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Definitely looks like you’re headed in a digital direction! There’s nothing to say you can’t combine hand drawing and digital workflows either, such as doing the base sketch by hand, scanning it (or snapping a pic), importing it and then doing a digital painting overtop. In the case of comics, you could sketch by hand then ink and colour digitally.

I think I would suggest alternating the use of the tablet every other drawing session. As a suggestion, you could draw by hand when doing anatomy studies, which would allow you to focus on the study and draw accurately without having to fight to get the lines right as you might with the tablet. On alternating days, you could focus on rendering by following along with some digital painting tutorials on YouTube to continue improving those skills. That way you can focus on separate, but complementary skills, without having to choose between one form of drawing or the other.

Hope that’s of some help to you!

• Flarebrush edited this post on January 31, 2019 7:26pm. Reason: spelling

Hi Castore,

If this helps, try thinking about the boxes, cylinders and spheres as little “cages” that you can put the human parts in. The purpose of using simple shapes for construction is that they are easier to draw in perspective than complex shapes like human anatomy. So if you have a box that is roughly in the correct place and pointing the in the same direction as the part you are drawing, then you would draw that part inside the shape. These shapes also give you a rough idea of where the part starts and ends and how much space it takes up (volume).

Hi Orzen,

The easy answer is to recomend practicing both, either splitting your practice sessions into two (drawing tradittionally for the first half, then digitally for the second half) or alternating between the two every other practice session. Using a drawing tablet is it’s own skill and as you might have experienced, being able to draw well on paper doesn’t translate perfectly to the digital world.

However, I think the best way to decide how to practice would be to figure out what your artistic goals are. What kind of work inspires you? Is it traditionally rendered or is it digitally made? Do your goals include branching out to other mediums like painting, animation or comics? Basically if you have an idea of the kind of work(s) you want to create going forward, it’ll be easier to decide how important working digitally is.

Also, in terms of how much time to practice, it sort of depends on how much time and stamina you have in a day. Honestly it’s better to draw consistently, even for just 30mins a day then have long but irregular sessions. How much do you draw currently?

I think it's a great idea, especially as a weekly challenge. Post some text describing the scene/action, then see how different folks interpret the same idea.

The only disadvantage I see to using only poses on the site would be a limitation in the types of "camera angles" available (Bird's eye view and worm's eye view wouldn't be plausible for example) and matching the perspective of different poses in the same scene could make some compositions either flat or incongruous.

• Flarebrush edited this post on October 2, 2018 10:10am. Reason: Spelling

Hey Sanne, I actually do a fews things, that in tandem, help me stay loose, avoid hand cramping and keep me from losing focus, might not be for you, but I though it couldn't hurt to mention it!

One of the main things I do for figure drawing in class mode, is to use a large newsprint print pad (45.7cm x 61cm) so that all of my lines, even some of the details, can be made with larger strokes. It means I don't have to tense my hand to keep precise control and that helps avoid cramps. Second thing, I don't rest my hand on the page, usually my fingertips drag along the paper, but I draw "from the shoulder" as they say, which means my wrist stays in a loose, comfortable, neutral position. Lastly, I know it's not possible for everyone, I draw standing up! This means I can shift my weight, move around the drawing (no rotating the page for me :p) and generally stay mobile, which helps my neck and shoulders from becoming tense.

When it comes to breaks, my major rule is not to sit! If I stay standing it keeps me from sitting down at the computer and getting lost on the internet, when I swore I'd "just watch one video". Aside from that I usually grab a drink, do some stretches, clap my hands, pace about, sing, dance, just something to keep my energy up.

Using your tablet as your everyday mouse, as Sanne suggested is a great way to get accustomed to using a stylus and tablet. Using it to draw is even better as Wolfypants suggested. If you find drawing on a blank screen too daunting or frustrating, I'd like to suggest grabbing a scanned drawing or some line art (a pencil drawing of yours if you have one) and "inking" it. Otherwise doing some tracing over any digital line art should help you get a sense of how to move your hand to put lines where you want them.

Using a tablet is mostly a muscle-memory task, so after awhile using one becomes more sub-conscious, so just find a way that you enjoy to simply use it and you should find it gets easier with time.

One thing I want to add, if you are using a computer set-up with multiple monitors, if you are able, try restricting the stylus to a single screen. I'm only really familiar with Wacom tablets, but I -assume?- other brands will have a similar options to restrict the cursor to one screen. If the tablet is mapped to multiple screens it will make the stylus very sensitive, shooting the cursor about with small movements, since each monitor only gets a part of the tablet's surface (2 monitors means each gets mapped to half of the tablet and so on). Mapping it to one monitor means it should match up closer to the whole surface of the tablet, making a little less wild to use.

Hey Rocket Jumper64,

Just want to say "good job!" on the the past few days daily practice, maintaining a daily drawing routine can be tough, but it can pay dividends over time if you keep it up, so...um...keep it up!

I'm no pro when it comes to drawing, but since you are ultimately interested in animation and having completed a 2 year 3d animation course myself... awhile ago... I figure I can offer up some bits I learned as a student :)

When it comes to drawing figures, or animated characters for that matter, the greatest factor in how "sucessful" a drawing looks is in the "read-ability" of a pose. This really comes from laying down a good "flowing" gesture drawing. If you can then build good structure (anatomy) over that gesture you'll end up with a figure drawing (or key frame of animation) that really "sings" and sells the whole thing.

Rather than just suggest working of gesture and anatomy (which is the generic advice you usually see) I'd like to offer up a couple strategies I've found helpful and maybe you can use them.

Firstly though, here's what I think is working for you, from the images you've linked, I can see what looks like a pretty good sense of proportion and a decent sence of perspective, you've included some anatomical markers like nipples, navels, scapula and ribs. The ocassional inclusion of hair is also a plus!

Looking at your linked pics, I see a couple things I'd like to address. Since you are drawing in a sketchbook, I'm guessing that you are drawing with you wrist planted on the page? Looking at some of the outlines I can see that some of them are made up of several small lines compounded together. So my first suggestion is to try lifting your wrist from the page and try drawing from the shoulder. The reason being that it will allow you to draw longer smoother lines.

Ok, let's cut to the quick here, some strategies and suggestions you might like to try!

1) Try to draw the gesture of the whole pose in 10 seconds, regardless of the pose time. Basically if you can get the gist of a pose down (even if it only makes sense to you) in 10 seconds, that leaves you the rest of the time to develop structure and detail, the longer the pose, the more time you'll have.

2) Don't be afraid to "draw through" your drawing. Basically I mean, it's ok to drawn the hidden parts of a pose, like a arm behind the back, or a crossed leg for example. It will help you get a sense of the whole form without just relying on the "outline" you can see. If you are drawing an animated character in a pose without reference, you'll need to understand how the bits you can't see are working.

3) Try "skating" the page, or in otherwords, try drawing some poses without lifting your drawing implement. Move your pencil quickly in straighter lines and really bear down darkly on those hard curves. The difference in line weight can sell the feeling or tension of parts in a drawing.

4) Draw cross contours. Cross contours are lines that wrap around a form to describe it's shape. So if you draw a curved line around a leg (a quad say) from the outside to the inside, it helps to show the form is rounded, good forshortening and overlap help tons as well.

5) Try to "feel" the pose with your own muscles as you draw, it may seem silly but it can give you a sense of where the tension, weight and "force" lies in a pose

6) Try drawing with different mediums, I recomend a sharpie marker, it forces you to commit to your lines, be bold!

7) Try drawing in long lines, commit, make one line even if it curves back and forth like an S, in one stroke. One idea, one line! So for example, if you are drawing the underside of the arm, try not to make several small lines along the form, but create it in one foul swoop. Even if you have to adjust it by putting in other single lines, it will create a form that both reads and looks better!

Alright, well sorry if I rambeled there, just hope this will help in some small way.

PS: Good job on seeking critiques, it's scary as hell, not everyone has the guts! :)