Am I good artist? That is the Question...

[MaskedManJRK]

I'm slowly but surely getting back in the drawing game, so I'm a bit rusty, but here's a thing I made of everyone's favorite philosophical detective/shaman, The Question!

Tell me what you guys think--just be gentle.

 

[Comic Book Boy]

It seems rushed. Spend more time on the shapes of the human figure when you draw. Sometimes it helps to copy other artists work and get some of the shapes in your head real well. Copy, but don't trace.

 

[Syncos]

Am I good artist? That is the Question...

Although it's obvious that the title was made clearly for the pun of the drawing at hand, i'll answer the question anyway.

You very much have the potential to be a great artist. However you're going to have to put a lot of time and effort into developing your skills. Look into some tutorials for anatomy and figure drawing, should help out a lot. Good luck, and keep up the good work. =)

-Syn

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I like these scans that look like an ancient treasure map.
Always soak your drawings in tea, then let sun dry.

 

[The Last Meatbag]

Ummmm.....keep working dude, put the sketch together with different shapes, and then connect them

 

[Gotendbz-2]

Uh, no offense, but keep working on it....

 

[george costanza]

hey man, you have complete potential, but my advice is to study simple shapes, and start your characters off with stick figures, and add from there. it helps proportionally and is easy to adjust if not satisfied. also, go to your local craft store and pick up a simple "How do Draw/Cartoon" book, those can actually come in handy later on when you start getting into faces and body positions. and dont worry, it'll come to you. i was in your spot a while back, and now im getting a scholarship for art. good luck!

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Ummmm.....keep working dude, put the sketch together with different shapes, and then connect them

...That was what I did.

 

[Machx72]

Although it's obvious that the title was made clearly for the pun of the drawing at hand, i'll answer the question anyway.

You very much have the potential to be a great artist. However you're going to have to put a lot of time and effort into developing your skills. Look into some tutorials for anatomy and figure drawing, should help out a lot. Good luck, and keep up the good work. =)

-Syn

^^Listen to this dude. I've not had a single real art class [I took it for a year in high school but it got me nowhere and gave me nothing- I dropped the methods this shabby video taught me], however, I have numerous large anatomy books, and they helped A LOT.

I haven't posted any of my art on here, so I know I don't have much credibility to my word, but trust me... I've gone as far as I have on anatomy books alone.

My advice- that BS, which was stated earlier in this thread- that you'll hear from teachers and adults- usually people who don't know too much about art at all [NOT always the case]- about making a bunch of shapes and connecting them... Don't listen to it. There are geometric shapes to the human body, but they are much too distorted to simply draw a real triangle, shade it in, and get a realistic drawing out if it.

 

[Syncos]

Don't listen to it. There are geometric shapes to the human body, but they are much too distorted to simply draw a real triangle, shade it in, and get a realistic drawing out if it.

Let's not go to extremes. The box and stick method is valid in it's own right. However it's a base of guidlines, inorder to properly set up a piece. It should be used, but not without extensive knowledge of what you're trying to draw.

It's really easy to say "you'd be great, draw shapes and connect them", however it's not that simple.

Good Luck. If you have any artistic questions or concerns, feel free to PM me, i'll help out any way I can. =)

Mach, you seem to have a similar artistic background as me. I hope it continues to proper. We'd love to see some of your work 'round here.

-Syn

 

[Machx72]

Yeah, I'd guess we probably do...

I've actually seen two different methods- I believe the one you're referring to is the one comic book artists usually use/teach. Starting with the sticks, adding the circular shapes around them, adding the meat, etc.

I've seen another in realistic portrait drawings that teaches a type of shape method, that never works [which is the one I was referring to] [circles for eyes, triangles for lips, etc.].

Personally, I use neither. I've read a "You Can Create Comics!" type of book [I forget by who] that said that NO ONE will EVER be able to draw well and finish a picture without using their method...

Which is absolutely wrong.

I've NEVER used their methods... I've sort of developed my own loose methods.

However, when I draw comics, I tend to draw a bit differently than I do for realistic drawings. However, I don't draw conventional comics either- mine look a bit more realistic while having "touches" that give it a more comic edge, although still not perfect comic-form.

 

[Anita18]

There are geometric shapes to the human body, but they are much too distorted to simply draw a real triangle, shade it in, and get a realistic drawing out if it.

It's never that simple, but drawing a cylinder for a leg will give you a start.

I'm not a comic book artist, but I definitely go for realism. I've taken a bunch of art classes (it's really the only way that will get me drawing a lot ) and the most helpful one was my hardcore figure drawing class last summer. We broke up the human body into cylindrical shapes, and it WILL tell you if you've got your proportions right. Here's an example of something I did:



Then you take those shapes and you add detail to them. How the skin folds, where the muscles changes the profile, etc. etc. But if your proportions are off, it doesn't matter how detailed your drawing is, since it'll always look bad.

Here's an example of something more finished (sorry for the bad pic):



Your work is definitely a start, but yah, more practice is definitely needed. Hell, more practice is definitely needed for me as well...

 

[Machx72]

Damn... Your pics are blurry, but what I can see looks pretty nice.

I've not yet taken an art class, but my point by that statement you quoted is that there are people out there telling others [like I said, usually those who know very little about art] exactly what I'm preaching against with that quote. I have been told by others that you can just make a shape, shade it, and your art will "look good"... Which I've found, and obviously many of you have as well, is not the case.

I will tell you one thing that helps with art- martial arts.

It helps you to learn A TON about the body, how it moves, etc.... Provided, you have a good teacher.

 

[Anita18]

Damn... Your pics are blurry, but what I can see looks pretty nice.

I've not yet taken an art class, but my point by that statement you quoted is that there are people out there telling others [like I said, usually those who know very little about art] exactly what I'm preaching against with that quote. I have been told by others that you can just make a shape, shade it, and your art will "look good"... Which I've found, and obviously many of you have as well, is not the case.

Thanks for the compliment! I have to learn how to draw the body without a reference, but yeah...one step at a time. I want to go into medical illustration, and all of the applications ask for still-life drawings anyway. They want to see how you observe, which is great for me, since observing is all I really can do.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I tried one of those "Learn to draw!" books and followed their steps in drawing circles and connecting them, and that doesn't work. What works for almost all artists, though, is blocking out simple shapes to determine general form and proportion, and then modifying those shapes to fit what it actually looks like.

Ditto on the good teachers part. I took art classes at my college, which has a mediocre art program, and then I started taking night classes at a real art school, and man, was there a HUGE difference. Even though they were night classes, they were taught by the regular teachers who really knew what they were doing. And from my experience, the really cheap student-funded classes don't do much good for learning things. They're good for practice, since most of what the class is is, "Let's play with the material!" but yeah...if you truly want to learn how to DO art, find a good teacher.

 

[Machx72]

Very true. Although I have not yet found an art teacher worth following, I have gone quite a ways without one.

My family and friends constantly tell me how amazed they are at the level I've gone to without any instruction.

I get lots of compliments, but I usually feel it's because I can do this on a bit of a higher level than a lot of others can... Yet, I'm still never satisfied with my own work. I know I've got something good going, but once I get a damned good teacher, I think I can get to a point where I can be pretty damned good.

I'm looking into art institutes, and I've got one so far that I'm interested in. I'm looking into video game design, but I'm also anal about what I draw, so I'd have to go into writing as well [which I have a small natural knack for]. I write/pencil/ink comic books, but I need to learn how to use Photoshop and learn how to do all four a lot better than I can now when putting all of them together.