Tips for a beginner?

[ItzAstral]

Now I know this is a long shot, but I want to learn to draw, in the manga style. So I'm just asking for some tips - where do I even start? How do I improve? What should I know about, what should i do and not do? Anything will help! I've been doing some rough sketches and I'm seeing progress, but not much - tips from artists would be greatly appreciated. How did you learn to draw? :)

[MK]

Here are 5 tips

1. Practice, nothing happens overnight
2. Study anatomy, you need to know the body in order to draw it
3. Accept criticism, it is the fastest way to improve your art
4. Practice, you won't get better unless you keep trying and failing
5. Practice, it will take years but eventually you will be good

[ItzAstral]

I know I need to practice - I meant more along the lines of where do I begin the practice? Are there certain things I should practice? Guidelines? Faces? Etc. And thank you, I know a lot about anatomy , I know how important it is:)

[Vio]

If I go on with MK's example I would say;

1) Experiment - You can practice the same thing over and over again, but what helps artist improve and develop is their willingness to try new things, both minor and major.

2) Video tutorials - Picture guidelines are fine, but I prefer watching video tutorials as you can see the artist corrections and progress; especially as they're talking about what they are doing and why they are doing it. I would like to note of avoiding speed painting and/or time laps videos for those trying to learn and develop.

3) Life Practice - Simple sketches of people and objects are a good way to warm up you fine motor skill and observation. And remember that these are just sketches, they don't need to look pretty.

4) Breaking things down - It nice practice to draw out the whole body for both men and women, but it can help out a lot simply to break the body parts down and focus on pieces. For example, drawing arms, hips, feet, mouth, etc.

5) Practice with discretion - You do need to build a healthy habit of practicing art, but more importantly you need to be open to what you want to practice. You need design a plan or schedule of what you will practice, how much, and when. But one thing I would encourage is to have a free sketch at you end of practice. For example, you decide to have 1 hour of practice, give yourself 10 minutes at the end to freely sketch what you want to sketch.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

[MahluaandMilk]

I'll keep mine simple:
>Draw from life. If you can't draw what's right in front of you, you'll never draw something from your head. That's a cold hard fact. Deal with it. It's boring and difficult for complex things, but you will never regret the hours you put into doing this.
>Don't compare your art to others. You can't compare your level one to someone else's level fifty, and everyone goes at a different pace.
>Practice doesn't make perfect. It makes habit. If you continually practice drawing something like a hand or a foot in a way that doesn't look right, it'll be harder to fix. You have to be fully aware of everything you're doing when you're working on a piece, down to the 3D construction that goes into the shapes you use as your wireframe or guidelines.
>Don't get caught up in what your style is. Don't even bother about style. Style is what comes naturally to your art. That's it. Don't think about it too hard, and especially don't use style as an excuse to disregard criticism.
>Don't whine if you disagree with someone's criticism. Take it for what it is anyway, unless they're just being an absolute jackass.

[desirulz123]

I made a guide with all the books and tutorials in a google word document here:

Spoiler

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11-dkAjYixksCXWvVlfTb0-UtHQWjZitNCDDB9catlDg/edit?usp=sharing

[Lazzie_Puca]

Know that it could take a while, and that keeping an open mind helps. Also, ask lots of questions. Not necessarily  for others though. Asking what is line, shadow, what makes a character, what is volume? Things of that nature, things to clarify what exactly you do and don't know. Half the trouble is filling your head with knowledge, the other half is actually figuring out how to use it, and then of course, forcing yourself to 'use' it.

[Suuper-san]

For me the key to drawing is understanding, so knowledge is very important. experience is the best way to gain your own knowledge, ie. your own study of the body, the face, etc. practice is important too, but make sure to analyse your own work in between practices so you actually improve rather than drawing the same wrong thing again :P

[readnovels]

I know I need to practice - my question was more along the lines of where should I start? Is there anything specific I should work on? Guidelines? Faces? Etc. And thank you; I'm well-versed in anatomy and understand its significance:)

[Tenori Tejima]

My personal suggestion:

1. Eyes
2. Hair
3. The tsundere "angry at you" pout.


#1. It's not an anime without the anime eyes, plus, more than half of the facial expression battle lies in the eyes... Wide open eyes, half-open eyes, squinting eyes—is the iris small (scared/shocked facial expression), is the iris looking up, looking at a nearby object, looking into the far distance, what is the difference between the closed eyes U-shaped (UwU) vs "upside-down U" shaped?

#2 is self-explanatory. Get the eyes and hair right, and you've practically got the anime right. There's three parts to the hair: bangs, side, back. For me, the bangs and back are what matters. Find an artstyle you like and copy its bangs. Learn to draw ponytail, sidetail, birdtail, with hairband, etc. Everyone has their own way of doing hair, so make sure you only copy hairstyles you like.

3. I can't post a link yet because I don't have enough community points. But what I consider my personal "renaissance" when it comes to the anime artstyle, is being able to draw the "tsundere face". Face slightly tiled downwards, eyelids closed halfway, eyebrows knotted in V-shape. For something close, look at 5-Toubun no Hanayome's manga pouts. Look at the halfway-closed angry eyes.


Get the tsundere right, and you can show all your friends how anime you are.

[Tenori Tejima]

I know I need to practice - my question was more along the lines of where should I start? Is there anything specific I should work on? Guidelines? Faces? Etc. And thank you; I'm well-versed in anatomy and understand its significance:)

Was meant to quote you the first time. Also... Beelzebub ending theme-song 3. The one that was sung by Toma n' Pine. Interesting facial angles in that themesong—especially in the final part. The escalation from looking down, to looking upwards, to sideview, and finally, face pointed downwards but eyes staring up at you. If you understand that eyes and face don't have to point in the same direction, you've mastered facial expressions.

(Side weapon: watch Emirichu's storytime videos on youtube. Simple and straight to the point drawings, you may find something you like just observing...)

[Suuper-san]

@readnovels
In my opinion, it almost doesn't matter where you start, because you need to gain skills in many different areas to get good at art. The best advice I could give nowadays is just draw what you want (helps to stay motivated), and where possible, draw every day and as much as you can. As you gain experience you will start to figure out for yourself what you need to do to improve.
If you are active in art communities then you can get tips here and there for what you personally could do better, but unless we see your art then we can only give generic advice.
Feel free to make an art topic here and post some of your work!

[MK]

Late reply but priority should be like this

1, 2, 3 point perspective boxes
Form
Shading
Facial features for portraits
Simplified body anatomy
Gesture
Color
Complicated body anatomy
Forshortening
Composition

Will add reasons when I get home from work

[Suuper-san]

Perspective boxes are definitely very useful, because you can use them as guidelines to draw very complex objects just as a combination of simple cubes. You can immediately ballpark the correct positions of, say, a pose of a character without having to think about complex muscle or arm/head shapes, just focusing on the core of the figure. And then fill everything in around those cubes (^_^)

[legomaestro]

I'm a lazy gun: Try drawing/tracing/referencing what you like first. You will automatically feel after a point 'Hey, I want to do this better and make something original'. Nothing comes from nothing. Let the inspiration spark you and then go on from there and upgrade your skills.

And share share share. Believe you me people love drawing and learning so find fellows who are chill and share your art and enjoy the process.