If you could give drawing tips to your younger self, what would you say?

[Vulcan 3,254]

Imagine, you could give some drawing advice to your younger self (elementary self...highschool self...it's up to you) , what would you you tell him/her?

 

 

If it were me? ....well...

 

*grabs Highschool Vulcan's pencil* Stop tryin' to draw from memory! You will learn faster if you sketch your doodles based on actual poses. 

 

Also, It's not the Eraser's fault that you can't scrub away your mistakes! your pressing so dang hard on your sketches that it's like your trying to kill your sketchpad by stabbing it with your pencil! ... probably an exaggeration...but you know what I mean!

Edited March 27, 2016 by Vulcan

[backpon 320]

I would tell myself not to focus too much on details. I used to have a hard time getting the bigger picture in mind and my stuff would come out disproportionate.

[Jaxsie (Inactive) 1,343]

Stop drawing the sun in the stinkin' corner of the paper!

 

But seriously, haha, I would tell myself to never restrict myself to one medium out of fear to try another. I was too intimidated to venture out into painting that I grew content with drawing by pencil. Now, today, I want to learn to paint, but I have literally no foundation. It's not a problem, I suppose -- I can build the foundation now. But imagine the time I would have saved if I got over my intimidation and just tried.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Jaxsie

[ErBoi 498]

Stop drawing only anime.  Value rough stages; your drawings will always look better if you rough them out first.  Use the internet to look up gesture drawings and other references.

Look up Disney's Nine old men, as well as Glen Keane and Andreas Deja.  Look at more French art.

Look up and study the principles of animation; principles which are helpful even in still drawings.

 

Basically, give my younger self a head start on college (well, and the rest of my life).

[HorrorShow 81]

"Stop drawing NSFW plz, i know you love it but you need more SFW drawings"

[galaxysquid 2,121]

"Try to draw something else besides just ponies, please. You need to practice human anatomy. Thanks."

[Alphys Hedge 671]

"For the love of god, Seth. Stop drawing your Sonic OC. The cringe is killing me."

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

Diversify, learn to use models, use depth of field and perspective, and don't quit on hard-to-use programs. Each piece of software has limitations. Don't ever stop learning new methods or tools. Go online and connect with other artists with similar interests and styles.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Wind Chaser

[Moon Sugar 532]

To branch out and not draw the same pose over and over and over again

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

Get loose, LOOSE, LOOSE! Don't try make your first 'draft' your only draft. Make mistakes, scribble broadly and dramatically until you get all the tightness out and stop obsessing over the details until you get the overall subject nailed down.

Oh, and rub your eraser on a separate piece of paper before using it on your art, the new ones always smudge! 

Edited May 1, 2016 by Dreambiscuit

[Teavvi 627]

Older me: Seriously? You draw THIS bad? Wow. Younger me: Oooh! Lookit all my scribbles!

[Stardust* 3,302]

I would tell myself to keep drawing, to draw until it hurt, to make art until you can't move. And to stop being such a perfectionist. The only way to learn is from making mistakes and fixing them! 

[Denim&Venöm 16,503]

Do not stop drawing. No matter what. Don't let the daily grind of school life break your spirit like it did mine. Take all four of those art classes, instead of just one. Don't panic so hard that senior year was gonna be difficult. Cause it wasn't. Use all that sweet spare time to do something other than watch full house reruns. Draw on the back of your homework, like you did in grade school.  Heck, watch anime, read more manga and look at furry art (w/ safe search on) earlier in life. And has been mentioned, stop being a perfectionist. Practice makes perfect. Your art will only get better. It's the first steps in a grand evolution. Also, stop being so depressed and havign suicidal thoughts. Life is not gonna turn into a soul crushing hellscape once you graduate. You're just being paranoid. Mellow out.

 

Oh and don't take screen printing class. The art you'll make isn't worth the depressing atmosphere and that teacher that rubs you the wrong way. 

Edited June 4, 2016 by Denim&Venom

[Your Nightly Spectre 1,061]

I'd tell him to burn all his pencils and never go to art high.

 

I'd also tell me to start drawing earlier and not drawing from mind but sketch the hell out of everything.

[twiia 1,842]

I would say to younger me- Your art sucks! You stupid newbie you need to practice more and stop drawing the same ****ing thing, you'll never learn! And get some better art supplies. Your anatomy is totally wrong, it looks so crappy... 

 

I am full of negative criticism for myself.

[Lisa 5,552]

"Stop while you can. Art's a useless subject in school."

[Inky Well 2,942]

Sure, dat's pretty simple!

[IsraelYabuki 439]

I'd tell my younger self to start off with drawing the shapes of a human figure, then try to darken the lines by carefully moving your pencil back and forth until the lines look good enough. After that I'd tell myself to add some shapes inside the shapes that resembles any type of human features and then once the drawing is good enough, I'd tell myself to add clothes to the human drawing.

"Stop while you can. Art's a useless subject in school."

It's not useless if you practice hard enough to the point where it's 2nd nature to you

[Invincible 2,090]

Maybe, um... "Don't press your pen or pencil as hard to the paper. Try catching an image's depth first rather than having the entire picture."

 

Either way, i'm not worried. That little ol' me will figure it out eventually.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

Draw people. You never get around to it, and it's more important to know how than drawing objects. Those come naturally and are easy to pick up again. Challenge yourself.

[DuskRain 193]

Draw more. It doesn't matter how. If you feel the urge to draw, draw. Keep a sketchbook. Do it. It doesn't matter what people think.

[cmarston1 5,951]

Don't try to draw to realistically.

You will find your style eventually.

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

Get loose and don't obsess over the details until you slam out the basic shape you're trying to capture. Once you capture the spirit of your subject, you can work out the details then and clean it all up. 

 

And use new erasers on a practice piece of paper first, or you might smudge your art. 

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

be creative and try not to copy others just because being yourself makes you look dumb

[Moony the Cat 3,697]

Look up how other People are drawing it and copy it, because thats the only way, you would even come close to an slightly acceptable drawing style.