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One last AdventureThe snow fell lightly upon the small city of Menja, as it was often likely to do in any given city upon the south rim of the northern continent. The cold air kept most of the people inside, preferably near to a warm fireplace, maybe with warm stew. However that was only most of the people in Menja, a few were still outside braving the cold. One such man stood, in front of one of the innumerable frosted over store front windows tugging at his sleeves. He was a man, past young, but not yet nearing old, clad in clothes composed mainly of suede and furs, the hood of his clothes was down revealing a stubble ridden face and thick unruly mop of browOne last Adventure
by ~Bardic-Dragoon
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-You've got to start somewhere-
Anatomy/Proportions
Human anatomy is a challenging subject, but it's also a lot of fun! If you learn to draw people, you can learn to draw just about anything. Here's what I'd assign for now.
-Get a copy of this book (your library might have it), or something like it (perhaps a bodybuilding magazine):
***** People and Poses by Buddy Scalera
-This title has a few hundred high-quality photos of both male and female models in various typical comic book poses -- fighting, standing, wounded, etc -- plus a CD in the back cover with 600+ additional photos. It contains no nudity, just tight shorts and (for the women) tank tops.
If you can't find a book or magazine with decent photos, I recommend *jademacalla's stock photo account. He has some great pose photos, and his stock usage rules are very generous. (If you upload any drawings referenced off these photos, be sure to credit *jademacalla in the drawing description.
Get at LEAST a) two sketchbooks, recommend letter sized (they don't need to be high quality) and b) a stack of scratch paper, or a ream of cheap copy paper, or maybe a pad of newsprint (very cheap, low quality paper).
Do one practice session a day, if possible. A session can consist of the following:
-Start the session with a blind contour drawing of whatever's convenient -- the wrinkles on your hand, a screenshot, etc. Blind contour drawing means don't look at your paper, only at the subject you're drawing, and only draw the lines and/or edges. (Here's a tutorial.) Twist around or use something to block your view of the paper, if necessary. Do it for at least five minutes, and make yourself draw slowly.
The result will be a mess, but the point is to shift your mind into "drawing" mode. I used to have to make 3 drawings to really "shift" -- the first drawing would be cruddy, the second okay, and the third drawing much more accurate and pleasing. Now, if I begin with a blind contour drawing, the FIRST drawing is good. SO much more satisfying! Don't just work harder -- work smarter.
-Now that you're better prepped to actually draw, refer to your book and do some messy stick-figure studies or gesture drawings on the scratch paper. (You can use a sketchbook, if you like, but I can never seem to make myself "waste" sketchbook paper that way. So I use scratch paper, because we are just going to throw these messy drawings away.)
Try doing, say, three a day to start with. Work up to 10, 15, 20 pages per day -- whatever you can handle without getting mentally burned out. These should NOT be polished drawings. They should look awful. They should look messy. They should look rough. Remember, they're meant for the trash! So no pressure. But they will help you get a feel for human figures and proportions.
-After you have finished your self-assigned number of messy drawings for the day: pick a nice model photo from the book for reference. Open your sketchbook, and do just one nice, finished drawing. It does NOT need to be perfect, but take your time and put some work into it. Clean it up with an eraser, darken the lines, add shading if you like, & etc. Don't burn yourself out, but just do your best.
A finished drawing is much more satisfying than gesture drawings. It will also stay in the sketchbook to provide a handy record of your progress. Don't forget to sign and date it. You might also like to write any comments (lightly!) on the back of the page, about what you like about the drawing and what was most difficult about it.
-To complete the assignment, try aiming for, say, a total of 5-10 of those nicer finished drawings, not counting all the messy studies. Whichever number you think you can do. So that'll take 5-10 days, at least, more if you work or go to school.
-Post those drawings in your gallery, and note me! Then we'll see how you feel about your progress, and whether you feel like tackling the next subject or not.
Artistic Jealousy
Also... as for dealing with artistic jealousy, insecurity, etc., it's important to fight it because otherwise you'll wind up blocked or at least stifled. We ALL struggle with feeling inferior; there is always someone "better" (whatever that means) to our insecure little minds. lol. Even though we are all unique, and that alone makes your art irreplacable, inimitable, and valuable. So, I'd suggest that you go to your local library (or their website) and find a copy of The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan. Remember to ask a reference librarian for help if you can't find it. If they don't have it, ask if they can request it or put it on hold for you. My library system will do this for free. The library system one county over will even do Inter-Library-Loans for free.
It's an excellent resource for anyone who wants to tap into their creativity but feels (for whatever reason) unable to do so. It has special chapters on dealing with jealousy, feeling inferior, uninspired -- oh, just about any de-motivating state of mind you can think of. I bought myself a copy after reading the library's. It's helped me a lot.
Excelsior!
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[The Laws of Anime]
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