Forum posts by Drago Nano

First of all, congratulations on having been so consistent for three months and having started to learn.

Your shading is pretty good and your way of expressing emotions with the head is laudable.

What are you trying to improve? Proportions? Stiffness? Expression? Try to work on a particular area and compare your progress throughout the weeks.

Here are some resources to help you, good luck on your art journey:

https://www.proko.com/ (Gesture drawings tutorials)
https://drawabox.com/ (An essential for learning perspective, 3d space and forms)
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/art-self-study-ot-putting-the-fun-in-art-fundamentals.1010752/ (Big post with lots of resources on anatomy and other things)
https://cravepainting.com/blog/youtube-drawing-videos-for-beginners (Nice list of videos to watch)
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/free-online-drawing-classes-how-to-draw (Free online classes)

&list=PLvPwLecDlWRCxaqYm8Fl1u6zIr9v_Ny-P (Good playlist on how to improve your art)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1514213.The_Practice_and_Science_of_Drawing?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dkeWKwZwV1&rank=1
(Old book, timeless advice. Especially if you wish to imitate another artist)

Best wishes.

Looking back at my previous drawings, I realized how much improvement has happened in so little time. Thanks, in no small proportions, to all the guys critiquing my work here. Thanks.
Often I felt like stuck on a plateau, then a glimpse at my old posts, and it all goes away.

https://imgur.com/a/GmB4Cmh

Still, there is so much room for improvement, here are my critical areas and ways that I thought of strengthening them:
-Shoulder and leg length is often wrong. A good manual of proportions will fix this (Loomis figure drawing seems good).
-I have no idea how to draw hands and heads. A good book would help (Loomis head and hand seem what I have been looking for).
-Figures are often stiff (Drawn to life, even if thick, seem good).
-Drawing without references is hard (Imaginative realism seem the book I need).
-My routine might need a tweak (Not sure if Drawabox+30m of gesture, is what I need).

Thanks for having got at the bottom of this post, let me know if you know any other ways, or materials, that I can use to improve.

Thanks, I think that non-realism is my strong point. I will study anatomy in the next few days.

Thanks for the advice.

First of all, I swear that this has been a complete and utter case of randomness and that I didn't notice that the person whom I critiqued ten minutes ago is the same person whom I am critiquing now (to be sincere, the first was random, I had to click your profile to find this).

Second: Take this with a mountain of salt. I don't draw digitally. It's evident that there is a huge gap between your digital and traditional skills. What I can recommend (since you are more than able to draw gestures and figures) is to draw circles, ovals and squares on your tablet, over and over again. Yes, it sounds absurd, but it works for habituating to everything. From painting, shading, switching grips etc. You have to learn the basic movements and shapes...again.

Here are some resources: https://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/sketching-lines https://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/fluid-linework

Third: keep at it! I can't wait to see your digital finished drawings.

Best wishes and keep practicing.

Thanks for the advice, I am have see Proko initial videos again, I have noticed so many tips that I hadn't noticed before.

Also, for the seeing vs knowing, I realize that I can put my phone upside down.
I have also skimmed again the articles. Yep, still, a lot of roads to do.

Best wishes and thanks for your time and effort.

First of all: those drawings look amazing, your style is certainly interesting. Take this critique with a mountain of salt because I am not as good as you.

Second: What are you trying to improve? Anatomy? Gesture? Expressions? Shading? Without a precise pointer is hard to give you tips.
Your chaotic lines are good for everything above the 30s. The 30s look too much chaotic, wobbly and amateur. I want to clarify, I am not critiquing your style, there is a difference between soft skills (free drawings, do what you want) and hard skills (perspective, technical drawings, gesture). When you hard ones reduce the stylish element, don't eliminate it completely, simply reduce it. If you want to know more about soft and hard skills I recommend you read The Little Book of Talent.

Third: I want to see your finished drawings. The red effect on paper is absolutely amazing.

Keep practising and improving and you will become great in no time.

PS: Which Brush makers did you use? I want to try them.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has critiqued my previous two sessions and it's helping me improve. Critiquing other people has been a blessing for my drawings.

I want to make my drawing look less stiff, and also learn the correct proportion of the human body. I am proud of my three-day streak.

https://imgur.com/a/cQLqYp3 , from day 4 onwards I started to write the time it took me to draw a figure. The drawings are roughly in order of time taken.

I noticed that my not knowing the proportion of the human body is hurting my drawings. If you look well you will see that the shoulder length is more than a bet than a calculated line. Also, I don't know how to properly represent the curves of the human silhouette (you can see this in the 1-minute drawings), the lines feel too rigid and "inhuman" like I am drawing some robots.

You will also see that in the longer drawings I often repeat the same figures. This is because often, around the 5-6 minute mark, I don't know what to add. My eye is not yet trained to distinguish the various muscles mass and how they interact, so I just mark a line here in there, hoping to represent that or this bone.

There is also the fact that my drawings are starting to become automatic. I don't know exactly how to push myself into that flow state again.

Even if all those errors, I am proud of the fact that I am improving.

PS: There is a Doh near a 30s drawing, this is when I realized that I had misclicked and selected 30s posses instead of class mode.
There is also a Panick! Near a drawing. This is when I accidentally pressed the skip button on the 10m drawing. This is also why the shading is so different from my other drawings.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I am switching to an overhand grip. Since some lines and curves are nearly impossible to do smoothly with a writing grip.

• Drago Nano edited this post on December 10, 2021 1:49pm.

Thanks for the advice, LoveLifeDrawing and Proko have good information on how to divide the body. Also, how do you know that I struggle to see the body as a 3d mass?

Do you have further resources on this argument?

*I had already watched it.

Thanks for the video, I already watched it. But at this point, it's time to finally go through the whole course.

Link

Thirty minutes, class mode. Only female nude models.

Trying to get rid of that stiffness in my figures. 2B->6H when it comes to quick sketches (sorry for those light sketches guys). Unfortunately, I don't know how to add details. The last image (the 10 minutes one) was drawn three times because I didn't know what details to add.

Thanks for all help and support that you are giving me.

Unfortunaly those aren't my first attempts XD , you are absolutely right, this is a marathon. And I have the bad habit of thinking of it as a sprint. I checked Action! Cartooning and was strangely good. To be sincere I need a routine (of about an hour) that covers the warm-ups and basics. What is your routine for the basics?

Thanks for the reply!

Thanks for the reply! Yep, I should practice individually.

Thanks for the reply! I should read that book, they told me that many tutorials are a worst version of that book.

How can I have more fun while drawing?