#I need some help.

42 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

fresh wadi
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I cant seem to draw. Yes ive improved but I do better sketches then when im actually trying. And when people tell me "oh stop coloring with lines and making shadow with line but try shapes instead", I get confused. Because I cant see shapes. I mean. I can. But I cant see shapes when I dont have a reference. And somehow I have great visual prespective and light on objects just never on things im trying to learn. Example, when I draw boxes and easy shapes I know how light affects them and how to move them in space when I try to draw a person, its okay, I doht tend to add hard shadows anf I never actually try to move the same character in different ways because smth will always be wrong. I want to start having a more realistic art style but I cant because all I do is color darkness with a few lines. Ill show about two picture on how i draw with and without reference. I just need to know what i can improve because I really really hate my art style at the moment.

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wooden bramble
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anything and everything that would showcase your current skillset

fresh wadi
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I can.

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These are without references and some take me longer than most..

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fresh wadi
wooden bramble
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any non portrait or technical drawings?

fresh wadi
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Tho theyre all with references.

wooden bramble
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are you just drawing what you see without any usual prepping like construction and such

fresh wadi
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Shorty I am.

wooden bramble
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draw a cube without reference, what does it look like

fresh wadi
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Like a cube.

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Should I send a photo?

wooden bramble
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yes

fresh wadi
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Stuff like this. I can move it around and such but its the classic.

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wooden bramble
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this confirms my suspicion, i'm curently translating a chinese course that coincidentally matches your issue

fresh wadi
wooden bramble
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the section i'm doing specifically talks about how beginners approach art with the wrong mindset,

The instructor mocks the beginner's mindset of "I know what a nose looks like, so I'll just draw it".
at the most lowest and practical level, blocking in is preffered compared to direct drawing, also a part of your initial message of being suggested to look at things as shapes, you're familiar with how light would affect simple shapes, but that's a subconcious trap where things you often see are 'blurred'
For a normal person, using these mental shortcuts is enough to live. But for an artist, progress requires "constantly overturning" (不斷推翻) these ingrained perceptions.

When asked how to break through, the answer remains the core pillar of this curriculum: "just treat them as blocks" (就当成方块来画).

The student summarizes the breakthrough: don't use what you "know." Instead, look at the object as if you are seeing it for the very first time, building a new, geometric understanding from scratch.

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your cubes match what i and instructors would consider a 'perception cube'

image.png
jagged gust
fresh wadi
jagged gust
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Istg 98% of posts here could be solved with "draw what it looks like not what you think it looks like"

wooden bramble
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you'd be familiar with knowing how to draw this portrait since you're used to seeing faces and knowing patterns
but if you flip the image and attempt to draw it, you'd struggle as you're unaware of how faces look upside down, thats where blocking in/shapes come in, they're always correct and provide you the the needed construction

image.png image.png
fresh wadi
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Its helpful but it doesn't really help my struggles and how to get better at it. Maybe. I read it quite fast. Ill recheck.

wooden bramble
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there are many different blocking and shape methods, this one is the perspective method where you use simplified 3d shapes, they don't start out with what you already know, you start with what features can be simplified as

image.png image.png image.png
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the 'simple' solution to your problem is to take a different approach on how to draw, you're drawing how you see things, try to deconstruct them instead
youre unable to draw from imagination because you don't have the visual mental library of what it looks like clearly

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if i asked you what was wrong with your cube you might know what's wrong with it, but little on how to fix it or explain how to fix it

fresh wadi
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Honestly I learned that my problem, when I started learning body anatomy was that I tended to copy and not learn how it worked or flowed. I started gesture drawing and now I can draw a body. But I dont know how to turn thay for shadow or better faces and stuff.

fresh wadi
wooden bramble
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that perfectly matches with the finding, but you're skipping ahead in what to focus on

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i always share this to people wondering what to work on first

fundamental_triangles.png
fresh wadi
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I learned a bit of how to build the body so I was a bit better that just straight up nothing. But yeah I tend to move fast too.

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Is there anything you suggest? Tutorials or type of method?

wooden bramble
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you figured out gesture, but gesture on your bodies helps with giving you the foundation and requirements to later start advanced anatomy studies
but by skipping the previous 3

  • ⭐ perspective: this is your key to drawing from imagination and any angle
  • structure: tells you how to place things around that perspective model
  • proportions: ensures that features you place on say a face stays 'correct' when you adjust the perspective
    then you glue that all together with gesture to create a proper human figure
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since we need to start you on a blank or bottom slate on how to approach your goal of portraits
you quite literally just need more exposure on bottom fundamentals, id reccomend proko to anyone since you'll learn the baseline requirements of

  • how to learn
  • what to learn
  • how to hold your pencil
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proko will also delve just enough into the points i gave while still applying it to portraits and heads

fresh wadi
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Alr.

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Thank you.

wooden bramble
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he's the most basic answer but it has the best material for exposure to baseline qualities

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just avoid trying to draw directly and you're good to go