Need tips and tricks please!

[Chelsaurus]

Hey guys! So I'm pretty new to see all this amazing art on here and so it's inspired me to pick up a pencil!
Even though I cant draw *Ahem* so was just wondering if anyone could maybe give me some good tips and tricks when drawing?
The only thing I've ever only drawn is flowers, I really sucked at art in school and college and so I didn't take much interest in it, I never cared for it. But this past week when I've been inspired by all you lovely artists and I've been appreciating art so much more!
Here is what I have drawn yesterday and today. PLEASE dont be mean or just comment with a load of HAHAs, I know they are extremely terrible but I'm learning. I don't mind laughing and joking with each other about them!​

Spoiler: Please don't be mean!

First ever attempt

2nd attempt

3rd attempt- today

Thank you

 

[timecapsule]

I'd say just keep practicing for now,

later on think about if you know if you would really like to get serious about it and think about investing in a pen tablet or continue with traditional art.

gl, if you keep on practicing you'll get much better! <3

 

[Chelsaurus]

Thanks for the tip! I am going to keep on practicing! I'm going to see how I go with it and then I may invest in a tablet. Do you have a tablet? Is it really tricky to get use to?

 

[timecapsule]

Thanks for the tip! I am going to keep on practicing! I'm going to see how I go with it and then I may invest in a tablet. Do you have a tablet? Is it really tricky to get use to?

yeah, I've got one. It takes a bit to get used to it but if you just keep trying it it gets much easier.

 

[riummi]

Keep practicing! Improvement may be slow but it pays off in a year+ (and more)
I suggest studying anatomy as it makes things easier for you in the long run!
You may feel inspired now but you may also feel down because of the "oh I can never draw as well as so and so" phase but keep pushing through because even they had to put in hours and hours of practice! ovo
I'm sure I'm not the only one whose art also started out like yours ^^; when you feel comfortable enough try doing hand/legs/eyes studies. Tutorials online are always handy to look at as well~

 

[Llust]

specific pointers -
. it looks like you're using guidelines. even though you'll be erasing it eventually, you'll want the circle of the head to be semi-perfect and not too crooked or anything. specifically, make it a symmetrical sphere. this is what will guide you through everything else, like where to put the chin, at what point to narrow down the cheeks, bang placement, etc. if it's wobbly and uneven, chances are, everything else will be uneven as well
. her breasts in the first pic look lopsided
. her elbows and knees should be a bit more defined, they look a bit like noodles
. in the last pic, her torso should be longer
. her arms in the second pic are too short
. her hands look like claws, but don't worry about those for now, as they're not as important as the bigger/more noticeable places
. in the second pic, her head looks lopsided

general pointers -
. this is something that i found helped me a lot, even without practicing much, but go on instagram/deviantart (i have lots of artists to recommend on instagram if you're interested), and look for artists with a style that you really like. try to make sure all the artists you pick out have a similar style. look at their work and study what they do, and compare it to yours. do they draw head shapes and hairlines better than you? what do you think you're doing wrong?
. other questions to ask yourself: do you keep everything symmetrical? do you take your time in drawing? do you follow the rules of anatomy?
. even though most artists i know if go for an anime/chibi style, you can be as creative as you want with body shapes and such. however, anatomy still comes into play, so knowing the basics of it will help make it look more practical. like, as long as you know your head shapes, shoulder widths, arm lengths, etc, you should be good. that's something i recommend working on. anatomy is pretty tough and frustrating, but it'll become so much easier once you get the hang of the basics

try getting into the habit of practicing daily if you have time. everything people strive to achieve requires work. in this case, in order to see your art as something more improved and something that other people will look up to, you'll have to work for it and practice. even if it seems like you're getting nowhere, trust me, you're improving more after every drawing

 

[Chelsaurus]

specific pointers -
. it looks like you're using guidelines. even though you'll be erasing it eventually, you'll want the circle of the head to be semi-perfect and not too crooked or anything. specifically, make it a symmetrical sphere. this is what will guide you through everything else, like where to put the chin, at what point to narrow down the cheeks, bang placement, etc. if it's wobbly and uneven, chances are, everything else will be uneven as well
. her breasts in the first pic look lopsided
. her elbows and knees should be a bit more defined, they look a bit like noodles
. in the last pic, her torso should be longer
. her arms in the second pic are too short
. her hands look like claws, but don't worry about those for now, as they're not as important as the bigger/more noticeable places
. in the second pic, her head looks lopsided

general pointers -
. this is something that i found helped me a lot, even without practicing much, but go on instagram/deviantart (i have lots of artists to recommend on instagram if you're interested), and look for artists with a style that you really like. try to make sure all the artists you pick out have a similar style. look at their work and study what they do, and compare it to yours. do they draw head shapes and hairlines better than you? what do you think you're doing wrong?
. other questions to ask yourself: do you keep everything symmetrical? do you take your time in drawing? do you follow the rules of anatomy?
. even though most artists i know if go for an anime/chibi style, you can be as creative as you want with body shapes and such. however, anatomy still comes into play, so knowing the basics of it will help make it look more practical. like, as long as you know your head shapes, shoulder widths, arm lengths, etc, you should be good. that's something i recommend working on. anatomy is pretty tough and frustrating, but it'll become so much easier once you get the hang of the basics

try getting into the habit of practicing daily if you have time. everything people strive to achieve requires work. in this case, in order to see your art as something more improved and something that other people will look up to, you'll have to work for it and practice. even if it seems like you're getting nowhere, trust me, you're improving more after every drawing

Thank you for taking some time to adress all of these pointers. I really do appreciate it. I find it hard to just draw perfect circles hahaha so I suppose I should start there and practice circles but that is a good point. In terms of anatomy I have studied it a bit but I dont think im very good at shrinking it to paper size haha but I shall work on it.

The problem is my symmetrical work- I can never do anywhere NEAR the same thing on the other side haha is there any tips for that? Also How do you know what style you prefer? Is it best to just try out a few and then see? I enjoyed doing the last one the most but I also enjoyed doing this one last night too- I dont know what style it is called though?

Spoiler: ignore the wonkyness!

I would love for you to recommend some artists if you dont mind, thank you. I have taken on all your pointers and appreciate it

 

[timecapsule]

Thank you for taking some time to adress all of these pointers. I really do appreciate it. I find it hard to just draw perfect circles hahaha so I suppose I should start there and practice circles but that is a good point. In terms of anatomy I have studied it a bit but I dont think im very good at shrinking it to paper size haha but I shall work on it.

The problem is my symmetrical work- I can never do anywhere NEAR the same thing on the other side haha is there any tips for that? Also How do you know what style you prefer? Is it best to just try out a few and then see? I enjoyed doing the last one the most but I also enjoyed doing this one last night too- I dont know what style it is called though?

Spoiler: ignore the wonkyness!

View attachment 170666

I would love for you to recommend some artists if you dont mind, thank you. I have taken on all your pointers and appreciate it

as far as symmetry goes, just keep practicing. I made the mistake of just copy+pasting all my stuff (since I do digital) so I never really learned how to do symmetry correctly, and now its come to bite me in the backside.

Finding a style is incredibly hard in my experience, but again, keep drawing and you'll eventually develop one that you're happy with!
Not every style has a name either, so I wouldn't worry about that much.

as far as finding some good artists, I'd browse tumblr and deviant art. I made a tumblr solely for following art blogs so I always have inspiration whenever I go there. I always love the warm, papery and relaxed feeling art.
but yeah, you'll have to find some good artists. Here's some of my favourites: lulusketches, abbydraws, cyarindraws, and snarkies
again they might not have a style that you find nice, but you'll have to look around a bit to find different artists with different styles ^^

 

[visibleghost]

Thank you for taking some time to adress all of these pointers. I really do appreciate it. I find it hard to just draw perfect circles hahaha so I suppose I should start there and practice circles but that is a good point. In terms of anatomy I have studied it a bit but I dont think im very good at shrinking it to paper size haha but I shall work on it.

The problem is my symmetrical work- I can never do anywhere NEAR the same thing on the other side haha is there any tips for that? Also How do you know what style you prefer? Is it best to just try out a few and then see? I enjoyed doing the last one the most but I also enjoyed doing this one last night too- I dont know what style it is called though?

Spoiler: ignore the wonkyness!

View attachment 170666

I would love for you to recommend some artists if you dont mind, thank you. I have taken on all your pointers and appreciate it

a thing that is good to do is to draw both sides (especially eyes) at the same time. so, first draw where the right eye is going to be then where the left eye is going to be. then draw the shape of the right eye, and then the shape of the left eye. it will get a lot easier since you see what you're doing different n stuff !!

also, the two sides don't have to be perfectly symetrical, but it is important that it's not too off ;w;

i see that you're hiding the hands and that's honestly nothing i'm going to complain about because i know how hard it is to draw hands, buT you could practice drawing the arms in a different way and then just leaving the hands blank/very simple, just so you don't just draw arms that are weirdly hidden behind the body so you won't have to draw hands.

anYWAYS !!! good luck w drawing and keep practicing :>

 

[Chelsaurus]

HAHA thanks guys for your help! Really appreciate it. And thanks for not laughing on here at my alien characters AHA

I am going to create accounts for tumbler and deviant art and browse on there. I think I'm going to just practice a new feature whether that be eyes or a head at a time and just keep practicing it within a drawing each time If only I had taken notice in art lessons years ago hahaha