I remember when I first found out the truth about “Somali pirates” I got chills because of how horrific the truth was and how insanely creepily well the media had twisted the situation. Every single fucking article making it seem like these “pirates” were just after money or something holding innocent people hostage and I never gave it a second thought, why would I? There was no indication that people were trying to legitimately fight off disgusting imperialism that left nuclear waste in their waters, that over 300 people have died from radiation sickness, that Europeans have been stealing Somalia’s seafood because they overfished their own waters and the indigenous fisherman are starving and so these “pirates” emerged to deal with those stealing their country’s natural resources. The truth is enough to make anyone sick to their stomachs.
In all my art classes, I was never taught HOW to use the various tools of art.
Like yes, form, and shape and space and color theory and figure drawing is important, but so is KNOWING what different tools do.
I’m 29 and I JUST learned this past month that India Ink is fucking waterproof when it dries. Why is this important? Because I can line something in India Ink and then go over it with watercolors. And that has CHANGED the ENTIRE way I art and the ease I can create with.
tldr: Art Teachers: teach your students what different tools do. PLEASE.
The ONLY WAY to combat the lack of funding in arts education is for professionals to take a few hours a week to share their skills for FREE, to empower and encourage the next generation of artists. THIS IS WHAT THE INTERNET IS FOR. Here’s 200 tutorials:
How to draw ANGRY EXPRESSIONS
How to draw BATTLE DAMAGE
How to draw BIRD HEADS
How to draw BOOKS
How to draw BOTTLES and GLASSES
How to draw BOXES
How to draw BREAKING GLASS
How to draw BRICKWORK
How to draw CABLES and WIRES
How to draw CAR CHASES
How to draw CATERPILLAR TRACKS
How to draw CAVES
How to draw CHARACTERS (3-SHAPES)
How to draw CHARACTERS (FLIPPED-SHAPES)
How to draw CHARACTER SHAPES
How to draw CITYSCAPES
How to draw COMIC COVERS
How to draw COMPOSITION
How to draw CONTRAST
How to draw CONVERSATIONS
How to draw CREATURE TEETH
How to draw CROSS-CONTOURS
How to draw DETAIL AT DISTANCE
How to draw EARS
How to draw FABRIC
How to draw FEET & SHOES
How to draw FEMALE HANDS PART ONE
How to draw FEMALE HANDS PART TWO
How to draw FLAGS
How to draw FOOD TRUCKS
How to draw FOREGROUND MIDGROUND BACKGROUND
How to draw GAME BUILDINGS
How to draw GEMS and CRYSTALS
How to draw GHOSTS
How to draw GIRL’S HAIR
How to draw GOLD
How to draw GRASS
How to draw HAIR (1940s styles)
How to draw HAIR IN MOTION
How to draw HAPPY EXPRESSIONS
How to draw HEAD ANGLES
How to draw HOOVES
How to draw HORNS
How to draw HORSE HEADS
How to draw IMPACT DEBRIS
How to draw IN 3D
How to draw INTEGRATING LOGOS
How to draw INTERIOR BASICS
How to draw IN-WORLD TYPOGRAPHY
How to draw JUMPS
How to draw JUNGLE PLANT CLUSTERS
How to draw JUNK HOUSES
How to draw LAMP POSTS
How to draw LAVA
How to draw LIGHTNING and ELECTRICITY
How to draw MECHANICAL DETAILS
How to draw MUSHROOMS and FUNGUS
How to draw MONSTER HEADS
How to draw MONSTER TENTACLES
How to draw MONSTER TRUCKS
How to draw MOUNTAINS
How to draw NEGATIVE SPACE
How to draw NEWSPAPERS
How to draw NOSES
How to draw OVERGROWN VEGETATION
How to draw PEBBLES AND GRAVEL
How to draw PERSPECTIVE BOXES
How to draw PIGS
How to draw PILLOWS and CUSHIONS
How to draw POD HOUSES
How to draw POURING LIQUID
How to draw ROBOT ARMS
How to draw ROCK FORMATIONS
How to draw RUNNING FIGURES
How to draw SAND
How to draw SAUSAGE DOGS
How to draw SEA WEED
How to draw SHADOW COMPOSITION
How to draw SHOULDER ARMOUR
How to draw SIEGE WEAPONS
How to draw SILHOUETTE THUMBNAILS
How to draw SMALL FLAMES
How to draw SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE
How to draw SMOKE EFFECTS
How to draw SNOW
How to draw SPACE BIKES
How to draw SQUIRRELS
How to draw STICK FIGURES
How to draw SWORD FIGHTS
How to draw THE HORIZON
How to draw TIKI STATUES
How to draw TREASURE CHESTS
How to draw TREE BARK
How to draw TREE ROOTS
How to draw USING THE SHATTER TECHNIQUE
How to draw VEHICLE STANCE
How to draw VINES
How to draw VINTAGE PLANES
How to draw WATER
How to draw WOODEN HOUSES
Artistic question: what are some advices that helped you improve your art beside the obvious "keep practicing"?
Honest and long answer ahead:
Get your head out of your own assYou may not realise when you are in your own ass, but trust me it happens. research different styles, artists, films… whatever. There are more things in life worth drawing than anime characters (talking to past me here)
Draw from life more oftenDrawing from imagination is nice and fine, but things often don’t look as what you think they look. Constantly observe how light behaves, how people move, but stay unbiased. Don’t let your expectations get in the way of observation. However drawing from life can be very difficult at first, it’s ok to start with photographs to practice.
Drawing without contours can force you to practice your shading and renderingOften times when we draw we rely too heavily on outline to differentiate objects from each other. while I don’t necessarily think contours are bad, we can definitely use them as a crutch. forcing yourself not to use any outlines can improve your edgework.
What’s an edgework?Basically it’s how you render the edges of shapes, shades and objects. There are three basic types of edges: Hard edge - when one shade or object meets another, abruptly and without gradient. Like the edge of a white mug over a dark background.Soft edge - commonly seen in the shades on round objects, with some kind of gradientNo edge - a trick answer! Sometimes there isn’t an edge even when you think there is! often when the dark part of an object meets the background or vice versa. Think hard, is there really such a distinct edge here? or can I still understand the object without it?In this image I marked over a drawing by Stan Prokopenko the different types of edges (also follow proko on youtube)
5. Finish what you started (oops, change in formatting)
Sometimes it really is better to let go of a drawing that doesn’t work. But ask yourself, do you really need to move on from this, or do you just not want to deal with the rendering? Be honest with yourself. We’ve all sinned in laziness before, sketching is great and useful, but you have to do the rendering sometimes in order to improve your 3d vision.
6. Consider the whole format when planning your composition!!!
The composition is one of the most significant things that can make or break your drawing. I’d argue it’s even more important than your technique. Think of all the illustrators you know who draw in a purposefully simplistic style, their art would never be the same without their composition! If you don’t want to draw on the entire paper (as you sometimes would in a sketchbook) draw a frame within it your drawing will take up. All of my recent blue forest sketches were done this way. Think, where do you want the eye to be drawn to? Is the drawing balanced or unbalanced? Are there large areas of empty space which distract from the subject? Learning how to create good composition can be one of the hardest things to learn in drawing, the only hard rule of it is “if it works, it works”. Which is an extremely frustrating answer because it barely gives you any basis to work with. Try studying the compositions of illustrations you love, what about them works? How do they achieve that effect?
7. Shamelessly copy others
Master studies is one of the oldest and most common method of learning to draw. By copying artists better than you you can learn a lot about their methods and their composition. When you copy someone else has already done all of the annoying legwork for you, so you can focus on solely your skill na dignore anything else like expression, story, or style. (traditionally you would copy one of the great masters, but I won’t judge you if you cheat a little. But make sure you pick artists that are very advanced in their craft. despite my respect for them, the average fan artist on tumblr just won’t cut it)
8. Be aware of your weaknesses
For me for the longest time it was perspective. For a very long time I could barely create convincing perspective the moment it was more complicated than a straight railroad in the desert (or if I was feeling fancy, with an additional row of trees~!). So for the longest time I wouldn’t draw any environments for fear they would be unconvincing. But after studying more seriously for a while now I draw buildings and forests for fun. By being aware of your weaknesses you can work on them more thoroughly and they just might become your favourite thing to draw.
9. List of useful youtube channels
Of course the ideal is to take a class in person to get some personal one on one tutoring, but it’s not always an option. So here are a few channels I follow that can help instead:
Istebrak - drawing fundamentals, rendering, and occasionally characterisation.
Mateusz Ubanowicz (polish names are hard) - More illustrative work, drawing architecture and working with watercolours.
Proko (whose drawing I used in the example) - Drawing fundamentals and anatomy. Often has guest artists and interviews as well.
Aaron Blaise - Former disney animator, probably worked on several of your favourite 2d disney films. Drawing mostly animals, and animal characters.
Mattias Pilhede - Offers a unique perspective as someone who decided to learn to draw at a later age than most.
Well that was quite the wall of text I just gave you. I think this is a very good question that often gets a one line unsatisfactory answer. Of course you can only get better by practicing, but it’s not an automatic recipe for success. If you don’t practice smart you can find that your art still stagnates at the same level.
I wish you the best of luck, and I hope I was helpful!
shoulder blades: most of the upper back muscles attach to them directly, placement is affected by the arms. They can get obscured on very muscular backs, but most people these are the most dominant features!
7th cervical vertebra: neck bone that sticks out in most people, it sits in the center of that diamond shaped tendon in the middle of the trapezius
Also, obviously always keep the general shape of the ribcage and spine in mind, it was too much of a pain to draw them all in lol.
BACK MUSCLES
Erector Spinae: make the column-like structures around the spine, they extend all the way up to the neck, but you really only see the bottom part.
Latissimus Dorsi: are very thin, so most of the time you only see the structures underneath (such as the erector spinae). But when flexed, (for example, when climbing), you can see here on Jimmy Webb’s back that swooping curve it makes under the armpits.
The lats are also responsible for most of a person’s upper body strength and are the “V” shaped part of the back. For example, it’s how Bruce Lee was so strong despite being a small guy. Just look at those wings, man.
Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, and Teres Major: sit on the shoulder blade itself, and connects it to the top of the arm bone. These are responsible for a lot of the crazy shapes you see in bodybuilders’ backs.
Underneath them is the serratus anterior, which technically isn’t a back muscle but sits on the side of the ribs. These form that zig-zag pattern on the ribs that makes people look super ripped when visible with the external obliques, both wrapping around the sides of the torso. They’re not technically back muscles but fill out the silhouette, so it’s good to keep them in mind.
the glutes/butt muscles… they go farther up the back than one might assume and they, along with the pelvis, do affect the surface appearance of the lower back.
Rhomboid: simple shape, attaches from the inner edge of the shoulder blades to the middle of the spine at the 7th cervical vetebra to about the 4th or 5th thoracic vetebra. It does not overlap with the latissimus dorsi
Trapezius: divided roughly in the top, middle, and bottom sections. The top is quite thick and cylindrical and makes the sloping shape from the neck to the shoulders.
The bottom part is very thin; like the latissimus dorsi, the forms underneath it are visible when relaxed, making the rhomboid visible if it is flexed and the traps are not. Also not where the bottom part’s tendons attach to the shoulder blades; it outlines the curve of the shoulder blades even in people who are covered in brains muscles.
When fully flexed, it doesn’t taper into a point, but makes a small “w” shape at the bottom.
The 7th cervical vertebra sits at the center of the diamond-shaped tendons between the first and second sections of the trapezius. This part appears recessed in very muscular people.
Deltoid: not really a back muscle, but they overlap with the Infraspinatus and insert into the upper ridge of the shoulder blades, so it’s good to see how they interact with the others.
Ah, now for an example, featuring Thor himself. Note the curve where the traps meet the shoulder blades, the diamond-shaped tendon, and the rough “w” shaped contour of the lower back. Also note the two dimples, which is formed by the pelvis bones. They tend to be more prominent in women, although they are found in both men and women.
Try to find the back muscles on other people yourself, and then GET DRAWING
(PS, Generally it’s best to be able to simplify the forms instead of trying to render straight away - that’s how you know you really internalized the anatomy! I… honestly still don’t understand the back enough to do that yet, hence the lack of examples, unlike with the forearms post. But nonetheless, I hope that this is still useful as a general reference. I know it’s helped me at least remember what the different parts are, even if I don’t yet have a grasp of how they interact in motion!)