Other Art Advice

[AlexneushoornTheGreat]

Heyo, it's me, AlexneushoornTheGreat. So I'm currently taking a hiatus from roleplaying and writing, and I've been trying to turn to drawing as a creative outlet during my hiatus from roleplaying and writing, but because I never tried practicing drawing before, my drawing skill is subpar, and I have been trying to consult other artists on the internet for advice on drawing, but I haven't been able to get any advice out of these people. That's why I came here, because I figured that this place has an active enough art community that could help me out with giving a beginning artist like myself advice on how to start off.

So I want to know: What is the best advice you could give a beginning artist like myself? Any advice is welcome, as long as it is constructive advice.

 

[AtomBombBaby]

Hi there I'm also a beginner artist -- I literally just started around a month ago, and I'm having a blast teaching myself! I'm not even sure if I'd call myself an artist yet, honestly! I rely very heavily on reference art/photos, and of the few pieces I've posted in my little thread Digital - Atom Learns to Draw (~Mostly Wings 'n Things~), there are dozens that are just rough sketches and terrible frankenstein-esque conglomerations of references cobbled together. You mentioned you've never practiced drawing before, and I hadn't either, so that's okay! But, as they say, you have to start somewhere, and experimenting in your medium, knowing you're not going to be creating masterpieces straight off the bat, is the best advice I can give. Every once in a while I'll get discouraged, looking at my badly-proportioned drawings and thinking, "This is awful, why am I even bothering?" But I've also thought to myself plenty of times, "I'm really impressed with myself, I didn't think I had it in me!" I'm nowhere near as good as many of the artists on this site; I'm constantly in awe of the beautiful art I see here, and I'd love to get to that level. But in order to do that, I have to stick with it and keep practicing. So I encourage the same of you

 

[lackingsleeq]

It really helps to find the style you want to draw in, even if it’s a rough idea. No matter the style, I highly recommend looking up yt videos about color theory and shape language. Find YTers you like that draw in a similar style to yours and who’s advice you can easily put in practice (for me I find Draw Like a Sir’s content VERY useful and he’s helped me improve a lot). I’m far from what I would call a master, but I’ve been drawing avidly for about 3 years (I think) and this is the best advice I can give to anyone. It does not matter your art supplies, age, or following. Try not to depend on others constantly for support, have a private sketchbook or file for some things, even if their just a tree or something, if you don’t you’ll probably start to feel inspired and when your art isn’t noticed by as many people you’ll feel much lesser, and be patient with yourself. Practice smart, not hard, or just draw for fun without thinking of improving. My art has come a very long way and I’m glad I kept old work to look back at, so keep your work (even if you don’t like it now) to look back at. Most importantly, draw what you want to. When I started out, I was a huge furry and only drew wolves, cats, anthro animals, etc. but I was really very happy with my art. Then I shifted to drawing humans, and found happiness in drawing that too. Now I hardly ever draw animals and prefer gore and darker themes (because I’m an edge lord- jk lol). Your interests might change and don’t be ashamed of what you draw (as long as, Y’know, it doesn’t hurt anyone but that’s a no-brainer) even if some people don’t like it or the art style. If you want, I can provide an example of how far I’ve come as a bit of inspiration.

Good luck on your art journey! Hope this helps ^^ or at least makes sense.

 

[Shawdios]

I've been drawing for around 6-7 years and mainly draw cartoonishly.

Personally? I recommend drawing fan art, it's how I started out and it helped me stay determined to draw. mainly because I adored the characters I was drawing and I just wanted to see content for them.

I did A LOT of "[non-human character] as a human!" drawings/designs starting out, because I was learning how to draw humans at that time.

like the people above said, draw whatever makes you happy! it will help you stay motivated. And idc whatever anyone else says, YOU ARE NOT A BAD ARTIST IF YOU USE REFERENCES. I see so many artists telling their stories about people who had told them that it was bad to need references, it had made so many things incredibly hard for them.

I learned from looking at a drawing then drawing it on my own paper. References help you learn, they are good to have and look at when you dont know how to draw a certain detail, they are called references for a reason! References are important, especially if you want to draw something you haven't drawn before.

I hope you stay motivated and, dont get discouraged! Every artist began somewhere, its a great thing to be able to look back on your old art and see how much you improved.

hope my advice helps!