#And tbh you don"t HAVE to trace for the shrimp method to work. Just take the time to do a study of a subject! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

poorly-drawn-mdzs · 8 months

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Hi!! I love this series so much, and as someone who hasn’t really drawn since they were a kid but wants to start as a hobby, do you have any advice for sort of learning to doodle on paper and get better at it? I want to start but I don’t really know how/where

The most important step in getting better at any skill is Persistence and Consistency. Practice and keep practicing! The best way to do that is to keep it fun! Picking a project helps generate ideas (e.g. drawing Pokémon, or characters from a series you like). There are also a ton of monthly prompt lists out there!

I also highly recommend scheduling in a 'drawing/practice' time in your day. For me, I started with 30-60 min before bed (bonus: its a good 'no screentime' activity), and the habit took root there.

There are a lot of 'technical' things to study but find the fun first. At a certain point you will discover you've hit a wall, and have a specific aspect/goal you want to target (colour theory, anatomy, lighting, comic layout). Then it's time to go looking for resources.

Once you have the habit and some goals, go collect some inspiration! Find people who inspire you and study their work!

Another little 'art skill builder' I recommend is the Shrimp Method! Only if you find technical challenges like this fun though (Example of one of my studies below)

#art faqs #TL;DR: Step 1 is 'Just start drawing'. Step 2 is 'Keep on drawing'. Step 3 is 'Hit a wall and start studying only as much as you want'#Step 4: keep it fun and keep drawing.#I think this is where artists who start young have the advantage over adult learners #because adults try to tackle art at the technical point first!#AND THAT JUST FEELS LIKE A CHORE!!#When I got into piano & string instruments I started by just doodling around. Banging out the tunes and experimenting.#The low pressure made it fun! I started lessons because I wanted to learn more!#I personally own quite a few art textbooks! Some are workbook/prompt-based (to help me get started)#and some are actual textbooks! But I certainly didn't start by reading a textbook.#I *highly* recommend Scott McCloud's 'understanding comics' for anyone trying to get into comics #its also a comic in of itself so its a fun read! It breaks down a lot of the key aspects of what's in a comic.#And tbh you don"t HAVE to trace for the shrimp method to work. Just take the time to do a study of a subject!#Good luck on your art journey! B*)

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