Center for Self-Optimization: Beginners Art Class

DrStrib · Post edited by DrStrib at 2012-09-18 15:35:38

A place to express yourself, expose your doodles, and maybe learn how to make some art.

I am attempting to learn to draw.
Here's a sketch I made while listening to the music episode of Professor Blastoff with Reggie Watts:

[Deleted User] · Post edited by [Deleted User] at 2012-06-15 00:03:02

Nice sketch bro! Looks like you already can draw! :D

P.S Thanks for the podcast suggestion

DrStrib

@fickbowt thanks man! But I am certainly just learning, I've never drawn before. My friend made these recycled sketchbooks out of old sketchpads and other books, so I started drawing.

Here's a couple 'o pages I doodled at the beach the other day:

Clarion · Post edited by Clarion at 2012-06-21 16:39:41

I started very conventionally, drawing cubes and cylinders and bottles n whatnot. It really helps to reduce the number of things you're working on - like shadows, or contour lines, etc.

The first obstacle in my mind I worked out was discovering that lines don't actually exist in the natural world. A person's face has no lines, but it does have contours, which is only the meeting place between to separate shades and hues.

(not my drawing, this drawing has lines)

It took a little scene like this (+ a cylinder) for me to put my pencil down, grease up my fingers, and draw exclusively with shades.

Hope it helps :D

prisma

Looks like your off to a decent start. I would recommend these two places for some learning/inspiration.

http://www.ctrlpaint.com/
http://conceptart.org/forums/

Harshaw

I liked working through "drawing with the right side of the brain". Maybe I will set some time to do that again..

I find drawing really relaxing. Once I get in the "flow state" I quickly lose track of time. I'm still no good at drawing without reference, but it is nice and meditative to study one object or scene for the duration of a sketch. Everything is really beautiful when you give it a good looking over

godawfol

my advice is to have a balance between experimentation and applying the things you have already learned into a gratifying project

Challenger

wanna try the 30-day drawing challenge?

[Deleted User]

@challenger - yes! I'm getting started now - post soon as I'm done.

[Deleted User] · Post edited by [Deleted User] at 2012-06-22 00:30:57

So... my self portrait was really bad. So bad I won't share it. I'll try it again with a bigger mirror and more time on the weekend. Here instead is one I took more time to draw when I had more time a few months ago... Al Swearengen.

DrStrib

Thanks for the tips everyone!

@Clarion, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what you're saying. I mean it makes perfect sense.... but how do I draw a contour? As in, I have a pencil, that makes lines. Do I make lots of little tiny lines? Use the side of the pencil? Isn't that just a wide line? I've never taken an art class so I don't know any terminology or techniques.

@bella Good start, better than I could do right now. Also I scrolled down without reading what you said at the top of your 2nd post, and thought "wow, bella looks a lot like the dude from deadwood"

[Deleted User]

@DrStribley - Hahaha, I hope I look that badass when I get old. I would even make peace with the mustache.

I used to draw a lot and was never good but wasn't unbearably bad. I aim to change that for the better. I picked up this book: http://www.scribd.com/doc/63679877/Start-Sketching-and-Drawing-NOW. I haven't started working through it yet.

One of the first things it suggested was practicing not lifting your pencil at all while sketching a coffee cup because it's more about how hard you press and where than trying to replicate everything perfectly. I'd like to try my self portrait like that. I'm actually really intimidated by it. Short lines and an eraser have always been my mainstays. I also have basically no idea about straight lines and forms. Curves are easier for me than precision. I suppose we will all develop our own style as this goes on, which is super cool.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Clarion

DrStribley said:
Thanks for the tips everyone!

@Clarion, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what you're saying. I mean it makes perfect sense.... but how do I draw a contour? As in, I have a pencil, that makes lines. Do I make lots of little tiny lines? Use the side of the pencil? Isn't that just a wide line? I've never taken an art class so I don't know any terminology or techniques.

Smearing yo ;) Sorry for the jargon. Contours are like the edges of things. Contours are what we see as lines, and usually represent with lines, but they don't actually exist. Try smearing and shading. Lots and lots of shading :D

P.S. - I like your tubaman he's trippy as hell.

DrStrib · Post edited by DrStrib at 2012-08-27 13:43:17

Progress, presented chronologically:

I started at the bottom of this page and worked my way up, figuring out different details.

Top is an older try, bottom are newer.

I decided to try and add a little color, went slightly overboard.

Got stoned, made patterns.

Stoney patterns+mushrooms

KHAN

DrStrib said:

I decided to try and add a little color, went slightly overboard.

Got stoned, made patterns.

Love these!

Gods_Mustache · Post edited by Gods_Mustache at 2012-08-26 19:10:26

Clarion said:
I started very conventionally, drawing cubes and cylinders and bottles n whatnot. It really helps to reduce the number of things you're working on - like shadows, or contour lines, etc.

The first obstacle in my mind I worked out was discovering that lines don't actually exist in the natural world. A person's face has no lines, but it does have contours, which is only the meeting place between to separate shades and hues.

(not my drawing, this drawing has lines)

It took a little scene like this (+ a cylinder) for me to put my pencil down, grease up my fingers, and draw exclusively with shades.

Hope it helps :D

Good advice. Cubes help with perspective drawing. Perspective drawing rationalizes multiple subjects in a drawing. Booleans are a good exercise for both of these.

ex:

Understanding contours is a big part of it. Here's a drawing I made using Sketchbook pro (tablet drawing for the computer) that shows a little bit of contour stuff.

DrStrib · Post edited by DrStrib at 2012-08-27 13:41:38

I gotta work on my understanding of this shades and contour stuff. If I keep trying, I figure it will eventually click in my mind what I'm trying to do.

Anyone else got doodles? Stuff you're working on?
@bella where you at?

Oh and thanks @KHAN !

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