# How to draw faster...? In both Traditional and Digital?



## Burninghart (Jun 16, 2010)

Alright... now generally I'm a pretty low-end artist. I'm not all that great at all; I'm not particularly good at drawing hands, and my overall anatomy needs a bit of work though I like to think I've been improving.

I want to keep improving, but I want to improve at a faster rate.

To improve at a faster rate... I figure I should learn to draw more quickly.

But how do I improve the speed of my drawing? I suck at sketching. I still have problems with deciding what kind of "base form" I like to use ("Skeleton", "Mannequin", etc).

Speed is extremely important to me... I'm going to need it VERY badly. As overdone as it may sound to some people, I want to become a manga/comic artist, and to draw comics at a rate fast enough that I could have them published and sold, I'd have to increase my drawing speed exponentially at this point.

Can anybody help me with this? If anybody would like to see, I have a furaffinity page that could help you judge how to help. But be warned, the only really recent stuff on my page is "mature" work.


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## Zydala (Jun 16, 2010)

First off, speed means nothing if you aren't laying down the right lines from the beginning ;P that being said, are you drawing from the wrist by any chance? drawing from the elbow makes cleaner lines with a more sweeping motion and can tighten up work a lot better.

Also, 'skeletons' and 'mannequins' are only helpful in helping you construct what you should already know about the human body; it doesn't tell you the whole story about placement with the human body.

All that aside, try this:

http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html

Thirty second sketches of poses, a dozen a day, final destination. it'll only take you six minutes. You don't have to do this site's, but it's easy and convenient.


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## Jw (Jun 16, 2010)

Let me just say, I'm going through the same thing right now. But what I've learned over the past several years of learning to draw, fast sometimes isn't the way to go. Speed doesn't always equal good, and that's something you have to really learn and accept for yourself. The people that churn out breathtaking drawings left and right are few and far between, and most of them I'm sure have bookcases of sketchbooks or hard drives full of their studies behind them. Honestly, you need a lot of practice (like myself, mind you) to be able to draw a figure in 5 minutes or whatever your goal actually is.

For the sake of speed, you need to simplify your drawings. This might mean losing some of the feel of the scene or even losing your personal, artistic identity. If you're willing to do that, then that is your own choice. *But in all honesty, speed comes with experience. *

On a final note, I think you need to define some realistic goals if you want to improve. Saying "I want to be faster" isn't as easy to measure as "I want to be able to draw this figure in under 15 minutes". You might not ever be "faster" because the meaning is always changing, but you will be able to draw in under 15 minutes, then under 10, then 7.5, etc.

Also, listen to Zydala, I've learned a great deal from what she's said in the past.


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## TheStory (Jun 16, 2010)

Hold up and put on the brakes because you are looking at this in reverse. I know speed will pump out more drawings, but not necessarily good drawings. There is only one way to become fast and that is to improve...and to improve there is a whole other world of things you have to focus on and explore. Speed shouldn't even cross your mind. Being fast is an automatic result once you really start to understand what you are doing.

So the question should be: How do I improve so drawings come more easily?

That is simple. If you want to improve drawing skills (As in lining and observational skills. I am going to assume you don't need to touch color theory right now.) then you have to study. Mainly draw from life NOT FROM ART. Though studies off of masters now and again doesn't hurt (and I mean old masters.)

Anywho...go draw people with a good old fashioned sketchbook and pencil or pen. Draw plants. Draw buildings. Draw animals. Draw from life. Draw a LOT. You will be going through hundreds of sketches and you should be. This will help you to look and observe the world around you and really learn how to replicate it on a 2D surface. It is called pencil mileage (experience) , and every artist needs it. If you are serious about getting into the comic business then you have to have it.

Also study anatomy and pick up some good books. None of that "How to daw" or "how to make manga" stuff. You can get a great book on animals either from the author Ken Hultgren or Eliot Goldfinger. There is another great artist but his name is escaping me right now.
As for human anatomy look for Vilppu's book.

Once you get into serious life drawing you will be throwing down gestures like mad, and once you get used to those and really learn to put down loose figures the speed will come.

Okay...now its 6:20am over here and I haven't slept so this is all i got for now. If I'm not helpful I'm sorry my brain is shutting down.


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## Smelge (Jun 16, 2010)

And seriously? You aspire to be a manga artist? That's like saying you want to be a rapist when you grow up.

Just because a lot of manga is coming out of Japan doesn't make it the pinnacle of art. There is a fuckton of stuff out there far better than manga. Besides, a good artist should be able to do various styles.


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## Jw (Jun 16, 2010)

Smelge said:


> And seriously? You aspire to be a manga artist? That's like saying you want to be a rapist when you grow up.
> 
> Just because a lot of manga is coming out of Japan doesn't make it the pinnacle of art. There is a fuckton of stuff out there far better than manga. Besides, a good artist should be able to do various styles.



Very true. Why go into a field where there is a ton of people doing the same stuff. Manga, just like any other style or movement, will eventually die. There may be a few people that cling onto it, but the true sign of a great artist is to be timeless in your work. If you get anything out of what I'm about to say, get this: sticking with one art form is like locking yourself in a cage. 

If you truly appreciate art, you will not have only one artist or movement that you think is good and the others suck big time. Sure, you'll have a favorite movement, but the real treat in artwork is getting to know what brought about that style. For instance, manga came from the concept of comic books, right (think DC or whatever came before them)? Is that not essentially manga without the Japanese influence? Think further: what's the purpose of manga or comics? To tell or retell a story. What also does that? Well, skip way back to ancient Rome, and think of Trajan's Column. It recounts the battles during his reign and a spiral fashion, each scene representing something important. Does that sound similar to manga?

Don't mean to be putting words in your mouth, but do look at what's underneath the surface of your favorite movement.


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## furiana (Jun 16, 2010)

Or you can go ahead and draw what you like. 

If you want to draw faster, then practice drawing faster!  Do a bunch of drawings quickly.  (If you want to draw sketches quickly, then focus on that part.  If you want to draw fully finished drawings quickly, then practice pushing your pace on those.)  Then take a look through what you just did for repeated mistakes.  Then do a study so you understand what went wrong and how to fix it.  Practice that a bit.  Then draw fast some more.

The other posters have a bunch of good tips, too.  Experience and drawing time really are the things that will make you faster and better.  ("harder, better, faster, stronger..." heh, sorry ).  You can still focus on speed specifically, though.  If you practice that, then your speed should improve.  And if you fix whatever mistakes you repeat, then you'll improve in other areas as well.  And you can always study anatomy etc. on top of this!

tl;dr: Practice drawing fast.  Then you'll get fast.


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## gdzeek (Jun 16, 2010)

as with say in the industrial world, speed comes with accuracy. so your best bet is to practice doing things well as often as possible, dont settle for easy drawings and consider it practice.

a second thing you can do is work on a "specialty" by concentrating on a style of drawing or set of figures you can learn to be extremely good at them by having so much attention to themm, and have that speed eventually leak into other areas as well


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## Burninghart (Jun 16, 2010)

Smelge said:


> And seriously? You aspire to be a manga artist? That's like saying you want to be a rapist when you grow up.
> 
> Just because a lot of manga is coming out of Japan doesn't make it the pinnacle of art. There is a fuckton of stuff out there far better than manga. Besides, a good artist should be able to do various styles.



Maybe it's just some shallow "copying somebody else" kinda thing from what you see, but I want to draw manga for the sake of storytelling. Sure, you could say "Well why not learn to draw like Stan Lee or something, then?". Well... I'll be plainly honest, I generally just like the simplicity and story-telling power of Manga better. Manga is faster to make, while still effectively denoting what point(s) you want to make. So, manga is my style of choice. If I'm ever actually fast enough to pump out manga novels at quality like Masashi Kishimoto(Naruto), Ruriko Takahashi(Inuyasha) or even Mia Ikumi(Tokyo Mew Mew), then certainly that alone would merit me enough skill that I'd be a good overall artist.

Besides which, I'm not really sure if my style can even be called a manga style or not... It's just that I basically want to draw comics and draw them without growing grey hairs before I'm finished with them.

@Everybody else: Good advice. Thank you all.


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## Zydala (Jun 16, 2010)

Burninghart said:


> Well... I'll be plainly honest, I generally just like the simplicity and story-telling power of Manga better. Manga is faster to make, while still effectively denoting what point(s) you want to make[....]
> [...]It's just that I basically want to draw comics and draw them without growing grey hairs before I'm finished with them.



Numbaaah one, it's actually not the style of manga that does that effect ;D did you know that the "feel" of manga vs. western comics actually comes from the way that they use panels and dialogue? If you wanna make comics - manga or ANYTHING else - read _Understanding Comics_ and _Making Comics_ by Scott McCloud. He picks apart what makes comics tick (in comic-form) and those two books were some of the most interesting books on the medium that I've ever read! It's not just boxes with people talking - it's something a lot more. I really suggest checking it out. You could probably find it at a library! All the libraries I've been to have had it.

Number two, all of those artists that you mentioned have assistants that help with backgrounds, inking, formatting, and tons of other things, just like western comics. It's not uncommon at all in the manga industry overseas to have that. So as much as they have to get things out fast, they also have people to help them with things ;D that's the difficult part of being an indie comic maker, haha - lack of those sorts of resources.

At this point, I say just keep drawing - draw draw draw. You'll learn over time how to draw faster, because you'll know what's supposed to be there. Don't worry about that stuff now - art's a journey. Don't be afraid to branch out and try new styles and new things. It actually helps you learn better!


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## furiana (Jun 16, 2010)

You're welcome.  Good luck! 

ETA: (And post some of those strips when you make them!  )


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## Bir (Jun 17, 2010)

The key to drawing with speed and accuracy is to practice gesture drawings. When I was growing up, my dad taught me to scribble everything five times before I draw it. Last semester in my basic drawing class, I was told that I have better anatomy and understanding of shape than a lot of students he had had before. It's the most important thing I've learned in college, and it's helped me with everything. Get someone who's had a basic drawing class to help you while you draw your gestures, and your artwork will get better and better. It's fast, it's fun, it works.


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## Arshes Nei (Jun 17, 2010)

Draw better, then worry about drawing faster.


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## Fay V (Jun 17, 2010)

I'm going with what Zydala said those artists have a tone of help when it comes to making comics, they have teams of people to work on everything, doing all that by yourself takes a lot more time. I think your desire to be a manga artist is...misplaced. I like the art, I also like american comics. I think there is plenty of room in between. I find your desire misplaced because you are an outsider and it's a bit idealist to think you could just go get a job as a manga artist when you come from a completely different world of literary traditions, but that doesn't mean you can't tell your own stories in your own style. 

Anyway speed is pointless. You need to draw better before you draw faster. By taking the time with each picture you will push yourself to learn how something should work, how to color it, how the figure ought to move and so on. When you go for speed you make your art worse, more simplistic, and less accurate. Just look at comic strip artists. their work is always overly simplified and toony to save time. This isn't as harmful if you are an accomplished artist and continue to work on your art while you do the toony stuff, but it's terrible for you if you are starting out. 

If you take time with your work you will develop and grow as an artist. the more you grow the faster you become because you already know how things work and you can replicate it faster. you have the cause and effect backwards. It isn't the faster you draw the faster you will get better. It is the better you draw, the faster you will get, and the only way to get better is to take the time to practice.


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## Arshes Nei (Jun 17, 2010)

Zydala said:


> Number two, all of those artists that you mentioned have assistants that help with backgrounds, inking, formatting, and tons of other things, just like western comics. It's not uncommon at all in the manga industry overseas to have that. So as much as they have to get things out fast, they also have people to help them with things ;D that's the difficult part of being an indie comic maker, haha - lack of those sorts of resources.


 
Hagiwara (who draws the manga Bastard!!)  has 24 assistants to help him with screentone alone.


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## Joeyyy (Jun 17, 2010)

Zydala said:


> First off, speed means nothing if you aren't laying down the right lines from the beginning ;P that being said, are you drawing from the wrist by any chance? drawing from the elbow makes cleaner lines with a more sweeping motion and can tighten up work a lot better.
> 
> Also, 'skeletons' and 'mannequins' are only helpful in helping you construct what you should already know about the human body; it doesn't tell you the whole story about placement with the human body.
> 
> ...



I love you.
Thank you.


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## Zydala (Jun 18, 2010)

Fay V said:


> ...when you come from a completely different world of literary traditions, but that doesn't mean you can't tell your own stories in your own style.



So true! That's an excellent point. I think the OP said that he wasn't necessarily going for MANGA as much as the way it's told, which I think I understand. 



Arshes Nei said:


> Hagiwara (who draws the manga Bastard!!)  has 24 assistants to help him with screentone alone.



OH WOW hahaha! I believe it too!



Joeyyy said:


> I love you.
> Thank you.


 
Haha I'm assuming you found the link helpful!! you're welcome :>


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## Fay V (Jun 18, 2010)

Zydala said:


> So true! That's an excellent point. I think the OP said that he wasn't necessarily going for MANGA as much as the way it's told, which I think I understand.


 
Fair enough. I've just seen some many teens go "I'm gonna draw manga desu desu..." and they don't realize there's so many things they are missing from japanese culture. it's like people reading comic books or watching family guy and going "I'm gonna make american comics!" It annoys me.


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## Burninghart (Jun 18, 2010)

Zydala said:


> So true! That's an excellent point. I think the OP said that he wasn't necessarily going for MANGA as much as the way it's told, which I think I understand.


 
Aye, you've got it. That's pretty much what I'm going for.

Thanks for the link, I was looking for it for ages after I lost it a while back... >.< Much appreciated. ^-^


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