Free-hand drawing/sketching advice for a newbie?

[Jonny Music 3,416]

Ok, here goes.

 

I'm currently taking a course in college known as "Drawing for Design", and just as it's saying, it's basically Visual Arts for the TV Broadcast/Film (Movie) Industry (along with Game Development of course).

I'm fine with drawing with reference pictures (in a mediocre manner), but this course is specifically supposed to prepare students like me to draw without using references, commonly known as drawing "Free-hand" (even without rulers).

I am asking any Bronies here who are good with drawing with and/or without references to please give me some tips, tricks, exercises, etc. that helped you guys to keep up to speed with your drawing skills (assuming you actually know of them) that may help me as a newbie in the long run.

 

It'll be very appreciated. Thanks again for your time.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Jonny Music

[SCS 7,537]

Hi there, @Jonny Music. As the purpose of this topic is to ask for help with a creative endeavor as opposed to sharing artwork you created, I have moved it from Non-Pony Artwork to Creative Resources.

 

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I wish I could help you out, but my drawing skills haven't evolved since I was in the 1st grade. Writing's my thing.

[Osseous Rex 139]

Erm......

I se, I wish I could help you.

[Jonny Music 3,416]

Hi there, @Jonny Music. As the purpose of this topic is to ask for help with a creative endeavor as opposed to sharing artwork you created, I have moved it from Non-Pony Artwork to Creative Resources.

 

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I wish I could help you out, but my drawing skills haven't evolved since I was in the 1st grade. Writing's my thing.

Thanks for moving it. I was a bit confused as to were to put this thread.

[Purple Flu 31]

Try to draw on an average A4 printing paper. Erasing wrong parts and lines will ruin the whole picture. So you won`t have any right to make mistakes. So you`ll have to start over, over and over again. Don`t forget to turn imagination on.

 

matter of fact, I never use helping circles n stuff. That ruins the idea, imo

Edited February 5, 2015 by Vajhovic

[Blue Moon 6,341]

Well, my advice for you to draw things you see and do it often. You want to have some knowledge over how the basic anatomy of different things works so you can draw them without the use of a reference. Just keep drawing things you see over and over again until you get a good idea for how their body works and feel confident that you'd be able to come up with things on your own and draw freehand.

 

I personally like using those circle/line sketched guides because they help me with coming up with a pose on my own, so I'd suggest using them. Everything can be made with a combination of circles/ovals, rectangles, triangles, etc.

 

However, lighting and shading are important too. If you want to get a better idea with how light works, I suggest getting a bunch of random things, and placing them in a light source. Mess around with everything's angles, and take note of which parts of the object the light shines on and which parts it doesn't.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck with your course!

Edited February 5, 2015 by Blue Moon

[paradoxical 1,735]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Drawing-Breakthrough-Book-Excellence/dp/0974941824

That book might help you.

[Storm Shine 1,196]

Well I would say start out by getting a picture of what you want to draw in your mind, even just a rough idea to be refined later. But generally, the clearer your idea is in your head, the better. Once you have an idea of what you want to draw, break it into it's basic building blocks. By that, I mean break it into it's basic shapes: cylinders, boxes, rectangles, etc. Depending on if you are going for a 2D look or a 3D look, use 2D or 3D shapes. for example : A square or a box, maybe a circle or a sphere. Some shapes can be used in both types of drawings, however.

 

From there, you use the basic shapes and forms to make a rough beginning of your drawing. once you've made that, you begin refining it. Melding the shapes and forms together where necessary, adding details, etc.

 

I really hope this helped, if not then sorry about that... I have a few PDF books on drawing if you want though! (Although most of them are on drawing manga and the like...)

[Po-Nonimous 583]

I can definitely help you with this.

 

First, the biggest mistake beginning freehand artists make is using a "scribble stroke" when laying down outline. What I mean is stroking the pencil back and forth on your sketch pad while laying the line down thus producing many unnecessary lines in the same area. This produces a very ugly outline which requires a lot of clean up later on.

 

It's better to practice and develop a technique where you lay down a single line in your ruff, applying the tip of your pencil and/or charcoal in a single stroke rather than in multiple strokes. Granted, this is not easy to do at first but with practice you can get used to doing things this way and it will result in much cleaner ruffs which require a lot less clean up when you're ready to ink and color your dawing.

Once you've begun to master your ruffing technique then I would suggest experimenting with all kinds of different media such as brush pens, variable tip pens, different kinds of pencils, different kinds of sketch pads (my favorite was Japanese Gloss paper for finish work), acrylics, spray paint (for very large work) all kinds of stuff from crayons to air brush.  Developing and mastering use and techniques in mulitple media will vastly broaden your abilities and allow you to work in a multitude of art genres, not just cartoons.

 

Also, I strongly suggest you get a copy of Gray's Anatomy (if you don't already have it) as this will give you excellent references to skeletal and musculature forms and layouts and will help a great deal in helping you to develop a real feel and understanding of anatomical layouts not just for humans but for anything you'd want to draw.

[jmarsh 50]

All great advice above. I'm much more comfortable sculpting things with my hands than laying lines on paper. But, since I've been drawing a bit lately I've also have some advice. Remember that each person has their own style and approach to creating their work. There isn't one answer that fits everyone and every approach. The best way is to try lots of methods and figure out what works for you not only technique wise but what appeals to you visually. Learn from other people's techniques but try not to compare yourself to others. With time you will develop your own style. Happy Drawing!

 

P.S. In case you were considering different pen brands, I use Pentel Hybrid Technica pens, Faber-Castell artist pens, and Pigma Micron archival ink pens. I find pigma to be the best for what I do, which is mostly line drawing.  

[Jonny Music 3,416]

Now I know what the heck I need to do for the course (I wasn't paying much attention to the instructor. Go figure. -_- )! In the meantime however, I'm trying to get myself motivated to do the overdue homework assignments that I have for the course (which are due in 3 weeks time). So I'd better step up my A game. I DON'T WANT TO FAIL! And I will not give up until it's over!

Some sources of motivation that I found to make drawing fun to me so far is: Mark Kistler (as seen here

and here

). He's entertaining to watch and I want to watch more drawing lesson videos from others who are also just as entertaining as he is.

Any further suggestions/recommendations of other sources of motivation? Edited February 9, 2015 by Jonny Music

[Jonny Music 3,416]

Quite surprisingly, my instructor does not forbid reference images! I am so happy to hear that from him. Wooooooo!