NDA Art Critique Message Boards

Hey guys. Been a while. I'm sorry for not being on here as much. Lately, my motivation to draw and such have been rather lacking, especially since I'm in Community College. I kind of need to try my best to get my mood going again, so...well, even though this isn't the main reason for making this topic, I would like to know how you guys get your motivation going, if that's okay...

Anyway, the main reason I'm making this topic is because I'm thinking about buying some art supplies to use sometime this week, maybe. I have some money to spend for now (getting more in the future), so I'm not getting too much this time around. I would like some help on though, what could I possibly get to help me out? This is what I already plan on getting (btw, these are all on DickBlick).

Artograph Lightracer Light Box 12"x18"
I've seen how light boxes can be useful, especially this one tutorial I found online. I kind of put it into consideration, then talked to one of my friends who said it's pretty excellent to use, especially in his university class. He called it the "Physical Equivalent to Photoshop Layers," which is kind of something I need. Personally, I don't like sketching all the stuff like the stick pose, rough, and so-on on one sheet of paper, and tracing it alone can be tough, but I'm thinking with a Light Box, it'll help me quite a lot. My dad though, not an artist, convinced me to get the 12"x18" one for some reason. Seems fair...

Blick Hardwood Manikin 12" Male
I've been meaning to get one of these for a couple of years, but never got around too it. I cannot draw poses worth a dang. I have a book that has some poses, but I just...not what I'm looking for. I know these can really help out, big time, especially with coming up with ideas for poses. One thing though, well...two things: One, why is the 20" price so high when the one that's 16" inches is such a reasonable price? And two, I haven't tried drawing females, yet, but do you think if I want to get started, maybe I should buy the female manikin as well? Or the Male one is just as good?

I already heard about NeonDragon releasing a 3rd book on Dragons, and I do believe it'll be an excellent buy, so that's on my list for the future. I'm thinking about buying other art books to help me out, since I'm still an ametuar, but I'm still also looking for any useful supplies like pencils, pens, and so on to help. Here's some stuff about my artwork and preferences to help.

- I'm an Anthro Artist, but I'm thinking of going back to drawing humans (though it may be in an anime/manga like fashion, but whatever works). I do have a bit of a problem with the anatomy sometimes.
- Dragons are the only species I can currently draw, but I'm thinking about someday trying other species like canines and felines someday in the future. Don't know when though. I may start slow and sticked with scaled species like crocodiles and what-not.
- More into Fantasy, RPG-like stuff.
- I already own two of NeonDragon's books, along with Dynamic Anatomy (which I need to try and study sometimes, but don't know how to approach it) and a Comic Book Pose Book. Though, any other books that'll help in like backgrounds or whatever will be nice.
- I don't plan on coloring anytime soon, so I'm basically a sketching person (preferably with a mechanical pencil) and then use the Pen Tool on Photoshop.

So, could anyone help please? Thanks!

wow, thats a lot of stuff, i'm casey btw *holds hand out* all i use is paper inking pens, and faber-castell 48 colouring pencils.

Same here, I only use paper, pencils, a pen, and colored pencils. Unless I draw on the computer which I only use MS Paint on.

Hey guys. Thanks for the replies.

Well, I haven't really decided on which true direction I want to go with my art for the time being, but I'm currently looking at just being a sketching artist for the time being in terms of traditional artwork. If I do anything else like inking and coloring, I'll use Photoshop for that, but part of me is curious on actually trying to ink (and maybe color) traditionally.

I know that there's different kinds of pencils for certain things, but I personally prefer to use mechanical pencils. Just wondering though, but is there a real difference from .05 mm mechanical pencils and .07mm? I've been using .05mm, but I just wanted to know if there's any real difference.

I don't know about Pens though. I mean, I might wait till December to actually get some online, but I think Photoshop might be just the better way to go when it comes to "inking" my drawings, right? What do you think? And, if you do know any good set of pens to probably get, let me know. Oh, and same for colored pencils. Same reason. What would you recommend?

(Note: I'm not much of a coloring person, so I don't know much on it like shadings and stuff. I plan to learn though)

I also heard about buying stuff like a special kind of compass and some small triangular rulers. What tools (or even, books) do you consider to be useful? Anything that helps out would be great.

Books books books.
Your best bet is to go and buy an anatomy book, especially if you want to get back into drawing humans. Knowing the muscle structure and bones will really really help you with that. There's plenty of them out there, so I don't think I need to prattle a list off. The little human poser is a good idea, it's good for coming up with poses, but that being said, you may not need him. Once you've got a better understanding of the human body it's actually pretty easy to come up with poses. The other option is to go routing through magazines and draw the people in there. Not trace, but draw them. Gestural work really helps, really really helps. Go to a park or public place really, and just do quick little studies of the people around you; and there's always the option of signing up for figure drawing classes if they're available, which I would highly recommend.
They suck at first because they just seem so HAAAARD. But after about the fourth try at it it just sort of flows right out. When you go to a public place you get a really good idea of how people move and stand, and just socialize naturally, so it's much easier to come up with poses that way

Supplies? Stick with the basics, you don't really want to go out and spend copious amounts of things if you either a) don't know if you'll ever use them b) find out you don't ever WANT to use them. Pencil, paper, eraser. Just stick with the basics, it's easier to expand and grow your skill from something basic and familiar than to throw something totally new and unknown and struggle with that AND improving your mad skillz.
I would recommend getting aquanted with charcoal though, it's a wonderful medium and you should give it a go Especially if you want to be more of a sketch artist, charcoal will really help you with movement and expression, that being said. Not charcoal pencils, use the compressed or willow stuffs, play around with different mark making and smudging goodness It's super messy but super fun.

Oh yes. Books I forgot XD

Get yourself a color wheel. It's your best friend, master that color wheel And google about for some good color theory, not so much coloring techniques, but the theory of color itself. Learn how they work together and compliment and contrast each other, stay far far far far away from those burn and dodge tools. They are you're enemy and as such should be loathed.


The only difference in the .05 and .07 is the lead thickness, as in how wide the line is when it goes down. I love mechanicals too, I hate sharpening stuff >.>

Colored pencils... are a personal preference. Prism, Faber Castel are the most commonly used I believe... Gotta try them all out Compass isn't really a big issue, if you're doing slightly smaller work it would be just as useful to buy a circle template...

Do lots of still life studies, especially if you want to learn how to do shading, highlights and such

again... Color theory is your friiiiiiiiiiiend.
-cheers

Well, actually, I must admit, I do want to draw humans again, but I kind of want to go with a more anime/manga approach, but an anatomy book can still help out, right? Also, as I mentioned, I do own an anatomy book called Dynamic Anatomy, but I haven't looked too much into it. I mean, personally, it feels more complicated and kind of unneeded to know almost every single body part or something. I just figured, once I know what the body looks like, I can go on from there. Guess I was wrong, eh? Heh.

I've never been good with thinking up poses, especially trying to draw even simplsitic poses. I am hoping the manikin will help me out a bit more since it'll give me more freedom on things. I'll think about going out in public to help, but where I live at isn't the best place to attempt that, to be truthful. ...And as far as I know, there isn't any art classes (that isn't in school or community college) where I am. I can take an art class next semester though if I'm right.

I've tried charcoal, and I think it's not exactly my thing, to be truthful. What I kind of meant by a sketch artist though, was just...sketching. Just use a pencil, nothing special. I was thinking about fixing my drawings up using Photoshop a bit after sketching if possible. I'll think about it though.

Hmm...Faber Castel and Prism. I'll give them both a good look in the future. And...yeah, maybe getting a circle template isn't such a bad idea.

Color wheel and color theory. Hmm...okay. I gotcha.

Thanks for the help! ^^

It seems unneeded but it really is.
You can't draw stylistically until you know how to draw realistically. You can start out with doing straight anime, but you won't get anywhere fast. The human body is pretty complex, and it's easy to derive something from the human for than just create an almost human form. No you don't really nee to know every bones name in the body, but you do need to know how they all connect, where joints are how they function, maybe not in the most complex of terms, but you still need to know it. Muscles are a big thing too, you may not -really- need to know the names of all the different muscles but you need to know their placement, how they interact with bones, each other and skin. How they bulge and why they bulge. I'd take a loot at that anatomy book or if you're super cheap like me you can just google that shiznat and print it off 8D
Don't get me wrong, there's some BEAUTIFUL and GORGEOUS anime and manga style pictures out there... but if an artist doesn't have a good understanding of the body there's always going to be glaringly obvious flaws, and it'll be the same flaws over and over and over.
<.< I was so bad the other day >.> I went to the gym and gawked at the muscley men while I did quick little sketches and studies of their muscles XD Don't be shy to SPY O_o it sounds bad... but it's not XD just no stalking XD
You can only succeed from your mistakes

Ah just pencil sketching. Well there's nothing wrong with that
That's okay if there's no real public places... pop in a good movie find an AWESOME action scene, pause it and draw 8D (I try to do everything in my power so I don't have to socialize too heavily with strange people XD) Oh well, there's always youtube there's actually some pretty good demo's in there ^_^

Good luck, and you're welcome :D

Hey guys. I ordered my Manikin and Artracer Lightbox a few days ago, but I had to send it via mail (no credit card). I should be getting it in a week, hopefully. Thanks!

@Akeela
Well, there isn't many people who like...work out and stuff that I know, and I don't really have time to visit places like the YMCA (yet...). We'll see what happens from there. I might go ahead and study that book a bit more when I get the chance. Movie scenes does sound pretty cool. There is one pose I'm trying to get from a game though. I'm kind of hoping to get it right with the manikin, but...yeah. If you played Super Smash Bros. and knows how Fox runs or at least know how Sonic the Hedgehog runs these days...yeah. That pose...tough. XD

Well, it'll be a while until I get some more art supplies off of DickBlick, but I've been looking at Barnes and Nobles for some books to try and obtain. I know usually getting some How-to books aren't exactly the way to go, but they can inspire me and help me out sometimes. Kind of why. I'm already waiting on NeonDragon's latest book, especially with all that stuff on dragons. I'm also thinking about buying those DVDs of hers as well. I do admit, I kind of want to try and get some manga books. They are fun to look at and such in my personal opinion, though I don't know which ones to go for. I am trying to get better, but I like to look for various ideas, inspirations, whatever works. Any know some good ones (or any other books that'll be useful?).

Just...one question. I've seen this left and right and NO ONE has given me a good reason why, but...
Why does everyone hate Christopher Hart's books? They look really well done and all, but I've seen nothing but negativity from them. The dude's wikia page makes him sound like one famous guy, but still...could someone answer that for me, and please give me a bit of detail? All I've heard is that he sucks (and other insulting things I cannot post here due to the rules). I'm thinking about getting maybe one or two of his books, but I haven't decided.

Thanks again!

I'm not too sure why people don't like Mr. Hart. I love his books, lots of ideas and they're very pleasing to the eye. I've got three of his books, they're fun to look through especially when you're feeling a bit down about your work.
I honestly.. can't say why people hate him or his books so much. They're the same general format as neon's aren't they (I've never actually looked through her book XD) They're good for kids, really though. It's not drawing from life or anything, but he does go through some pretty good concepts in them. The one book of his I have goes through perspective, which is super helpful. And character creation is in almost all his books I believe. Iiiiii like him
I think... it's because they're 'how-to' books. Which I don't see anything wrong with however. A lot of people think they're a waste of time because they don't really teach you per-se. But I don't fully understand that either, I learned most of the foreshortening I knew from books like his -- granted my knowledge was very limited I didn't take myself or my art seriously then. It's a how to book, of course it will never be as good as getting instruction straight from the source... but like I said. Inspiration is good. I've got like... at least a dozen books like that, that are 'how-to' and I love looking through them.
Anything that can inspire you or bring you ideas is a good book At least I think. Inspiration can be hard to come come by.. so if you find some, hang onto it!
Ab ook is a book... his isn't any better nor any less than any other how-to book, especially when it comes to stylized work.


hahaha.. sorry that took so long 8D I had this ridiculous paper due and I was tryign to get it done because I procrastinated for like two weeks >.>

If you get confuzzled by the rather complex anatomy books, take a look at this : http://www.cksinfo.com/clipart/medicine ... -human.png its really useful as a quick reference if you're in mid flow and don't want to stop to dig out your anatomy book