altuixde's learning to draw thread

[Amazing_Grace]

I agree that her face looks a little off. When I compare my drawing to frames from the anime, it's apparent that I actually drew her eyes too big, or at least bigger than what the anime viewers are used to seeing. However, if I change her face, I think that I'm much more likely to redraw it worse than it is now than to redraw it with improvement, so I think I'll leave her face the way it is. I'll keep your suggestions in mind for future reference, though!

Oh, I can totally agree with that. I re-draw stuff all the time that comes out way worse than it was. You just can't win sometimes. XD
I still commend your anatomy, though. It's so perfect.

[altuixde]

It's been a while since I've drawn anything so I figured I should try something easy. I decided to copy this image:

I was a little hesitant to do this, though, because there's no way my copy would look as good as the original (since the original is so good). However, if you're going to learn from an example, you might as well choose a good example. I tried to reverse engineer this drawing, starting with the basic body construction. Here's the drawing in various stages of completion:

No tools other than paper, pencil and eraser were used this time.

Finally, I'll also reveal that the mystery girl from before is... Defoko.

Edit: I modified her arm slightly in the last image.

[Amazing_Grace]

That's very well-done! Even if you did have to copy something, it actually looks very close to the original.

When I first glanced at it, I thought the arms looked particularly skinny...but looking at the original image, they were small there as well, which means you did it right. Nice job!

[altuixde]

Thanks, Grace! But now that you mention it, I can see that the arm she's holding the sword with is noticeably skinnier than in the original. I think I'll try to fix that. Once I'm done making changes to this one I'm gonna try to draw something original. Hopefully I'll get an idea for something to draw soon. I actually started a drawing of Ritsuko before this Youmu copy but I abandoned it because I have difficulty figuring out on my own where the folds in clothing go. Maybe I'll get back to work on that.

In other news, I've been thinking of getting a Wacom tablet but I'm kinda on the fence about it. Art that's finished digitally looks more professional, in my opinion, but I'm not sure if I could get used to drawing on the tablet but looking at my monitor (instead of the tablet) to see the results. Learning to do this sounds like an interesting challenge, though. Also, I've looked at the profile pages of my favorite artists on Pixiv and, of the ones that mention what software they use, they almost all use SAI... which isn't available for Mac. Any Mac users out there know of software for Mac that makes a drawing tablet enjoyable to use?

[animagic4u]

I think your drawing came out excellent! Good work!

Have you tried using SAI with Wine? I'm also primarily a mac user, but when I drew I used a Windows machine with SAI.. :<

[altuixde]

I'm glad you like it, ani! I've never used Wine before but I'll look into it. Do you recommend any particular form of Wine, like WineBottler or an installation through MacPorts?

[Amazing_Grace]

Thanks, Grace! But now that you mention it, I can see that the arm she's holding the sword with is noticeably skinnier than in the original. I think I'll try to fix that. Once I'm done making changes to this one I'm gonna try to draw something original. Hopefully I'll get an idea for something to draw soon. I actually started a drawing of Ritsuko before this Youmu copy but I abandoned it because I have difficulty figuring out on my own where the folds in clothing go. Maybe I'll get back to work on that.

I totally understand that. I don't even bother with folds in clothing unless I'm copying something. XD I can't do it well, so why bother doing it at all?

[Cael K.]

I actually started a drawing of Ritsuko before this Youmu copy but I abandoned it because I have difficulty figuring out on my own where the folds in clothing go.

...

Also, I've looked at the profile pages of my favorite artists on Pixiv and, of the ones that mention what software they use, they almost all use SAI...

Not sure how much Japanese you can read, but have you tried searching for 講座 in pixiv? This is drawing, so I imagine if you looked at drawings where they explain this sort of stuff, you'd glean some information out of it. Maybe 講座 and any combination of 服 and シワ would get you something to look at.

And in case you can't really read Japanese, this is what the mystery symbols are.

講座 - lecture/how-to
服 - clothing
シワ - wrinkle

[altuixde]

Huh, I didn't consider looking for how-tos on Pixiv. I'll do some of the searches you recommended. Thanks, Cael! I can read almost no Japanese, though, and I'm sure that the tutorials will have some written explanation accompanying them. Still, even without being able to read what's written, they could be helpful.

[Yui]

Awesome!
That lineart looks so flawless. Your hand didn't even shake?

[altuixde]

Thanks, Yui!

My hand does shake a little sometimes but when I rest it against the paper, it's steady. I think that my darkening of her dress could've been done a little better. With true line art I believe that the angle of the lines is chosen purposefully to match the angle of the surface. When I chose the angles for the lines in this drawing, I was just making sure that the lines in one area are at least slightly different from those in adjacent areas.

[altuixde]

Behold! Ritsuko sitting on a floating board!
(see Master Special 02)

This is actually a work in progress. I didn't finish darkening her hair, dress, sleeves or slippers because I may be getting a drawing tablet and I could use the tablet for that. Also you may notice that I simplified the part of her dress that goes around her neck. That's because I don't think I made her neck long enough for those frills to look right.

The whole process of drawing folds in clothing is very complicated. I looked for relevant information on Pixiv, on the rest of the web and also in print books. I found one book entirely dedicated to this subject. Obviously I've only scratched the surface, but this would be a great skill to have so I'll keep working on it.

[Amazing_Grace]

That looks amazing.

Clothes and shading are my biggest problems. ;-; I just can't ever seem to get it right. What book are you using? Maybe I can find one for myself.

[altuixde]

Ah, arigatou! I'm glad you like it!

I actually didn't end up buying any new books. Instead, I used mostly this image as a reference (for folds in a dress):



The books I was considering getting are these two:

Drawing the Clothed Figure
by Michael Massen

and

Drawing People
by Barbara Bradley

On the cover of the book by Michael Massen is a drawing very similar to the one I did of Ritsuko but, on my honor, by the time I found that book I had already completed the drawing of Ritsuko except for the folds in her dress.

If you find a book or stuff on the web with good instructions on how to do shading could you let me know? I'm gonna need to do some shading in the next drawing I'm working on. ^^

[Amazing_Grace]

Ah, thanks! I'll let you know if I find anything. So far I've just been totally ignoring any and all shading because I just can't. XD