Topic: how can i improve my art

Posted under General

pokemmm

Member

I made two images that were deleted since they didn't meet the artistic quality standards, what can i do to make them better?

Clawstripe

Janitor

There's no half measures about it. In the words of baseballer Yogi Berra when asked on how to get to Carnegue Hall, famous venue for ultra-talented musicians:

"Practice, practice, practice."

Using 3D models and references, learning with tutorials, and playing with fancy pants art tools don't mean much unless you put the metaphorical pencil to paper and draw.

And keep drawing. You'll find it discouraging at times, which is normal, but there's a very good reason why you must:

Chuck Jones said:
"Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them, and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out."

Yeah, the big difference between a beginning artist and Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Dark Natasha, Ratte, Jollyjack, Moody Ferret, and your favorite artists is that they put in more practice to get rid of their bad drawings. That's what practice does. It allows you to make mistakes, learn your techniques, find styles you like and that work for you, find a direction for your art.

To this end, if you'd like to pursue your art, I suggest getting a gallery on DA, FA, Inkbunny, or other so you can see how you've grown over time. That will help boost your confidence.

Chuck Jones said:
"You've got a million bad drawings in you; you better get started."

You won't believe how many bad drawings I still make after somewhere around 30-40 years drawing on and off. But they're far, far less bad than they used to be. Keep going! You'll be amazed at how good you'll be.

TheGoonGuardian

Member

pokemmm said:
I made two images that were deleted since they didn't meet the artistic quality standards, what can i do to make them better?

lowkey had an upload here that got deleted for the same reason. couple bit of personal recommendations:

1. practice. everyones gonna tell you this but it really works.
2. use reference photos. doesnt matter if you gotta take selfies of yourself in different poses, it will still work.
3. trace ONLY FOR PRACTICING. tracing is one of those things that isnt really gonna help you develop your art too much, but its still good to practice if youre just starting off with art. in the words of some random guy who i talked to in a discord server, "its not the worst but if you’re doing it and not really analyzing what you’re doing its not a very good exercise i guess is what im saying"
4. like clawstripe said, check out other artstyles. depending on what artists you fw i highly advise against COMPLETELY copying their artstyle but still trying to take a bit of inspiration.

MkLXIV

Member

I wish there were a non-vague and specific answer to this question, but alas- if there were, I'd be great already and my struggle would be over.

You will get a lot of opinionated answers on this- what may work for others may not work for you. A lot of others' advice has not worked for me, the way I think about art didn't make it click for me and it may be the same for you.

The process of learning to draw is very long and miserable- it's when you're good that it's fun, so also think about if you really want to do that to yourself and why, you'll spend many years just learning the basics before being able to do anything of substance.

BraixenArchivist

Member

I can't give detailed advice (not exactly an expert in this field) but one thing I'd recommend is practicing your linework. Those examples seem to me like you hesitated too much when drawing the lines and they ended up wobbly.