Topic: What ways are there to improve specific qualities of my artwork?

Around two weeks ago I decided to post my very first artwork onto both E621 and Furaffinity. Despite the art being pretty flawed in several ways (also getting deleted off of E621 later), I'm still proud of it. Even then, I want to know if there are any specific methods I can use to practice my drawing skills. I've seen people often suggest the method of practice, but I personally believe the problems I struggle with are perspective/depth, shading, more intricate shapes such as hands (also maybe snouts, but I haven't tried them out before) along with anything similar to those, which practice may certainly help but I would like to get these problems out of the way beforehand. I don't have any actual equipment for drawing digitally other than my mouse and Krita (which is sort of why my artwork on paper is a tad bit better) so I will likely need to fix that, but other than that is there any specific way I can alleviate those specific issues?

_{Also, if there are any other sites where I can post my art (other than here and Furaffinity) I would like to know what some good ones are.}

thegoonguardian said:
Around two weeks ago I decided to post my very first artwork onto both E621 and Furaffinity. Despite the art being pretty flawed in several ways (also getting deleted off of E621 later), I'm still proud of it. Even then, I want to know if there are any specific methods I can use to practice my drawing skills. I've seen people often suggest the method of practice, but I personally believe the problems I struggle with are perspective/depth, shading, more intricate shapes such as hands (also maybe snouts, but I haven't tried them out before) along with anything similar to those, which practice may certainly help but I would like to get these problems out of the way beforehand. I don't have any actual equipment for drawing digitally other than my mouse and Krita (which is sort of why my artwork on paper is a tad bit better) so I will likely need to fix that, but other than that is there any specific way I can alleviate those specific issues?

Use references. It's not cheating if you google up a picture to help you visualize something in your head. For hands, you have two very useful models at the end of your arms, and you can use a mirror for positions that can be awkward. A mirror is also useful when trying to visualize facial expressions as you can just look at your own face; this is a technique professional animators and illustrators frequently use. If you're not finding a reference that really works, make your own by taking pictures (lots of pictures; you won't use all of them, but the more pictures you take, the more choices you have in finding the right angle).

Start by making little, crude thumbnail drawings to figure out the composition of your picture, from basic posing to where characters are placed relative to each other. Then start working out your characters by breaking things down into their basic shapes before adding detail to them. If something doesn't work, redraw it rather than try to force it. If you don't have the basic structure of your characters down right, no amount of refinement is going to fix that.

_{Also, if there are any other sites where I can post my art (other than here and Furaffinity) I would like to know what some good ones are.}

Other gallery sites include DeviantArt, Inkbunny, Weasyl, and Itaku.

clawstripe said:
Use references. It's not cheating if you google up a picture to help you visualize something in your head. For hands, you have two very useful models at the end of your arms, and you can use a mirror for positions that can be awkward. A mirror is also useful when trying to visualize facial expressions as you can just look at your own face; this is a technique professional animators and illustrators frequently use. If you're not finding a reference that really works, make your own by taking pictures (lots of pictures; you won't use all of them, but the more pictures you take, the more choices you have in finding the right angle).

Start by making little, crude thumbnail drawings to figure out the composition of your picture, from basic posing to where characters are placed relative to each other. Then start working out your characters by breaking things down into their basic shapes before adding detail to them. If something doesn't work, redraw it rather than try to force it. If you don't have the basic structure of your characters down right, no amount of refinement is going to fix that.

Other gallery sites include DeviantArt, Inkbunny, Weasyl, and Itaku.

Thanks for the help. I actually already use references a bit, with me even having a couple of reference pics on standby for some shitpost-esque art I'm making. Then again, I don't think I'm the best at translating reference pics into actual artwork, as I might struggle to convey the depth a bit or just map out a picture of a human (me) onto an anthro form. Still, I really appreciate the help, especially with the websites.

thegoonguardian said:
Around two weeks ago I decided to post my very first artwork onto both E621 and Furaffinity. Despite the art being pretty flawed in several ways (also getting deleted off of E621 later), I'm still proud of it. Even then, I want to know if there are any specific methods I can use to practice my drawing skills. I've seen people often suggest the method of practice, but I personally believe the problems I struggle with are perspective/depth, shading, more intricate shapes such as hands (also maybe snouts, but I haven't tried them out before) along with anything similar to those, which practice may certainly help but I would like to get these problems out of the way beforehand. I don't have any actual equipment for drawing digitally other than my mouse and Krita (which is sort of why my artwork on paper is a tad bit better) so I will likely need to fix that, but other than that is there any specific way I can alleviate those specific issues?

_{Also, if there are any other sites where I can post my art (other than here and Furaffinity) I would like to know what some good ones are.}

breaking down and blocking out complex shapes like hands into simple rectangular prisms or cubes might help with the perspective work. right angles are easier to align imo.

One thing that helped me a lot was gesture practice. Go to a site like line-of-action and just draw dozens of 1-2 minute gestures. Even though its not furry specific, its good practice for learning how to put what you see onto the paper, deconstructing poses, building your visual library, learning how the body moves etc. You can apply the same sort of practice toward specific body parts as well.

These throw away pictures feel weird at first but the best way to get better at drawing really is to just draw more.

thegoonguardian said:
Around two weeks ago I decided to post my very first artwork onto both E621 and Furaffinity. Despite the art being pretty flawed in several ways (also getting deleted off of E621 later), I'm still proud of it. Even then, I want to know if there are any specific methods I can use to practice my drawing skills. I've seen people often suggest the method of practice, but I personally believe the problems I struggle with are perspective/depth, shading, more intricate shapes such as hands (also maybe snouts, but I haven't tried them out before) along with anything similar to those, which practice may certainly help but I would like to get these problems out of the way beforehand. I don't have any actual equipment for drawing digitally other than my mouse and Krita (which is sort of why my artwork on paper is a tad bit better) so I will likely need to fix that, but other than that is there any specific way I can alleviate those specific issues?

_{Also, if there are any other sites where I can post my art (other than here and Furaffinity) I would like to know what some good ones are.}

For poses / gestures, I recommend using rigged 3D models in Blender, pose them, take a photo of that posed model and sketch over it. I use the ones that the official Blender team have made and rig them myself.

The CTRLPaint library has a traditional section which I suggest every artist goes through. Check it out if you haven't yet.

One of my art mentors told me once that if I learn to shade cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones and pyramids at different light scenarios, I'll be able to draw anything. It all boils down to visualising 3D forms in your brain after converting 2D reference. Good luck.