Oh, thanks. That's really appreciated.

I can draw. Not as well as I used to though. I've done a few album covers, book covers and interior illustrations, concept art and movie storyboards along with a few comics.

Most of what I do now doesn't involve illustration skills though as I've lost some of what I used to have over the years. Well, a lot, really. So it's more graphic design now than anything.

Oh and I'll just mention that you do seem to be good at drawing hands. For most they're the most difficult part of human anatomy to get right, but I'd say the hands in the first image are the strongest aspect of the three.

I can't drive, so I'll buy a Ferrari to test my skills :P

Here FZDSCHOOL most of his videos quite handy to develop idea from scratch and hope you learn something.

Was gonna link Feng as well, though with a warning that he constantly contradicts himself as well.

"Fundamentals are the most important thing"
Two seconds later:
"Fundamentals dont matter at all, as long as the idea is good"
Two seconds later:
"It doesnt matter if the idea is good if it doesnt look cool!"
Two seconds later:
"It doesnt matter if the idea is really cool if the fundamnetals arent there!"

I can only imagine his students at the design school leaving in an utterly confused state as to what is up and what is down.

Still, as long as you know that ahead of time, the OTHER information he gives out is invaluable as a freebie!

Hmm, I have watched some of his stuff, but they always seemed directed to people a little better than I am, ones who could already get things to look halfway decent. Maybe I should take another look.

Well, the other thing about wathcing them is they alwasy bring a slew of other videos by different people to the youtube sidebar - so even if you feel a bit overhwhelmed / offput by FZD, you may find something else more to your taste.

Just dont end up in one of the weird little corners of youtube at 4am! o______O!

Guys....guys...GUYS...

Okay.

...forgot what I was going to say/type...uh...

Oh yeah! Here, since you've drawn before but looking to get back into it ( and reaching a fucking difficult point in doing so )....I did find this some time ago. Maybe this person's stuff can help?

Basically...just watch those in that playlist...it'll be worth it watching them in order to see where this guy is getting at. These are different drawing methods he explains and the good and bad with them and how to improve.

Might want to check out his other stuff as well, there's a lot to learn. :D There's also this guy right here that has some interesting stuff.

Ah... apologies, think i miss your point :)

You need to train your hand and brain. Artists are idiots though and don't have this formalized, You just fluffily scribble and they pretend that even your failures are successes. "Draw what you see" is the biggest BS. It's "how" to draw what you see that's important but is never covered. :/

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Draw what you see is probably a simplification of something a bit more sophisticated. Certainly, observation is super important. And by that, I mean understanding what you see. We all flippin' see. But we reduce what we see to abstractions. Then we instead draw those abstractions, and that's where the problems arise.

There's a small, white, cardboard box on my desk. If I asked someone to represent it, they might draw the standard and familiar wireframe cube. (I see a box! I know how to draw a box!) The dimensions and perspective might be correct, but the drawing would still seem off. Why? Because if I look carefully, I notice that the three edges which face me are the brightest parts of the box. They're corners, and reflect light directly to me. They shine. In the drawing, those edges are black lines, but in reality, they're the brightest part of the image. They're effectively white. One of the most prominent aspects of the drawing is wrong.

That said, if I were to replace the text on the face of the box with small wavy lines, it wouldn't be nearly such an obvious visceral mismatch. So you don't need to draw exactly what you see. You need to know what you see, and decide what elements to represent most carefully. And how do you make that choice? Mostly, experience. You draw a subject; the results aren't quite what you expect; you compare what you've drawn to what you're looking at, and hopefully realize some of the differences that make the picture unsatisfying. And next time you draw an object with edges, you'll note the quality of those edges rather than simply reducing them to lines.

I am kind of an idiot, though. Ask my family.

I agree with everything but this.


...I can ask the man that sold you the magic beans instead! ;D

Ask him to please give my family back.
Though I've already eaten the beans.