[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How do I learn drawing?
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Ask HN: How do I learn drawing?
I have been bad at drawing my whole life, but I think drawing can
improve my career as an engineer. I want to be able to illustrate
my ideas when writing blog posts and documentation. Where do I
start? I have an IPad and Apple Pencil for digital drawing. I tried
to learn how to draw by watching videos on Youtube and by
practising a lot on my own, but I feel like I'm missing
fundamentals. I want to learn both raster and vector graphics. As
it turned out, drawing complex real life objects using vector
graphics is not easier.
Author : f311a
Score : 124 points
Date : 2021-03-05 18:46 UTC (4 hours ago)
| frainfreeze wrote:
| Your hand-brain connection will need some debugging, but just
| like with engineering, exposure and practice makes you better:
| 1. draw, the more the better. 2. practice fundamentals.
| 3. have fun.
|
| Some resources worth checking out: - Lessons on
| drawabox.com for basics - Digital painting lessons on
| ctrlpaint.com - How to draw by S. Robertson and T. Bertling
| - Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter - Art &
| Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
| - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - Picture this by
| Molly Bang
|
| Consider joining Crimson daggers forum
| (http://crimsondaggers.com/). Good luck!
| otikik wrote:
| What helped me improve my drawing dramatically was learning to
| _see_. As a programmer, what you need to do is realize that there
| is an "subconscious abstraction subroutine" which "pre-parses"
| visual data, before it parses your conscious brain. Unfortunately
| this preparing involves a great degree of detail removal. That is
| why you (I, at least) are not able to repeat what is in front of
| you. Your subconscious has "helpfully" transformed the pear-
| shaped head, the slightly big oval eyes with gray irises, and
| that very thin upper lip into the concept "Peter's face". Drawing
| the face requires actually perceiving those details, in order to
| reproduce them. That's why children draw human bodies as
| stick/blob figures.
|
| A good exercise to practice "unfiltered seeing" is:
|
| Select an image you want to draw. We'll call this "the original".
| It's recommended that the original has clear borders, and few or
| no color. A black and white cartoon or portrait.
|
| Try your best to replicate the outlines (borders) it on your own
| on a blank piece of paper. Don't bother with color just yet. This
| drawing is your "first attempt". Let's try a second one.
|
| Draw a square grid on top of the original, each square edge about
| 10 cm.
|
| Draw the same grid on a blank piece of paper.
|
| Then (and this is critical) turn the original upside down! You
| are going to draw it upside down now.
|
| Keeping the original upside down the whole time, and starting on
| the top-left square, replicate the outlines you see on the same
| square on the original. Use the square edges as guides; if a line
| in the original crosses the middle of the top edge of the square,
| you should try to draw a line so that it crosses your grid the in
| about the same point.
|
| Once you are certain that the square is "finished", and only
| then, move on to the next square. Keep filling up squares, until
| you have filled all of them. Then turn the drawing upside down.
| This is "second attempt". Compare with first attempt.
|
| The combination of upside-down and division in grids is often
| enough to not trigger the "visual abstraction subroutine". You
| may try this again with more complex pictures. In my case once I
| "learned to see" I experienced a high bump in my drawing
| abilities.
|
| You will find that a lot of the "drawing lessons" out there
| really consist on learning to see reality without the abstraction
| filter on.
|
| Finally, there's of course manual dexterity exercises to make you
| used to your drawing equipment. They make you draw straight
| lines, curves, merge colors, etc. I think those are usually very
| easily found online.
|
| Good luck in your journey!
| vitorbaptistaa wrote:
| I enjoyed the book "You Can Draw in 30 Days" [1]. It gets into
| practice straight away, explaining the concepts as you need them.
| The daily exercises range from 20~40 minutes.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Draw-30-Days/dp/0738212415
| mvaliente2001 wrote:
| "The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in
| Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence" by Betty Edwars.
|
| She taught drawing classes and discovered that one reason why
| people is bad at drawing is that they symbolize what they see
| before drawing it. For example, when we see a face, we tend to
| focus about the eyes and mouth and ignore other features like the
| front. That contributes to a distorted representation that is
| reflected in the drawing.
|
| She devised a series of exercises to avoid that problem. For
| example, try to draw a picture upside down, or try to draw an
| object shape using negative space (you focus on the shapes
| outside the object).
|
| PS: I found that book in The Last Psychiatrist blog:
| https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/10/how_to_draw_not_abou...
| Kelamir wrote:
| I recommend it too. Nice book.
| hourislate wrote:
| Although I consider myself a hack, my family and friends think I
| have some God Given drawing talent. Not true I tell them, anyone
| can draw well. You just need this book and practice.
|
| Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th
| Edition
|
| https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B005GSYXU4&preview=new...
|
| This is probably the best book I have come across and it took me
| from stick figures to what my family considers awesome in about a
| year.
| john-tells-all wrote:
| wonderful book!
| k__ wrote:
| Could you post the name of the book, please?
|
| I can't open that link.
| hourislate wrote:
| Sorry about that...
|
| Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th
| Edition
| kowlo wrote:
| can you share some of your drawings so I can manage my
| expectations?...!
| ridiculous_fish wrote:
| The author's website has tons of before/afters!
|
| https://www.drawright.com/before-after
|
| Incredible results for only six days.
| Snitch-Thursday wrote:
| I was positive I could not draw objects from life. But some
| of the tricks in that book showed that even I really could
| (in the right frame of mind) trace/render/copy/draw from
| life. Now I just needed practice.
|
| Get this book, go through it, then look into drawabox if you
| are looking to draw from life.
|
| For constructivist illustrations or styles like manga, I'm
| still learning.
| Igelau wrote:
| I checked this out of the library in college and it was life
| changing. It's a whole new way to _see_.
| ottomanbob wrote:
| This book is incredible. I went from "can't draw a straight
| line" to realism in a week. Happy to upload some proofs, haha.
| mcshicks wrote:
| Yes I read it many years ago probably soon after it was first
| published and had the same experience. I don't draw on a
| regular basis but I still do from time to time and I still am
| reaping the benefits of going through the book over 30 years
| later. Highly recommend.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| Yes the most important principle being Draw what you see, not
| what you know. For example, don't draw an eye as an ellipse
| containing a circle, but look at the actual combination of of
| light and dark shapes, and draw those instead.
|
| [Edit]. Also, drawing people is a really good test. If you draw
| a house or a tree, say, you can get the shapes / proportions
| wrong but the thing might still look plausible. Draw a head out
| of proportion, though, and it will immediately look wrong.
| xtracto wrote:
| That book is amazing. I got it also when it first came out
| years ago. Although I unfortunately did not finish it, I
| remember two exercises that left me marked:
|
| First is the exercise of drawing the "column / two-faces"
| drawing. You can REALLY feel your two brain sides fighting
| while drawing that.
|
| The second is the "upside down" drawing. After I finished that
| I was amazed that _I_ actually had drawn that (I cannot draw a
| cup or a house or whatever).
|
| The premise is that a lot of people who have the "left" side of
| the brain developed draw the "concepts" of what they see and
| they don't really draw what they see. So if someone tells me to
| "draw that house", I will be drawing "a roof", "a door" , "the
| walls" etc. Instead someone using the "right" side of the brain
| will actually _see_ the house and draw what they see.
|
| Pretty clever.
| probably_wrong wrote:
| I'd like to add three tips to the comments here.
|
| 1. Some people (me, for instance) completely lose their
| creativity when working with a tablet. If that's your case, start
| with pen and paper and use the computer only for inking and
| cleaning up.
|
| 2. If you are interested in figure drawing, plenty of artists
| have learned with Andrew Loomis books, which are available in the
| Internet Archive [1].
|
| 3. Draw a lot. Practice makes perfect. Sometimes it doesn't
| matter too much what you draw as long as you do it a lot. Plenty
| of artists I talked to started copying art they liked, which made
| their lines firmer and gave them the extra impulse to try their
| own stuff later.
|
| And finally, a word of warning: there are plenty of bad tutorials
| out there, but you'll only realise they are bad once you get lost
| and frustrated. You will recognize them because they expect you
| to go from A to C without even mentioning B. Remember: it's not
| you, it's them.
|
| [1] https://archive.org/details/loomis_FIGURE_draw
| eldacila wrote:
| if you want to make diagrams in a digital format, I'd suggest
| using something like graphviz rather than drawing
|
| but, if you want to be able to draw as a skill, and be able to
| use that in both paper/canvas/board and digital media like a
| tablet
|
| then draw every day, and if it's a diagram, ask someone if what
| you wanted to convey is understood or not, or if it's a picture
| (like a portrait or a landscape) draw it several times (can be
| once a day) until you (and optionally someone else) consider it
| "good enough" (as in, to improve upon it further, you'd really be
| gettin on the plateau on the curve of diminishing returns)
|
| I think there was a Show HN where a guy learned to make realistic
| self-portraits in about a month or so, though maybe the skills
| needed to do that are not the same as the ones for making
| diagrams, it might interest you, depending on what you want
| eldacila wrote:
| if that does interest you, google
|
| site:news.ycombinator.com "How I learned to draw realistic
| portraits in 30 days"
| f311a wrote:
| I don't have problems with diagrams.
|
| I want to learn a few styles of drawing. One of them is
| cartoonish like style. I see such a style pretty often when
| reading articles from HN.
| gjstein wrote:
| I'd actually like to pose a similar question: _is there a "Bob
| Ross"-like series for drawing with a tablet?_ My wife and I have
| had some fun in quarantine following a few Bob Ross videos using
| our iPads but the sort of techniques you can get with a physical
| brush aren't really available in Photoshop / Affinity Designer
| (or if they are, we don't understand them yet).
| DerWOK wrote:
| Check out https://realisticpaint.com
|
| It's sooo realistic sooo much fun. And just $25 on Win, Mac or
| IPad
| jvvw wrote:
| I think if you want this from an engineering perspective then
| Mark Kistler's You Can Draw in 30 Days is a good bet. It's not
| about how to see (unlike Drawing With the Right Side of the
| Brain) but if you want to draw certain types of things from your
| imagination, then it might do what you need and doesn't need too
| much equipment etc.
|
| Ultimately if you want to be good at drawing, I suspect you have
| to be prepared to invest a fair amount of time - if you enjoy it
| won't feel like that, but if you don't then there are probably
| diminishing returns.
| paloaltokid wrote:
| A few resources for learning how to draw.
|
| Books:
|
| * Fun with a Pencil by Andrew Loomis (everything Loomis is great)
|
| * Perspective made Easy by Norling
|
| * Christopher Hart's books (friendly to beginners)
|
| YouTube:
|
| * Proko
|
| * Alphonso Dunn
|
| * moderndayjames
|
| Websites:
|
| * Drawabox
|
| * Kazone
|
| Podcast:
|
| * Draftsmen (Marshall Vandruff is an excellent source of
| guidance)
| random42_ wrote:
| There are a lot of great resources mentioned here so I won't
| repeat them. I will add (although it might be obvious) that
| receiving feedback on your work is as important as following
| lessons and tutorials. So, finding a group of artists to exchange
| honest and constructive criticism will speed up your progress.
| tjakab wrote:
| It's been decades since I used it in a practical way, but "How to
| Draw Comics the Marvel Way" - https://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-
| Comics-Marvel-Way/dp/0671530... is a surprisingly great tutorial
| for learning. You can ignore the bits on dynamic drawing that are
| more geared for comics, but it will give you a lot of
| foundational knowledge of composition and observing. The chapter
| on perspective is still one of the best writings on the subject
| I've ever seen. Pair it with a good life drawing book.
| [deleted]
| SMAAART wrote:
| two possible solutions (either / or):
|
| 1. https://drawabox.com/
|
| 2. book: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
| rolph wrote:
| It sounds like you want access to Technical Drawing skills.
|
| there is a core skill of spatial relations modeling required for
| drawing in general and this needs to be developed.
|
| blueprints or architectural plans attempt to convey; where and
| how objects exist in space relative to reference. such as with a
| frontside rightside top drawing or a cavalier [2.5 dimension]
| orthographic drawing.
|
| visual artist like sketch artists are attempting to create
| extradimensional information to evoke 3D associations with a 2D
| object, so abstracting spatial relations across different
| dimensions along with the physical technique and media is
| required.
| hjek wrote:
| Always keep pen and paper on you, so that if you're ever in a
| boring meeting, you can start drawing portraits or sketches of
| the room. Don't worry about mistakes or trying to get everything
| right. Don't use an eraser. Embrace your mistakes and individual
| perspective. Enjoying drawing is the most important part.
| elusivepeanut wrote:
| Check out the books 'The back of the napkin' and 'unfolding the
| napkin' by Dan Roam.
| somerando7 wrote:
| The same way as learning anything - doing
| dominik_z wrote:
| Try starting with sketchnotes (visual notetaking) and go further
| from there. At first, simple items (human, cup, ...) without any
| visual depth will give you a feeling about proportions and
| general characteristics. From there, you can add details and
| eventual some depth.
| roberthahn wrote:
| To learn to draw, you first need to learn to see. So copy things.
|
| Try this project:
|
| Take a sheet of paper and divide the space into 2 equal halves.
| In one half make a collage of black and white images. No color -
| this is important. Try to fill the space if you can.
|
| Once done, get a pencil, eraser and ruler. Your job is to copy
| the collage into the other half as accurately as possible.
|
| To do this, measure where every point is on the collage - any
| place where 2 edges come to a point, then plot that point in your
| working space. With or without the ruler, copy the edges. Then
| focus on how dark or light the part of the collage you're copying
| is and replicate that.
|
| After awhile you will find you'll want throw away the ruler and
| do it by eye. Try it. You will find yourself drawing much better.
|
| Some tips: you have to use pencil and paper. A screen is going to
| throw you off. You can always try it on a second or third attempt
| of this project.
|
| This one project literally took my art mark from a failing grade
| to 85%, and everyone after swore I had a gift. It's not a gift.
| It's just a skill that develops with hours of practice.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| This is the worst way to learn how to draw. It is a short term
| satisfying thing to do and produces great result.
|
| The litmus test for someone who knows _truly_ how to draw is to
| ask them to redraw whatever object they drew but from a
| different angle or perspective. Most people to learned by
| measuring and training their eye won 't be able to do it.
|
| In order to draw, you need to internalize the 3d shape. Start
| from basic shapes and learn to draw them in different angles
| and perspective distortions - surprisingly difficult.
|
| Then increase the complexity. As you draw, you need to not
| think in 2d, but in 3d and it needs to be more intrinsic than
| just "translation". You are so into it, you forget that you're
| drawing on a 2d plane.
|
| When you learn it this way, it gets easier to do follow up
| tasks such as shading and coloring.
|
| Syrcra is a great resource on YT and expands on what I just
| summarized:
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpHAxHY8zvaMOCO6zeYxq...
| odshoifsdhfs wrote:
| You are being downvoted because you may have come a bit crass
| in your point.
|
| But I do agree. The best thing I did to improve my drawing
| skills (which are still shit) was to move from thinking in 2D
| to think in 3D. This small (but mentally big) change improved
| my drawing skills 10 fold.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| It is actually frustrating how often it is repeated. Every
| time I come across any advice on drawing, it is leading
| masses of people the wrong way. What's worse on top of not
| learning how to draw well, is that a false sense of
| accomplishment. People who learn how to draw this way think
| they've learned and climbed the mountain of creative
| achievement but the truth would come out the moment you ask
| them to redraw with a different perspective.
|
| This is my pet peeve.
| odshoifsdhfs wrote:
| Do you have any recommendations on
| courses/books/whatever? I don't remember what it was, I
| think maybe a udemy course that made me 'shift' from
| 2d->3d but I don't remember the name, but always
| interested in knowing more. (specially as I am actually
| working on a drawing application, so the more the better
| ;)
| bskrobisz wrote:
| I wouldn't call it the worst way to draw -- these studies are
| excellent at training the eye to understand things as they
| truly look (rather than the shorthand symbols we are
| accustomed to), but would agree that one will find their
| ability to draw from imagination extremely lacking if studies
| from reference are the only exercise used. An understanding
| of construction in 3D space is fundamental to the creative
| aspect of drawing.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| No, it's actually detrimental to learn by "seeing" because
| it sticks with you forever and hard to break the habit.
|
| There are similar things in learning instruments. Bad
| habits stick.
| Viliam1234 wrote:
| There is an exercise in "Drawing on the Right Side of the
| Brain" where you turn a photo upside down and try to
| replicate it. Turning it upside down is specifically to
| prevent you from knowing what you "should see" so that
| you can better focus on what you actually see.
|
| When I observe people who quickly paint portraits, they
| usually first fill the paper with big dark areas (where
| the major shadows will be), and only afterwards add
| shapes and details. So it's a bit like iteratively
| loading JPEG: first the entire picture in low resolution,
| then gradually increasing resolution.
|
| Would you call both these approaches "learning bad
| habits"?
| roberthahn wrote:
| Suit yourself. The method I described worked for me. I was
| terrible at drawing before, and I was awesome at it after. If
| it helps the OP great, if not, maybe your way would work.
|
| I'm a bit surprised at the perceived hostility here. When it
| comes to making things, since when was there only one way to
| do anything?
| systemvoltage wrote:
| I don't know why its hostile to say something is bad. No
| personal animosity intended.
|
| The problem is that your method is an easy way to get great
| results and probably good enough for hobbyists. But if you
| really want to seriously learn how to draw, I implore you
| to explore the formal way of learning how to draw. It's
| hard and long haul task, takes years but it is damn
| satisfying.
| roberthahn wrote:
| Saying " This is the worst way to learn how to draw."
| feels, to me at least, like a microinvalidation. If
| that's not your intent then I'm happy to move past it.
|
| That exercise I outlined was the first project that gave
| me the confidence I needed to pursue a fine art education
| up to an undergraduate level. I didn't get to that point
| without learning anything more, but I honestly don't feel
| I made a critical error here.
|
| And with respect to the OP, it kind of does look like he
| aims to only be hobbyist levels of good.
|
| I commend your passion for the subject. I just can't
| support the idea that there is a right and wrong way to
| learn how to draw.
|
| -\\_(tsu)_/-
| artem247 wrote:
| There are different kinds of drawing, the person that
| replied to you refers to 'academic' realist drawing
| traditon which has a certain very specific way of training.
|
| an example -
| https://www.pinterest.ru/pin/442760207118409728/ Generally
| such result is achieved through very specific rigorous
| steps to which that downvoted comment referred.
|
| The training that you suggest is also nice but I understand
| why someone classically trained would object to it.
| joeldg wrote:
| What he is saying is literally the basics/first week in "Art
| 101" and addresses the OP who was asking about "learning".
| corry wrote:
| Shoutout to the Remarkable2 (a new eInk tablet) - it's not for
| everyone, but as a replacement for a paper notebook it's been
| great for me. Relevant to OP, it's actually rekindled my drawing.
| Each week I complete one drawing that takes up about 1/3 of the
| page while on calls. Because it's eInk it's easier to work with
| IMO, and I'm noticing improvements.
|
| To be clear, I'm not doodling - I'm drawing a scene/object/etc
| each week. At the start, I decide what I'm going to do and then
| throughout the week I work on it.
|
| Really satisfying and fun.
|
| Echoing one of the other suggestions, I've started taking
| pictures of things that inspire me (a cool scene, a shape, etc),
| and then will take elements from those pictures to attempt in the
| weekly drawing.
| macromaniac wrote:
| After watching many youtube videos, the one that actually helped
| me was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ufz75UvHs&t=1185s
|
| Tldw: Do an extreme version of agile for getting better. E.g, do
| 1 minute sketches of a cup 12 times, trying different variations,
| and understand WHY some variations worked and some didn't. After
| experimenting, see how other people did it. And do it again.
|
| I used to hate drawing, but after trying this approach for months
| I think I love it. I do not regret the time I spent learning to
| draw, and after putting in the hours it changed the way I see the
| world.
| john-tells-all wrote:
| Seconded. As developers, we're familiar with a "feedback loop"
| e.g. with Test Driven Development. Write a Test (high-level
| description of feature), write Code that makes the Test work,
| repeat. Same thing with drawing: do a bunch of them, _compare_
| them to what you were expecting, repeat.
|
| Also: don't take it seriously. At all :) Just do a bunch of
| drawing and it's all good :)
|
| my IG https://www.instagram.com/johnlmitchell/
| kblev wrote:
| In what ways did your world view change?
| lovegoblin wrote:
| This is one of the few occasions where a common idiomatic
| metaphor - "the way I see the world" - is actually meant to
| be taken literally.
|
| It didn't change their worldview; it changed _the way they
| see the world._
| stagger87 wrote:
| Not the OP, but the OP may have literally meant changing the
| way they SEE the world, not changing their world view. When I
| learned to draw, I started noticing shading and depth
| everywhere, as that tends to be one of the first big things
| you struggle with.
| 5tefan wrote:
| Stop believing you're bad at drawing. Seriously... writing is
| much more demanding than drawing. If you can write you can exert
| so much more control over the pen than is needed for drawing. You
| need some time. Take your time to observe and take your time to
| make the drawing. Attention to details is paramount. Drawing
| quickly won't give nice results.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| See
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Rapid-Viz-Method-Visualization-Ideas/...
|
| learn to maximize what you can do with Powerpoint
|
| take art classes at a local school
|
| artists i know, and even some of the greatest anime artists in
| the world frequently start with paper and pencil, scan it in and
| clean it up with raster tools.
| suwicked1 wrote:
| - Take anything and try to break it into big geometrical shapes.
| Car -> Collections of polygons and circles
|
| - Do not fret over the details
|
| - Then dive in shapes and make smaller shapes
|
| - Try to get the details in
|
| - Perfection should not be the aim
|
| - Practice
|
| Do not draw by memory, draw by seeing. A circular orb when viewed
| is not a circle. In our heads it is.
| mtalantikite wrote:
| There are a ton of drawing courses on Udemy, many of which let
| you submit your work to be reviewed by the teacher. I recently
| started one [1] and it's been nice so far. A bit tedious in the
| beginning, but it's nice to start with some fundamentals.
|
| [1] https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-draw-from-beginner-to-
| ma...
| Jtsummers wrote:
| I realize COVID is still a thing, but consider finding a local
| art class. I did this a few years back and it significantly
| improved my drawing ability, I got direct feedback from an
| instructor, and the cost wasn't too high.
|
| Many universities and community colleges have adult education
| programs that offer multi-week courses like this for not too much
| money, or you can find a local artist community.
| [deleted]
| edmundsauto wrote:
| Read "Drawing with the right side of the brain". It teaches you
| how to see, which is the step before learning how to draw.
| folkhack wrote:
| Second this - it's an incredible resource and I have seen many
| people go through this book go from zero to competent. My old
| private art instructor 100% openly admitted to her classes
| being _heavily_ influenced by the book to the point she
| considered it "required reading". Betty Edwards' methodology
| works!
|
| Once I got to college I took two drawing courses at two
| separate institutions. They both ended up being a total "class-
| version" rip-off of the book. We progressed through the
| exercises in the exact same order. It makes me incredibly
| unhappy that my college professors didn't credit Betty Edwards
| like my private art instructor did.
| dominik_z wrote:
| I started recently learning visual notetaking a.k.a sketch notes
| from books (they are in German, so this might not be helpful) It
| really improved my skills in augmenting the wriiten word by
| highlighting key elemets with a drawing. Starting with simple
| items without visual depth, you will learn about proportions and
| shapes. Going from there it's details, depth and layout that make
| the difference.
| Animats wrote:
| By doing 10,000 bad drawings, Chuck Jones once wrote.
| totallynotadev wrote:
| I had the same issue two years ago after buying an iPad, and went
| through multiple tutorials (DrawABox, Udemy), some books. I
| wasn't able to stick to any of them, until I stumbled upon some
| videos on YouTube by Alphonso Dunn. For some reason his way of
| teaching worked for me, so I bought his book [1] and I'm finally
| seeing progress.
|
| [1] https://www.alphonsodunn.com/book
| DLarsen wrote:
| If you really want to gain knowledge and confidence in the
| fundamentals, spend some time watching (in real time, NOT sped
| up) an excellent artist. Good art is often very slow. I saw a
| huge improvement in my own (self-taught, hobby-level) art when I
| began to get comfortable spending 10 hours on a drawing instead
| of one. I enjoy drawing portraits and can recommend this guy's
| Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenbaumanartwork
| tanseydavid wrote:
| For some really great insights into drawing for business (esp.
| whiteboarding) see: _The Back of the Napkin_ by Dan Roam.
|
| There are other related books by the same author too. I
| especially enjoyed: _Draw to Win_
| freedomben wrote:
| I'm not an artist by any stretch, so take my suggestion with a
| grain of salt. I'm also a Linux guy so Apple-y tools are not even
| options for me.
|
| Inkscape has been _huge_ for me. It 's a wonderful tool and there
| are great tutorials out there. My GIMP skills actually improved
| just by learning Inkscape, but most importantly I can create
| basic art for my apps by myself now.
|
| I also got a Wacom tablet that works with Linux and I use it with
| Krita. Since it can emulate a mouse there are tons of other
| applications I can use it with, even Miro.
|
| Designing and drawing simple logos and icons has been most
| rewarding for me. I'll never be able to produce amazing art since
| I lack the skills and talent for it, but I can handle logos
| pretty well now!
| jccalhoun wrote:
| When I was a kid I watched Secret City on PBS and it turns out
| the guy is still around teaching drawing:
| https://www.youtube.com/user/MarkKistler/videos and someone has
| posted the episodes from the PBS show
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw8rIExNvhgV4vUDTbMdUXg/vid...
| barnaclejive wrote:
| omg, I have been trying to remember what this was for decades.
| danaliv wrote:
| Oh man, this is the best news I've heard all week. I _loved_
| Secret City. Thanks for this.
| blackbrokkoli wrote:
| In my opinion, daily (or close to daily) practice is the most
| important thing.
|
| Other commenters already cover which topics to go for, so I am
| just going to say this: If you do daily deliberate practice for a
| year, and whenever you are motivated research something with more
| depth from time to time...well, you _will_ be somewhat good after
| doing this 365 times.
|
| A bit shameless plug; I recently coded a small website which
| presents you with two daily changing images as drawing
| inspiration, maybe it will help you too:
| https://www.inspirationbot.art/
| mfbx9da4 wrote:
| good instructions for drawing an owl
| https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/166281411222188233/ not so sure
| about other animals
| alexashka wrote:
| Background: I've studied graphic design, illustration and fine
| art before becoming a software dev.
|
| The only right answer, _unless_ you enjoy drawing for its own
| sake and don 't mind learning for at least 6 months before you're
| any good, is to hire someone from fiverr or some other similar
| service.
|
| Creative work has plummeted in price and gone up 10x in quality
| over the past 15 years. You can find someone to do illustrations
| for you for as low as 10-20$/piece. That's insane value. Good
| illustrators are like good pianists - it requires daily practice.
| Spend a little cash and focus on what you're already good at :)
| f311a wrote:
| I want to express my ideas through sketches. I don't need very
| realistic art.
|
| People on Fiverr won't be able to express my ideas. I need to
| sketch them first.
|
| Also, drawing is a good way to understand my own ideas better.
| Same for writing.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| magicink81 wrote:
| I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-What-You-
| See/dp/0823023753
|
| The exercises start simple and lead you to a good level of
| drawing ability, step by step.
| polote wrote:
| I had the exact same problem as you two years ago. I as very bad
| at design and drawing. So I decided that I would try to fix that.
| So I bought a book [1]. Basically you start with easy shapes,
| like an Apple, and you learn steps by steps more difficult
| things, like shades, ... The book works for 30 days.
|
| At the end of the 30 days it was clear I progressed a lot. But it
| was also clear that I hated doing the challenge. So I gave up
| with drawing, but still recommend the book
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.fr/You-Can-Draw-30-Days/dp/0738212415
| thraway123412 wrote:
| Reading about drawing doesn't make you good at drawing.
|
| Pick up a pen and draw. After a couple thousand hours, you'll be
| pretty good at it.
| [deleted]
| relativeadv wrote:
| big up to wattsatelier.com and vitruvianstudio.com for a more
| serious treatment
| neetfreek wrote:
| One fun (free!) resource is DrawABox. Despite the humble name,
| you'll learn a lot more :)
|
| Well structured, exercise-based, it takes you all the way from
| the absolute fundamentals.
|
| https://drawabox.com/lessons
| vimy wrote:
| I second DrawABox. Excellent resource to learn.
| funkaster wrote:
| yup. Highly recommend it. It's really a good resource to learn
| the basics and more.
| risk wrote:
| Drawabox is excellent. What a delightful approach from first
| principles. I logged in to write it but I'm 2 hours late. It
| comes with a subreddit too learntodraw.reddit.com
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