# Best vs worst way to learn to draw?



## Experimentonomen (Apr 5, 2016)

Out of curiosity which are the best vs worst ways to learn to draw ?

Im about 2/3 of the way to 31 so i realize my age is gonna have its obstacles, such as loss of fine motion control, eyesight, reflexes/response time, generally stiffer than younger ppl etc.


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## Z-Mizz (Apr 5, 2016)

I'm no great artist (actually picking the pencil up again after 10 years of nothing), but age doesn't make a difference when it comes to learning or doing art. It's all about (I'm sure you've heard this before) practice, practice, practice. The more you do, the better you get/muscle memory builds/easier to picture things, etc.

But I'm sure someone will come along soon with actual drawing advice so good luck! (^_^) I'm looking forward to the answers to your question as well.


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 5, 2016)

It's pretty much the same thing for me, picxking up a pen/pencil after 10+ years of nothing, well other than electronics circuit diagrams and/or the occational package signing. Though the only non electronics thing i can remember drawing as a kid was my grandma.


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## Bidoyinn (Apr 5, 2016)

I don't think there's a real 'best way' past 'draw.' There isn't anything you can do that will be as beneficial as actually making the art. How much experience did you have before this? 

And I guess the worse thing you can do is not draw at all, lol.


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## Samandriel Morningstar (Apr 5, 2016)

I think a lot of people compare themselves to other artists way too much and try to adopt that artists style for their own instead of trying to 'find themselves' and that sets them up for failure.


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 5, 2016)

My experience in drawing anything but electronics schematics is practically none. I have watched alot of tutorials on how to draw animals, both feral and anthro and so far this is all i've managed after hours of trying: www.furaffinity.net: My first animal drawing revised by Experimentonomen <-- on that one i tried out a technique Art ala Carte shows in her "how to draw a wolf body" tutorial on youtube.

I some weeks later came back to it and tried some more as can be seen here: http://experimentonomen.deviantart.com/art/My-first-animal-sketch-WIP-571083337 But since then it has ended up in the bottom of a pile of stuff forgotten in favor of some computer troubleshooting and repairs and havent been touched since.


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## Z-Mizz (Apr 5, 2016)

Experimentonomen said:


> My experience in drawing anything but electronics schematics is practically none. I have watched alot of tutorials on how to draw animals, both feral and anthro and so far this is all i've managed after hours of trying: www.furaffinity.net: My first animal drawing revised by Experimentonomen <-- on that one i tried out a technique Art ala Carte shows in her "how to draw a wolf body" tutorial on youtube.
> 
> I some weeks later came back to it and tried some more as can be seen here: http://experimentonomen.deviantart.com/art/My-first-animal-sketch-WIP-571083337 But since then it has ended up in the bottom of a pile of stuff forgotten in favor of some computer troubleshooting and repairs and havent been touched since.



This is a really good start! Just keep at it (^_^)


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## Hollowfellfox (Apr 6, 2016)

The worst way to learn how to draw is just taking another artist's advice mindlessly. By all means, ask for advice and take it into account, but don't let that keep you from experimenting, practicing, and forming your own opinions about how to do the art thing. The only rules are the ones you decide are relevant.

And for the record, there's a difference between _art study_ and your actual _art_
in your actual art, which you're showing to people, uploading to websites, and pretty much claiming as your own, it's not ok to trace or flat out copy another artist.
In _art study_ it's a free-for-all. Tracing is wonderful to learn how to draw something, and referencing heavily or even trying to copy a picture 1 to 1 from an artist who's style you admire can help you a ton. Just don't upload those anywhere or show them off to people, because again, that's not your actual art. These are training wheels meant to be discarded, basically.


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## Spazzlez (Apr 6, 2016)

Mark Crilley, look him up


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## redhusky (Apr 6, 2016)

I would say apprentice with another artist who can draw well already. You won't have to reinvent the wheel and you'll have a constant source of critiques.


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 6, 2016)

Synchro said:


> The worst way to learn how to draw is just taking another artist's advice mindlessly. By all means, ask for advice and take it into account, but don't let that keep you from experimenting, practicing, and forming your own opinions about how to do the art thing. The only rules are the ones you decide are relevant.
> 
> And for the record, there's a difference between _art study_ and your actual _art_
> in your actual art, which you're showing to people, uploading to websites, and pretty much claiming as your own, it's not ok to trace or flat out copy another artist.
> In _art study_ it's a free-for-all. Tracing is wonderful to learn how to draw something, and referencing heavily or even trying to copy a picture 1 to 1 from an artist who's style you admire can help you a ton. Just don't upload those anywhere or show them off to people, because again, that's not your actual art. These are training wheels meant to be discarded, basically.



Which means i should not have uploaded or shared that sketch i posted earlier as that was more or less right off copying what was done in the tutorial. Well i did not trace it, just tried to freehand copy what i was seeing.
I did credit her though, even showed it to her via the yt comments but never got a reply, but i'll take it off the web anyways.

Around the 25th of this month i will start taking distance art classes, that kinda thing where some place "Miroi" sends me stuff to do and then my "results" are sent back or something like that. Though they seem to start off at a point where ur expected to have a full arsenal of art supplies such as color pencils, pastel paints, water colors, large A3 sheets of special art paper, all the different kinda regular pencils and what not, so hopefully its not a cource that expects u to already have some experience, which i have none of.

That fox/wolf/whatever sketch was in my view a stroke of luck as i have not been able to draw anything animal/anthro related ever since despite how hard i've tried. It all ends up with a "Nope! That does not look anything like the tutorial" "ERASE!!!" and toss the sketchbook to the side not to touch it again for a few weeks/months.

I have all these ideas in my head, but its like as soon as i so much as touch a pen and/or a piece of paper i get totally blocked up, but if my mindset is in electronics, i can draw say a audio amp schematic just fine, but as sson as it drifts off to people/animals/furry i get that block preventing me from sometimes even drawing a crappy stick figure :/


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## Z-Mizz (Apr 6, 2016)

Experimentonomen said:


> That fox/wolf/whatever sketch was in my view a stroke of luck as i have not been able to draw anything animal/anthro related ever since despite how hard i've tried. It all ends up with a "Nope! That does not look anything like the tutorial" "ERASE!!!" and toss the sketchbook to the side not to touch it again for a few weeks/months.
> 
> I have all these ideas in my head, but its like as soon as i so much as touch a pen and/or a piece of paper i get totally blocked up, but if my mindset is in electronics, i can draw say a audio amp schematic just fine, but as sson as it drifts off to people/animals/furry i get that block preventing me from sometimes even drawing a crappy stick figure :/


Throw away your unfair expectations of what you think your art should look like. You're subconsciously (and consciously) blocking yourself from creating anything because you're disappointed, or trying to avoid disappointment, with your work. I understand how you feel, but time is the best asset you have on your side right now and not drawing or writing anything is a waste of that asset. You're in a great place to receive encouragement from others, so use it and keep rehabilitating your art skills! \(^_^)/


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## Hollowfellfox (Apr 6, 2016)

Experimentonomen said:


> Which means i should not have uploaded or shared that sketch i posted earlier as that was more or less right off copying what was done in the tutorial. Well i did not trace it, just tried to freehand copy what i was seeing.
> I did credit her though, even showed it to her via the yt comments but never got a reply, but i'll take it off the web anyways.
> 
> Around the 25th of this month i will start taking distance art classes, that kinda thing where some place "Miroi" sends me stuff to do and then my "results" are sent back or something like that. Though they seem to start off at a point where ur expected to have a full arsenal of art supplies such as color pencils, pastel paints, water colors, large A3 sheets of special art paper, all the different kinda regular pencils and what not, so hopefully its not a cource that expects u to already have some experience, which i have none of.
> ...



In my comment about not uploading your art studies I was mainly talking about things  that aren't intended to be learned from and the creator might not feel comfortable with you showing off. Following a tutorial or referencing a real life image for your art is a different story and in the former's case I'm sure the tutorial creator would love to know their tutorial helped you and to see the results, go nuts.

This might sound weirdly negative but it sounds like you should lower your expectations. You're still learning and you're going to churn out a lot of crap before you manage that really good drawing, and even then you're going to churn out a lot of crap because that's what even the best artists do. That wolf drawing wasn't a stroke of luck, it was your skill slowly improving. And if you keep on drawing instead of giving up and then coming back to it in a few weeks it'll improve a lot faster.


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 8, 2016)

I did try to follow another tutorial around a month or two ago, but it was a complete fail: 



https://imgur.com/8H4w9RF


Beyond that point it dident matter how many times over i watched the tutorial, i just could not get any further no matter what.




 <-- the tut i was trying to follow.


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## MakTheFurry (Apr 8, 2016)

If youre lacking inspiration or just don't think you can draw;


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## Yourfurryotaku (Apr 8, 2016)

First do not punch the wall, do not brake your hand, do not blow all your money on medical care. Do watch this YouTubeer  m.youtube.com: Draw with Jazza


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## Sforzie (Apr 9, 2016)

Despite what some people will tell you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tracing when you're still starting out. Just don't post it somewhere and claim it as your own. Tracing *can* help with getting the general feel for a shape when you're still figuring out things. For some people it can be easier to get the general shapes down first before worrying about getting good with the minute details. Things like getting the hatching flow of fur down looking good can take a lot of practice to get looking right.
It's not what people want to hear, but most people (especially if you're starting out later) have to practice a lot before they can get to a point where they don't post it on a forum captioned as being a fail.
So, draw the wolf face again. Look between your drawing and the example, then draw it again making changes. Then again. And again. Make it a project: 'I'm gonna draw that stupid wolf face every day for a month'. 
I think the mistake the people make sometimes is they want to get good at drawing EVERYTHING right away. Pick something you want to get good at, as a foundation. Once you're comfortable with one thing, it can be easier to branch out.


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 9, 2016)

I remember back in school when we were first starting to learn writing, we were given sheets of paper with the letters printed on them and told to follow the printed letters with our pencils on that sheet of paper. I guess that was a form of learning by tracing.

A downside with tracing is that u really just learn that paticular character in that particular pose.


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## Maupka (Apr 13, 2016)

Most of people take a bad approach to drawing. Instead of wasting time on making polished "masterpieces" you should be spending most of the time doing a lot of quick sketches based on reference pics/ nature. Not exact copying all the details and stuff, just fairly accurate sketch. Also the most importants are fundamentals of drawing. when you draw, dont focus too much on the lines, try to think of it as actual 3D objects. So drawing geometric figures and such would be helpful. And yeah, you should make a habit of daily sketching. And btw. these tutorials wont help you to learn drawing. You might just learn some technique of drawing fur or something like this. but still you need your hand trained to draw such things. Its also important what pencils/paper you use and how much pressure you put when you draw a line. One more advice- try drawing loosely, dont press too hard, and try drawing with your arm, not the wrist. After you get used with it youll see much difference


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 13, 2016)

Watt kinda pen would u recommend ? I have mechanical and a few different hardness ones for drawing. For paper i have my sketchbook and these squared notebooks.


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## Maupka (Apr 13, 2016)

I dont think mechanical pencil is a good option. Its good for making small details and stuff, but its quite diffucult to shade with it. just get few normal ones. maybe HB B2 and B6. Draw some spheres and try to shade them, learn some shading techniques, crosshatching etc. And then after you feel you make some progress try drawing more difficult things like in the tutorial that you've sent


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## Experimentonomen (Apr 14, 2016)

When i said different hardness ones, i did mean those HB, 2B, 4B etc wooden pencils, some cheap art set from teh local grocery store across teh street, also came with two of those (blending?) sticks and a totally useless pencil sharpener. Gonna get one og those mechanical ones with a hand crank instead.


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