Me – Ren the Artist: Struggling, but Determined

Three art books, one in realistic anatomy and two on anime(my prefered style), all for beginners, and I’m still struggling. I’ve talked to a few friends online and filled two pages with geometric shapes, but I’ve realized what I don’t have, which makes this very hard.

I have no goal.

Well, not quite that. I have an initial goal. To draw one of my MUX characters, a plain old human guy. The problem is.. the path there is in a haze.

How do I get from trying to draw lines and 2D/3D shapes freehand, to crafting those shapes into a picture?

Perhaps I should look into some beginner courses in drawing people?

Hmm. I’m not giving up. Though I am not above asking for help. So if any artists out there have advice for a beginner, feel free to leave it here and I’ll take a gander.

Thanks for your support, I swear that once I have something more than shapes, I’ll share. 😉

a note totally off topic: pregnant woman craves things for different reasons. WHY am I craving lemonade? What does it have that Im supposedly needing? Im going to drown from the inside out from all the lemonade this baby makes me want!!!

glasses eater

December 1, 2003

skip the anime style books. anime “style” is mostly a fallacy. it’s better to start out with life drawing and work out a style of your own. also i think working from observation is a better tool than books. one more piece of advice-don’t pay attention to the finished product, if there ever is such a thing as a finished product. the process is the important point. hope I’ve helped.

ryn: like from people. draw your friends, or people walking by, or whatever. models are excellent, if you can get them. a good way to practice getting the shape of things is to do gesture drawings, 30 second sketches that just get the suggestion of how the body was. it’s a good way to practice getting the position of the joints to look natural, which is probably the hardest part of figure drawing.

Drawing people. I did a painting, and I got quiet a few compliments, so I’ll help with what I can 🙂 Really focus on proportioning, take your pencil and measure. Usually, the forearm is about as long as your tibia/fibula. Something like that, and distance. Just compare and contrast. While shading and such, pay attention to value. If you have any questoins, I’ll try to help out best I can! Erin

Or you know what, it doesn’t even have to be that. Like the last person said, make it your own style. But you have to learn the rules, before you can break them, right? 🙂 You’ll find your thing, just practice practice practice if you’re really passionate about it! -Erin

“For any art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensible: intoxication.” -Nietzsche