# Drawing Tips?



## Liam Einarr (Jan 12, 2013)

Hey, I'm new and am thinking about making my first fursona. I know what I _want_ him to look like and how I _want_ to draw him, but he never looks as good as he does in my head. So I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction/give me some tips.


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## dinosaurdammit (Jan 12, 2013)

â€‹practice....


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## Schwimmwagen (Jan 12, 2013)

You must walk the long path of blood, sweat, and tears.


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## Arshes Nei (Jan 12, 2013)

Liam Einarr said:


> Hey, I'm new and am thinking about making my first fursona. I know what I _want_ him to look like and how I _want_ to draw him, but he never looks as good as he does in my head. So I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction/give me some tips.



Welcome to the world of art and creating it. So many artists have had this problem since the end of time. What they do is practice, study, work from life and imagination. Expecting things to come out in one run is an uphill battle.

I suggest you look around the art forums and read tutorials, and *draw a lot*


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## Taralack (Jan 12, 2013)

http://hippie.nu/~unicorn/tut/xhtml/

It would also be worth your while to check out some of the stickied threads in the Tutorials forum.


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## Tigercougar (Jan 12, 2013)

Here's a tip: for the sake of drawing anthros it's more important to study human anatomy than animal anatomy, though you do need both. 90% of anthros in the end are humans with fur/scales, animal heads and maybe digitigrade feet.


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## Liam Einarr (Jan 12, 2013)

Thanks. I realize it was going to be a lot of work, but I wanted to see if there were any tips people could give me. I didn't see any threads about it. Probably didn't look hard enough... Thanks for telling me though!


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## Fallowfox (Jan 12, 2013)

Tigercougar said:


> Here's a tip: for the sake of drawing anthros it's more important to study human anatomy than animal anatomy, though you do need both. 90% of anthros in the end are humans with fur/scales, animal heads and maybe digitigrade feet.



I love human anatomy, it's so difficult to get a handle on though.


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## Liam Einarr (Jan 13, 2013)

After thinking about it for a while I've decided that I really just want to make a bust type portrait for an avatar.
So I guess I should ask if there are any tips about drawing wolf heads. I just want to make something simple, yet recognizable.


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## Arshes Nei (Jan 13, 2013)

When I was little. When I wanted to draw something I did it.
When I got older, I wanted to draw something, so I did it.
When I got older, I realized sometimes this drawing didn't look right. So I used reference.
When I got older, I realized the process is simple for drawing, but it's not easy.


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## Stripeypants (Jan 14, 2013)

If you don't know human anatomy, definitely study that.  You need to practice it so you can learn the proportions of various body parts.  After you've done that, try studying the anatomy of whatever animal your character is.  Then you can begin to figure out how to alter the animal characteristics to suit human type anatomy.  I also recommend looking at how other artists have created anthros of your type, so you can see how they solved problems you are having.


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## Riho (Jan 14, 2013)

You practice, look at how terrible you are at drawing, cry, practice more, think you are doing pretty well, look at your art fifteen minutes later and see that it's a Lovecraftian horror, practice. Repeat until you give up, or until you are capable of drawing cool stuff. I'm at the "Stuff that makes Ed Gein go 'whoa, gross.'" stage right now. Not even close to giving up.


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## Tigercougar (Jan 14, 2013)

Riho said:


> You practice, look at how terrible you are at drawing, cry, practice more, think you are doing pretty well, look at your art fifteen minutes later and see that it's a Lovecraftian horror, practice. Repeat until you give up, or until you are capable of drawing cool stuff. I'm at the "Stuff that makes Ed Gein go 'whoa, gross.'" stage right now. Not even close to giving up.



And if you want to art to be at the level of the big boys (and girls), this process is measured out in years, not days or even months. Better get drawing!


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## Taralack (Jan 14, 2013)

Liam Einarr said:


> After thinking about it for a while I've decided that I really just want to make a bust type portrait for an avatar.
> So I guess I should ask if there are any tips about drawing wolf heads. I just want to make something simple, yet recognizable.



OP, if that's all you want, you should probably just commission someone to draw you an avatar. Heck, even some of the nice people at Art Exchange might do you one for free.

There's no point trying if your goal is set so low. You need to rethink why exactly you want to draw - "I want an avatar" is not enough.


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## Stripeypants (Jan 15, 2013)

Agreed, if you only want an avatar, it will be cheaper, easier and better to commission one.  Avatars come fairly cheap (Sometimes $1!), so if you don't have the desire to draw beyond that, you could save yourself the frustration.


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## Liam Einarr (Jan 16, 2013)

I definatley want more than just an avatar, that was simply a target for me to aim at to give myself a goal. Although it is going to take a while I hope to be able to draw well enough to make one for myself someday! But in the meantime I might look into getting someone to make one for me... I would say that aside from my obvious lack of experience my biggest short falling when I draw is my inability to accept anything less than perfect from my artwork. I work so hard on a sketch and I feel so worthless when it barely resembles what I was trying to make. It's actually one of the main reasons why I don't draw more than I do. But since I've decided not having an avatar is pretty lame I guess I'll start looking for someone to make one for me...


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## Arshes Nei (Jan 16, 2013)

Wanting is not drawing.

So I suggest you do the latter and stop pussyfooting around about it.


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## Liam Einarr (Jan 16, 2013)

Yeah, I know. I feel so stupid for not realizing that sooner.


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## Aleu (Jan 16, 2013)

Stop thinking about what you're wanting to draw. You're going to draw what you subconsciously want to draw. If you force it, it's going to look like shit.
Basically, instead of drawing first, doodle. Do small parts here and there. Eye, ear, mouth, hand/paw. Then work on a combo. Expressions, poses, etc. 
Start small to get a feel for it.


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