Thread: Linkzelda41's Drawings

Originally Posted by Midori

Wow, these are really good. I wish I could draw like that.

Drawing Tutorials - How to Draw Step by Step - Free Lessons

Grid Drawing Tips

These weren't my only sources, it was mostly me taking Art classes in High School, and having a good teacher that really wanted me to do well.

It's all just observation and taking your time, once you get used to drawing what is inside each square (320 squares if you do an 8x10 drawing and grid every half inch instead of every inch (16x20))

Most of the time, you won't focus on all squares, probably at least 100+ if you have a small portrait face. It's really not that hard, I barely practice (probably because I worked hard during Art classes in High School), those drawings I did above were just when I had summer break, or close to graduation time for me. I guess it comes natural for me, but sometimes, I have to half ass the drawings at the end because my eyes just can't take the freaking pressure of looking at someone and trying to exact as I possibly can.

Sometimes I use the ruler when drawing, but that just takes too much checking, and I usually get mad at myself lol. I don't do a lot of these drawings anymore, might in the future.

I might make a separate thread on how I do it, if I get a camera that is.

But if you do start on them (you can start small and work your way up), just know to take breaks if you want to do it in one day. It might take the whole day lol. At least it does for me, but I am getting a little faster.

Edit:

I guess the only hard part is just getting the outline of the person, like their nose, mouth etc. And the shading is the easiest part after I erase all of those lines I made (you have to draw the grid lines lightly to prevent creases that are hard to hide)

But shading might be the hardest for most. But it's mostly just using blending stumps, making small and short circles going over each other, and just blending it to create the skin tone.

Do you think you could reupload the last 4 somewhere else?
imgur is really good and easy, can upload all of them at the same time.

I don't know why but I can never see the ones you linked from facebook.

Originally Posted by tommo

Do you think you could reupload the last 4 somewhere else?
imgur is really good and easy, can upload all of them at the same time.

I don't know why but I can never see the ones you linked from facebook.

Spoiler for Imgur Reupload:

These were before I got a little better with people and figures overall. (Except the last one I just added in the spoiler)

Edit: Added the other Facebook one you couldn't see.

These are nice. You have a real eye for light and shadow that is not particularly common, and a style that is very much your own. I've never been a fan of portraiture but still, very nice work.

(though I can't help but think that grid drawing style is somehow cheating lol, reminds me of paint by numbers with drawing)

Also, are you sure you're talking about prismacolor pencils? Yes they are expensive, but mine hardly ever break. I've had them for several years and I love them. I use a nice electric pencil sharpener, maybe that helps.

My prismacolors always break. I guess it depends on how hard you press down.

Originally Posted by tommo

My prismacolors always break. I guess it depends on how hard you press down.

Well, you really shouldn't be pressing down that hard to begin with, unless you want the final product to be very waxy. Also when it gets waxy you can't color over it/blend the colors properly. When I first started using colored pencils, I colored very hard...but then...I learned that often times a lighter touch and layering is better. Not saying there's a right way/wrong way to do it though, just a better way where your pencils don't break all the time.

Also, have you posted any of your colored pencil drawings? I'd love to see them.

Originally Posted by nina

These are nice. You have a real eye for light and shadow that is not particularly common, and a style that is very much your own. I've never been a fan of portraiture but still, very nice work.

(though I can't help but think that grid drawing style is somehow cheating lol, reminds me of paint by numbers with drawing)

Also, are you sure you're talking about prismacolor pencils? Yes they are expensive, but mine hardly ever break. I've had them for several years and I love them. I use a nice electric pencil sharpener, maybe that helps.

Yes, prismacolor pencils, it's just that when I think colored pencils, I just think that I have to have an added caution when using them since compared to graphite, I can't erase them as easily. And I remember in Art class, my teacher would KILL us if we used an electric sharpener instead of a manual one (I think that if you have a pencil with bad lining within, it could affect the tip).

So I guess you're just lucky when it comes to sharpening (but I think my teacher was just paranoid lol)

When I started to grid draw, I wondered if I was cheating too, but after reading a few guides from really good artists, they usually used grid drawing to get the outline right, and one said that even good artists use grid drawing as well (saves them time when they're doing commissions).

I'm still an amateur with the portrait drawings because I remember that free handing them was a pain because I had use basic spatial skills, and I feel like I can measure something pretty close (like looking at the photo, and then making an imaginary length on the empty piece of printer paper I use to draw the same thing.

I do admit that I using the grid method isn't all that natural others, and some feel like it's tracing, but it's not. I usually have the photo to the side, and I try to pay attention to as many details. Once I know I've got the face and important features like the nose, and especially the eyes, I start erasing the lines I used as a reference (and erasing those are a pain if I don't go lightly and carefully).

I know I can do free hand (I think the pic of me crying, and the side portrait of me were one of free hand ones, and a few more before I just started drawing people I knew and celebrities, but it's just that I'm afraid I'll spend way too much time trying to get things perfect, gridding is the only way I know I won't make big mistakes. And I wouldn't call it as having a slight advantage over free hand drawing, because it does have its limits like confining your sources to only photos.
(while with free hand drawing, you can use several photos, and if you're really good at getting accurate, it's more fun mixing several pieces into one).


I think doing these will help me get better at free handing drawings overall, since I've done mostly that before going to gridding. I've had many ideas to make drawings related to lucid dreaming by just free handing them, but getting the level of realism is something I need to get better and better before going to that.

Originally Posted by nina

Well, you really shouldn't be pressing down that hard to begin with, unless you want the final product to be very waxy. Also when it gets waxy you can't color over it/blend the colors properly. When I first started using colored pencils, I colored very hard...but then...I learned that often times a lighter touch and layering is better. Not saying there's a right way/wrong way to do it though, just a better way where your pencils don't break all the time.

Also, have you posted any of your colored pencil drawings? I'd love to see them.

I have a few colored pencil drawings, but some might be mixed with graphite. And I think I have one of an owl, but it's just soo horrible lol. I'll post them later on, if I can get my blackberry to sync with this desktop software (I'm worried it might update the version of my phone and delete everything).

I should invest in a camera...

And thank you Nina!

And lol, you're like the third person or so that told me that I have my own style. Thanks! I don't really see that, but I guess I can't judge what other people see.

And thanks for mentioning I have an eye for those kinds of things, I guess the key to any drawing is to observe what's in front of you, since all the answers are right there.

Yeah, I think your teacher was paranoid lol. Whenever I tried using a manual sharpener, yes, my pencils were much more likely to break, especially while sharpening them...which is super annoying. But electric sharpeners work amazingly with prismacolors, are way faster, and get the tips sharper for fine lines.

I've never liked drawing from photos. I never really understood why anyone would want to just copy a photograph...because the "art" has already been captured...with a photograph...by someone else. I prefer drawing from life or just pulling things out of my imagination. Art is a way to express yourself, and I don't really see how you can get much of "yourself" into just copying a photograph. This mostly pertains to celeb portraits and such. I can definitely understand the desire and need to use photos when creating portraits of your friends. But those are something special, that they can really treasure and appreciate, so you want to do them justice, and your portraits really are beautiful so please do not take any of this as criticism. The only reason I'm bringing it up is because I'd like to pick your brain a bit, since I never really understood why people spend so much time reproducing a photo of a random celebrity. Don't you ever want to put more of your own imagination into the artwork? Do you ever feel like you're creating something generic? Again, please please do not take this as criticism, you're a talented artist and I accept that I merely do not understand your artistic thought process, but I'd like to.

Originally Posted by nina

I've never liked drawing from photos. I never really understood why anyone would want to just copy a photograph...because the "art" has already been captured...with a photograph...by someone else. I prefer drawing from life or just pulling things out of my imagination. Art is a way to express yourself, and I don't really see how you can get much of "yourself" into just copying a photograph. This mostly pertains to celeb portraits and such. I can definitely understand the desire and need to use photos when creating portraits of your friends. But those are something special, that they can really treasure and appreciate, so you want to do them justice, and your portraits really are beautiful so please do not take any of this as criticism. The only reason I'm bringing it up is because I'd like to pick your brain a bit, since I never really understood why people spend so much time reproducing a photo of a random celebrity. Don't you ever want to put more of your own imagination into the artwork? Do you ever feel like you're creating something generic? Again, please please do not take this as criticism, you're a talented artist and I accept that I merely do not understand your artistic thought process, but I'd like to.

Of course not, I know you're not one to intentionally do that, and I don't mind at all

I'll give you what goes on in my head when I do these drawings: (at least the innocent and naive side to my personality on it) And by the time you're done reading this, you might know why I'm lacking confidence in socializing with others in real life).

If I'm just drawing just for practice, I hate it. I hate it SO much, and if I sit there for 3 hours or more, my mind goes freaking crazy, I just sit there just looking and looking and looking, and measuring with spatial awareness, or using the ruler if it gets too annoying for me. I'm mostly in my egotistical state with setting up the grid and the outline.

Several thoughts race in my head knowing that when I'm done with the drawing, I have accomplished NOTHING but knowing that I did my best to make a replica. It doesn't feel good at all, it makes me feel sick sometimes when I'm done, but I feel good at the same time. It's like being bipolar to some extent. My eyes are probably tired, and my head hurts from just staring all the time and drawing.

I even turn the drawing upside down (since another Art teacher told me you can find what could be wrong if you just see it from another perspective, since most people who draw just look at it in a comfortable angle).

I still have lingering thoughts on why the heck I did the drawing, and I can do nothing but just feel empty. I literally feel empty when I'm done drawing it. Then when I scan it, I feel more excited because it's fun seeing it being scanned (I'm just weird that way). So I start to feel a little better about myself since not many people would have the patience to do that.

I go to my deviant art website, go through all that process and blahblahbalh, upload it, and just let it rest in my gallery for people to see. Sometimes I post them on Facebook too, and let that rest. I feel better when people like it and comment on it, especially on deviant art.

BUT...

If there's some intention in the drawing, like how I drew Luisa, who was in the hospital. She was a friend of mine that played an MMORPG game, she was all alone, and no one but just her ex-boyfriend and occasionally her parents came to see how she did. She had some problem with her kidneys I believe, and I thought she was going to be severely injured in the end, or the surgery might not work and she might die.

I started feeling sad for her....I felt sad for a stranger, we used to chat on Windows Live Messenger, and I would just let her talk about things. We didn't start many conversations, but I was there for her because I had a lot of free time to play the MMO game and chat with her. I was sort of her emotional vent at the time. She kept showing me pics of her in the hospital, and what she had to go through for the surgery and everything. She had to do things like take some type of bath, but I think she showed more pics of herself because before all this, we both showed pictures of ourselves.

And god, was she pretty, isn't she PRETTY?!?!? (Do you see how crazy I'm going right now?)

Her being in a situation where she could probably die if they the kidney surgery if her body didn't accept the donor or whatever it was, and her just having such a nice smile....I just couldn't STOP thinking about her! I wanted to make her happy by drawing her a portrait of her. I didn't feel anything but a desire to finish this as quickly as possible. I literally spent all night, and then the next day finishing the drawing. (This was when I had huge problems getting hair right on a person to where it didn't look like it was just flat and dull)

Spoiler for She's so innocent...:

When I was done with the drawing and showed it to her, she was very happy, she was REALLY happy, she literally felt like a queen/princess.

I started to get too into this woman, then after she's okay and the surgery is good, she just........bloody......forgets me. Not like forgetting me to where I don't exist, but she started to just become annoying to me since she wasn't making any sense to me.

Of course, she's from Germany, so I couldn't stay mad at her for too long since she learned most of her English from her ex-boyfriend, who also played the same MMO as I did. We were in an IRC clan that basically helped with finding worlds to get points in some mini-game.

But yeah, I didn't know if she was just crazy after the surgery, but she just didn't make sense to me anymore. She started to think I was treating her like a child because I called her by her name, "Luisa."

And I didn't understand the logic behind that....if you're irc name is luisa, why in the heck would you be mad if I called you that? She started to think I was condescending.....it annoyed me.

Then I just turned mad and just insulted her for no reason at all. She tells one of the clan members about this, and he sorts things out with me. I tell him my reason, and he says that I can still come to the channel, because he obviously saw that I was just being mad unintentionally....but I decided to just quit the clan IRC because not many people participated anyway.

I just used it to have a general chat while playing the game.

I just got pissed at Luisa for thinking I was condescending towards her, I was just her little toy until she got better. That really freaking pissed me off, especially the time it took to try and get her right (and the cheeks on her face that I drew weren't even perfect to me....some people thought it was too cheeky, but it was a big issue for them).

Oh, and her ex-boyfriend, I could tell he was jealous, he obviously wanted to hide it...but I just kept quiet lol.

Then I drew Isaura. I always thought of her as being a good friend even though we met in such a short time.

It took probably 8-9 hours or so (without doing it in one sitting of course).

I scanned it, showed it to her, and hoped that nothing was wrong with it. She LOVED it! But that's it lol. She just says she loves it.

But she keeps making random mentioning of her existence.

In fact...I wanted to mail the drawing to her (since we both live in texas) and write a letter to her for being the person to motivate me to do better in academics (because I really needed a boost in confidence in English PreAP and AP classes).

I don't know if she's afraid of hanging out with me, even though we were obviously nice to each other whenever we talked or had to work together.

But I did that drawing to entice her to just hang out with me in the future, but she's a busy person. She has a job and is going to a community college (while I'm living it up in college for being a good little boy with a high ranking in High School).



I'm sorry for that long ramble, but hopefully you know my thought process when doing these drawings.

I either just want people to draw to just practice and contemplate on perfectionism, or fall in love and end up feeling sad anyway.(I only "fell" in love with Luisa and had a liking for Isaura)

So even if I let my emotions fuel me, it still makes me feel more humiliated in myself. People say my drawings are really good, but I just feel I can do so much more, but at the same time, in my mind, I can't spend too long with this stuff.

I just do it for the lulz because I need something to do and sublimate my emotions on.

It's just so messed up what goes on in my mind, I'm like an emo by the end I'm done drawing, which why I don't do too much of them (at least for now).

I'm so tempted to draw more beautiful women, but I know I won't have them in the end....not for my own harem, just as genuine friends.

ugh...

yeah, that pretty much covers most of what I think when doing these drawings.

And then when I'm done with the drawing, I also wonder, "Did I just do that????" And I just insult myself inside of my head for no reason....it's like I need constant bursts of optimism to get things done. But I love doing the drawings, but I hate doing it sometimes as well.

Whoa...thanks for sharing all of that. I feel like I have a whole new perspective of you as a person. To be honest, I've been a bit unsure about you ever since I noticed that pretty much every post you made in the pics of hawt girls thread was some kind of degrading sexual comment about the women (and I nearly deleted several of those comments for being too raunchy). But now I think I was probably being too judgmental about you, and I'm glad I came to this thread.

Your whole thought process is really interesting to me, because it is so different from my own, and now I understand why you enjoy doing those types of portraits so much. It's sad though that it makes you feel empty...but it seems like you are creating art for others more than for yourself, which is a very different type of artist than someone like me, who is inherently much more selfish lol. But maybe that's why you have that feeling that your time was wasted, because without outside approval and appreciation, the art seems meaningless to you. Do you ever just draw stuff that you want to draw, because you need to get it out of your head? Without the intention of showing anyone, and without it having any meaning to anyone but you? Not saying that you should, just curious. Drawing your more memorable dreams would be a good example.

I know it is very frustrating for me when I am unable to adequately depict something from my mind, like a scene from a dream, or an amazing concept created in my imagination. So a lot of times I just give up or abandon my art. Other times I'll sit down in front of my sketch pad, sharpen all my pencils, have them all laid out perfectly, am all set to draw...and just end up staring at the blank page unable to think of what to draw and maybe too unsure of how to start because I doubt my own skill...then end up putting everything away and doing something else. I haven't drawn anything in ages, and it makes me sad, there's too much inside my head that I need to express but seem to be unable to do any of it justice. Why does everything have to be perfect to be worth doing at all? I never used to feel that way, but I do now.

Also, I'm sorry about your luck with girls, you seem like a really nice guy. But if you do a portrait of someone and all they say is "thanks" and then kind of forget about it, they're probably a generally selfish person. Unfortunately, most people are like this. Me included.

Yeah, I tend to let other parts of myself go a bit too loose in this forum, which may confuse some people. But I can't do anything much to stop it, and it's just when I go to the hawt female thread....I just let my mind go blank...no morals, no dignity, just turn into an animal, but it's because....how can I put it this way...I just have let other parts of me be satisfied (not what you think, as something to look at and be done with )

Yeah, I've noticed I've rarely done drawings just for my own means, but there was one time when I had to do a project for a poem, and I decided to draw myself in different positions. It was a poem about a Mother's Treasure...and I included a picture of me and my mother when I was a child.

I know I come off as this immature, senseless pervert at times in the hawt female thread, but it's my fault for just being so.....accepting of other sides of my personality. I admit, it does get out of hand, and I worry that others might think I have no respect for the opposite gender, but it's just my ego, I try to suppress it, but I just can't do that, it'll just come back stronger and stronger.

And most of those raunchy comments, I just did it to make the guys who are looking at the thread laugh a little bit, but I don't really like speculating on those comments myself. I'm weird that way. It's like I'm trying to verify this pathetic facade of the "alpha male," when in reality, I'm still a child. And the drawings I do for others, I feel like I'm a child again, just trapped in his own little world, ignoring all of the events in waking life, just going so into the drawings, that sometimes I find out who I really am, and much more.

And thanks for saying that I seem like a nice guy, I always was afraid that you might think I'm just some jerk after some stupid threads I made, my ego keeps making WAY too many temptations, and I try to go crazy to prevent myself from doing so, which is why I may look like a kid in the IRC at times. I just don't want to think so seriously all the time, every day, I just stay quiet most of the time because I've become so cynical of the the environment around me, and I just let myself "live" and let parts of my emotions out, but just inside of my head, which makes me ignore people who might actually care about me.

I just try to hide the hypocrisy between being sane and just acting like a misanthropist, constantly shifting through several personalities/roles, just to see what my mind can formulate out of them. I act like an idiot sometimes because it's easier for people to question me, and I can see how they think of me, and it just ends up becoming more twisted. It's like I love seeing myself regress to such incompetence, just to feel the ignorance, and to know when to get out of it to get things done in life. I just don't know who I am at times, and when I draw, I find I'm more sympathetic towards other people, because I love drawing.

I used to draw from imagination a lot as a child, making my own characters and everything, being saturated with that idealism and naivete of making my own show or book on some cliched story.

I apologize if I did confuse you with those posts, and you have every right to, you're just trying to make things less chaotic. I don't blame you if you thought I was a bit sexist in those comments, but do know that I never indulge myself in degrading women more and more in my mind. I usually just post and leave the thread for a long time until I just feel the urge, and it's hard controlling that urge because I've been trying to be the nice guy to everything in life.

And people keep saying that I need to go get out and party, but I just want to be alone, it's just those other parts keep tempting me, but I keep holding it back because I know I don't need to focus my life in doing things that won't help me survive (getting a degree and a career).

When I'm not thinking about DV, I'm a waaaay different person. I just hate those around me in waking life, but at the same time, I'm respectful to them and treat them as an equal, with the occasional inferiority and superiority complexes clashing back and forth. It's mostly just a battle within my mind, but lately, I just let them fight it out until there's no purpose in doing so.

I don't know how to describe myself, I just find myself exposing myself in many layers to conform to different situations, which is why some people might think I'm crazy on this forum. But I'm just like any other guy who never had much luck with women...the result? An ignorant person finding ways to just hate everyone because I can't even define myself, and just being exposed to so much crap that we have to experience, I just want to regress to that child like state (not the immature state), just the part that is living in idealism.

Which is why I love this forum, and why I was so interested in dreaming overall. To just know that I can go to the Dreaming or Astral Plane, no burdens, no responsibilities, no facades to sustain, no conflict between my mind.

I find my mind is at peace when I become lucid, to see the craziness, to see the sporadic nature, to engage in a sadomasochistic relationship with it because there is no other choice but for me to accept it. To know that I have to accept that I may have temptations like any other guy to berate on woman, but knowing that it's degrading at the same time. To commit these same sins, and trying to find a way to split them, and combine that with my paranoia of the world, and constant struggle in trying not to worry too much about what others think about, it's more relaxing to see myself going through so much confusion within me, knowing that there are sides that must be satisfied, but also knowing that I cannot let them go out to the point where it gets out of hand.

This may sound crazy, but this is what I really do. I just find myself being more open both light and dark, and with lucid dreaming, I find myself constantly creating moments of motivation to know who I really am, and to hopefully find that medium, the vessel that knows how to calculate every single release of emotion, to accept the inevitable hypocrisy to comes with it, and to die hoping that I can continue gaining more knowledge somewhere else.

I even find myself contradicting my schemata, life, and much more...but it's to just experiment. If I were to actually become confident in myself, I'd be in a situation that many people want. A decent career, family, etc. But ever since I've become so engrossed with dreaming and beyond, these small acts I portray on the forum, I don't know...it's not me being unstable, it's hard to explain without trying to make an excuse for my actions.

I have complete control of myself, but it's like there's this angel on my side that can get too worried about what I'm experiencing, and convince me to ignore, speculate, or actually act out those temptations. It's not something I hate, I have to accept because it's who I am.

I don't like being serious, and I would be a boring person to most people on the forums if I was, and I wouldn't want to be the one who loves being condescending, especially in the ED threads, which is why I purposefully just see how I think in my most blank state of mind. I hope you get where I'm going with this.

Hope I'm not getting more serious this time, because everything I just typed is something I've been trying to conceal the moment I came on to this forum. It's the type of personality that demands perfection, that demands that I'm capable of doing many things, of being over powered to others in waking life. It's a lot of strain, but it's so much fun being stressed out because I find things get so much easier to cope with. I respect everyone in this forum, and sometimes I try to hard to be nice to where people might think that I'm being too desperate, when I'm not. It's just that since I'm in this world, I might as well enjoy the luxury of contradicting ideals of humanity, and to accept that needs have to be met, whether I like them or not.

Once you fiddle around with the layers I put up, you'll find that I really just want to get life over and done with, and hopefully have my own adventures somewhere else. To be courageous, weak, kind, open-minded, cynical, incompetent, and so many other forms to experiment with. It's really for my own intentions, even though it does seem like I'm being nice to others.

But that's just putting it in a broad perspective. I would like to declare more of this contradicting lifestyle of mine, but feel free if you want to know more, I don't mind. This forum is probably the only forum that I can relate to many people, no matter how different they are to me.

To make it short, I try to be neutral in everything. Knowing that I have to carry on by making a family and children, but not being so indulged with the innocence that comes with it (trying to raise a child right, etc.).

It's hard for me to explain, it's just carrying out the mission that humanity has been so fueled by, to just survive long enough to create children to pass things on.

Edit:

I find myself doubting my own skills as well, sometimes I just shrivel up into nothingness because I feel there isn't really any purpose, that it's going to die anyway. But I do know that it's worth making those moments count because they don't last forever.

But it's just the effort of not caring of being acknowledged is something I try to avoid, but I can't. I guess it's just part of being human. And sometimes, I end up just doing something else that I think is productive.

Awesome drawings Link!!! I'd love to see more.

I can relate to just about everything you said...and I'm actually very similar. Despite the doubt you express in yourself I'd say you are incredibly self aware, more so than most people. This is a very admirable quality and I applaud your honesty. Most people are too afraid to stop and examine themselves in such a way. Self actualization is probably my greatest goal in life, and I try to surround myself only with people who feel similarly. It's difficult because most people do not feel the need to work towards anything or analyze themselves or try to improve in any way. It's also why I tend to enjoy being alone as opposed to being in the company of others. I realize that we do need people, as mirrors, to help us see who we really are and help us improve, but good mirrors are incredibly hard to find, so I prefer solitide. It's a constant struggle for me. Thanks for letting me inside your head, most people I don't find this interesting. I like your layers.

That's some serious skill. When did you start making these? And do you have many requests from your friends?

Basicly: give background story on how you became this good

I started doing grid drawings when I had to do a project for English 4 AP in High School, it was during my second semester. I had to do a poem and make a slideshow out of it, so I basically just drew myself to present the child in the poem, and it was geared towards my mother. I got a 98 on it without overdoing it

Taking Art classes helped a lot for me, and even before that, I liked drawing in general, I was really horrible as a child of course, I would mostly just draw DBZ, Zelda (especially windwaker, I was an addict in drawing that lol...) And for Twilight Princess, I tried to free hand Link a lot, but taking the classes helped me a lot because I learned how to observe things more that other people would usually forget that would be important to a drawing.

And because I wanted to get good grades for getting into college, I wanted to make sure I would always get an A in art class, even if it would an easy elective if I wanted to settle for less. So in a way, trying to get an A forced me to get better, it forced me to look at several sources from books ranging from how to draw comic book characters, anime characters, and drawing people as well. And getting an A in my Art 2 class was REALLY hard because you had to be good in several parts like painting (I'm horrible at that) and coloring (horrible at that too).

I guess pretty much wanting to do well, and meeting the expectations that my teacher wanted for us to get an A that helped me a lot.

I think what helped me get better was that the Art 2 teacher I had made us do a lot of life drawings. I usually use photos now, but before, I had to draw myself one time in the mirror, so that forced me to know several tones and get them quickly, because the next day, I would have to start from somewhere else, which would just mess up the drawing because I was confined with the time in class.

Reading guides on the internet helped a lot, watching Youtube videos from several artists, especially when I had struggle with hair in general helped as well, I basically just incorporated the fundamentals they tried to teach to other viewers, and tried to make my own method of getting it done in a different way.

And once I went with grid drawing more seriously, I had trouble getting the grid part of it right because some lines would be slanted and crooked, and getting just one wrong when you have the others right can be a pain to fix because you had to re draw parts of lines you erased. Then I found that measuring how far the corners of the photo reference are, I could just use those measurements on another piece of paper to have the perfect square with perfect lining, and all I had to do from there was set up the lines, and start doing the outlines of the face.

And I continued to look at more sites online (that's always the best way to learn in my opinion if you couldn't take classes in school), like this one:
http://www.allaboutdrawings.com/grid-drawing.html
Drawing Tutorials - How to Draw Step by Step - Free Lessons

His drawings (second link) are amazing, and he emphasizes a lot that it's all about observing what's in front of you. And this guy is really talented. He can do graphite, colored, oil painting and so much more. He's more like a traditional artist, and some drawings almost look like they're photographs.

But other than that, there's nothing much to it. I think the thing is when learning something new is that you have to start somewhere, and never be discouraged if you see someone better. I remember going to deviant art a lot, and seeing so many amazing pieces being displayed, and what I learned from their responses was that it's just a matter of experience and how much you learned that will get you better.

It gets hard for me because the realistic side of me decides not to spend too much on it for obvious reasons, but when I have a lot of free time where I don't have to study for something or do something for a long time, I usually go back to drawing really quickly.

I'm sort of conservative in how I do the grid drawings, so it makes it easier for me if I didn't draw for months, because I'll know the basic mechanics of getting it done right. But usually, the more I expose myself to other people's work, and knowing that there's always room for improvement, you'll start to get better without even noticing it.

Hope this covers it.

I think people who are more tuned with visuals will have a slight advantage to those stronger in other aspects, but practice and hard work will always overcome talent any day.

These are spectacular. I'm in awe. >u<

Really old drawings from High School.

Spoiler for Old Painting of Roger Federer:

Lol, I look at this picture again, and I just facepalm from how distorted the bigger tennis ball is. I think I was practicing using different shades of one color (I forget the art term for that).

Spoiler for Colored Pencil Owl:

I did this the second semester as a Junior in High School, I don't know why, but the art teacher liked it, but I never really liked colored pencils that much (maybe I'm still afraid with all the mixing)

Spoiler for Contour Drawings..:

Just different hand positions I was doing from looking at my hand in Art II I believe


One line drawing of jars




This is another one, I think I washed the paper I was using before I started doing another contour of me looking at a mirror and drawing myself quickly. I think this was the time where I needed more drawings for some contest my teacher wanted me to participate in. I think I got a high score from the contest (they scored based on what art level you were in, so I guess mine was okay lol).

Spoiler for Ink drawing:

This was from Art II as well, we were using ink as paint I believe.

Spoiler for Not sure if I posted this already...:

There was this Rodeo Art Contest, but it was also an assignment to tempt us to participate in it. I didn't go to the contest, the teacher brought all of our drawing to the event. I just got an "Excellence Award" or something.

Spoiler for Another life drawing painting:

This was just complete nonsense lol, I don't know what my art teacher was trying to teach us here. I think she just wanted to expose us to other ways to do paintings like adding salt on a wet area.

And using some time of adhesive so certain parts wouldn't be colored, so that when it dried, it would resemble something that was see through, and the source I did this life painting from was transparent with all sorts of things like a vase, flowers etc.

Spoiler for Free hand Drawing:

There was this U.S History Dual Credit Speech Project I had to do, and we had to provide some type of image and music to go along with the speech. I did a speech on Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare

Also: inb4 you think I'm a russian cybercriminal!!!!

The people (if I can remember them correctly are: Joseph McCarthy, Stalin, few presidents that I can't tell the difference to identify quickly lol, and the guy on the lower left was the person who challenged McCarthy I believe (too long for me to even care to remember).

Starting on Ophelia's portrait. May not look like much now, but I hope I get it right in the end. No scanner for me to use.

WHY AM I ONLY SEEING YOUR THREAD NOW



I APPROVE OF EVERYTHING

Lookin' super effin' good, man.

I love this thread. I wish I could draw as well as you, but haven't set time to develop my own skills

Though seeing your work is pretty damn inspiring

"...Impressive. Very nice." As Patrick Bateman would say.