Where do i begin in traditional art?

[gritty terrace]

I’m a beginner artist in traditional art and i’ve tried to search on youtube but i’ve just gotten a bunch of advices that mess up my brain. some say learn the fundamentals first (basic anatomy, shapes, color theory, shading, perspective, etc) some say referencing from pinterest and observing the features, and some say to just “draw.” i started drawing with references but soon stopped as i searched about the “correct” way to begin as i thought referencing was “cheating” or that there were different techniques for referencing which all got me very overwhelmed and confused, most of the time i doodle sketches such as random nose tutorials i saw on tiktok or mouths, but im getting sick and i wanna actually improve my progress but i dont know where to begin with. anatomy? i can’t even draw a head even with guidlines let alone anatomy. shapes? i don’t get the concept of it. like i know people say it’ll come in handy and i’ll gladly practice drawing boxes, cylinders, spheres, or squares, or stuff like that, but what i’m confused about is how i’ll remember multiple direction of 3d shapes like that. i know it seems stupid to think like that but i’m genuinely confused! like do i just search up 3d shapes and copy it on a paper??? most of my mini 3d shapes practice are practically impossible for me to remember later on to ACTUALLY use it in handy times. i don’t know maybe i’m understanding this wrong maybe i’m overthinking it but please someone give me a solution to what i’m missing.

[obtuse rivet]

My tips is go to a library get a book on how the body is built up how muscles is placed and how skeleton looks like, and try to learn that first, and if your gonna draw objects don’t look up pictures and try to find some in your own house and look at it and draw it and focus on making it into 3d work instead of focusing on drawing just what you see so move the object around and look how it is built, if you wanna look at photos of poses you can take photos of yourself and then you can take same photo and same pose but in different directions

[gritty terrace]

Hm i have actually been thinking of getting anatomy books and trying to learn about where the muscles are placed and such, but i’m still reluctant if that’s really a good beginning 🥲 i don’t know i just feel like learning even simple basic anatomy is too much for me, and about the object part i’ve actually heard of it! i once drew my eraser lol, a pretty fun doodle ngl. and actually i found a website of a dummy doll that you can control its movements to reference the poses (it’s a bit stiff though) so i’m also thinking of getting into poses right after i get the hang of anatomy (or while practicing anatomy i don’t mind getting into poses while practicing anatomy lol) but im reluctant to do all of these i just feel like its alot i’m not sure if i can keep up 🥲

[obtuse rivet]

Practice torso anatomy is a good way of starting for me since that is the middle of everything so if learning all anatomy at once is to much I would recommend working on torso anatomy

[gritty terrace]

thank you very much!! 💕💕

[gritty terrace]

Also may i ask you a question about referencing?

[obtuse rivet]

Alright

[gritty terrace]

i’ve exclaimed before about how people talk about how referencing is great for observation skills, but i’ve also heard some people saying that you should keep in mind of how the sizes are different in some place, asking yourself some anatomical questions, and such but i wanna know what’s the concept behind this??

[obtuse rivet]

I don’t quite understand what you mean sorry, my first language isn’t English so could you explain in a easier way

[gritty terrace]

it’s alright 😭 i’m saying some artists tell beginners to ask themselves some questions when referencing from photos but i wanna know what’s the explanation behind that and if it would actually help (it’s fine if you still don’t understand)

[obtuse rivet]

I actually never heard about that lol so I got absolutely no clue why, but I think it’s is so you will maybe find the small details of the reference like

“Is there any light or dark spots”
“Are there any patterns”

And if that’s what they mean then yes it’s actually gonna help you out

[red lily]

I'd suggest holding back on anatomy actually. Or rather, study the human body but don't dive into super detailed stuff like specific muscles and stuff

it's more important to be able to simplify the body into manageable forms

like for example, you can simplify an arm into a cylinder, which would be easier to work with than all the intricate muscle groups

i don't really understand your question about 3d shapes in your original message tho. Can u elaborate a little more

[topaz silo]

there is no “cheating” while you practice if you’re mindful about what you’re doing

being mindful is how you make good progress and a lot of artists fail to recognize this fact and just spam the same drawing over and over hoping something changes

right now? i’d recommend you ignore any tutorial outside of construction techniques (like loomis, but dont get too caught up in the method) unless it really piques your interest

construction is the base fundamental skill for all of drawing, and by construction i mean the process by which you visualize and hold shapes inside your head

most people can imagine or think about the art, but theyre not exactly imagining the actual shapes

only the abstract thought

that’s why even if you have an image in your head you cant exactly copy it 1:1 onto paper

this is where construction comes in

i’d describe it as sort of mental muscle that u train to help u accomplish true mental visualization

it seems like ur overwhelmed by where to start on ur journey, so what i would do if i were in ur situation

is start looking at everything you see, 2d and 3d and irl

And try to abstract it into shapes

I used to look at people’s faces and make repeated mental notes at how their features were proportioned

inanimate objects like cars too, i’d just imagine it as a bunch of boxes stacked on each other

[winged marten]

i’ll gladly practice drawing boxes, cylinders, spheres, or squares, or stuff like that, but what i’m confused about is how i’ll remember multiple direction of 3d shapes like that. i know it seems stupid to think like that but i’m genuinely confused! ... most of my mini 3d shapes practice are practically impossible for me to remember later on to ACTUALLY use

You don't memorize what objects look like in different rotations, no.

The construction of the objects is more of a conceptual thing. Like, could you build it IRL out of wood if you wanted to? That's the kind of understanding of 3D forms you're trying to develop with construction. The 3D shape of something is totally independent of any particular image.

What you then use to draw those 3D shapes from imagination or specs is some kind of projection technique. The most common is "perspective," which is also the most complicated of them. When you're first learning something's 3D form, it's easier to draw it "orthographically" and "isometrically" instead (or roughly that sort of thing -- any parallel projection).

In parallel projections, the parallel lines on the 3D form stay parallel in the drawing, which is super easy to keep track of. Parallel projections generally don't have imaginary cameras involved, so you don't need to change what the image looks like depending on where the viewer/camera is in the scene.

In perspective projections, some parallel lines will instead converge to a "vanishing point," and which do this/how and what sides of objects we see is dependent on where the camera/viewer is in the 3D space your scene takes place in. (There is always a 3D space, even if you're just drawing one object floating in space.)

Construction is also not the only way to draw, btw. If you want to do very realistic portrait, still life, landscape painting type stuff, observational drawing techniques would be more useful to you. This is when you work directly from photo/life or make your own references to copy.

[gritty terrace]

Ah i see, thank you

[gritty terrace]

being mindful? like paying attention to details i fail to draw correctly? 😭

[gritty terrace]

Hm alright that seems understandable

[gritty terrace]

construction? that’s something i’ve never really heard of 😭 i get what you mean by construction tbh

[gritty terrace]

That’s actually useful!! i’ll make sure to make more research about this thing, thank you very much!!

[autumn hatch]

Also remember to not go too harsh on yourself!!

[gritty terrace]

of course, i know i’m merely a beginner so i try to remember that i just started 🥲

[gritty terrace]

Really? i mean i’ve learnt the basic anatomy of the arm using shapes, it was actually pretty useful and fun lol, when i tried to look into anatomy videos on youtube i instantly knew it would be too complex for me to understand so i decided to ditch it 🥲but i understand what you’re saying,

[gritty terrace]

yeah lots of people didn’t understand it😭 what i meant is i don’t understand the concept behind practicing shapes such as boxes and such, and i’ve seen some anatomical poses on pinterest and most of them use shapes in different angles but when i try to insert a pose in my head onto the paper and using shapes to simplify the anatomy, i mostly forget how to draw that shapes angle (such as using a triangle for the head and trying to draw an angle of the head, i wont know how to draw the angle of that shape) so i get frustrated 🥲

[red lily]

yeah, we use simple 3d shapes to represent more complex stuff initially. Then u can add details afterwards to maek it look more like the thing you're drawing

[gritty terrace]

this is kind of complex for me to understand but i kinda get what you mean