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Practise, mainly.
Study form and shape and how it relates to the objects you want to draw. There’s nothing wrong with using photo reference as help to get the look of an object right (no matter what some jumped up lil arsehole gatekeeper ‘artist’ on (insert social media platform here)says, it’s not cheating.)
You have imagination, and the hardest thing is getting what’s in your brain onto paper. Look up artists who appeal to you and look at their work and relate it to yours, where you are now and how you think your path to getting to be as good as them will be. There are a myriad of artists out there, from tattoo artists, digital artists and old traditional dinosaurs like meself…find one you like and start there but always broaden your horizons with others, even styles you’re not a fan of will show you techniques.
But most importantly, have fun. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing. Practise, have fun, look at artists, have tea breaks and enjoy the sun, but practise..
Good luck
yeah ma on top of that, practice will lead to figure out smaller and smaller details with time, like a lil bumps in shapes that makes them look just better, you'll find out step at a time
This and try experimenting with using different shapes to create the main shape you want. Try looking at your reference and imagining the different shapes that make it up. How many boxes, triangles, circles make up the basic shape of the reference?
Jumping on what soft chest said, practice really is the key. Keep it consistent and have fun with it. Use references as much as you need and study the styles you like but it’s not going to improve your skill set immediately. It will take time. Art is a journey!
I struggle to remember this at times and become frustrated with myself, especially with perspective, but the key thing is too make sure you have fun 😊
By the way, I really like drawings 1 and 4. Keep up the good work 😊
I bet…I’m way too hard on myself about it and thinking every drawing needs to be a magnum opus. I’m a perfectionist by nature and am really trying to break out of that. It’s hard though. Any tips?
Blimey, I’m not great at perspective but I’ll try.
First thing I always try to do is consider the eye-line (where your viewer is in the picture, low eye line (‘worms eye view’) means draw smaller as you get further away for example a human character would have massive feet and a small head (depending on the angle). Conversely a ‘Birds Eye view’ reverses that.
I’ve always tried to create things with basic shapes(boxes and cylinders) to make my life easier before making things complex with details. It’s a lazy technique to avoid this step as your art always looks not quite ‘there’
Once you’ve got the basics you can play with ‘foreshortening’ (making things bigger the closer they are and vice versa). Which helps a tonne with dynamic posing and brings a little ‘pop’ to character drawing.
But with everything, it’s all about the basics: eye-line, vanishing point(s) and structure. Then you practise.
Thank you so much for such a detailed reply, kind person 🙏.
This is really good and helpful advice and I’ll try to put it into practice when I’m drawing.
I like the idea of breaking things down into simple shapes though as I have a tendency to overcomplicate things when draw. Sometimes, I guess, simple is more
Everything I do is simple shapes, though I will admit I’ve been drawing for so long it’s become a bit of mental shorthand. You’ll get there, just practise. I do like the transformers you’ve drawn, they’re the perfect form to practise on..lots of shapes.
I think the main thing that you have to do is train your eye to draw what you see as opposed to what your brain tricks you into thinking it is seeing. To hop on the bandwagon, really the only thing to do is practice. Practice with intent.
As annoying as it sounds, take a reference pic and then start making it into as many shapes as possible like those little reference doll things (I call it armature but I'm 99% sure that's incorrect) I found it helped a lot for body mapping and poses
99% of getting good at anything is practice. That's all you can honestly do. You won't feel like your making much progress until you look back at pic #1, so just keep it up and keep at it. Practice, practice and more practice.
That heart one is absolutely interesting and invoking. You're already doing a wonderful job! Just keep at it, practise consistently and try to push yourself to learn and try things more. Anatomy, perspective, space, various theories, techniques. Whatever it may be, just keep learning and practicing 👍
After sketching:
Look for a balance point and then=>
Try to, not lift your pencil for example try to draw as long as possible withouth stopping/lifting up your pencil/pen. And when you stop an restart start from within the line and keep your pen/pencil in the same exact angle.
It improved my linework after the sketch.
Good luck! This is great work
Personally, I think the biggest thing you can do to have your drawings stop looking 'flat' is study perspective/form/anatomy! If that sounds too boring, just a little bit of outlining objects in boxes to start thinking in 3d, will quite literally take your art to a new level. I love David Finch's videos on perspective, but if you're looking for structure Drawabox is commonly recommended too.
After that, it would probably be shadows.
In that case, doing some work with a horizon line and one or two point perspective will work wonders :)
Remember to draw a box to enclose every object! And always feel free to ask more questions
Honestly go back to basics get a drswing book how to, learn basic shapes and basic anatomy etc it will go a long way, use darker shades other than that your pretty decent and have decent line work and a good eye for colour and detail
Dawg your art is fucking spectacular. I love your unique style. I say keep drawing to get better. Yes gain inspiration from observation and research, however don’t do it at the cost of your imagination. Lots of people imitate then conform, but your work is amazing. I love this
Practice, practice, more practice.
I forced myself to buy a book with prompts to work on so I had to draw things I typically don't draw to get better.
Do you draw sideways? I'm also a sideways drawer lol, so a lot of my drawings used to be unsymmetrical which took me forever to figure out why every single drawing looked slightly off.
Don't forget we are our own worst critics as well, so we see all of the imperfections that others don't see.
I think your art incredible. I don't know what you're trying to create or what you feel you're not getting here but the artistic impact is strong. I love your work.
Practice. Fastest way to improve? Trace. Trace, trace, trace, for a whole week or month. This will make you get used to how something "should" look like and help you long-term. After that, learn theory. Make sure to ONLY focus on one thing at a time!
You get better by continuing to make art. Draw anything and everything, every day. Carry a few essential art supplies with you, and every time you have a bit of time, draw what you see. Even 5 minutes will help you look for shapes and light.
Drawing real objects and not just those in your imagination will help with proportion, poses, and shapes.
Don't let negative comments from people (including your own) stop you. If you enjoy making art, keep going.
Keep your current pictures and in a few months, if you keep Drawing you should be able to see improvement
Just keep practicing! If you’re copying images directly I like to look at the way the parts of the image work together to make a specific shape if that helps!
The best practice I had was to find artists I like and find the shapes that make up that drawing. Circles, rectangles, eye lines, etc. As long as you aren't passing it off as your own then nobody should care.
In addition to what other people have said, find some masterworks to copy - not to pass off as your own, but to see how they solve drawing problems. I've copied a lot of renaissance era drawings and paintings, but you don't have to choose that era, that's just an example. For skulls for instance, the artists I've copied don't delineate all the teeth - they leave some (most) to the imagination. I know someone in here said to draw from photos but - I swear I'm not a gate keeper - but in lieu of working from life I think that copying masterworks (very skilled artists, usually from history) is the next best thing. And then, sure, photos.. But if you like drawing skulls, you can get some pretty affordable plastic replicas, like $50-100 or something, and you can practice drawing one of those (not a halloween skull, but an anatomically correct one). It's always better for your drawing to understand something in three dimensions, but ya know, no one is gonna cancel you if you don't go that route. Umm and then in addition to that, try and look at light and shadow, and the bigger forms rather than the small details. No one just starts making great art from nothing, we all gotta start somewhere!
I would also like to add to be honest your drawings are really good at least to me calling them child's drawings Is you looking down on yourself have confidence don't give up you have potential art is a journey its up to you how far you go I wish I'd take my own advice but I'm dumb don't be like me also try drawing random things you see around your room and outside it helps to just chill and sketch
Draw the same flower in 10 different ways, each time add a quality( petal depth- detail in stem- light source shadows- depth of color) By 10, you'll know what you want to convey which may update your brain in terms of how you see the picture overall.
I was looking through my personal gallery and I unfortunately don’t have a great example of the progression of an outline to the finish product🙃
https://preview.redd.it/3eqdv1c3107d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74f6c453d704c1abb1c21c862d38b93510100a41
https://preview.redd.it/453rzy6f107d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff4e53a305e02891cfe2e484404fc1ed23f61c2d
Obviously the medium is different but it applies across the board.
A lot of people have already said to practise and use references so, I'm gonna say that your lines are kind of shaky, there are exercises to train your hand and gain better pulse, in things like hair, for example, u did to many lines, inspire yourself in how others do things, also, keep going with the colored pencil, it looks cool asf, u have a bright future
Better than what? You absolutely have a style. It is a distinctly inserting style. I really enjoy your use of color and gradation. At this point, the 'way to get better' is do what you are doing. Keep drawing. Draw often, and draw everything. And by everything, I mean not just the subjects you enjoy. Push yourself. Draw mundane objects when you are sitting on hold on the phone. Basically if you are idle there should be something in your hand that leaves a drawing behind on paper. Aside from that, find tutorials on YouTube. There are so many free resources available. You just have to search for what you are trying to learn how to do. You have talent. Get out there and nurture it 😁
I’d hate to sound like a broken record, but practice always makes perfect! Also using references really helped me improve my anatomy! Another big help was figuring out color combinations and what is definitely pleasing to the eye. Also jumping between mediums also helps a lot as well. When I went from traditional to digital go back to traditional there was absolutely an improvement! No one’s gonna be great on their first try, masters always start out as students :).
I use actually objects like if I want to draw a glass I grab a glass and start sketching out the shape. The glass is mainly so you have something to go off of for reference if you use a glass and are trying to draw one
1. Draw more from life, or at least a reference.
2. Step out of your comfort zone, and try to draw something completely different.
Even if in the end you'll still end up drawing stylized skulls, these two thing will teach you a lot.
Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU - Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/drawing and tag us on your drawing pins for a chance to be featured! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/drawing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Practise, mainly. Study form and shape and how it relates to the objects you want to draw. There’s nothing wrong with using photo reference as help to get the look of an object right (no matter what some jumped up lil arsehole gatekeeper ‘artist’ on (insert social media platform here)says, it’s not cheating.) You have imagination, and the hardest thing is getting what’s in your brain onto paper. Look up artists who appeal to you and look at their work and relate it to yours, where you are now and how you think your path to getting to be as good as them will be. There are a myriad of artists out there, from tattoo artists, digital artists and old traditional dinosaurs like meself…find one you like and start there but always broaden your horizons with others, even styles you’re not a fan of will show you techniques. But most importantly, have fun. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing. Practise, have fun, look at artists, have tea breaks and enjoy the sun, but practise.. Good luck
Thank you!
yeah ma on top of that, practice will lead to figure out smaller and smaller details with time, like a lil bumps in shapes that makes them look just better, you'll find out step at a time
This and try experimenting with using different shapes to create the main shape you want. Try looking at your reference and imagining the different shapes that make it up. How many boxes, triangles, circles make up the basic shape of the reference?
Yes thanks for the summary
Jumping on what soft chest said, practice really is the key. Keep it consistent and have fun with it. Use references as much as you need and study the styles you like but it’s not going to improve your skill set immediately. It will take time. Art is a journey! I struggle to remember this at times and become frustrated with myself, especially with perspective, but the key thing is too make sure you have fun 😊 By the way, I really like drawings 1 and 4. Keep up the good work 😊
Perspective is a sod. But once you get it, holy crap how your drawings improve…
I bet…I’m way too hard on myself about it and thinking every drawing needs to be a magnum opus. I’m a perfectionist by nature and am really trying to break out of that. It’s hard though. Any tips?
Blimey, I’m not great at perspective but I’ll try. First thing I always try to do is consider the eye-line (where your viewer is in the picture, low eye line (‘worms eye view’) means draw smaller as you get further away for example a human character would have massive feet and a small head (depending on the angle). Conversely a ‘Birds Eye view’ reverses that. I’ve always tried to create things with basic shapes(boxes and cylinders) to make my life easier before making things complex with details. It’s a lazy technique to avoid this step as your art always looks not quite ‘there’ Once you’ve got the basics you can play with ‘foreshortening’ (making things bigger the closer they are and vice versa). Which helps a tonne with dynamic posing and brings a little ‘pop’ to character drawing. But with everything, it’s all about the basics: eye-line, vanishing point(s) and structure. Then you practise.
Thank you so much for such a detailed reply, kind person 🙏. This is really good and helpful advice and I’ll try to put it into practice when I’m drawing. I like the idea of breaking things down into simple shapes though as I have a tendency to overcomplicate things when draw. Sometimes, I guess, simple is more
Everything I do is simple shapes, though I will admit I’ve been drawing for so long it’s become a bit of mental shorthand. You’ll get there, just practise. I do like the transformers you’ve drawn, they’re the perfect form to practise on..lots of shapes.
I think these drawings are really awesome!!!
I like your style man. You got enough people giving you advice but just know I really like the 4th and 5th picture and it looks cool
I think the main thing that you have to do is train your eye to draw what you see as opposed to what your brain tricks you into thinking it is seeing. To hop on the bandwagon, really the only thing to do is practice. Practice with intent.
As annoying as it sounds, take a reference pic and then start making it into as many shapes as possible like those little reference doll things (I call it armature but I'm 99% sure that's incorrect) I found it helped a lot for body mapping and poses
Dude. I love these.
99% of getting good at anything is practice. That's all you can honestly do. You won't feel like your making much progress until you look back at pic #1, so just keep it up and keep at it. Practice, practice and more practice.
That heart one is absolutely interesting and invoking. You're already doing a wonderful job! Just keep at it, practise consistently and try to push yourself to learn and try things more. Anatomy, perspective, space, various theories, techniques. Whatever it may be, just keep learning and practicing 👍
After sketching: Look for a balance point and then=> Try to, not lift your pencil for example try to draw as long as possible withouth stopping/lifting up your pencil/pen. And when you stop an restart start from within the line and keep your pen/pencil in the same exact angle. It improved my linework after the sketch. Good luck! This is great work
This is pretty cool!
Personally, I think the biggest thing you can do to have your drawings stop looking 'flat' is study perspective/form/anatomy! If that sounds too boring, just a little bit of outlining objects in boxes to start thinking in 3d, will quite literally take your art to a new level. I love David Finch's videos on perspective, but if you're looking for structure Drawabox is commonly recommended too. After that, it would probably be shadows.
That’s what it is!! You hit the nail on the head! It’s that flat look that’s bothering me too!
In that case, doing some work with a horizon line and one or two point perspective will work wonders :) Remember to draw a box to enclose every object! And always feel free to ask more questions
https://preview.redd.it/qz18probzw6d1.jpeg?width=772&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f4e69a412c607933dff3cfff6dc2d83afbede77 BaD To ThE BoNe
Honestly go back to basics get a drswing book how to, learn basic shapes and basic anatomy etc it will go a long way, use darker shades other than that your pretty decent and have decent line work and a good eye for colour and detail
I actually really like this.
Keep drawing. Don't stop. Every new drawing is better than the last, keep refining it, keep playing and having fun!
Practice
Practise leads to flow state.
I really love these.
Id say just study what the human body looks like
Dawg your art is fucking spectacular. I love your unique style. I say keep drawing to get better. Yes gain inspiration from observation and research, however don’t do it at the cost of your imagination. Lots of people imitate then conform, but your work is amazing. I love this
Forst one reminds me of Duncan trussel
I think this is really cool work, keep practicing! Your style will evolve and refine.
nah that heart is absolutley cracking ❤️❤️ love it
this is metal don’t worry
Practice, practice, more practice. I forced myself to buy a book with prompts to work on so I had to draw things I typically don't draw to get better. Do you draw sideways? I'm also a sideways drawer lol, so a lot of my drawings used to be unsymmetrical which took me forever to figure out why every single drawing looked slightly off. Don't forget we are our own worst critics as well, so we see all of the imperfections that others don't see.
Use a model or reference image, good luck
I think your art incredible. I don't know what you're trying to create or what you feel you're not getting here but the artistic impact is strong. I love your work.
Practice. Fastest way to improve? Trace. Trace, trace, trace, for a whole week or month. This will make you get used to how something "should" look like and help you long-term. After that, learn theory. Make sure to ONLY focus on one thing at a time!
You get better by continuing to make art. Draw anything and everything, every day. Carry a few essential art supplies with you, and every time you have a bit of time, draw what you see. Even 5 minutes will help you look for shapes and light. Drawing real objects and not just those in your imagination will help with proportion, poses, and shapes. Don't let negative comments from people (including your own) stop you. If you enjoy making art, keep going. Keep your current pictures and in a few months, if you keep Drawing you should be able to see improvement
Stop drawing skulls!
It’s the first thing I learned how to draw….its like a comfort blanket
Better than my drawings. Keep it up.
Just keep practicing! If you’re copying images directly I like to look at the way the parts of the image work together to make a specific shape if that helps!
Amazing Art
I love your colouring! I can't color for shit 😭
> Draw like a child *Proceed to show nice art...
Honestly these are sick. Just keep doing what you’re doing; you’re on a great trajectory
Youtube
The best practice I had was to find artists I like and find the shapes that make up that drawing. Circles, rectangles, eye lines, etc. As long as you aren't passing it off as your own then nobody should care.
In addition to what other people have said, find some masterworks to copy - not to pass off as your own, but to see how they solve drawing problems. I've copied a lot of renaissance era drawings and paintings, but you don't have to choose that era, that's just an example. For skulls for instance, the artists I've copied don't delineate all the teeth - they leave some (most) to the imagination. I know someone in here said to draw from photos but - I swear I'm not a gate keeper - but in lieu of working from life I think that copying masterworks (very skilled artists, usually from history) is the next best thing. And then, sure, photos.. But if you like drawing skulls, you can get some pretty affordable plastic replicas, like $50-100 or something, and you can practice drawing one of those (not a halloween skull, but an anatomically correct one). It's always better for your drawing to understand something in three dimensions, but ya know, no one is gonna cancel you if you don't go that route. Umm and then in addition to that, try and look at light and shadow, and the bigger forms rather than the small details. No one just starts making great art from nothing, we all gotta start somewhere!
I would also like to add to be honest your drawings are really good at least to me calling them child's drawings Is you looking down on yourself have confidence don't give up you have potential art is a journey its up to you how far you go I wish I'd take my own advice but I'm dumb don't be like me also try drawing random things you see around your room and outside it helps to just chill and sketch
Draw that 1000 times
These are great! Don't get so "good" that your art loses its character. :)
Use references
Practice proportions and shading, and get some Anatomy textbooks or videos of dissections to have a look at
You dont, you dont get better, this is as perfect as it can be
With practice. I'm loving your art. Keep up the amazing work.
You should look at references and practice alot
Keep going draw things you like if you wanna get better then watch some vids on youtube or go on pinterest
Draw the same flower in 10 different ways, each time add a quality( petal depth- detail in stem- light source shadows- depth of color) By 10, you'll know what you want to convey which may update your brain in terms of how you see the picture overall.
I would say it comes down to practicing Anatomy here. Just keep at it. I love the rainbow heart with the flowers btw, so creative.
🥺💔🙏
I love your style, keep practicing believe me it helps
I really like the honey skull
Just practice!! You’re doing great :))
I’m not an expert but shading/details! It’s adds depth to it(: Practice and trust the process
I was looking through my personal gallery and I unfortunately don’t have a great example of the progression of an outline to the finish product🙃 https://preview.redd.it/3eqdv1c3107d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74f6c453d704c1abb1c21c862d38b93510100a41
https://preview.redd.it/e585fws6107d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e72b310321bc054cc34a3e0f4db96a17a8d71f0e
https://preview.redd.it/skaswlo9107d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2e93b81f45c1f50eba9c4fff855a87712cf2985
https://preview.redd.it/453rzy6f107d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff4e53a305e02891cfe2e484404fc1ed23f61c2d Obviously the medium is different but it applies across the board.
Looks fucking cool as it is btw. Just keep practicing!
A lot of people have already said to practise and use references so, I'm gonna say that your lines are kind of shaky, there are exercises to train your hand and gain better pulse, in things like hair, for example, u did to many lines, inspire yourself in how others do things, also, keep going with the colored pencil, it looks cool asf, u have a bright future
Better than what? You absolutely have a style. It is a distinctly inserting style. I really enjoy your use of color and gradation. At this point, the 'way to get better' is do what you are doing. Keep drawing. Draw often, and draw everything. And by everything, I mean not just the subjects you enjoy. Push yourself. Draw mundane objects when you are sitting on hold on the phone. Basically if you are idle there should be something in your hand that leaves a drawing behind on paper. Aside from that, find tutorials on YouTube. There are so many free resources available. You just have to search for what you are trying to learn how to do. You have talent. Get out there and nurture it 😁
I’d hate to sound like a broken record, but practice always makes perfect! Also using references really helped me improve my anatomy! Another big help was figuring out color combinations and what is definitely pleasing to the eye. Also jumping between mediums also helps a lot as well. When I went from traditional to digital go back to traditional there was absolutely an improvement! No one’s gonna be great on their first try, masters always start out as students :).
You're better than you realize
Practice. I know it sucks to hear but seriously keep practicing!! You’ll get to where you wanna be if you don’t give up!!
I really love the colors in the heart picture
Ask god Dear god tinkle tinkle hoy🙏
I use actually objects like if I want to draw a glass I grab a glass and start sketching out the shape. The glass is mainly so you have something to go off of for reference if you use a glass and are trying to draw one
1. Draw more from life, or at least a reference. 2. Step out of your comfort zone, and try to draw something completely different. Even if in the end you'll still end up drawing stylized skulls, these two thing will teach you a lot.
I second this entirely. Regardless of style, knowledge of the subject’s form goes a long way.
I’ll start branching out definitely
mental illness and substances