Discussion: Art skill development

[mekare]

Since we are in between challenges atm, I’d be interested in what you are all working on. Do you have a specific skill you are trying to learn? A technique or new medium? A subject matter you haven’t portrayed a lot? Is making time for your art a challenge right now?

What are your personal challenges right now or your successes?

Comments

[yhlee]

Same.

In theory, I'm trying to learn perspective. In practice, I'm so terrified that every time I open up a book on the subject I come to a dead stop.

[mekare]

Oh noes! Maybe someone could link a nice tutorial? I often find that more helpful than reading a book.

[seleneheart]

I have two books on figure drawing and they both say 'start with the skeleton' and I do that and end up with really nice drawings of bones. As soon as I put flesh on, it all goes to hell.

[yhlee]

Are you me? I found books on figure drawing that focused more on surface anatomy to be more helpful.

That, and lots and lots of sketching people at the library, game store, coffee shop, etc. It's a work in progress, but I've gotten really good at sketching my husband because he plants himself at his computer when he gets home and then doesn't move for like hours, LOL.

[seleneheart]

That's handy behavior on your husband's part!

[syntheid]

Is it... the explanations that are scary or like attempting to do foreshortening on a person particularly or something? Sycra has a nice video on a technique to try to help make foreshortening less intimidating fwiw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWLaDSNBAI

Also I'm not sure of your general perspective experience, but if you haven't done it already, I'd try drawing simpler objects like boxes and cylinders and pyramids rotating in space to start learning perspective.

[yhlee]

I can manage boxes in one, two, and three point. Then I get to something like "Draw a room in perspective" and everything goes to pieces because I can't get from boxes to an entire room. /o\ Probably the answer is more practice.

I'll take a look at the video, thank you! Foreshortening help is always good.

[syntheid]

Ooh, gotcha. Yeah, it's mostly a matter of practice, and I'd suggest starting with something sorta in between 'simple box' and 'entire room'. Like a single, simple chair or other small household objects like shoes or toiletry bottles or windows or lamps or whatever. Which I know seems really boring, but it helps, because basically a room is just a box with a bunch of individual stuff in it, so if you feel like you can draw the individual items comfortably in whatever perspective, the whole room seems less bad. Good luck!

[dray]

Look up tutorials on set dressing; you may find that helps demistify how to fill the room out, in addition to the rules of perspective.

[yhlee]

Thank you so much! Half the battle is knowing what to Google for. XD

[mekare]

Oh Thank you SO MUCH for linking this - it's is super helpful to me.

[mific]

Agh, Perspective. Foreshortening is hard!