maybe a couple of youtube videos
• Hopefully one day getting good enough to meet the e6 quality standards

For perspective draw inanimate objects first.
For proportions, it depends on the drawing style entirely so hard to say without knowing what you draw.

MyNameIsOver20charac said:
proportions and perspective

Looking up perspective exercises (quick example, first Google result for me) is a good start. Don't be afraid to start including perspective lines in your sketchwork.

Proportions get a lot more subjective but the main things to shoot for are consistency and aesthetics. Personally I'd recommend reading a handful of anatomy guides, and taking note of what they do to construct a figure.
But basically it all boils down to measuring everything.

If measuring everything is where you're having trouble you might get more mileage out of design tutorials than art tutorials to start with.

Draw from real life. When you can't do that, use photos that a) don't have lens distortion [1], and b)have simple one-directional lighting. Copies of other's drawings CAN be useful (for picking up design ideas, mainly) -- but, you need the skills to understand what they are doing first, which is at least a serviceable level of skill in .. everything.

Draw through (ie. show the 'invisible' parts of objects as well; think of a wireframe). START by drawing through (or even start at an invisible point and punch out from there) -- this makes it very difficult to dodge the problem of getting a sense of the 3d space you are drawing within.
If you are in a real hurry, still try to do very basic perspective setup -- horizon, and 2 or 3 axis lines. It really helps ground a drawing and prevent basic mistakes.

Avoid patching things together to fix mistakes. For example don't erase the middle of a straight line with a bend in it; erase the whole line and draw one actually straight line. Forces you to develop proper drafting skills rather than 'cheating' to compensate for your lack of them.

Minimize setup time. For example, for proportions, I sometimes use a 'continuous right angle lines' setup where I break down what I'm seeing into 'bounding boxes' and then attempt to hit those corners in rapid succession, in some logical order. Similarly, I prefer to think about angles in terms of rectangles having a particular ratio (1:1 being 45°, for example), because it's easier to check whether rectangles align than whether two lines are at the exact same angle. Being able to work with a minimum of tools and techniques enables you to get through more practice in the same time period.

IMO it's quite hard to get consistent (proportional, smooth, ..) results until you can nail down basic landmarks really fast. Your skill level with gestures feeds into this a lot too.

Force yourself to draw from memory sometimes. This makes you reduce things to the essentials, and helps embed 'what a cube is REALLY LIKE' 'what a cone is REALLY LIKE' 'what an ellipse is REALLY LIKE' etc. in your brain.

.. and Force yourself to draw while not looking at the paper sometimes. Looking at the paper doesn't necessarily make your drawing better, and it can make it a lot worse. Where muscle memory is concerned, it makes more sense to look carefully initially, and 'ghost' the line to get a grip on it.. but while you're actually *doing* the stroke, squint (so you can't focus on the page) and direct all your attention to fine control of your muscles.

Explicitly practice drafting - for perspective (or even just 2d design work) it's really practical to be able to 'calculate' by drawing ('multiplication' and 'division' are core perspective operations). You need straight lines and ellipses nailed down well in order to calculate accurately. Right angles and accurate perception of halfway points too, IMO.

Insist on quantity - doing a 'batch' of practice helps prevent getting bogged down in technique. The first item you do you're probably over-focused on just doing the technique 'correctly'. By the 30th you're settled into the groove of the exercise and start intelligently adjusting exactly what you are doing or how you are thinking about it.

EDIT:(added) Basic projection skills help a lot with proportion. You can work out proportion in 2d diagram(s) and then translate that into 3d. Since proportions are very often misleading in a 3d view -- even without significant perspective distortion -- it's addressing the problem of proportion much more directly.

Have a reference book ready -- for perspective, it's needed. It shouldn't be overused -- 90% time drawing, 10% time reading, IMO -- but understanding different perspective problems visually (for example, what does a mirror 'see'? -- what image should be shown on the mirror surface; Or, how to place a figure of a given "real" height anywhere in 3d space, so that it looks correct in relation to other human figures), and comparing these problems/solutions, contributes a lot to being able to work comfortably with perspective.

Online tutorials (for example, this [and the previous tutorials linked therein]) in theory may have just as much application, but because they don't have the time or space to fully "show their work", it's necessary to work harder to extract the full value IME.

Links

(both of these youtubers give plenty of solid drafting information and exercises; moatdd also goes into mindset which IMO is very valuable):

• https://www.youtube.com/user/moatddtutorials/videos

• https://www.youtube.com/user/scottrobertsondesign/videos

Books

• How to Draw by Scott Robertson -- which covers perspective, but includes 2d and isometric drafting as well (eg. how to mirror a shape or pattern over a specified axis) as a foundation for that. OR:
• Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling. Less modern and flashy than HtD, still a solid reference.

Footnotes

[1] Rule of thumb is, take the object's largest dimension (eg. a person's height). Multiply that by two. The camera lense should be at least that far away from the object. This avoids both perspective and lens distortion to a large degree. It's also best to ensure the subject is near the centre of field of view (but since cropping is possible, you can't always tell whether that's the case). This applies to your eye too (ie. don't stand too close to things you're drawing from life, unless you absolutely have to.)

EDIT: Personally I learnt a lot about proportion from studying typography, and Robertson also recommends typography as a means to develop a sense for design characteristics. If that's something you're interested in pursuing, I recommend the book "The Art of Hand Lettering" by Helm Wotzkow.

EDIT2: This post is actually pretty condensed and (hopefully) structured, but if I had to give just one piece of advice I'd say : Learn ghosting. Practice it a lot and internalize it. Use whereever possible. Helps for every calculation and for improving stroke quality too. Both Robertson and Moatdd cover the topic of ghosting on their YT channels.

I'm gonna go a bit counter to some other people: COPY.

I mean, yes, draw from real life, because you 100% need to learn that skill. But don't be afraid to drop a photo into photoshop or whatever and sketch over it. Tracing isn't a good way to learn HOW to draw, but it's a good way to help you learn how to put something together.

There *IS* value to be had in taking apart the engine someone else built if you're learning how to build one of your own. But just like, say, coding... you can squint at code and figure out how to turn white text black, or make the font bigger, but when it comes to actually making code, you've got to build up different skills.

So don't be afraid to trace a picture if you want to understand better how someone drew a tree, or how a paw is shaped. Imitation is how we learn as children. Just don't think of it as making your own art, but a step towards building your own. Or like a guided meditation or something.

Past that... draw lots.

Like, lots and lots.

You're gonna produce a lot of crap.

That's okay.

don't get discouraged, just draw draw draw draw. one of my favorites sayings is “We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better.”

What's important is that we draw. every day. It's okay.

Next bit of advice... and this is one everyoen would benefit from.

Sometimes... we work on an idea. It's a great idea, it's gonna be fantastic, you love it! Maybe you know how to rearrange the furniture in the living room, or organize the socks, or a drawing idea, or a story idea, or... or... or...

But it's not working out. and you start to get the idea that maybe it's not such a good idea... but if you scrap it, you'd have to start over. from the beginning. And lose all of that work. and your great idea.

And that's awful, so you stick with it and fart out something that isn't as good as it coulda been if you'd just admitted the idea wasn't working.

I mean. this is a sitcom story line: The Bobersons are going on a vacation and Bobbie has EVERYTHING planned out... except no one else wants to listen and their itinerary is ignored and Bobbie gets stressed out, anxious and upset. Oh no!

So.... you gotta learn to admit, sometimes, that this sketch isn't working out. Maybe you drew the hand in the wrong place--but the fingers look SO GOOD-- or the head's too big -- but the eyes are PERFECT--or the pose looks awkward and you've already spend hours on it and... ... sometimes you gotta erase the perfect fingers, or even grab a new sheet of paper and start over.

And tha'ts okay. It will almost ALWAYS look better the second time.

Just be patient. Always.

read tutorials online? study real pictures! Draw thigns over and over again!

In high school, I had a very memorably art class: The teacher took us outside, and said "pick a tree. You have 10 minutes to draw it." so we drew it. Then she said "Now draw that tree again. You have 5 minutes." then, we had 20. then 2. We LEARNED what that tree looked like. We learned what made THAT tree look like THAT tree: the branch on the left, the broken limb on the right, the fruit right there. We learned how to draw it in detail, we learned how to reduce it down to simple forms.

STUDY what you draw.

Everything you draw is a step forward.

There are no steps backwards.

Interestingly, this youtube video posted the other day: The channel is an absolutly delightful channel: a pair of farmers in Ireland own a farm (duh) where they grow most of what they eat, helped out a bit with the money they make by running a Therapeutic riding center for (mostly) children)... their videos are mostly about the farm though-- they've got several lovely working horses, some sheep, a few pigs, chickens... They're... incredibly soothing people. Watching one of their videos feels a bit like watching a documentary and that's fantastic. But, I digress. Tim--the man--was in the hospital the other day and decided to learn about oil paints. He's not an artist, though he's good at creating machinery and tools, and sometimes things like metal working and whatnot. --but I"m wandering astray

It's only about 5 minutes long, give it a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caTgAQwZXI0

(and if you like what you're wearing-- in voice and tone and humor, check out the rest of their channel. they deserve more love.)