Improving your illustrations (Hell)

[Template88]

This is going to be pretty TLDR, so I've put the important parts in bold.
I've noticed a lot of threads that involve showing off art, requesting art, and asking for specific tips on how to make a specific illustration better, but none that involveuniversal improvement in general. I don't particularly hold myself in high regard as an illustrator and I am certainly not qualified to teach, but those here that I've seen that are better than I are either not interested or have better things to do than try to help those around them. I cant blame them, but the apathy is too strong here to really justify itself in my opinion. Many who post here are very weak artists, very young artists, and some would argue that by virtue of them being poor illustrators this disqualifies them to post. I heartily disagree with this opinion because it snuffs the seeds of creativity. Who among us was born a master illustrator? No one. I, like everybody else started drawing because I saw what I considered to be awesome works of art in media, and attempted to copy it. In trying to emulate what i saw in the media it I found that drawing was interesting, and fun, and I enjoyed showing my "art" to other people. I was horrendous. I still am horrendous, but I am far better than I used to be.Those who were better than I would mock me and put me down because I took some measure of pride in my "work" and I was blind to what illustration really is about, but some would try to help me by showing me different ways to approach art than I was accustomed to. Many of these things I did not understand, I was too new, too young, but their effort was not wasted on me. I kept going with it, my failures fueling my determination to not suck ass. The secret to getting better at illustration, or really anything is to never stop doing it. Also stop being so lazy. Getting good at something requires sacrifice.

But before you get into that, you must ask yourself why.
Why do you create? Is it a hobby, or do you plan on making it a profession? For me I plan on making a living off of illustration and I take it very seriously. For a hobbyist, they don't have to worry about the same things I do, and they can relax and enjoy it more most likely. I enjoy drawing very much regardless if I want to make it a professional endeavor or not, but relying on it alone as a source of income is a very stressful and difficult job.
You always have the specter of doubt whispering "Give it up." when you fail, and you know that there are many many out there who are worlds better than you, but it can be done.You can do anything you want if you commit yourself to it and take the proper steps toward that goal. I mean within reason of course, committing yourself to learning how to move boulders with your mind is probably going to make people think you are crazy and nothing else. Still, it doesn't stop some people and I can respect that even if they are completely insane.
What is your ultimate goal with art and illustration?
If you have grandiose aspirations of becoming the best artist ever, stop now. There is no such thing. You can however become an exceptional artist in your lifetime. It all depends on personal growth and that's what this thread is about. I will provide resources and direct those personally who have questions about improving in general. Almost all beginners are very aware that they suck ass and they cannot figure out how to improve, there is no reason to point this out to them, it would be like laughing at a fat person and going "Haha you are fat!" it does nothing constructive.

We are going to start at the very beginning. If any of my peers wish to correct me, or offer other insights, please for the love of god do so, I have almost no idea what I am doing.

Everything you've ever drawn or will draw can be boiled down to its most basic elements, the circle, the square and the triangle. This might sound ridiculous, but try drawing them. You'd be surprised how hard it is to draw them in a manner that doesn't suck. Dont use a tool that automatically draws them, draw them by hand or with a tablet. For more advanced illustrators, draw a pyramid or cone, a cube and a sphere.

[BizarroJoe]

At 3/30/12 08:32 PM, Template88 wrote: Everything you've ever drawn or will draw can be boiled down to its most basic elements, the circle, the square and the triangle. This might sound ridiculous, but try drawing them. You'd be surprised how hard it is to draw them in a manner that doesn't suck. Dont use a tool that automatically draws them, draw them by hand or with a tablet. For more advanced illustrators, draw a pyramid or cone, a cube and a sphere.

It's not the first time someone tries to do this, but, heck, I'm dying to see the second lesson.
C'mon, people, get your tools and give it a try. This one's won't take you much time.

[Template88]

At 3/30/12 09:14 PM, BizarroJoe wrote:

At 3/30/12 08:32 PM, Template88 wrote: Everything you've ever drawn or will draw can be boiled down to its most basic elements, the circle, the square and the triangle. This might sound ridiculous, but try drawing them. You'd be surprised how hard it is to draw them in a manner that doesn't suck. Dont use a tool that automatically draws them, draw them by hand or with a tablet. For more advanced illustrators, draw a pyramid or cone, a cube and a sphere.

It's not the first time someone tries to do this, but, heck, I'm dying to see the second lesson.
C'mon, people, get your tools and give it a try. This one's won't take you much time.

Haha, I'm not sure if you are mocking me for trying. :D I'm not trying to teach lessons as much as offer guidance in understanding basic concepts.

[M-Maher]

kay got a shot of vodka in me lets do this

[BizarroJoe]

At 3/30/12 09:17 PM, Template88 wrote: Haha, I'm not sure if you are mocking me for trying. :D

Just a little, sugar, just a little...
But I want this thread to be a success. I'd swallow my pride and go back to kindergarten if I get to learn something useful.
(And practising the basics won't hurt anyways)

At 3/30/12 09:35 PM, M-Maher wrote: kay got a shot of vodka in me lets do this

Aah, there's still hope indeed... Well done, Maher.

Damn it, it's 3:49 AM right now... Better get some sleep now, and what tomorrow brings to the table.

Best of luck!

[BlackMist75]

I stuck to 2D shapes. :| I suck at circles. No rulers or compass used

[Template88]

At 3/30/12 09:35 PM, M-Maher wrote: kay got a shot of vodka in me lets do this

Now I have to be hard on you because you decided to go the harder route. As you know, based on your other shapes, things in 3-d space have dimensions. You chose to render your shapes in three dimensions, and a cylinder in that particular angle does not lose the core shape of the circle it originates from.

I am not sure if it is a fault in comprehension of dimensions or laziness, but if its the latter...if you cannot draw a proper cylinder in a series of three shapes you will be far too lazy to draw anything more complex that is made from those shapes.

What is the problem here, motivation or dimensions?

[M-Maher]

At 3/30/12 09:53 PM, Template88 wrote: What is the problem here, motivation or dimensions?

inebriation mostly, that and tiredness. (02:55 on 24h clock)

[BlackMist75]

3D shapes, I'm new to shapes :|

[iceimp]

I kind of skimmed so it's basically "Get 'er done" and shapes are awesome and important.

So I practiced those 3 shapes you talked about and tried drawing a tree "guess what shape I used".
good practice

[heavyrain]

Some shapes.

[Felis]

Everybody's drawing cylinders, I didn't because I'm sort of dim.

Also meh.

[Template88]

At 3/30/12 10:06 PM, BlackMist75 wrote: 3D shapes, I'm new to shapes :|

It is very important that you keep consistency, just like with the cylinder that one drunk guy was having problems with, the tops and bottoms of a 3-d cube must be the same as the other side. If you find yourself getting lazy and trying to rush through it, ask yourself if something so simple is causing you such problems how can you draw something infinitely more complicated? Take your time, do it correctly, if you have to come back to it later, you also need to work on your circles. If you have to spin the paper around, keep redrawing a side a thousand times, whatever you have to do to get that circle looking like a circle, you cannot just draw something once and expect it to be perfect, or see blatant mistakes and leave them there because you feel lazy. Other people notice these things.

[Template88]

I will put up more things to consider later, in the meantime get your circles and squares "perfect" you'll need them. If you dont get the prerequisites down you WILL NOT be able to do harder projects. Art isn't always fun. Art is work!. Tonight we draw in Hell.

[MasterMerol]

Sounds fun!
Sorry for the terrible lineart (and shading).

[Kinsei]

AS Joe has mentioned, this has been attempted before, although I don't quite think from the same angle that you are going for. None the less, I actually desire to see this succeed. I know that if this can make it, then there is still hope for me yet.

Some of my biggest weaknesses are my procrastination, laziness, patients, and fear of failure. I also have some issues with motivation, and once I get motivated I have trouble staying motivated.
These are all things I need to work on, badly.
I'm slowly becoming better about things, but slowly isn't as fast as I would like.

Its been a while since I have done a shape and shading exercise, it felt good.

[Lintire]

Are we still doing self-inserts? 'Cause I did one.

[J-qb]

At 3/31/12 03:18 AM, Kinsei01 wrote: Its been a while since I have done a shape and shading exercise, it felt good.

Watch your perspective K, it's terribly messed up on the square... I.E. We're looking up at the square, but down on it's drop shadow; to boot, the shadow only touches one side of the square...

[J-qb]

At 3/31/12 08:29 AM, J-qb wrote: Watch your perspective K.

also the cylinder gets smaller towards the back, but it's shadow stays the same width...

[M-Maher]

re did it

[LegolaSS]

so it seems i can draw straight lines...

[Opkluu]

Am, I've been asking how to get better in general for a LONG time, but just recently been getting answers...

Either way, count me in on these improvement excersises,

[J-qb]

Is everyone aware of Art101's tutorials?
Might also be something to keep in mind for next episodes/lessons, no need to do double work and such. Loving this thread though

[BizarroJoe]

Nice, there has been lots of participation!
Sorry I can't comment right now about the posts! Just a tip: It's a shape exercise, try to focus on draw the shape right rather than shading. Also, put special effort on cubical and cylindrical shapes (Sorry, Lego, you'll need that straight lines...). I'm pretty sure we'll be needing those. I can smell it.

At 3/31/12 11:16 AM, J-qb wrote: Is everyone aware of Art101's tutorials?

There will be always people who aren't, so the link is always handy but anyways, the value of this thread is that people make actual practice, and share it in seek of advice. Since it seems it has started strong, let's try to build as much as we can on that momentum.

[Kinsei]

At 3/31/12 08:29 AM, J-qb wrote:

At 3/31/12 03:18 AM, Kinsei01 wrote: Its been a while since I have done a shape and shading exercise, it felt good.

Watch your perspective K,

Yeah I shouldn't have been trying fancy stuff. My bad. Stick to the lesson, gotcha.

Is everyone aware of Art101's tutorials?

that is something worth mentioning. Although a live thread doesn't help either

[ZaneZansorrow]

I feel like doing this step by step, so here are forms and color as flat as color construction paper.

[ZaneZansorrow]

At 3/31/12 01:15 PM, ZaneZansorrow wrote: I feel like doing this step by step, so here are forms and color as flat as color construction paper.

Here a first look at the end result, I'll be posting a step by step soon. This exercise was inspired by this.

[ZaneZansorrow]

Step by Step

To start off, everyboy already know how the 3d form works right? With the dimensional mumbo jumbo and such. Well in my initial posting, I kind of screw up on a little things and went about fixing them before starting (like resizing the cylinder and adjusting the plane the shapes are on). I decide where my light source was and build on that. Soft brush are gradient/ hard brush are hard/ eyedropper tool is your best friend. Lastly reflective light (depending on the material) reflects light off of the material it's reflecting on (they usually appear really soft, so you never notice it unless you look close enough).

[Template88]

At 3/31/12 03:48 PM, ZaneZansorrow wrote: Step by Step

To start off, everyboy already know how the 3d form works right?

No.

Getting into light sources shadows and reflective light gradients is getting a little ahead of ourselves.

Understanding forms in 3-d is extremely difficult without considerable knowledge of what you are drawing, that is why are are starting off with basic shapes. -I- do not comprehend the human body in a 3-d manner that is particularly useful when light and shadow are involved especially because I do not understand light and shadow in any realistic manner and even if I did my knowledge of or lack of knowledge of human anatomy would make it useless.

It is very important to not jump ahead or just presume everybody knows something just because you do. Or rather just because you think you do.

Alright my little imps, you seem to more or less understand the differences between a circle, a square and a triangle.

That's great, you are now at a level of comprehension a toddler could understand. Pat yourself on the back, you would be surprised how many "artists" cant get past this step.

[J-qb]

At 3/31/12 02:22 PM, ZaneZansorrow wrote: Here a first look at the end result, I'll be posting a step by step soon. This exercise was inspired by this.

Either we should ba able to zee the top of the cylinder or that's an extremely deep perspective.