Drawing / Sketching / Digital Painting

So close to buying the new Samsung ATIV series 7 - 700t. Concept Art. org tells me it's limited to 8gigs ram though. Anyone seen one?

"Imagine the chair's not there Prederick, and draw the negative spaces."

"That's kind of hard, I can see the chair."

"Well, imagine it's not."

"I can't. It's right goddamn there."

Right, so, I've mentioned this elsewhere, but i'm trying to learn to draw. We're like, three months in, but I do think, in the new year, i'm going to start up a DA account, just to track my own progress and, hopefully, show anyone like me who thinks/thought drawing was a natural born talent that, with a sh*t-ton of elbow grease, you can totally learn.

Anyway, here's a assignment I did for a drawing class i'm taking:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A9kWumdCQAARlOS.jpg:large)

It's a mashup, essentially. Take the first panel of one comic, the last panel of another, fill in the space in between. Difficult, but a lot of fun.

And here's a drawing of my hand holding a keychain.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A9kW4Q2CcAED-pm.jpg:large)

I bought a copy of Betty Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", and so far, i've found it invaluable, primarily because the author assumes the person reading the book is at an absolute basic level of skill, and advises you accordingly, so you don't get discouraged.

Keep at it.
It's totally learned. There may be a talent cap which varied, but certainly, becoming competent is learned.

I'd recommned joining the forums at www.conceptart.org, and go look at a few of the sketchbook threads. There are some that track a few years of progress. Many of them start out with a lot less than you're showing here.

Still doing VO? Haven't seen one lately.

You probably already saw "Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain" upthread, since you're already talking about the negative space exercise. Certainly go through the exercises in that book. I will probably go do them again, since it's been a couple of years, and haven't drawin anything in as long.

For me the one where you draw the image with your reference upside down was the mose significant. It's the "stop drawing what you think you know, and just draw what you see" exercise. I think this is the biggest barrier.

That and know where not to put a line. The toned paper approach in DOTRSOTB helps me with this. So much is told by light dark, instead of lines.

I might avoid Devieant Art. I think you'll see consistently higher quality work at

www.conceptart.org

and

www.cgsociety.com - this one will have mostly digital painting for 2d work, and lots of 3d software, so YMMV.

As I kid I always just doodled around the edges of paper at school and at now at work do same in meetings . Long ago started just doodling full pages of random stuff. Lately thinking up main image more and then doodling until I fill it all in..sort of doodle OCD as I don't like leaving white space. Not good at realistic stuff but don't practice as much as I should. Happy with the weird surreal stuff I do but at times do with I could mix it with more realistic images.

Here is a few year old one about astronauts opening their ship door on a strange world.

IMAGE(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cTBlD17HYgc/SBOUKhRnaVI/AAAAAAAAAOY/F4kBNcRPgiU/s720/BraveNewWorldAtDawn.jpg)

Here is one I sketched a few weeks ago (Mayan Decade). Yesterday finally went from scratch paper to redoing it in ink. I usually just freehand with ink so any mistakes I have to live with. Still need to fill out the rest of it.

IMAGE(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-md0RZIIbP-Y/UMN13OcucPI/AAAAAAAABUw/bdawO8rlJJU/s720/MayanDecade_Pt1.jpg)

I like doing weird faces, eyes, pyramids. Once I get something down try to pull out of the white space another image. Sort of like seeings images in clouds.

Dammit, I just realized an old coworker I have no way to contact has my copy of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain".

Well guess I'll be tagging this thread. I've always wanted to be able to draw so I figured I best start practicing. Found a few decent tutorials, and read a few other things. Honestly not to certain where to start. I figure it's like any other skill where you start doesn't matter much as long as you do and keep it up.

Ghostship wrote:

I'll watch learn to draw, scuplt, papier mache, in just about any genre.

The words Manga, and Anime, are off putting to me.
Late Friday Nights in college, a local channel played "japanimation" which I've come to learn is Anime. The only one I really liked a lot was ghost in the shell.
I tried hard for Naruto, but just didn't get it.

Someone enable me.
The closest I've been is Battle of the Plantets, Ghost in the Shell, and there's a feature length movie, which I can't remember the name of; the girl flies on a glider, has a floppy eared pet... That I remember as being a really good movie as a teen. I just consumed it as any mainstream movie. Something about wind?

**edit** Valley of the Wind?

If you want something for the art watch mushshi-shi. Incredible beautiful.

How did I miss the recent additions to this thread? Creepy_Smell, love the doodles, particularly the astronaut one. I struggle when it comes to getting details into my drawings.

A couple days ago I managed to somehow remember the login to my old photobucket account. I hadn't been on there in quite a long time. There are a bunch of drawings on there that I had done, a many of which I had forgotten about. At one point I was doing a series of doodles at work with old pieces of chipboard, sharpies and whiteout. I had fun doing them and don't know why I stopped, it was a nice way to take a break from the computer screen for a few minutes each day.

IMAGE(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b39/atomic_dog/art_crap/smiff.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b39/atomic_dog/art_crap/catscan_sm.jpg)

Very nice! I like the cat, fits your nick too

I started looking at these tutorials a longtime ago.
Then there were only demos. The first couple in each series.
I think they've been made free now. I haven't checked out the site since years ago.

Just recording for reference later.

http://www.drawspace.com/

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/gxxltBV.jpg)

Now that I'm healed up, this may be good mobility exercise for me.

Still adding mass to the legs. May redo the arms. A little worried about the angle of the hips-kind if set by the armature.

What media is that Ghostship? How do you keep it from drying out? I remember in highschool art class we used to just drape our work with a wet cloth overnight and a plastic bag.

That's Chevant Plasteline. An oil based non-sulphur clay. I really like it. It's only a little bit smelly. Not bad at all.

With a tinfoil and light bulb clay oven, it's really nice to work with, when you hit the sweet spot temp.

I had to order it from Canada Sculpture Supply. I think they ship out of Sudbury IIRC.
Wallak's (local art speciality store) have an abysmal stock of sculpture tools and materials.

I'm following the John Brown, Gnomon Workshop maquette sculpting instructions.

Just a little update on this beginners drawings,

I first tried following some of the online lessons I found and found them to be quite boring. Wandering around a bit I found a lot of nice sites with simple drawings that I could follow step by step. It's real satisfying to do, especially when you draw something recognizable (E'ore and the homer and bart were some of my first drawings). Drawing big and in pen (so I can't fix mistakes) has been pretty good for me. I've also been practicing drawing from imagination and am able to make simple animals and such.

It's really nice and relaxing when I need a break for video games and my computer. Pretty happy with it so far, hopefully with a lot more practice my lines will get smoother and sharper.

like the skate board one fleabagmatt. nice use of different materials. i never depart from black ink. stubborn and page filling ocd.

IMAGE(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rn4eI8VwEFk/UUUVMN5Nd0I/AAAAAAAABV0/QewejOndWt4/s720/Mayan-Decade.jpg)

finally finished my Mayan Decade one from above but not before 2012 was over added an ankh with mayan pictographs along with the cross eyed guys I like to draw. the whole thing was rolling around in my head for so long. trying to think of the next thing I want to do or maybe I'll just do pure random like I used to instead of having a main image.

i also track my stuffs' progression on my deviant art scrap page. i like seeing how it slowly fills in the page.

So, I've been doing a lot of drawing in my sketchbook, while I'm supposed to be doing other things... And I'm doing what I think is pretty neat stuff with graphite and pen. Mostly due to limited supplies wherever I'm at, but I've always got a pen and a pencil on me.
I actually posted a few things in the "Post a pic - Something you created" thread, and later thought this was a better place for that kind of stuff. So here's a few things I'm working on, I'm various states of unfinished.
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/android4102013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/face_cave4102013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/steambot_girl4102013.jpg)

Hmm, dunno of anyone is still reading this thread our not, but I'm going to keep posting as I come up with stuff. Got a pretty decent size art dump today too, so here you go.
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/clockwork_cross_4182013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/design_doodle_4182013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/android4182013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/ogremage_4182013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/dragon_bw_4182013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/demon_4182013.jpg)

The last one is kind of a companion to a painting I did a while back. If I can get it painted they'd make quite the gruesome pair.

Here's the earlier one:
IMAGE(http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/Rob_Anybody_82/general%20art%20dump/demon2.jpg)

Is it odd that a good portion of my drawings depict the grotesque or the creepy? Been thinking about that recently. I find it hard to draw or paint something in earnest that is beautiful. I do birds every once in a while for my mom, but that's about it.

I like grotesque and creepy.
keep it coming, these are great.

Is it odd that a good portion of my drawings depict the grotesque or the creepy? Been thinking about that recently. I find it hard to draw or paint something in earnest that is beautiful. I do birds every once in a while for my mom, but that's about it.

Don't stress about it too much. I used to go through times where I would seem to draw stuff that was in constant genre, but finally that gave way to what I do now, which is to draw whatever your brain decides to spew out there.

As long as it's not a device to cover up a lack of understanding of symmetry and proportion. These are really hard to master in drawing. A lot of what humans find beautiful involves a lot of symmetry. Proportions are another intangible which are really hard to master. It's also subjective.

One way to make a monster terrifying and horrific is asymmetry.

Mastering perspective at the same time as learning to measure and create well proportioned subjects is really difficult. It's what stops me every time I get the bug to try learning to draw again.

The key to asymmetry is balance in the system. Any living thing is a balanced system grounded to/in or related to its enviroment. The grounding force on earth is gravity. So if an asymmetrical creature on earth has one giant arm, the rest of the body needs to flex, support or counter that weight when it rests, stands, walks, swims, or flies.

In my acting class, we spent a few days working on becoming different creatures by changing our center of gravity to different body parts and leading our movement with other body parts.

We also had an exercise where we would imagine carrying a large bowl of water in different locations and trying not to spill it as we moved to avoid each other.

Certainly stuff you can easily do at home that will increase your understanding of asymmetry.

Favorite assymetrical things to practice drawing:

1. Hands
2. Feet (bare or with shoes works too)

I've found that mastering those two subjects teaches you a lot about drawing that is hard to get from other places.

I agree with Ghostship. Drawing creepy stuff is cool and fun, but don't let it be a handicap to your style. Otherwise, you're going to get a little bit older, and you'll see the styles of the people around you blossom into new and interesting ideas, while you'll still be stuck doing the same things you've always done.

This happened with my younger sister, who loved to draw dragons in high school but has never seen her drawing ability improve past that. This is also happening to me. I draw a lot of people in church, and now it seems like that is the only thing I can draw any more.

Hey guys, I've taken up digital drawing lately - started on my iPad using Sketch Club and Procreate but then my iPad died and I can't afford a new one. So I got myself a little Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet (which I absolutely love now) to fill the void.

My question is, if any of you do digital drawing does anyone have any preference on what software they use?

At the moment I'm using Photoshop Elements because it came with the tablet but it strikes me as being more about photo editing than straight up drawing something from scratch.

I use Photoshop CS6 now, but I've also had some really good luck with a free program called My Paint. It might be a good thing to try.

Was it the new manga studio that the guy from Penny Arcade was gushing over?

I have Manga Studio's $50 version, which is fantastic for line work and such. However, the simple lack of an eyedropper tool means I basically export everything to Photoshop and do my coloring there.

You don't need a fancy program.

Art Rage, or Sketchbook Pro should get you by.

Painter is the staple, if I understand forums like conceptart.org, but you can't make magic our of some watercolour rendering effects.

Black lines will do. Proper construction, composition, line quality, proportions etc... these are the root of it.

...again, I'm no artist, but from my 3d experience, I know this to be true. The software doesn't make the artist. The finest mink brushes don't make the artist.

The most amazing stuff I've seen done in Photoshop uses only a semi transparent, hard brush. No other effects. Every software is capable of that.

Is not really a crutch to cover up any lack in skill or understanding. At least not consciously. I have a pretty decent grasp of anatomy, proportion, symmetry, etc. I went to school for graphic design, and we got the foundation courses. I actually spent about half of one of my painting courses in the life drawing class next door doing watercolors of the models. Granted that was several years ago, and I've been probably less than diligent in keeping up my skills, but I still feel fairly confident I'm my abilities in more traditional subject matter.
It's just right now I'm in a mode where I draw what is in my head, whatever I've be dreaming about, and is usually dark and... Odd.
I was doing doodles in my notebook during class, and it was just a random jumble of stuff that came to mind. My partner mentioned that he didn't want to take a walk though my head, fort all the dark and weird.
So it's more a concern about the state of my mind than anything. I've always gone to dark places in my imagination, it just send more noticeable recently. Maybe I'm just in a mood.

Don't mistake my comment as a crit. I'm in no place to do so. I was thinking in general terms.

Don't mistake my comment as a crit. I'm in no place to do so. I was thinking in general terms.

I've been trying to keep myself sketching on a regular basis lately. I picked up one of these recently and it's been so much fun to try and learn to use.

IMAGE(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61BVFNai1lL._SL1300_.jpg)

I have a couple of the foam-tipped brush pens by various companies, but this one is so much nicer. The tip is actual synthetic brisles rather than a single piece. Way more sensitive than the others. My control is horrible, but I'm getting better with it and I love to just doodle.

I've also become completely inspired by this guy's sketch blog. I love his brush work and style in general. It's what inspired me to pick up the pen above.