Art Help, Please
Hello!
I am 12 years old and I've been pretty down in the dumps lately. I'm constantly comparing myself to artists who are years older than me, I'm not really satisfied with my drawings and my mum is always insulting them. She says degrading things and she doesn't point out where I need to improve. She just says it's bad or ugly or it looks like a monkey. My aim is to get really good at Art and Writing in a short amount of time and at a young age (I'm currently planning out a comic/story). I am completely self taught (mostly through observation), but I feel that my improvement rate won't get any better without any proper teaching or advice. I'd also like to know if I'm on the right track...I really don't want to find out years later that I've been doing everything wrong! So, I have a couple of requests/questions.
1. Is my improvement good so far? I'm making an [url=http://meterapix.tumblr.com/image/35599592876]improvement meme[/url] and I'm somewhat content with what I have. Also here is a [url=http://i.imgur.com/qoxdh.jpg]pencil doodle[/url] I did today in class since there are no traditional drawings for 2012 in that meme, just so you have an idea.
2. At school I don't have any friends so I have a lot of time to draw. I spend about at least an hour a day practicing digital or traditional-- is this sufficient?
3. A year ago I posted a similar thread on basilmarket and somebody recommended that I use books to help me. I bought a book and I haven't used it yet. Just recently I read that moni158's anatomy tutorials are wrong and too heavily stylized, so that made me wonder if this book is trustworthy. Here are some sample pages: [url=http://i.imgur.com/t6YhN.jpg]1[/url] [url=http://i.imgur.com/QtuaK.jpg]2[/url] [url=http://i.imgur.com/i4I2z.jpg]3[/url] [url=http://i.imgur.com/modDD.jpg]4[/url] [url=http://i.imgur.com/EDtLt.jpg]5[/url]
4. What things should I learn that are necessary? Like colour theory, proper anatomy, perspective, etc., and what websites do you recommend I look at?
5. Are there any good art websites that you recommend I could learn from? Does this one seem good? http://artutorials.tumblr.com/
6. In general, what should I work on? Which areas should I put emphasis on? Do you have any particular advice you could give me (advice on writing would be appreciated as well)?
Thank-you very much in advance, I [i]really[/i] hope I haven't been a bother to you all! Thank-you for your time, have a nice day!
17 Comments • Newest first
Part of art is expression and symbolism. If I only see a character in the middle of a blank page, that may not tell me much. Try working with different perspectives, and develop your own style of drawing. (Cartoons, for example, have distinct styles.)
Realism is important sometimes, so fix your proportions. If it helps, you can buy those wooden stand-up anatomy dolls. But also work with simple graphics.
Oh yeah, if you should work towards anything, it should be storytelling and world building. You're only 12 and you're actually really good for your age, but all I'm seeing are characters. What worlds do these characters live in? What kind of ordinary everyday objects would they be interacting with? Draw some environments with your characters. Tell a story with your drawings. Why is this or that happening? And if you want to really improve your figure work, you should look into the Andrew Loomis books. They recently went into print again so you should be able to find them fairly easily.
Oh man you draw way better than me when i was 12.
Just keep drawing, and always look for inspiration
When I was 12, I drew the fattest Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon ever..
Hooo boy, you're so much better than I was at that age... actually you're better than I was all throughout high school. o.o
[quote=xdwow]Honestly, it's definitely not on par with some of the better artists. It lacks a sense of realism but there's also a bit of a "overdone" feeling to it. Tell me, what kind of comics are you pursing? Japanese or Western?[/quote]
Haha, I am definitely aware that I'm not on par with them! xD
I am mixing both Japanese and Western.
Honestly, it's definitely not on par with some of the better artists. It lacks a sense of realism but there's also a bit of a "overdone" feeling to it. Tell me, what kind of comics are you pursing? Japanese or Western?
[quote=WorkItSmoochie]Just wondering, was that Finn from Adventure Time on the bottom?[/quote]
Yeah, supposedly. I did that one a long time ago
[quote=MarxMaster]I think it depends on your mentality. If you have somebody to look up to, you can look at their works, know what they're doing that you're not doing yourself, then you learn something new.
You can practice all you want, but if you have no idea on what [b]exactly[/b] to do instead of giving yourself fuzzy ideas like 'i need to improve proportions', then I don't think you're going to improve as quickly as you can. You can be practicing the same mistakes over and over again when you don't even realize it
I think the only reason why a person should avoid comparing themselves to somebody better than them is that sometimes, we cannot tell if somebody better than we are made a mistake that you yourself is not aware of. As suggested by the TS, the TS seems to be avoiding a set of tutorials as they're actually not as great as they present themselves to be. I also once had to unwatch a certain person on dA out there because I learned enough to know that his technique is really silly.
I believe the best advice you can get is from an actual community of artists who seek to help others out, not just join said community to try to catch attention like deviantART. Trust me... deviantART is not a great place to improve as you'll either hear kind words or nothing at all.
Even if you're popular enough, you're gonna get lulsy 'critiques' like these that I recently received: http://fav.me/d5km6og I'm probably not the shining example of popularity but I hope that makes a point. There is a tendency that people who watch you aren't as great artists as you are. I can self-critique if people are curious about the mistakes people aren't catching here to show how lulsy dA seems to be if you're looking to improve.
I'm a pixel artist so the only communities that are actually helpful that I know of are focused mainly with pixel art. I think you'll have to search around the internet for some of the more helpful art communities.
I could supposedly help but I focus too much on ponies so I can only be of real help if you are drawing ponies. There's likely somebody better at human anatomy than I am as I spend very little time on that nowadays.[/quote]
Hah, I'm actually a really big fan of MLP:FiM! I just so happen to be a brony/pegasister 0__o. I really like that drawing of Fluttershy in her "french haute coutre".
[quote=KingKokoro]I wish I had artist friends! I had one but he moved away. All my classmates are just interested in football or boyfriends or One Direction or whatever[/quote]
oh, nonononono i mean online LOL theres a ton of friendly ones on basil
[quote=Sqooblesv2]Nice to see another 12 year old drawing..though im 13 now.. As for much out of my experience (lol1year) you dont really need to "study anatomy" just test random poses experiment with new colouring styles/styles, naturally you'll get better. It would also be really great to have some artist friends. I mean, they helped me get from [url=http://e-p-h-i-x-i-a.deviantart.com/art/Request-294519141]This[/url] to [url=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/507/faerryl.jpg/]this[/url] in just a couple of months cause they helped me alot.[/quote]
I wish I had artist friends! I had one but he moved away. All my classmates are just interested in football or boyfriends or One Direction or whatever
[quote=KingKokoro]Really? I was certain that I didn't have same face syndrome...I have the tendency to draw the same character but with a different face. Thanks for pointing that out! Note that in the pencil drawing they are meant to have the same face/similar faces -- they are the same person.[/quote]
Nice to see another 12 year old drawing..though im 13 now.. As for much out of my experience (lol1year) you dont really need to "study anatomy" just test random poses experiment with new colouring styles/styles, naturally you'll get better. It would also be really great to have some artist friends. I mean, they helped me get from [url=http://e-p-h-i-x-i-a.deviantart.com/art/Request-294519141]This[/url] to [url=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/507/faerryl.jpg/]this[/url] in just a couple of months cause they helped me alot.
[quote=KaiXai]There is one thing you should never do. Compare yourself with an artist with collage/life experience. You're just ridiculing yourself at best. Practice makes perfection, and keep this up. You are improving faster than you perceive and keep this up. I want to see your artwork front paged in basili one day.
But you need proportions, skin tone tutorials, and you might be on the merge on same face syndrome. Almost all of your drawings have the same face... .__.[/quote]
Really? I was certain that I didn't have same face syndrome...I have the tendency to draw the same character but with a different face. Thanks for pointing that out! Note that in the pencil drawing they are meant to have the same face/similar faces -- they are the same person.
[quote=Naruto1337Ninja]take art lessons lik me! also LOL U DIDNT COLOR[/quote]
I would take art lessons/classes, but I live in a really tiny town so I have absolutely no access to art lessons whatsoever...
I spy megaman in one of the pictures
[quote=WasPermBanned]Your mum is right.[/quote]
You're right, maybe she is!
Hm...You should work on proportions
The heads and bodies look too wide :c
Edit: If you want actual answers and not trolls insulting you, go to deviantart maybe?