How did you....

[Shade]

Ok, so i didn't see this kind of forum any place, or if there was before, it must have been on another page.

For all artists.
How did you learn to draw?
Did you take class?
Did you teach yourself? If so, then how did you do it?
Might you have any tips for anyone who might still be learning out there/trying to get better.

[Shade]

I guess i can go ahead and start this off.

1.) For me, i never took any classes, at all. Never had the money for it. Neither did my parents.
2.) I did teach myself. I did a lot of tracing when i was younger, then i moved to looking and copying from there. From there, i took things from my mind and worked up on the details. Some people might not do it like that, but, that's how i did it when i was younger and worked up.
3.) Some people use the basic shapes for the bases of there pictures. I don't do this(Comes from teaching myself i guess). The best advice i can offer, is to mabe study up on structures of whatever you are wanting to draw, and trying using those as refs, and work from there. Keep your older work, that way later on down the road, you can even use them to compare to what you have now, to help show just how far you have come along.

[vanillaeclair]

How did you learn to draw?
I wanted to draw when I was in kindergarten, but I kept giving up. My mother motivated me though and told me to keep trying, even though she didn't know a thing about art. I made my first comic book during art class when we were free to create anything we wanted.

Did you take class?
No, but I now take classes in my college to learn how to draw better.

Did you teach yourself? If so, then how did you do it?
Yeah. I can't explain how.. I just kept drawing and drawing on endless amounts of scrap paper. I'd compare them with pictures I see on the internet that I got inspiration from and point out my own mistakes.

Might you have any tips for anyone who might still be learning out there/trying to get better.
1) Keep practicing. Art is 1% talent and 99% hard work.
2) Don't be afraid to use references, stock images and copy off from them. It's also a way of practicing. Once you get the knack of what you wanted to draw, you'll be able to imagine and draw it yourself in different views and poses.
3) Learn to accept critique, especially when it's negative. It's not that the other artist is belittling you or that they think they're better than you - We just want to see you improve. We can see you have so much more potential. It's a brother-help-another-brother kind of thing. It'll hurt, but take it. Implement it into your work as much as you can, even if it's difficult. You'll thank us later.

[SpottyWolf]

How did you learn to draw? I'm all self taught.
Did you take class? I'm all self taught.
Did you teach yourself? If so, then how did you do it? Lots of tutorials. Google is your best friend!
Might you have any tips for anyone who might still be learning out there/trying to get better. Google is your friend! There are plenty of tutorials online to look up! Just be specific!!!! Like for me, if I want to look up shading, I would google, 'Photoshop CS5 shading tutorials', and there will be plenty of tutorials with different styles!!! Yay!

EDIT- One more thing, you don't need an expensive tablet to sketch on your computer! I got mine for $15 off of Ebay!!!!!!

[jakdacrowe]

How did you learn to draw?
Uh. More like, grab a pencil and do excessive doodles in my textbook.
And after my parents have threatened to cane me if I'm going to continue drawing crap in my textbooks, I bought line-less notebooks and started drawing in them instead.


Did you take class?
Nope. But I did attend art classes and courses after I started doodling all over the place.
... I have to say though. Whatever they taught me, it didn't really stick.


Did you teach yourself? If so, then how did you do it?
Yep.
No idea actually. I knew tracing artworks was bad when I was younger. So I tried "mimicking" stuff. Eventually, after looking through some books, I found it infinitely easier to have rough/basic shapes and doing details in from there.
Then I started to observe my surroundings, and imagine if there was a "line" around a person/thing, how would that work. How would I draw that.
Yeeeah. Then just... Draw.


Might you have any tips for anyone who might still be learning out there/trying to get better.
Observe your surroundings. Stare at yourself in the mirror. Google has some wonderful references for anything, but not better than living breathing thing or the ACTUAL object you can hold and touch. Hehe.
So if you have the chance, get out there and OBSERVE.

- You need to draw clothes? Dress up and pose at the mirror. Do anything and EVERYTHING. See how the cloth acts on different pose, how it forms wrinkles, how shadows appear. Yes, I do realize you can look extremely stupid doing this. >_>
- You need to draw animals? Take a trip to your nearest zoo or park someday. Do gesture drawings. Do quick, rough sketches. Yes, I know animals don't ever stay still long enough.
- You need to draw an object? IF you DO have it in the house, go and touch it. Feel it. Move around it or move it in your hand. How do the lines form? How can you draw this part? If possible, do still-life. Move the object in different angles. Just draw.

Also, sketches. They are SUPPOSED to be IMPERFECT. Don't spend too much time fixing what you think looks stupid.

And... Ditch that ruler. Yes.
Take it, and toss it if you're doing art. You definitely don't need it.
You're not drawing an accurate blueprint for a building that will be built.


Hell, number one rule.
Suck in your ego if someone gives you a decent critique. Don't argue and prove out there that THEY are wrong and YOU are right. That is plain stupid.
This is someone out there, who has seen a mistake and want to point it out to you because they believe you CAN and WOULD improve the next time you produce art. And since it's a nice polite critique, don't bash them just because you didn't need/want the notice. -_-
THANK them. They are helping you.

[Micky]

I'm self-taught, but took two or three art classes then I quit, because it wasn't a one-on-one sort of mentoring.

The most honest advice I can give is to experiment and not be afraid to go out of your comfort zone. Sometimes when you feel nothing is working out or your "art" feels repetitive or stagnant, all it takes is to try something new. Try a new style or a new medium. AAAAND I lost my Yoda moment, so I'll come back with a better advice tomorrow. (I'm tired). xD

[Encode]

1.) I don't know, how does anybody learn to draw? I draw a lot, and pick apart the things I find to be appealing to try and apply them to my own work as well.
2.) Yep! I've taken quite a few now! I am always trying to get the perspective from as many different artists as I can. There's always good advice that can save a lot of time to be had.
3.) Well...sorta. I never liked the term 'self-taught', because quite honestly there isn't a person out there who can teach you how to draw. They can really just offer advice, and show how they work themselves, like tutorials online. Also, I'm still learning! I expect I will be for the rest of my life!
I draw a lot, I...do everything I'm about to list below:
4.) Take in the input from as many people as you can - some people will like your work, some people won't. That's okay! It's up to you to put the information to use, and you don't need to appease everybody.

Make use of resources. Save things that are inspiring or useful to your computer. Folders for the artists you find inspiring, along with ones for human anatomy, animal anatomy, interesting architecture, and what have you. Anything that makes you go, 'wow' when you look at it - Save it! It'll help you get through those art blocks.

And don't worry about having a 'unique' style. As you look at art that appeals to you, find out why it's appealing. Take that, and apply it to your own work. Mix things up, and eventually with your own spice in the mix, you'll come up with something appealing.

Lastly, draw!
Every day!
Do it.
No, don't make excuses.
I don't care if you're tired, or sick. Get out a piece of paper/tablet and draw something, even if it's only a five minute doodle.
Gooooooo!!!!

[SpunkiSpirou]

How did you learn to draw?
For me I used to watch Cartoon Network a lot, all the oldies like Dexter's Lab, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, those shows. And then one day I just decided to try and draw them, and the first one I tried to draw was a character called I. R. Baboon, from the show I Am Weasel, which was a spin-off from Cow and Chicken - according to my memory. And then I just went on to draw the others. I was drawing these characters from around the age of 6 and they were dead on perfect drawings, which was amazing in itself.

Did you take class?
It was the art lessons in high school that pretty much destroyed my whole art-drawing career plan. I took all my cartoon stuff to the art teacher to show her and she wasn't like impressed with anything she was just like 'So what you can draw cartoons?' and everyone else in the class could draw to the styles she was giving us, but I couldn't I could only do cartoon-style. And it didn't help with her always on my case saying things like 'We don't draw trees like that' 'We don't paint water like that'. Eventually I just got so annoyed with her I ended up throwing a desk table at her, and then never went back to that class ever again.

Tips for others trying to learn:
From my experience don't attend art classes they could just put you down and have you do a different style, stick to what you know and you'll get better in time.

If I draw something now it is very rare and majority of the time I don't show anyone, cause I think they'll put me down about it. I genuinely believe, because of the art teacher who pretty much drilled it in, that my artwork is shit, so why show it if its shit?

[jakdacrowe]

Tips for others trying to learn:
From my experience don't attend art classes they could just put you down and have you do a different style, stick to what you know and you'll get better in time.

If I draw something now it is very rare and majority of the time I don't show anyone, cause I think they'll put me down about it. I genuinely believe, because of the art teacher who pretty much drilled it in, that my artwork is shit, so why show it if its shit?

They ALWAYS make art students do different styles. That's how you LEARN art.
I hate painting, yet I do it in art school.
I hate trying to draw humans, yet they ask me to do it in art school.
I hated having to draw the same thing over 20+ times just for one assignment.
I actually got tired drawing at one point. I felt mentally strained for ideas.
Every teacher gave SO much homework, it felt like the teachers assumed we only went for one (their) class per week.

You think I didn't feel upset when the teachers bluntly assumed I NEVER save my work when I told them I accidentally lost the PSD for ONE art piece?
You think I didn't feel upset when the teachers told me that I should not be drawing EASY things like animals?
Trust me, everyone in art school would have faced the same thing. It just depends if you have the balls and the drive to deal with it. I constantly got bad responses from my teacher and my colleagues about ANY art piece and sketch.

You don't expand much if you don't TRY new things.
YES, I KNOW it can be frustrating and stressful. I was pissed at my teachers for WEEKS. -_-

By the way, I quit LASALLE for this exact reason as well. I was stubborn.

[SpunkiSpirou]

@jakdacrowe That art teacher singled me out, everyone else in the class was receiving A and A+ for their work, all I kept getting was D.

I even spent 2 weeks working on a big piece of art, which I don't think I even have anymore. But every single inch of it was colored in and when I showed it to other people they all said it was amazing and really well drawn etc. That bloody teacher sees it and grades it E - because it was cartoon style and we were supposed to draw realistic.

It was realistic, its only when I draw the eyes on the animal it looks like bloody cartoon.

I can only do one style because my ability thing can't make anything else. I can visualise them but I can't draw them. I can visualise the demons, but I can't draw them.

Stick to writing, lest I know I can do that right.

You are either good at writing, or good at art, not both. I can write but I can't draw, last thing I ever drew was a big canvas thing of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and even then I only showed that to family really.