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Like Gary already said, you seem to be adding a lot of pressure on the pencil. It can make the lines a bit wobbly, and hard to erase in case you need to fix something. Try drawing in short, light strokes, and maybe use the grid on the paper to help you do straight lines.

You should also practice doing smooth curves with longer strokes, which can be especially helpful when drawing long hair (fror example).

Also, how do you hold your pencil? Since you seem to be adding a lot of pressure, I get a feeling that you hold the pencil in over 45 degree angle. Of course I can't be sure, but if that's the case, try going for a lower angle with the tip. It helps relieve the pressure from the tip, and makes smooth drawing easier.

Here's also a tutorial I picked from YouTube, to help with the hand eye coordination and pen pressure. I decided to link it, since embed videos can really slow the page down. There are other tutorials on the related videos, so maybe move on to those when you feel like you're good to go.


Oh, and if you're going to smudge, you don't necessarily need to use a finger to do it (although it's good method, and I use a finger to smudge too). BUT, you can also use household, or toilet paper to do the exact same thing, but without dirtying your fingers too much (or breaking the skin in the worst case). Just fold the paper to a small pillow, so it's easier to see what exactly what you are smudging.

Also, some graphite will be left on the paper, and it can be used to lightly darked larger areas very easily. But you will often have to restrengthen some lines after paper blurring, since it can be a bit imprecise method (although quicker and easier).

>Lazily fulfilling request 10 days later

I actually was having trouble thinking of what I should post. I normally don't post my school work online but I spend so much time making art for classes that I barely make anything on my own time that I would consider finished anymore. Oh well, I guess I'll just post things anyway.

Here's an inked drawing of my "witch-sona" that I did about a month or so ago in my sketchbook.

I went back to my animoo roots and there are no regrets. It actually felt nice making such a fun drawing after so much hard work on still life.

Speaking of still life:

Here is a still life made with oil pastel paints on an 18"X24" canvas that I just finished in my intro painting class on wednesday. We had to paint this with only white, black, blue, and orange. It was quite a challenge, but a surprising amount of fun all things considered.

@Conman:
There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said. I think you're getting a good start on the shading, so make sure you continue working on that. Also when you draw from observation make sure you are looking at the subject you're drawing often. You're not going to get everything exact so don't drive yourself crazy over it, but the more you look at the object the less your brain tries to fill in the blanks when you transfer it to paper (does that make sense? I hope I'm not being too obscure)

Hey Guys, here's an update (sorta).

I've been practicing at lunch during school but I don't really have anything to show as the majority of the drawings have been of practice Circles and basic vanish points. I probably haven't been practicing my shading as much as should since as of late of been more concerned with drawing a straight line.

I've done some pretty good drawings of a fish and a fox but they were for a school project and I probably won't be getting them back until after spring break. Even so, my drawing of the fish had too much glue put on the back so I can't get off the poster without tearing the picture to shreds.

Sorry about not having anything to show but if I find something of worth in my bag i'll post it.

practice practice practice, and try not to say with just one medium. Try new things, look up tutorials…And just keep at it…Hopefully this could motivate you. You will be surprised
on what u can do if you keep it up…Here is a B4 and after on how ive progressed over 4 years

I drew these awhile ago… If you're interested in anime tho…

Can anyone tell me the best way to go about drawing a circle? The best ones i've made where done using short curving strokes but the outline always ends up very dark and/or thick.

Why it's as simple as this!

Cough, seriously, I usually set a finger or my wrist against the paper and move the paper 360 degress while keeping my finger/wrist the same. Kind of hard with smaller ones though. Wikihow has good images.

They don't work perfectlly though. I recomend keeping a compass around or at least a ruler. And what are you drawing? Most simple sketches don't require perfect circles. If it's a head, no one's head is really a circle, unless if it's a cartoon. But if it's architecture like that require very precise geometric shapes, get a compass! If not, practice practice practice. You can get better after drawing over and over again.

Personally I draw circles approximately one quarter at a time. Kinda like Gary showed on the top tutorial picture. I keep my arm completely still, and just rotate my wrist (and fingers a little) in order to get a smooth curve. Then I just rotate the paper a little, and repeat, following the shape of the circle.

If I'm drawing circles just to help me figure out the shapes, I just freehand them lightly and quickly. Sometimes thinking about it too much can make things worse.

Generally I recommend trying to draw circles little by little, with light and quick flicks of the wrist.

If you need perfect circles, then you can just use one of those templates with different size holes. But circles done with templates can be a bit "lifeless", if that makes any sense.


If you end up with dark or thick outlines, try to remember to control the pressure you put on the tip of the pencil.

I linked one tutorial the last time I posted, but I also found another good tutorial in the related videos, and definitely recommend checking it out if you are practicing pencil control. There's some slightly NSFW content out there (nudity), just so you know. Nothing major though.

Here's Some more practice I did. Sorry about the translucence of the first one.

My Mom keeps a basket with a crap ton of shells in it. Once I fill an entire page with the drawings i'll post them.

As for the circles thing, I find that its easier to make good circles on a blank paper than on grid paper.

Derpy Doggy. Pretty good, but two questions. Are you basing your art style from anything? Or is this unique and totally your own. Do you draw to be realistic, or rather more cartoony? Sometimes looking at reference pictures help. I started out by copying pictures, and then developed my own style, after a combination of different styles I've seen. I'm no great artist, but it is noticeably better.

The dog is based the head for an arctic fox I drew for a project. The head was really simple so i did them from memory. I haven't used any reference for the birds iv'e drawn.

So far all of my references have been either real objects or pictures of them. I'm a bit worried about copying from other peoples art because I know a lot of people start doing that and never get out of it. I don't want my art to be photorealistic though, I still want it to be "Cartoony". I guess I'll find out how cartoony I like my art eventually.

Sounds fine, like I said before, after copying from your preferred style you can develop your own. I draw with minimalist style, simple heads, quick yet effective, based on one of my favorite YouTuber's style who's a really good artist too. This is if I'm drawing freely and openly without a real boundry.

This is as simple as possible, next to stick figures. I can draw with a lot more detail when I'm concentrated. I like basing off of anime hehe.

And one thing, I came up with another idea to draw circles. Draw a center dot, then create four more evenly spaced dots around the center, so they're the same distance from each other and the center. Then try to connect them best. I don't love it, and I probably won't use it, but it's another option.

It may be the several consecutive days of cloudyness in my area thats getting me down but so far I haven't been able to draw anything since sunday. I'd like it if someone were to ask me to draw something (as a challenge) so that i'd be more motivated to deliver.

I have a paper that's half full already from saturday that I can post once it's full (I don't like to post pages of work that aren't filled up, it feels like a waste).

That sounds fun. One thing though, what kind of art are you interested in drawing? Because don't draw something you don't want to draw.

That sounds fun. One thing though, what kind of art are you interested in drawing? Because don't draw something you don't want to draw.

If someone were to ask me to draw something i'd want them to ask me to draw a thing not a style because I hope that in time i'll end up with a style i'm comfortable with. That's why i've only been drawing uses real life objects as references, it gives me more liberty with my practice.

Here's another thingy! The fox is from a project for ecology.

I will also be posting in AnAnimationNation's weekly art challenge thread. I would recommend it too anyone wanting to draw something different than what they're normally comfortable with.

I just posted some drawing in AnAnimationNation's Weekly Art Challenge Thread. If you'd like you could go check it out.

Hey how's the Acropolis coming along? That trying to be a nuisance…

The extent of me working on the Acropolis has progressed as far as a rectangular prism with some pillars vertical lines drawn on the sides.

I've been caught up in AnAnimationNation's art challenge thread, so it hasn't really been on my mind. But if you really want it I can try to finish a drawing for you sometime this week (if other, non art related work doesn't get in the way).

MOAR STUFFZ

I drew some helmets for y'all. Feel free to comment.

You can find all my art in my new DA Account.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only one who still looks at this thread.

I'm still checking out every new post that this thread gets, there just hasn't been any good places for me to give advice, or ask for some myself.

Actually, now that I think of it..

Does anyone here know some good and handy tips for drawing knees/lower legs, and neck/shoulder area of the human body? Those are the spots I feel I'm having the most trouble with, especially the shoulders to arms.

Some good advice for that area of the body would be appreciated, in case anyone here can help.

• Shoulders, male
• Upper body, but foreign

I'll give you some advice.

I might not look like it, but I'm an aspiring artist myself, always trying to improve at the discretion of my close friends. I'm trying my best to be a great artist, just because I have this dream to become a mangaka, or at least an anime artist.

My drawings might not be that good, but one thing I can tell you is that I try not to give up. That's a key to being a good artist. Always keep trying, and experiment on scenarios and different things.

My newest drawing might not be up to scratch (Plus, the quality of the picture is a bit mediocre, since it's been taken with a webcam) but I'm getting better. Soon, with enough effort, I'll be making better and better drawings.

^ Is that someone with a lampshade on their head or some weird half lamp half cat creature?

It's supposed to be me (Emerson) with a lampshade over his head. Think of this:

1:45 is where it stems from.

Here's some pictures of bats.

Pretty awesome work on the bats, dude. I can tell you really took your time studying from reference.

Getting better. I see you have firmer lines than your last pic.

^ Thank's all!

I'll be gone for until the sunday after and i'll be unable to get any drawing done (paper and pencil are rather inconvenient to carry on camping trips). I'll try to get some drawing done tomorrow, the day before I leave.

Looks good, but easy on the shading. Unless it's direct light pointed at the bat in a very dark atmosphere.

Sorry for neglecting to do any art recently. I promise to draw more often, which i'm doing right now.

By the way, does anyone have any good screenshots of a Chaos Eater from Dark Souls? I want to draw one but every decent image I find is either all front or completely to the side, I want an image that's at an angle so I can get a better idea of depth and scale and whatnot.

Sorry again for not having anything to show.

My current project is a drawing of one of the Helmets from a Halo 3 collectors addition set. This will hopefully help me improve drawing 3 dimensional objects. I'll have to pick it back up on sunday when I come back from a trip I have this weekend.

It may be some time before I submit another drawing because the time I need to dedicate to studying for my learner's permit, putting my Eagle Project together, and Summer reading.

I wrote a guide about drawing and PM'd it to another KYM user who's really bad at drawing

I haven't shaded this yet but i'm pretty impressed with myself.

I'm also in Art class this year which should give me more time to draw in school.

As of typing this I feel like i've hit a wall in my drawing development. I can't help but think that my current mode of practice, making drawings of images I find on the internet, isn't the most effective way to practice. My pencil work has gotten neater but I only feel like i'm getting better at copying. I recently started looking at how to draw people but I was soon overwhelmed by all the ways to go about it.

Do I start with practicing faces? Should I practice drawing facial features (ex. eyes) first and then move on to how to shape the head or the other way around? Do I have to understand proportions first or should I wait until I can draw body parts to begin with? Or should I ignore the face and go straight to gesture drawing? Should I continue to labor with drawing random animals and objects until my fingers fall off?

I hoped that getting into art class would give me a better sense of direction of where I can proceed with drawing but the imbeciles in the room constantly bring the lesson's to a grinding halt until the teacher can get them to behave for five seconds. We're supposed to do analogous worms this week, not sure if thats useful.

I don't wan't to give up this hobby, I really don't, I just feel lost, for lack of a better term.

Maybe i'll feel better tomorrow.

Conman wrote:

As of typing this I feel like i’ve hit a wall in my drawing development. I can’t help but think that my current mode of practice, making drawings of images I find on the internet, isn’t the most effective way to practice.

I think you need to find something that REALLY interests you, before you might be able to advance your art. Landscapes? People? Cartoon? Sci-Fi? Fantasy? Creature design? Still life? Abstract? Mechanical? Painting? Think about something that you enjoy, or something that you'd want to be able to do. What's your passion?

For me, I've had several leaps that advanced my art. First, I got interested in just anime, and started drawing anime girls. Then I joined deviantART, which showed me the works of professionals, which inspired me to do better. Then I discovered FiM, which also drove my art further for a time (enough to get me to the front page of dA once). Now that I'm not involved with FiM anymore, I'm pretty much on hiatus, and waiting for something that might rekindle my inspiration again. Meanwhile, I just draw whatever I might feel like drawing, whenever I feel like it.

Do I start with practicing faces? Should I practice drawing facial features (ex. eyes) first and then move on to how to shape the head or the other way around? Do I have to understand proportions first or should I wait until I can draw body parts to begin with? Or should I ignore the face and go straight to gesture drawing?

I'm not sure if this is relevant or anything, but I've heard someone say something like this before.

"Kids draw using symbols. They draw a circle that sigifies head, they draw a symbol that marks the nose, they draw symbols for eyes, symbol for the mouth, symbols for the ears, and something symbolizing the hair. They do not draw what they see."

You should probably try drawing something with only shades, if that makes sense. Try squinting your eyes and looking at something. It becomes blurry, and the only thing you see are shades of color. Try drawing those shades, instead of using those symbols for the objects on the head.

I know that I draw using symbols myself (since I draw in a cartoonish style), but you might try using the "draw only what you see" thing to see if you can learn something new, or to find new inspiration.

Should I continue to labor with drawing random animals and objects until my fingers fall off?

Don't force it. You'll just exhaust yourself, and probably lose interest to draw for a long time.

^ Thanks for the advice Muumi.

I originally intended the second paragraph to be a rhetorical question that expressed my frustration with the lack of linearity in learning how to improve my art, But the advice really helps.

Would taking off my glasses be a suitable alternative to squinting my eyes? I can't read my own handwriting from more than 6-7 inches away if that gives you an idea.

i've been really into youtube tutorials lately. You tried those?

Conman wrote:

Would taking off my glasses be a suitable alternative to squinting my eyes? I can’t read my own handwriting from more than 6-7 inches away if that gives you an idea.

Hmm, the pont of the "excercise" isn't really the blurring. It's more about trying to draw shades of light, instead of the "symbols". Blurring your vision just helps you consentrate on what matters, which are the light and shadow areas.

Another way of saying the same thing is this: Don't draw the edges of objects. Only draw the light and shadow areas." Don't hold the pencil like you usually do. Maybe try holding it almost sideways to ease the shading process. Shade with the side of the lead, instead of the tip (if you know what I mean).

But that's just a different and experimental approach to drawing, which can be interesting to try out. But what you probably really need the most, is to find what interests and inspires you.

I've actually started using those more recently.

I'm going to draw faces and features in both anime and western styles and see what i like best, i've drawn a poop ton of anime eyes.

Does anyone know any good tutorials for drawing western style eyes/features? Anime tutorials are a dime a dozen but video that focus on western style specifically are a bit harder to come by. I want to be able to experiment with both before I decide which one I work with best. I've must have drawn at least 3 dozen anime eyes from memory in between classes in school in the past week or so (they're pretty easy, I should try other varieties).

In the meantime i've been having difficulty getting symmetry down because of my hand dominance (eg. I can draw a left hand eye just fine but a right hand eye symmetrical to the left hand one is very difficult).

Conman wrote:

Does anyone know any good tutorials for drawing western style eyes/features?

If you want western style, I recommend simply searching for superhero tutorials on both YouTube and DeviantART. Remember to check the related videos on YouTube. There are often very good videos to check out when looking for good tutorials.

I’ve been having difficulty getting symmetry down.

If you're having trouble with eye (etc.) placement/size and such, then try using those good old guidelines that you can erase later. Just seperate the head into different boxed sections with straight lines, so that they are pretty much identical on both sides of the head, and then draw the features to fit those boxes. That's one way to do it.

This is from a few weeks ago. I used blending sticks and tortillons for it

I finished this last week, thursday. It's an alternate version of the album cover of They Might be Giants' Join Us.

I've been taking a lot of my anatomy tutorials form Draw With Jazza. So far i've mostly been focusing on shaping a head (or at least the base for one) from different angles.

I wanted to upload some samples of my practice with heads but when tried submitting them to DA nothing would upload. It may have had something to do with me rotating the images before uploading.