I have no drawing skills, I want to draw cartoons.

[MonkeySage]

I got a tablet and a computer program, hoping this would help... Sketchbook Express. But there are no options that I can see for gridlines or rulers or anything, and the best I can do is make squiggly lines.

Basically, I'm feeling around in the dark, and can't find any helpful advice online.

I don't want to use pencil and paper, because I can't do that in layers. So I've got this ugly grid I'm stuck with, and eraser marks, and all.

Does anyone know anything about using a tablet to draw? I'm one of those people who needs to see where my hand is, needs to see the pencil marks. I have no idea how people manage to draw incredible works of art without being able to see where there pencil is on the tablet. My cursor goes all over the place, makes the sloppiest lines imaginable.

[Domochevsky]

Yeah, you only get to see your hand and lines where you draw on high-end tablets, starting at 3k or somesuch. Not feasible for the common digital artist.
Personally I'm using a Bamboo from Wacom, which has served me well. :smallsmile:

Usually the art program you are working with has tools that include straight lines, which can be modified by holding down CTRL, STRG or ALT, depending on what you want to achieve.
Mine has the bonus of including perspective rulers, which are immensely helpful for scenery.

...but be aware: Not even the best tool can make you a good artist. It acts as a multiplier to your existing skill. If that's low then you're not getting much out of that either.
Practice is what makes you an artist, as Thanqol can attest to. He has been practicing for quite a few days now, and will be practicing for at least the same amount again to become good enough. :smallwink:

If you "just" want to make a comic that can be done quick, going the OotS route seems like a good start and live practice (a goal and active project you can work on instead of scribbling around indeterminedly). Simple shapes and recognizable colors are key.

...no idea why you can't find any advice online though. Must be the "helpful" part. Everyone learns differently, and I don't know how good these are if you're a complete beginner.

[MonkeySage]

Most of the advice seems to be aimed at people who can at least draw straight lines and round circles...

Thing is, I chose to use a tablet with the hopes that I could gain the benefits of freehanded drawing and the benefits of being able to use multiple layered artwork.... Skeleton, outline, features, clothes, etc...

I'm trying to move past stick figures, but it just seems no matter how much I practice, I never get any better.

[Thanqol]

I have five years documented progress, starting from zero. Here's year one. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?200108-Thanqol-Learns-To-Draw!) Here's now (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?416855-Thanqol-Learns-To-Draw-Five-Polymath).

A lot of absolute basic advice is included in that first thread so read that. Notice the unending tide of garbage that I spew everywhere with occasional weird and momentary displays of competence. I also narrate lessons learned and goals pretty consistently so you can get a feel for the places I went and what I thought about. It also demonstrates where persistence gets you so you've got no cause to say "I tried and it didn't work" - try for another five years 'cause that's what it's gonna take!

Straight lines and circles are legitimately hard, that never goes away. Sorry! Best I can say is 'move your elbow rather than your wrist'.


Ultimately there's one thing that has to be internalized: Drawing is fun. Drawing awful stuff is fun. If you have fun while drawing and experiment wildly then you're gonna have a good time. If you're coming at it from URGH WHY AREN'T I DRAWING BETTER? it's gonna be not fun. This is a journey with no destination. I need to remind myself of that as well.

[shawnhcorey]

Does anyone know anything about using a tablet to draw? I'm one of those people who needs to see where my hand is, needs to see the pencil marks. I have no idea how people manage to draw incredible works of art without being able to see where there pencil is on the tablet. My cursor goes all over the place, makes the sloppiest lines imaginable.

You have to learn to walk before you can run. They create those incredible works of art by following three simple steps, repeated daily:

Practice
Practice
Practice


First thing you must learn is how to hold a pencil (http://chiseledrocks.com/main/musings/topics/how_to_hold_the_pencil). Holding a pencil close to its tip is good for details, like making letters. But if you try drawing lines like this, they often come out wiggly. Gripping further back and using your whole arm makes smoother lines. Try it with your tablet. Chances are you'll see an improvement with this simple technique.

[MonkeySage]

I've started practicing more seriously, starting with pencil and going back over in Sketchbook, using the tablet.

What do you guys think?

http://tinyurl.com/orpzmtg

[Thanqol]

I've started practicing more seriously, starting with pencil and going back over in Sketchbook, using the tablet.

What do you guys think?

http://tinyurl.com/orpzmtg

Hard, continuous black lines and the fill tool are dead ends in my opinion. They're what children use. Get a program like Corel or Paint Tool SAI and use the paint and blend brushes. They'll feel weird at first but they're where the cool stuff is when colouring.

Above all, draw from life. Aim for photorealism! It'll suck and look awful but in failing to get there you'll get way closer to where you actually want to be. Draw more.

[Domochevsky]

Hard, continuous black lines and the fill tool are dead ends in my opinion. They're what children use. Get a program like Corel or Paint Tool SAI and use the paint and blend brushes. They'll feel weird at first but they're where the cool stuff is when colouring.

Above all, draw from life. Aim for photorealism! It'll suck and look awful but in failing to get there you'll get way closer to where you actually want to be. Draw more.

I, on the other hand, think that uniform black lines and the fillvtool are perfectly viable tools to start out with and later modify and build on. Remember: Children are people who have just started drawing. :smallwink:
Stay away from advanced brushes until you're comfortable with what you've currently got, then expand. Simple tools that are easy to grasp make the process less annoying, since you know what you're getting.

Kinda with him on the "draw from life" part, assuming that's what you want out of this. (Drawing people expecially helps to get a feeling for what humans look like, as opposed to what you think they should look like.)
The important bit is: You don't have to get good at everything at once: You can ignore colors and stick to linework, ignore linework and stick to painting, ignore shading and lighting and stick to anything else. Ignore people or ignore landscapes... it's just a matter of variety for yourself.

So basically: Pick which path to follow. There's many to chose from. :smallbiggrin:

...however, and this is where I contradict myself a little: Enable Anti Aliasing for your current pen in your drawing program. Make the lines at least a little smooth. This makes it harder to use the filltool, however, but that's what you've got layers for. Small steps. :smalltongue:

[EggKookoo]

They say everyone has 1,000 (or 10,000 or whatever the number) bad drawings in us that we need to get out before we can start making good ones.

Draw. Draw all the freaking time. Draw on the phone. Draw during meetings or in class, if you can get away with it. Draw before going to bed. Draw during lunch. Draw while watching TV. Draw draw draw and then draw some more.

Don't be self-conscious with your drawings. Don't draw with the intent of making good art. Don't worry about what someone might think of your drawings. Don't worry about what you think of your drawings. Just get those effin' lines down on that paper. Over and over.

You see, what you're doing is you're training your drawing muscles. One of the reasons beginner art looks, well, like beginner art is because the artist hasn't toned the muscles in the arm and shoulder. People think learning to draw is a mental thing. Of course, it is to some degree, but just as you wouldn't try to learn to play the piano without doing hours of finger exercises, and you wouldn't try getting good at playing baseball without hours of playing catch, you can't become good at drawing until you've toned your arm and hand to the point where you're not fighting just to get a smooth line.

Draw big. Bigger than you might first think. Don't worry if you start a picture big and then run out of space on the page. Finish what you can and then move on to the next drawing. You'll eventually learn how to pre-visualize your drawing so you can scale it to the paper.

Here's something more artists won't tell you. It's okay to trace, at the beginning. Remember, you're working to train your drawing muscles. It's not about learning art or developing technique or learning anatomy or perspective -- that comes later. If you're so hung up on the quality of your early drawings that it prevents you from drawing, trace. Just don't do it forever. If you do trace, do a freehand drawing for every ten tracings you do. Then move on to one for every nine tracings, and so on, until you're no longer tracing as an exercise. When you reach that point, you can start focusing on learning some real art skills (anatomy, shading, perspective, etc.). But when you start you're still doing the equivalent of running up and down musical scales.

I used to teach kids to draw. There's no shortcut. You have to put the hours in, training your muscles (and you'll be training the motor control neurons in your brain as well).

Don't give up.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I can't offer any advice on practicing better than what has already been said. However.


Get a program like Corel or Paint Tool SAI and use the paint and blend brushes.

This I can offer a counterpoint to. There are two free art programs I would like to advise you to consider.

1. Krita (https://krita.org/). Put simply, the best free alternative to "professional" art tools, with an excellent selection of brush engines and marvellous transform and blending tools. If you want to paint in full color easily, this is the program you want to try out, to see if it is to your liking.

2. MyPaint (http://mypaint.intilinux.com/). This, on the other hand, is the perfect tool for training and practice, at least the way I have used it. Its brush engine and selection of brushes rival Krita's. It has an infinite canvas, and the most ingenious scrap-saving system I ever encountered - I have forgotten when I last had to pick a document size or a name for a new saved file. If you are starting with some skill in using pencil and paper, this program will do a great job of providing you with tools that feel right. Even the things it lacks make sense and help you get better at drawing - such as selection tools, copy/paste, or transforms. It gives you layers, line/fill tools, blending options, but that's it. Opening MyPaint is like pulling up an endless sheet of paper and a box of art supplies, rather than the heavy and complex interface that the more involved art programs thrust you into. All my drawings start in MyPaint nowadays, so I can't not recommend it.

[MonkeySage]

MyPaint is awesome, thank you for leading me to it, Sean. :)


I think what I should do is start by developing my pencil work, then using these programs to color rather than draw.

[EggKookoo]

I think what I should do is start by developing my pencil work, then using these programs to color rather than draw.

I think this is a good approach.

[MonkeySage]

So I gave another shot at drawing Hartwin again, this time tried to draw fingers and add a little detail to his pants.

Once I finished the pencil work, I traced back over with a pen so that it would show up better after scanning.

http://redandblackknight.tumblr.com/post/126055206485/hartwin

[Artman77]

ChrisBasken is telling you the right stuff. I'm an artist and I can back up everything he's said so far. I personally struggle with drawing things too small and not utilizing my space. It's not a big deal if you just scan it and can scale it up/crop it to fit, but painting on a canvas from scratch? Naw, man, you need to be able to pre-visualize that.

Here (https://wingmind.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/mtg-blue-001.jpg)is some of my stuff (https://wingmind.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/mtg-red-001.jpg). Portrait (https://wingmind.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/wpid-img_20150521_121103.jpg). Figure (https://wingmind.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/wpid-img_20150601_113833.jpg). Noir comic strip (http://radicalred.thecomicseries.com/images/comics/87/a2311fa3682a7585f40dd4170ee3ba4e56805702.jpg). Skull (https://wingmind.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/artmans_skull-001.jpg).

So the first (and majority) answer to your smooth line problem is practice.
You could get around the problem with a circle/box/line approach like the OotS comic.
You could work with chunky pixel sprites and ballon boxes like 8-bit theater.
You could forget the lines altogether and do raw colors like this (http://40.media.tumblr.com/77ef213c84a5a54b949b4c64de032869/tumblr_ns4sjyl9FL1uvm9nio3_1280.jpg). (Although, this would include a lot of the aforementioned practice.)
Or you could do what the pros do, and buy some inks and a scanner. Draw some sweet art, ink it, scan it, make a separate layer to throw down your colors, and when your done put the ink layer on top with the "multiply" or "darken" layer blending mode selected.
Sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rc0DhoP8BM

[EggKookoo]

When I say draw all the time, I don't mean necessarily trying to create finished pieces. I often had the kids practice their basic shapes. Literally, draw a bunch of circles and squares and stuff. Doesn't sound very exciting but it lays an important foundation.

Later, you'll be reading some "how to draw" book or website and it will tell you that a human head is based on a sphere or a cylinder or whatever theory they're using. If you've been practicing your basic shapes, you'll have no worries about banging out a bunch of cylinders. But if you haven't, you'll be struggling with "htf do I draw a cylinder at this angle?" while also trying to make it look like a human head. That compounds your frustration and makes you think you won't ever be able to do it.

Edit: Nice work, Artman.

Also, don't laugh, but one of the best basic beginner drawing books is How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. It's way old school and most of what's in it won't be applicable, but it has some great info on form and shading, and demonstrates some of what I'm talking about with that basic shape stuff. If you end up doing cartoons, you might benefit from some of the anatomy, action, and composition info as well.

https://classes.soe.ucsc.edu/cmps025/Spring11/Draw-Comics-The-Marvel-Way.pdf

[MonkeySage]

I've got two more of Hartwin, in a different pose. I'm thinking of starting on different characters, and backgrounds. I would love to be able to use this general style in a web comic I'm planning. It's a high fantasy BL romance thing.

http://tinyurl.com/qfphz39
http://tinyurl.com/o4cpmqx

What do you guys think of these?

I think I've gotten over the initial problem of straight lines and round circles... But I'm definitely still struggling with hands and feet.

[pwcsponson]

http://pinwchiang.tumblr.com/post/65625328417/october-2013-cheater-12x18-gicl%C3%A9e-print

I've got two more of Hartwin, in a different pose. I'm thinking of starting on different characters, and backgrounds. I would love to be able to use this general style in a web comic I'm planning. It's a high fantasy BL romance thing.

http://tinyurl.com/qfphz39
http://tinyurl.com/o4cpmqx

What do you guys think of these?

I think I've gotten over the initial problem of straight lines and round circles... But I'm definitely still struggling with hands and feet.

Hands are complex, that goes without saying. We see them everyday, you see yours everyday. For years and years and years. Of course they're going to look off when you draw them.

Here's some of my work. http://pinwchiang.tumblr.com/
http://pinwchiang.tumblr.com/post/65625328417/october-2013-cheater-12x18-gicl%C3%A9e-print

Drawing is like exercising. Lets say you want to comfortably do 50 push ups. You won't be able to comfortably do 50 if you only ever go up to 50. You have to do 100, 150, 200 push ups. Once you do that, then 50 is a breeze! Cartoons are like the 50. We do real life studies (not synonymous with photo-realism, mind you). We draw a lot, anything, everything. Then once we've dutifully studied anatomy, perspective, still life, landscape... etc. Then cartoons are "easy".

Not that I'm trying to discourage you from making art. I think it's wonderful, and adds a little more of you to the world.

Just a few notes though.

1. The tablet (and thus, digital art) is synonymous with water colors, oil painting, ink and brush... etc. Which is to say, it is a medium. It is a physical way to express your art and thus has its nuances just like every other medium. It's no magic bullet, it's no +5 Vorpal Pen. Keep at it though, because like the other mediums your mastery in it is important. I use a wacom tablet, Intuos, but it's really no different than the bamboo.

2. Drawing is a creative outlet. Though if you want to improve you have to push through the frustrations. That's the only way to get better. Art is unique in that you set your own bar. By that I mean, each piece you do is graded against your previous pieces. Thus you'll always be behind where you need to be, but in some cases that's perfectly fine.

3. Do what you feel you aught to do. Experiment a lot. That poster that said dark lines with solid infill is a dead end? Hmm, I happen to know a great comic that uses solid dark lines with solid fill, it's called "The Order of the Stick". Do it anyway, and one day when you realize you've outgrown it, then ditch it.

4. Keep drawing, your work is off to a great start. Don't be overwhelmed by all these things. Focus on one thing at a time. Maybe do some hand studies now. Draw your hand until you're sure you know how hands exist in a physical space. Put some toilet paper rolls and paper on a table and draw them so you know how perspective works.

5. It's okay to use references. All the great artists use references.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2015/07/03/historical

[Thanqol]

3. Do what you feel you aught to do. Experiment a lot. That poster that said dark lines with solid infill is a dead end? Hmm, I happen to know a great comic that uses solid dark lines with solid fill, it's called "The Order of the Stick". Do it anyway, and one day when you realize you've outgrown it, then ditch it.

Order of the Stick has barely changed visually since its inception.

Sure, the style is neat, time-efficient, consistent and practical for doing a huge long webcomic, that's cool if that's what your goal is. But it'll look basically the same five years from now as it does today. That's what I mean by it being a dead end. Compare and contrast Gunerkriegg Court that also started off (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1)with those hard black lines and then ditched them when Tom became a better artist - compare with today's (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1551).

[MonkeySage]

I think I'm slowly getting better... I've tried going by the 7 heads rule for character height, though I'm wondering if I could get away with 5 heads for a web comic series.

I've drawn my protagonist in a seated position, and I've sort of figured out how to draw eyes, though at this point I'm having trouble drawing properly scaled eyes(the irises look more like snake eyes).

I'm at this point wishing I tried to do this sooner; I'm 25 now, I wonder what I'd be doing if I started learning to draw even 5 years ago.

[shawnhcorey]

I've drawn my protagonist in a seated position, and I've sort of figured out how to draw eyes, though at this point I'm having trouble drawing properly scaled eyes(the irises look more like snake eyes).

For a cartoon, you could draw the eyes bigger than normal.

[pwcsponson]

Order of the Stick has barely changed visually since its inception.

Sure, the style is neat, time-efficient, consistent and practical for doing a huge long webcomic, that's cool if that's what your goal is. But it'll look basically the same five years from now as it does today. That's what I mean by it being a dead end. Compare and contrast Gunerkriegg Court that also started off (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1)with those hard black lines and then ditched them when Tom became a better artist - compare with today's (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1551).

Having something look the same five years from now as it does today isn't a bad thing. You could say that Watchmen is a dead end as well since it didn't change in style from when the artist started to when it ended. But I know we're not going to claim that the style of Hellboy or Watchmen is a dead end.

Yes, Tom Siddell has grown as an artist, and it reflects in his work. It's different, because the choice to reflect that in his work is a conscious choice. He could have improved his art independently from his work and have kept the same style throughout. Evan Dahm of http://rice-boy.com/ kept the same style, even though his art got better as well, but it's still brush and ink with digital touch ups and color - unchanged from Rice Boy to Vattu. Where-as Tom went from scanned pen work to tablet/digital lines.

If anything, Gunnerkrigg is proof that it's okay to start with black solids with infill and then move onto something else, while Rice Boy and OotS is proof that it's okay to keep it throughout. It's a stylistic choice, sometimes by choice sometimes limited by ability. But it's by no means a "dead-end" (which has the connotation of "wasted work", like an actual dead end where you have to turn back because the route you took was ultimately unfruitful).

[Thanqol]

Having something look the same five years from now as it does today isn't a bad thing. You could say that Watchmen is a dead end as well since it didn't change in style from when the artist started to when it ended. But I know we're not going to claim that the style of Hellboy or Watchmen is a dead end.

Yeah dude, it's okay to get to where you're going and then stop and produce a big finished work. I don't think that grows you as an artist though which is what I'm talking about. You stop experimenting you start stagnating.

Of course, all artists experiment a lot - OotS has gotten yonks better at colour, shading, framing, etc. I think Watchman would have progressed the artists more because they've had a lot more varied experiences and experiments in their work than OotS. Lots of new, dynamic angles and environments they wouldn't have drawn before.


Yes, Tom Siddell has grown as an artist, and it reflects in his work. It's different, because the choice to reflect that in his work is a conscious choice. He could have improved his art independently from his work and have kept the same style throughout. Evan Dahm of http://rice-boy.com/ kept the same style, even though his art got better as well, but it's still brush and ink with digital touch ups and color - unchanged from Rice Boy to Vattu. Where-as Tom went from scanned pen work to tablet/digital lines.

If anything, Gunnerkrigg is proof that it's okay to start with black solids with infill and then move onto something else, while Rice Boy and OotS is proof that it's okay to keep it throughout. It's a stylistic choice, sometimes by choice sometimes limited by ability. But it's by no means a "dead-end" (which has the connotation of "wasted work", like an actual dead end where you have to turn back because the route you took was ultimately unfruitful).

Here's the thing, though: You don't need to use a bad style until you develop a good one. "Style" is frequently an excuse that artists use for stagnation. Anything which stops you experimenting isn't helpful, and hard black lines and cell shading stop you experimenting with colour, shading, line width, line composition, painting, blur-and-blending, novel layer construction, and so on. All those things are fascinating and you should start playing with them from day one.


I'm at this point wishing I tried to do this sooner; I'm 25 now, I wonder what I'd be doing if I started learning to draw even 5 years ago.

The decision to learn is more valuable in the learning process than hours spent learning.

[pwcsponson]

Yeah dude, it's okay to get to where you're going and then stop and produce a big finished work. I don't think that grows you as an artist though which is what I'm talking about. You stop experimenting you start stagnating.

Of course, all artists experiment a lot - OotS has gotten yonks better at colour, shading, framing, etc. I think Watchman would have progressed the artists more because they've had a lot more varied experiences and experiments in their work than OotS. Lots of new, dynamic angles and environments they wouldn't have drawn before.


Here's the thing, though: You don't need to use a bad style until you develop a good one. "Style" is frequently an excuse that artists use for stagnation. Anything which stops you experimenting isn't helpful, and hard black lines and cell shading stop you experimenting with colour, shading, line width, line composition, painting, blur-and-blending, novel layer construction, and so on. All those things are fascinating and you should start playing with them from day one.

The decision to learn is more valuable in the learning process than hours spent learning.

I feel that the ability to complete a large and finished work isn't stagnation. People don't just "stop" and put out a big work like Watchmen. Just because the Watchmen didn't change stylistically nor technically from start to finish doesn't mean the artist and writer stagnated during the whole thing. That's crazy! How does finishing something that big not improve you as an artist? Pacing, narrative, composition of each panel, relative to each page, relative to the entire book. The book in its entirety is the art piece. It was the book to garner the attention of novelists. It was the book to start the well respected genre of graphic novelism. It literally transcended the comic book genre.. How in the world is that stagnation? You really think the artist didn't grow... at all? With a book so well written, so well rendered, so well crafted it pioneered an era of taking comics as literature?

The thing is that bad and good have no meaning to a beginner who can't even render basic objects. Style is irrelevant. I couldn't care less if they're using black lines with solid infill or water color or oil painting. It doesn't matter! At this point in time, literally everything they do is new and experimental. You can't contradict yourself by claiming experimentation is good but experimenting with that one particular rendering style is bad, when how they render is functionally irrelevant to how well they render. At this stage things like accurate anatomy and good composition are things to focus on. Concrete things that can be objectively viewed and improved upon.

Finally, an artist uses what works. The Watchmen didn't change stylistically, because it didn't need to. Just like a painting doesn't need to change styles halfway through. How an artist advances is an entirely their personal endeavor. If an artist stagnates, that's literally okay, because who are you to judge how they should proceed with their creative outlet? Their progression is not your business, it's not mine, it's the artists'. We can only see the pieces they produce, and critique from that. And right now, when the artist in question is looking to improve his character drawings, I'm going to say "Focus on making sure anatomy and proportions are correct above all else", not "make sure you did something stylistically different this time".


hard black lines and cell shading stop you experimenting with colour, shading, line width, line composition, painting, blur-and-blending, novel layer construction, and so on
In which case doing anything at all stops one from experimenting because they didn't do everything. If you're painting, how are you cell shading? You could then say that painting and blending stops you from experimenting with bolder aspects of work akin to Warhol and Lichenstein. If you're practicing line weight, how are you practicing painting without lines? And how the heck does using cell shading stop you from experimenting with color?

No lines and alla prima painting stops you from experimenting with color, line width, line comp, novel layer construction, and so on. Except, you know, that's just bologna.


You don't need to use a bad style until you develop a good one.
It's a good thing solid black lines with color isn't a bad style, other wise once again you're dismissing... just about every artist, ever. Sticking to just solid black with color isn't going to grow you as much as expanding rendering techniques, sure, I agree with. But only if the artist is proficient at it already, otherwise at the end of the day, it's just like starting with literally anything else.

[pwcsponson]

I've got two more of Hartwin, in a different pose. I'm thinking of starting on different characters, and backgrounds. I would love to be able to use this general style in a web comic I'm planning. It's a high fantasy BL romance thing.

http://tinyurl.com/qfphz39
http://tinyurl.com/o4cpmqx

What do you guys think of these?

I think I've gotten over the initial problem of straight lines and round circles... But I'm definitely still struggling with hands and feet.

Just a few pointers. Think about how the body occupies space, and how the limbs connect to the body.
http://imgur.com/p43NSG2
I did a draw over here, I hope you don't mind. See how the armpits you drew are a little too high? Just by connecting a line from the shoulder to the elbow you can see that theres no way an arm could exist under that sleeve. Though I did notice that the finger tips end between the hips and knees, halfway down the thigh. Which is pretty close to the standard proportions, so your figure is pretty good in regards to limb length.

How many heads you decide to draw your characters is up to you, as they should still work proportionally and anatomically. Since people's height varies in real life, characters 7 heads tall and 5 heads tall could exist together.

[Thanqol]

I feel that the ability to complete a large and finished work isn't stagnation. People don't just "stop" and put out a big work like Watchmen. Just because the Watchmen didn't change stylistically nor technically from start to finish doesn't mean the artist and writer stagnated during the whole thing. That's crazy!

Yeah that's crazy. And that's why I'm not saying that. I'm saying that during the process of doing Watchmen the artists were forced by necessity to experiment with a variety of new, interesting styles and perspectives, drawing things they would never have otherwise done from angles they'd never done before. That process of lots of new things in short succession is good, healthy, liberating.

What I'm saying is if they did Watchmen except every single panel was a medium distance 3/4 profile view it would have taught them way less. And so sticking on a style early in your process when you know nothing at all is gonna teach you way less. Do every style. Draw photorealism, draw animation, paint, sculpt, draw ponies and draw IRL horses. Get started on perspective right now! Grow in every direction! :D

[MonkeySage]

Alright, so I'm gonna need help in a big way with this one. It has been suggested that I get to work on my web-comic asap. This seems reasonable, as it was my original goal to start a webcomic and I don't want to lose sight of it.

However, I've still got plenty of bad habits that are painfully obvious here. Now this is not intended to be a final draft, more like the first extremely rough draft. But I'd like to know what I can improve on. I've listed what I believe to be the main problems in the description.


As far as eyes go, I'm going for a cute, cartoony style, and would like to improve on it as much as possible.

http://kenthefirestarter.deviantart.com/art/Very-Rough-Draft-Strip-553525551?ga_submit_new=10%253A1439507411

[EggKookoo]

I still think you just need more practice. If you don't mind my opinion, you're not quite ready to do your comic yet.

Of course you may disagree and that's fine, but you are asking for feedback. Don't rush it. Practice practice practice first.

Producing an ongoing comic is a truckload of hard work. I'm fairly certain it's a lot more work than you might currently imagine. If you haven't whipped your drawing skillset into shape, you're basically fighting a war on two fronts.

[MonkeySage]

Alright, trying my hand at bringing Hartwin to life as a 3D character. Areas of interest; hands, boots, face, and legs...

I think I forgot to articulate the fingers, but they're something I'm still working on. I think I'll try a new technique next time.

http://kenthefirestarter.deviantart.com/art/Hartwin-Advancing-554428859?ga_submit_new=10%253A1439846929

[Oneris]

I recommend, if you want to get into cartooning, practice drawing from life and existing references, anatomy, motion and dynamics, expressions, distance and perspective, thumbnailing, and framing. Leave coloring and shading your characters for later, or don't concentrate excessively, as expert coloring on amateur lineart looks only as good as the lineart, whereas a black-and-white expert lineart is still acceptable aesthetics wise.

The increased confidence and skill you get from mastering a single style will carry over to when you try anything else. Especially drawing from life and existing references. That teaches you to draw what is really there, not what you think is there (http://i.imgur.com/0O7P8gu.jpg). Can't draw a hand position? Google an image of that hand and copy it. You'll remember how you did it the next time you need to draw that position.

At your current level of skill, you might not be able to make complete pages of your comic, so instead, do something that will lessen the work when you try again after getting better. Thumbnail (http://orig05.deviantart.net/816d/f/2015/166/5/d/how_to_make_your_art_look_nice__thumbnailing_by_tr otroy-d8xdwdi.png). Figure out the poses and composition now, so you have at least some progress to build off for later. You might not be able to draw the most visually pleasing human, but you can still draw a simple sticky thumbnail figure (http://www.lackadaisycats.com/gallery/1369690115.jpg) which looks great if it's consistent (like OOTS), and has finished most of the work regarding a comic.

Edit: On the side of using a drawing program, the best thing they provide is an undo button. But when you're just working with a pencil, it's not so important as you have an eraser (don't draw so dark, and if it still doesn't help, use a lightbox to trace your work onto a clean page).

And I heard LazyNezumi (http://lazynezumi.com/)is great tool for eliminating mouse jitters.

[Cuthalion]

Practice practice practice. I'm going to second this. If you want to draw humans well, first learn how to draw them realistically, and then you'll be much better at simplifying and making them look right. For example, Oneris here is one of the best OOTSatarists around. This is a result of practicing how do draw realistic humans, and applying those skills to a more cartoony style. You can go at it the other way around, but it's much harder and less benefit involved.

[EggKookoo]

The increased confidence and skill you get from mastering a single style will carry over to when you try anything else. Especially drawing from life and existing references. That teaches you to draw what is really there, not what you think is there (http://i.imgur.com/0O7P8gu.jpg). Can't draw a hand position? Google an image of that hand and copy it. You'll remember how you did it the next time you need to draw that position.

Bob Ross was the effin man.