FYI, here's a neat article from Roger Ebert's blog about drawing:
FYI, here's a neat article from Roger Ebert's blog about drawing:
Thanks for the link. I've always enjoyed Ebert's writing, and was surprised to read that liked to draw and sketch. That article was pretty much just what I needed to read. I've once again begun to get discouraged and beat myself up over my drawings, and my glacially slow learning progress. At least it feels that way.
Ebert makes some pertinent points:
"Our fatal fault, Annette said, is perfectionism."
Yep.
"I began to haunt art supply stores, as if somehow one could purchase what one needed to be an artist. I loved the smell of the paints and papers, the chalks and wooden easels."
This sounds like me in a sense. But with me, it's been books and software. 'If I just read this book, or learn this art software ...' I have probably 40 art/drawing books now.
I loved this paragraph:
I published a book about Cannes that was illustrated with my deeply flawed sketches -- but they were perfect, you see, because they recorded faithfully whatever I drew at that time and that place. That was the thing no one told me about. By sitting somewhere and sketching something, I was forced to really look at it, again and again, and ask my mind to translate its essence through my fingers onto the paper. The subject of my drawing was fixed permanently in my memory.
I need to stop labeling my stuff as "good",or "bad", and simply label it "mine".
For the digital painters or even web designers in the crowd:
The favorite color thread reminded me that there are a ton of different monitors and monitor settings out there, do you bother trying to accommodate for this in choosing color and shades for your digital work? I know there are hardware tools for color matching but I suspect the typical user does not even go through software calibration which may result in them seeing something rather different than your intention.
I intend on them seeing something different. 
As a UI designer, I work under the assumption that nothing is going to turn out exactly as I plan. That's the only sanity I can find.
Between user settings, the differences in the browsers rendering the objects on the page, and the different monitor settings doing Lord knows what to the colors, I do my best to design something that can gracefully cope with as much of what can be dished out to it as I can and try not to drive myself nuts with what the world is going to do to it.
-- I do not hard-code or hard-position anything unless forced by technical considerations; it has to be able to flow based on browser hierarchy wherever possible to cope with as many of the different the monitor resolutions and user arrangements out there as possible.
-- Colors are chosen with contrast to delineate function, rather than shade. This is good practice from an accessibility standpoint as well as design. If you can't print it out grayscale and still know how to work it, it's not good enough.
-- I test on as many monitors and platforms of different manufacturers as I can. I had a problem with a client who asked for a brown website and got exactly what she asked for, but on her boss's hideous laptop the whole thing was a drab near-purple. It took forever to get that straightened out. It was a process of educating her on what she actually wanted, educating her boss about how to configure his bloody laptop, and tweaking her design to not be quite so sensitive to the problems. Pale, warm colors are the worst for this.
It's a whole approach, and I know it's not popular. I get so much crap in the design lists I'm on. It's gotten a bit better since CSS3, though.
For the digital painters or even web designers in the crowd:
The favorite color thread reminded me that there are a ton of different monitors and monitor settings out there, do you bother trying to accommodate for this in choosing color and shades for your digital work? I know there are hardware tools for color matching but I suspect the typical user does not even go through software calibration which may result in them seeing something rather different than your intention.
That's actually the only downside I've found while playing around with sketchbook pro on the ipad - everything looks so good on that little screen but when you transfer it across to the PC it doesn't look quite the same. not sure that there's much I can do about that unfortunately, apart from fiddle around with the pic in photoshop afterwards.
That said, I absolutely love drawing with the ipad's screen and finger. I'm finding it MUCH easier when drawing directly onto a surface VS drawing on a separate pad and watching a monitor at the same time. I just wish Sketchbook pro would let you have more than 12 layers at a time 
For the digital painters or even web designers in the crowd:
The favorite color thread reminded me that there are a ton of different monitors and monitor settings out there, do you bother trying to accommodate for this in choosing color and shades for your digital work? I know there are hardware tools for color matching but I suspect the typical user does not even go through software calibration which may result in them seeing something rather different than your intention.
I'm listening. This is a problem for me. I know about the photoshop colour calibration but have no idea how to use it. My experience had been, "get to know your printer". I spend a long time trying to match building material colours to the swatches for a 3d rendering then print it and everything is two shades too yellow. Sticking to the same hardware and making the adjustment has been my only answer.
Keep em coming on this.
Wacom Inkling announced. Bonus_Eruptus thinking up reasons he needs one. Wife unconvinced.
If you already own a wacom tablet you could also get an inking pen which runs about $68 on amazon (where as the inkling is $199). If you don't mind being tethered to the computer it has similar functionality.
There was an online colour survey that went around by email a while ago. You looked at colour swatches and put them in order, or spotted where they were different. It tested your colour perception. Anyone know the one I'm talking about?
Tested.com likes the Inkling: http://www.tested.com/quick-look-at-...
I want one so bad. Amazon needs to get their shit together so I can order one.
Tested.com likes the Inkling: http://www.tested.com/quick-look-at-...
I want one so bad. Amazon needs to get their shit together so I can order one.
Wow. That's actually way cooler than I thought it would be. I needs it now!
I'm still at it. Mostly digital these days. I did this one this afternoon in Photoshop. I'm not good at eyes, but there you go.
I'm much too late to this party to give any sort of suggestion. Just in case someone else looking to learn comes along though, this is how my experience has gone:
I have toyed with the idea of learning how to draw for years and years. Once in a while I'd putter at it and fail. So on and so on. About 9 months ago I came across my 9000th learn to draw book, but in flipping through it I rather liked how it felt. So I gave it a try: You can draw in 30 days. I started on page 1 of a sketchbook and I did each lesson in order. One at a time that book goes over the core fundamentals of drawing. Before each days drawing lesson I would sit and flip through my sketchbook from the beginning. By the time I got to the first blank page I was super motivated. Seeing each days progress was a fantastic feeling. Gradually I learned about various perspectives, shading techniques, foreshortening, etc etc. As I learned to apply these techniques in different ways I began to actually understand drawing.
Now that I have that toolkit of core fundamentals, I enjoy exploring all sorts of drawing. The previous books, sites, videos I'd tried just didn't give me those tools up front. Even the legendary Right Side of the Brain book failed me. After learning the core principles though, books like right side of the brain look much more interesting and rewarding.
Oh and yes, agreed on not loading up on fancy gear to get started. Buy a nice normal pencil, a nice eraser, and a good sketchbook and go! I found it fun having a few special drawing things, but not having dumped a bunch of cash into it. Later I bought a stump because I really like how it helps me shade. That's about it.
I'm still at it. Mostly digital these days. I did this one this afternoon in Photoshop. I'm not good at eyes, but there you go.
Good work! I like how it's not da vinci, but it's obvious that you've learned tons. Does it feel like you have your own "style" now?
Shawn, likewise I've been at it, off & on, for 3 years now. I had pretty much the same pattern, try ... fail... frustration ... quit, repeat in a few months. But unlike some aspirations I've had (e.g. guitar), I keep coming back to it, and each time I do, I see improvements. I've been on a binge lately though, and feel like I can't stop. This time feels different ... like something clicked.
I mostly draw people, and have been reading and trying to learn more and more, and my strong impression is that it's about
1. proportion, 2. anatomy, 3. light & shadow.
What I feel clicked was finally understanding that it's not about hard drawing features ... but more about letting light & shadow define features for you, or at least that's what it feels 'clicked' like in my head this time around.
Does it feel like you have your own "style" now?
I think so. I can see my tendencies as I draw/paint. I got sick of trying to be perfect, and decided to just freakin' paint. I put on relaxing music and get lost in it.
I hope you'll post some of your drawings.
I can't rememer if this has come up in the thread before but I've just been watching some of Ctrl+paint's vids and he mentions a really neat site for getting source pics for body/portraits among other things. : http://www.lovecastle.org/draw/
1) pick category, 2) hit button, 3) draw!
You can also force images to grayscale and set a timer so that it auto switches after X number of seconds.
(artists resource so NSFW in places)
I can't rememer if this has come up in the thread before but I've just been watching some of Ctrl+paint's vids and he mentions a really neat site for getting source pics for body/portraits among other things. : http://www.lovecastle.org/draw/
1) pick category, 2) hit button, 3) draw!
You can also force images to grayscale and set a timer so that it auto switches after X number of seconds.(artists resource so NSFW in places)
Yes, there are others like that as well. Like Posemaniacs, and ArtsyPoses.
Since you mentioned Ctrl-Paint (which is excellent), I'll throw in a few other excellent learning resources:
* Digital Art for Beginners - a free 25 part course that teaches digital painting from the ground up. I'm going through them now, and learning a ton.
Today on Deviant Art, I stumbled on a fantastic, 100% free (open-source) painting app, called MyPaint. There are 32 and 64 bit versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. I tried it out, and was very impressed. To give an idea of what can be achieved in MyPaint, this was done with it (not by me, I wish!):
All a beginner would need now is a Wacom tablet, and I got mine from Amazon for around $85, and it's excellent.
So I gave it a try: You can draw in 30 days.
I followed the link and the cover illustrations on that book gave me pause. I am glad it worked for you.
Unfortunately, the core concepts of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain deal with breaking the bad habits of people when they draw so that they draw what they see. The bottom illustration on the cover of that book seems to be several sketch stages of an iconic eye. That is exactly how you don't want to learn to draw.
You want to train your eye to draw what is actually there, focusing on little increments until everything fits together. It is how you gain the confidence in your ability to draw larger and quicker strokes to get the same underlying detail.
When you practice drawing an iconic (female) eye you only know how to draw that specific eye. You may be taught some of the underlying structure that can carry over. However, when you are trying to draw an eye and learn to draw what you see, the skills learned can work for any eye or any other part of a body or anything else for that matter.
exaggerated example of an iconic eye verses an eye drawn from source:
Mr. Pie Master speaks the truth. Not that I am at all a drawer, as I still draw what I think it should be, I haven't practiced nearly enough. But according to all of the decent lessons and books I've read about drawing, it's all about NOT drawing from memory, and training yourself to draw exactly what you see.
Also...
Digital Art for Beginners - a free 25 part course that teaches digital painting from the ground up. I'm going through them now, and learning a ton.
That looks like a cool mini course. Really, psdtuts and tutsplus.com are so jam packed full of tutorials and useful information, it's one of the main websites I use for almost everything digital - web design, graphic design, Photoshop, Illustrator, drawing, etc. etc.
Highly recommended
@Jeff - that paint program looks pretty sweet. And when I have time, I'd love to go through the digital painting course. Painting is one of my weaknesses that I'd like to correct. (as well as improve my color theory knowledge)
@Jeff - that paint program looks pretty sweet. And when I have time, I'd love to go through the digital painting course. Painting is one of my weaknesses that I'd like to correct. (as well as improve my color theory knowledge)
I have waaay too much time invested in Photoshop learning to give it up as my primary painting app, but I've been using MyPaint, and I can tell you, it's damn nice. The brushes, especially pencils, feel better than anything I've used in any other app. It lacks a lot of the tools that PS has (dodge/burn, smudge, etc), but it's an excellent loose sketch app. For free, you can't beat it, and I'd easily prefer it over the $90 Sketchbook Pro.
I will probably continue to use MyPaint to do quick concept sketches, because I just love the pencils in it.
Nothing wrong with that. For professionals who have a set "workflow" it's not uncommon for them to use quite a few programs when they're developing something. Gotta use what works best for you in any given situation
I did not notice it mentioned here, but check out Gurney Journey. http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/ Seriously awesome blog with a ton of knowledge found within it.
I did not notice it mentioned here, but check out Gurney Journey. http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/ Seriously awesome blog with a ton of knowledge found within it.
Cool, always liked that guys Dinotopia stuff. I shall add it to the 'to read' pile...
Jeff - just curious but (and note that I'm hardly in a position to be ofering any sort of 'professional' advice on this sort of thing) have you tried using hard-edged brushes rather than soft edged ones?
I started out much the same, trying to use soft brushes and blur, smudge, etc but was very quickly frustrated with not being able to get it to look the way I wanted it to. Ended up reading through a few tutorials (In the first issue or two of ImagineFX I think) which suggested switching to hard-edged brushes and then dropping opacity down to something aroung 5-10% to paint shadows, highlights, etc. Haven't looked back since.
If your happy doing it the way you currently are that's cool - just thought I'd make the suggestion.
For example:
It's true, soft-edged brushes are great, but for certain applications they just create blurry messes. Takes a lot of practice and experience to know when to use what type of brush. Up until that point, it's trial and error
I hope I didn't scare shawnosaurus away. It is totally cool if you are enjoying the book. You just mentioned interest in exploring the other books you struggled with. My art training cost me $30k in college loans but it is absolutely priceless to me. The last I want to do is turn someone away from the discussion.
Once you have some experience with the techniques focused on drawing what you see, you look at the world completely differently. It is a gift that leads to a richer life that I wish I could give everyone. And before I get off my soapbox I will just say that in this case it isn't more about destination than the journey. You can get there however you'd like, and the destination is open ended. It is a concept (being able to draw what you see) not a definition.
It is a gift that leads to a richer life that I wish I could give everyone.
I can't pay you $30k, but you can share it with me!
You got it. I have been missing drawing so I should get back to it and trying to teach others is the best way to sure up your own foundation. I have no tablet at home unfortunately so I am going to have to figure out someway to scan or another alternative.
The first key is draw big. Get a pad of 24x36 newsprint. The margin of error is smaller when you draw small so you learn more by making broader strokes. Plus it gets you out of the habit of "sketching" your lines. It is better to draw big continuous strokes when you are learning than to constantly second guess yourself (by going over your line 30 times to "perfect" it)
Nice tip, I think I got 12x16 a few months ago, 24x36 sounds ludicrously huge
So I gave it a try: You can draw in 30 days.I followed the link and the cover illustrations on that book gave me pause. I am glad it worked for you.
Unfortunately, the core concepts of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain deal with breaking the bad habits of people when they draw so that they draw what they see. The bottom illustration on the cover of that book seems to be several sketch stages of an iconic eye. That is exactly how you don't want to learn to draw.
You want to train your eye to draw what is actually there, focusing on little increments until everything fits together. It is how you gain the confidence in your ability to draw larger and quicker strokes to get the same underlying detail.
When you practice drawing an iconic (female) eye you only know how to draw that specific eye. You may be taught some of the underlying structure that can carry over. However, when you are trying to draw an eye and learn to draw what you see, the skills learned can work for any eye or any other part of a body or anything else for that matter.
I'm a bit confused as to how you got all this from the cover of the book. The point of the lessons in there is the opposite of learning to mimic one drawing. It's about introducing the concepts of, and then an example of, then encouraging you to go nuts and abuse the concepts of: foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading, shadow, contour, horizon, and density. All of these things that I never learned from drawing boobs on napkins for 20 years. I never had art class in school, so it was priceless to learn that those concepts exist and why they do. It's made all the difference between thinking I could never draw and knowing how to at least put something recognizable together. Which is fun 
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