So for the first time ever, I tried some serious drawing with a pencil on paper. I was surprised how much easier this made things. I thought that working on the computer had to be less challenging because of all the convienient tools, and the ability to zoom in and out and such. But I guess not. Here's the result:




I colored it on my computer after scanning it because I thought it looked a bit too plain in black and white. It's far from perfect, and I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to improve. But looking at it compared to what I've made previously, like stuff I've drawn on my computer for an art war, I'm surprised how much better this is.

Originally Posted by Troglobite

It's far from perfect, and I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to improve.

Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod YES it's my favorite kind of thread EVER!!
As a forewarning, I am going to excitedly delve into a long ramble about the history of perception. Apologies in advance.


The historical progression of human artwork serves as a chronicle of mankind's understanding of many psychological principles related to perception. In many ways, the progression through history parallels the progression through which modern individuals go when learning art.

Nowhere is this more obvious than monocular depth cues. People try to make things look "real" and "alive", and this often entails making them look three dimensional. The earliest depth cue used by man was interposition; implying one object is closer than another by drawing one overlapping the other. Even if you didn't think about it or know its name, you have that down: by drawing the character's hand overlapping his hip, you have given the character more visual depth than if his hand did not overlap. As is, your drawing retains a technological level about equatable to the ancient Egyptian era.

As time has progressed, however, more ways to make things seem "3D" has been uncovered.

For instance, what shape would you say this window is?


You may say "rectangular", but technically what you are looking at is a trapezoid. Windows are something common in our culture, and as such we have a preconceived notion of how they look. A window, viewed from an angle, will still look rectangular because we have enough cues to recognize it as a window. And since we know it's a window, and windows are rectangular, we assume it is viewed at an angle in three dimensional space. People rarely view things head-on, so the window being a trapezoid makes it more realistic.

The same way you looked at the window, look at these two people:

The man on the left may look like he's standing pretty straight, but look closer. The shoulder on the left is lower than the shoulder on the right, his outreached arm appears shorter than his hanging one, and one of his feet even appears to be thicker than the other! Our innate knowledge of human anatomy, however, makes us assume these things are simply due to his 3-dimensional qualities: one shoulder is lower because his upper body is tilted, one arm is shorter because it is slightly facing the camera, and his feet are different shapes because they are viewed at different angles (one from the side, one from above).

This, as obtuse as it sounds, is the key to approaching drawing. You and the ancient Egyptians approached art drawing what you saw in your mind; you made figures' arms the same length because you knew arms were typically the same length. You drew feet a particular shape because you know feet are usually a wedge-like shape. Improving your art, however, requires you to draw what your eyes see before it is interpreted by your mind... meaning a technically disproportionate and misshapen figure like in the photograph.

Okay, okay, don't worry, I'll get into some technique now.

Imagine you want to draw that window up above. Your mind sees it as a rectangle, and it is tempting to just draw a rectangle. But look closer; interpret the window as the flat image that it is: the top of it tilts downward as it goes right, the bottom tilts upward as it goes right, and the sides are roughly straight up and down. Draw it like the trapezoid it really is and your window will look much better and more "real".

In art, this is typically referred to as the "right brain" VS "left brain" dichotomy. Your "left brain" is the logical half that interprets things as symbols; it knows what "window" looks like symbolically (rectangle with some lines across it), and draws that symbol. The "right brain" is the spatial half that interprets things as three dimensional forms - it's the part of your brain that can look at that window and say "this isn't a window, it's a rectangle floating in three dimensional space and as such will look different". Ideally, you want to draw with the right half of your brain, as it will produce things that look much more real.

You can very rapidly improve your ability to draw real things by drawing from life. Like, just look at something or someone around you, and take a shot at drawing it - but make sure you are drawing it how your EYES see it, not your mind (meaning, if you are drawing a door or window, it will probably be a trapezoid). My personal favorite way of practicing this has always been "continuous line drawings" - take a good pen or marker and a large sheet of paper and try drawing a complex object using a single, long line and not lifting the pen off the paper. The first few shots at this will look hideous, but in like a day or two you'll probably have become proficient with it. Using a permanent medium like a pen or marker means you won't waste time going back and fixing mistakes - and you shouldn't on practice.

Once you have a firm grasp on drawing things the way they appear to your eyes, character illustration is bounds easier. This is when the typical how-to-draw book stuff comes in handy; you know, things that say "first, draw a circle. Then put a face on it. Etc.". Once you have a good grasp on right-brain drawing, you'll have no trouble at all learning how to use character construction ideas to make your own original characters.

Of course, when drawing something never be afraid to take a peek at a reference to make sure you get the proportions or details right.

Hence, my advice on improving would be to pick up right-brain drawing techniques as soon as possible - they are really not as hard as they sound. Just try looking at everyday objects, mentally breaking them down into their lines and shapes, and drawing them how your eyes see them. If you have trouble, a good starting point typically given to art students is to try drawing this Picasso piece - it is upside down so your mind will have a harder time interpreting it as symbols (e.g. "this is a hand" or "this is an eye") and will be forced to view it as shapes and lines - making it much easier to duplicate.

If you have any questions on this (I kind of imagine that's a lot to think about...), I'll happily explain. I encourage you to try some of the ideas and post your progress, though.

Also, I like your signature.

EDIT:
In retrospect I noticed I had largely neglected to comment on your actual drawing |=. Consider my relative lack of comment defended under the "teach a man to fish" axiom. I could criticize specific aspects like the placement of abdominal muscles relative to the navel, but I think if you pick up the techniques needed to rapidly learn from reference images and tutorials you'll have absolutely no problem figuring these minor things out on your own. You can already draw a curved line and construct a basic figure which puts you far ahead of most people.

Thank you so much. It's nice to know that I can draw as well as an ancient Egyptian, but since I still have so much room to improve, I definitely prefer your advice to just a list of detials which I could fix in this work. I'll start practicing right-brain drawing. That sort of tip of a nice, simple way to improve my artwork was exactly what I was hoping for as a reply.

PS, Your signature is pretty cool too.