#learningtodraw — Public Fediverse posts

weeks ago, i promised painful drawings, and i'm happy to have followed through on that promise. three days is all it takes me to lose the hand-eye connection with sketching characters

numbered beginning at 1, showing the frustrating progression over 45 minutes of drawing.

today's learning experience was that certain facial shapes are beginning to make sense to my hand-eye. cats and foxes, which i've drawn more of, are a bit easier to capture. today was my first encounter with a deer/ungulate face, and it immediately felt alien to me. it's boxier than i'm used to, and my hand didn't know how to make that shape, and ended up borking it badly

i'm amazed each day at how painful making little ink marks on paper is. i haven't even tried to capture facial expressions yet - i'm just working on basic facial structure.

despite it not being "fun" yet, i can say that once the faces are done, the body-shapes (shoulders/neck/torso) come easier to the hand. for whatever reason, my hand understands how chests are supposed to look.

#learningToDraw

weeks ago, i promised painful drawings, and i'm happy to have followed through on that promise. three days is all it takes me to lose the hand-eye connection with sketching characters

numbered beginning at 1, showing the frustrating progression over 45 minutes of drawing.

today's learning experience was that certain facial shapes are beginning to make sense to my hand-eye. cats and foxes, which i've drawn more of, are a bit easier to capture. today was my first encounter with a deer/ungulate face, and it immediately felt alien to me. it's boxier than i'm used to, and my hand didn't know how to make that shape, and ended up borking it badly

i'm amazed each day at how painful making little ink marks on paper is. i haven't even tried to capture facial expressions yet - i'm just working on basic facial structure.

despite it not being "fun" yet, i can say that once the faces are done, the body-shapes (shoulders/neck/torso) come easier to the hand. for whatever reason, my hand understands how chests are supposed to look.

#learningToDraw

weeks ago, i promised painful drawings, and i'm happy to have followed through on that promise. three days is all it takes me to lose the hand-eye connection with sketching characters

numbered beginning at 1, showing the frustrating progression over 45 minutes of drawing.

today's learning experience was that certain facial shapes are beginning to make sense to my hand-eye. cats and foxes, which i've drawn more of, are a bit easier to capture. today was my first encounter with a deer/ungulate face, and it immediately felt alien to me. it's boxier than i'm used to, and my hand didn't know how to make that shape, and ended up borking it badly

i'm amazed each day at how painful making little ink marks on paper is. i haven't even tried to capture facial expressions yet - i'm just working on basic facial structure.

despite it not being "fun" yet, i can say that once the faces are done, the body-shapes (shoulders/neck/torso) come easier to the hand. for whatever reason, my hand understands how chests are supposed to look.

#learningToDraw

weeks ago, i promised painful drawings, and i'm happy to have followed through on that promise. three days is all it takes me to lose the hand-eye connection with sketching characters

numbered beginning at 1, showing the frustrating progression over 45 minutes of drawing.

today's learning experience was that certain facial shapes are beginning to make sense to my hand-eye. cats and foxes, which i've drawn more of, are a bit easier to capture. today was my first encounter with a deer/ungulate face, and it immediately felt alien to me. it's boxier than i'm used to, and my hand didn't know how to make that shape, and ended up borking it badly

i'm amazed each day at how painful making little ink marks on paper is. i haven't even tried to capture facial expressions yet - i'm just working on basic facial structure.

despite it not being "fun" yet, i can say that once the faces are done, the body-shapes (shoulders/neck/torso) come easier to the hand. for whatever reason, my hand understands how chests are supposed to look.

#learningToDraw

weeks ago, i promised painful drawings, and i'm happy to have followed through on that promise. three days is all it takes me to lose the hand-eye connection with sketching characters

numbered beginning at 1, showing the frustrating progression over 45 minutes of drawing.

today's learning experience was that certain facial shapes are beginning to make sense to my hand-eye. cats and foxes, which i've drawn more of, are a bit easier to capture. today was my first encounter with a deer/ungulate face, and it immediately felt alien to me. it's boxier than i'm used to, and my hand didn't know how to make that shape, and ended up borking it badly

i'm amazed each day at how painful making little ink marks on paper is. i haven't even tried to capture facial expressions yet - i'm just working on basic facial structure.

despite it not being "fun" yet, i can say that once the faces are done, the body-shapes (shoulders/neck/torso) come easier to the hand. for whatever reason, my hand understands how chests are supposed to look.

#learningToDraw

the first pen strokes of the day are the most painful and discouraging. the eye and hand muscles literally have to relearn how to cooperate with one another for the first half hour, before lines become more confident, less worried about mistakes, and more willing to experiment. the sketches are numbered in the order drawn, so you can see the progression.

i sketch in pen because it prevents erasure and leaves a trail of evidence behind of what works and what doesn’t. it also encourages me to *use* accidental lines by making them a part of the final product.

today i began thinking more about what distinguishes one animal from another in our perception. chipmunks have chubby jaws, others like dogs and cats have flat tops to their heads, and ermines have rounder, almost perfectly oval heads. big dogs have blocky heads, like malformed ice cubes. one glance at a cartoon’s shape is enough to hint at which animal it is, and we never have to squint for details.

after 4 weeks of occasional sketching, i’m not at the point where drawing things is enjoyable. it’s challenging and painful - like learning how to run your first 8km. but i am beginning to see changes in my hand-eye perception: i now notice subtle details in drawings that *suggest* features rather than declare them. three little ticks below an eye suggest a cheekbone. a month ago i would have drawn the cheekbone as a solid line. now i know it’s better to either put in a few light ticks of the pen, or leave it out completely so the viewer’s imagination can fill it in. this is progress.

thanks to those allowing me to post this often painful and disappointing adventure. i do it if only to encourage others who find themselves wanting to try new things 30 years too late, and are afraid of failure. so far, it has not killed me. besides - this keeps me honest. i can’t quietly quit and pretend i never started 😹

#learningtodraw #illustration #sketching #furryart

the first pen strokes of the day are the most painful and discouraging. the eye and hand muscles literally have to relearn how to cooperate with one another for the first half hour, before lines become more confident, less worried about mistakes, and more willing to experiment. the sketches are numbered in the order drawn, so you can see the progression.

i sketch in pen because it prevents erasure and leaves a trail of evidence behind of what works and what doesn’t. it also encourages me to *use* accidental lines by making them a part of the final product.

today i began thinking more about what distinguishes one animal from another in our perception. chipmunks have chubby jaws, others like dogs and cats have flat tops to their heads, and ermines have rounder, almost perfectly oval heads. big dogs have blocky heads, like malformed ice cubes. one glance at a cartoon’s shape is enough to hint at which animal it is, and we never have to squint for details.

after 4 weeks of occasional sketching, i’m not at the point where drawing things is enjoyable. it’s challenging and painful - like learning how to run your first 8km. but i am beginning to see changes in my hand-eye perception: i now notice subtle details in drawings that *suggest* features rather than declare them. three little ticks below an eye suggest a cheekbone. a month ago i would have drawn the cheekbone as a solid line. now i know it’s better to either put in a few light ticks of the pen, or leave it out completely so the viewer’s imagination can fill it in. this is progress.

thanks to those allowing me to post this often painful and disappointing adventure. i do it if only to encourage others who find themselves wanting to try new things 30 years too late, and are afraid of failure. so far, it has not killed me. besides - this keeps me honest. i can’t quietly quit and pretend i never started 😹

#learningtodraw #illustration #sketching #furryart

the first pen strokes of the day are the most painful and discouraging. the eye and hand muscles literally have to relearn how to cooperate with one another for the first half hour, before lines become more confident, less worried about mistakes, and more willing to experiment. the sketches are numbered in the order drawn, so you can see the progression.

i sketch in pen because it prevents erasure and leaves a trail of evidence behind of what works and what doesn’t. it also encourages me to *use* accidental lines by making them a part of the final product.

today i began thinking more about what distinguishes one animal from another in our perception. chipmunks have chubby jaws, others like dogs and cats have flat tops to their heads, and ermines have rounder, almost perfectly oval heads. big dogs have blocky heads, like malformed ice cubes. one glance at a cartoon’s shape is enough to hint at which animal it is, and we never have to squint for details.

after 4 weeks of occasional sketching, i’m not at the point where drawing things is enjoyable. it’s challenging and painful - like learning how to run your first 8km. but i am beginning to see changes in my hand-eye perception: i now notice subtle details in drawings that *suggest* features rather than declare them. three little ticks below an eye suggest a cheekbone. a month ago i would have drawn the cheekbone as a solid line. now i know it’s better to either put in a few light ticks of the pen, or leave it out completely so the viewer’s imagination can fill it in. this is progress.

thanks to those allowing me to post this often painful and disappointing adventure. i do it if only to encourage others who find themselves wanting to try new things 30 years too late, and are afraid of failure. so far, it has not killed me. besides - this keeps me honest. i can’t quietly quit and pretend i never started 😹

#learningtodraw #illustration #sketching #furryart

the first pen strokes of the day are the most painful and discouraging. the eye and hand muscles literally have to relearn how to cooperate with one another for the first half hour, before lines become more confident, less worried about mistakes, and more willing to experiment. the sketches are numbered in the order drawn, so you can see the progression.

i sketch in pen because it prevents erasure and leaves a trail of evidence behind of what works and what doesn’t. it also encourages me to *use* accidental lines by making them a part of the final product.

today i began thinking more about what distinguishes one animal from another in our perception. chipmunks have chubby jaws, others like dogs and cats have flat tops to their heads, and ermines have rounder, almost perfectly oval heads. big dogs have blocky heads, like malformed ice cubes. one glance at a cartoon’s shape is enough to hint at which animal it is, and we never have to squint for details.

after 4 weeks of occasional sketching, i’m not at the point where drawing things is enjoyable. it’s challenging and painful - like learning how to run your first 8km. but i am beginning to see changes in my hand-eye perception: i now notice subtle details in drawings that *suggest* features rather than declare them. three little ticks below an eye suggest a cheekbone. a month ago i would have drawn the cheekbone as a solid line. now i know it’s better to either put in a few light ticks of the pen, or leave it out completely so the viewer’s imagination can fill it in. this is progress.

thanks to those allowing me to post this often painful and disappointing adventure. i do it if only to encourage others who find themselves wanting to try new things 30 years too late, and are afraid of failure. so far, it has not killed me. besides - this keeps me honest. i can’t quietly quit and pretend i never started 😹

#learningtodraw #illustration #sketching #furryart

the first pen strokes of the day are the most painful and discouraging. the eye and hand muscles literally have to relearn how to cooperate with one another for the first half hour, before lines become more confident, less worried about mistakes, and more willing to experiment. the sketches are numbered in the order drawn, so you can see the progression.

i sketch in pen because it prevents erasure and leaves a trail of evidence behind of what works and what doesn’t. it also encourages me to *use* accidental lines by making them a part of the final product.

today i began thinking more about what distinguishes one animal from another in our perception. chipmunks have chubby jaws, others like dogs and cats have flat tops to their heads, and ermines have rounder, almost perfectly oval heads. big dogs have blocky heads, like malformed ice cubes. one glance at a cartoon’s shape is enough to hint at which animal it is, and we never have to squint for details.

after 4 weeks of occasional sketching, i’m not at the point where drawing things is enjoyable. it’s challenging and painful - like learning how to run your first 8km. but i am beginning to see changes in my hand-eye perception: i now notice subtle details in drawings that *suggest* features rather than declare them. three little ticks below an eye suggest a cheekbone. a month ago i would have drawn the cheekbone as a solid line. now i know it’s better to either put in a few light ticks of the pen, or leave it out completely so the viewer’s imagination can fill it in. this is progress.

thanks to those allowing me to post this often painful and disappointing adventure. i do it if only to encourage others who find themselves wanting to try new things 30 years too late, and are afraid of failure. so far, it has not killed me. besides - this keeps me honest. i can’t quietly quit and pretend i never started 😹

#learningtodraw #illustration #sketching #furryart

today’s drawing experiments with critters from steve gallacci’s erma felna series. i numbered them this time (starting at #1) so you can see how much the hand-mind relationship changes over a half hour.

as a kid, i owned a few “how to draw cartoons!” books which all had the same basic premise: you start from fundamental primitive shapes like circles and squares, and then assemble them together into a rough shape of the creature. step two: examine all 290 bones of the creature so you understand its 3d shape, and then reduce those to 20 bones and draw them. step three: now understand the 475 muscle groups of the creature and overlap those on the skeleton.

every single how to draw book i’ve seen, british and manga alike, uses this method of instruction.

i want you to know, artist-instructors who use this pedagogical method: you’re idiots. this is not how to teach a beginner anything. it is akin to showing a kid how to add 2+3, and then requiring them to read the fundamental theory of algebra before they’re allowed to multiply. this is why people learn to hate math (bad instructors) and why kids give up on drawing at an early age.

the vast majority of novices learn through experience and imitation. the mere act of trying to copy something *is* learning. this is why i’ve been relentlessly copying gallacci’s furries - there are many kinds of them, in many poses. just making my own feeble imitations teaches my hand-mind how the creature “works”.

in the bottom right, drawing #10 is the first thing i’ve ever drawn myself that wasn’t in gallacci’s comics. i put down two ears, and, fearfully, began guessing which direction the fox was looking. i looked at the ears and guessed: if the ears are pointing right, it is looking right.

then i had to guess where the snout and nose would go, if it was looking right. on the right side of the face - okay! now where do the eyes go? on opposite sides of the snout - okay. now, it the snout is a long tube or prism, it kinda bunches up the eye orbitals against it, making the eyes look blocky on one side, and long and tapered on the other side.

suddenly i am drawing an adolescent fox. not because i first understood its musculature and skeleton, but because this is what drawing noses and eyes over and over taught me.

the deep research into muscles and bones can come later. MUCH later. YEARS later, as a form of refinement and precision. for now, i have my first fox. my very own.

#furry #drawing #learningtodraw

today’s drawing experiments with critters from steve gallacci’s erma felna series. i numbered them this time (starting at #1) so you can see how much the hand-mind relationship changes over a half hour.

as a kid, i owned a few “how to draw cartoons!” books which all had the same basic premise: you start from fundamental primitive shapes like circles and squares, and then assemble them together into a rough shape of the creature. step two: examine all 290 bones of the creature so you understand its 3d shape, and then reduce those to 20 bones and draw them. step three: now understand the 475 muscle groups of the creature and overlap those on the skeleton.

every single how to draw book i’ve seen, british and manga alike, uses this method of instruction.

i want you to know, artist-instructors who use this pedagogical method: you’re idiots. this is not how to teach a beginner anything. it is akin to showing a kid how to add 2+3, and then requiring them to read the fundamental theory of algebra before they’re allowed to multiply. this is why people learn to hate math (bad instructors) and why kids give up on drawing at an early age.

the vast majority of novices learn through experience and imitation. the mere act of trying to copy something *is* learning. this is why i’ve been relentlessly copying gallacci’s furries - there are many kinds of them, in many poses. just making my own feeble imitations teaches my hand-mind how the creature “works”.

in the bottom right, drawing #10 is the first thing i’ve ever drawn myself that wasn’t in gallacci’s comics. i put down two ears, and, fearfully, began guessing which direction the fox was looking. i looked at the ears and guessed: if the ears are pointing right, it is looking right.

then i had to guess where the snout and nose would go, if it was looking right. on the right side of the face - okay! now where do the eyes go? on opposite sides of the snout - okay. now, it the snout is a long tube or prism, it kinda bunches up the eye orbitals against it, making the eyes look blocky on one side, and long and tapered on the other side.

suddenly i am drawing an adolescent fox. not because i first understood its musculature and skeleton, but because this is what drawing noses and eyes over and over taught me.

the deep research into muscles and bones can come later. MUCH later. YEARS later, as a form of refinement and precision. for now, i have my first fox. my very own.

#furry #drawing #learningtodraw

today’s drawing experiments with critters from steve gallacci’s erma felna series. i numbered them this time (starting at #1) so you can see how much the hand-mind relationship changes over a half hour.

as a kid, i owned a few “how to draw cartoons!” books which all had the same basic premise: you start from fundamental primitive shapes like circles and squares, and then assemble them together into a rough shape of the creature. step two: examine all 290 bones of the creature so you understand its 3d shape, and then reduce those to 20 bones and draw them. step three: now understand the 475 muscle groups of the creature and overlap those on the skeleton.

every single how to draw book i’ve seen, british and manga alike, uses this method of instruction.

i want you to know, artist-instructors who use this pedagogical method: you’re idiots. this is not how to teach a beginner anything. it is akin to showing a kid how to add 2+3, and then requiring them to read the fundamental theory of algebra before they’re allowed to multiply. this is why people learn to hate math (bad instructors) and why kids give up on drawing at an early age.

the vast majority of novices learn through experience and imitation. the mere act of trying to copy something *is* learning. this is why i’ve been relentlessly copying gallacci’s furries - there are many kinds of them, in many poses. just making my own feeble imitations teaches my hand-mind how the creature “works”.

in the bottom right, drawing #10 is the first thing i’ve ever drawn myself that wasn’t in gallacci’s comics. i put down two ears, and, fearfully, began guessing which direction the fox was looking. i looked at the ears and guessed: if the ears are pointing right, it is looking right.

then i had to guess where the snout and nose would go, if it was looking right. on the right side of the face - okay! now where do the eyes go? on opposite sides of the snout - okay. now, it the snout is a long tube or prism, it kinda bunches up the eye orbitals against it, making the eyes look blocky on one side, and long and tapered on the other side.

suddenly i am drawing an adolescent fox. not because i first understood its musculature and skeleton, but because this is what drawing noses and eyes over and over taught me.

the deep research into muscles and bones can come later. MUCH later. YEARS later, as a form of refinement and precision. for now, i have my first fox. my very own.

#furry #drawing #learningtodraw

today’s drawing experiments with critters from steve gallacci’s erma felna series. i numbered them this time (starting at #1) so you can see how much the hand-mind relationship changes over a half hour.

as a kid, i owned a few “how to draw cartoons!” books which all had the same basic premise: you start from fundamental primitive shapes like circles and squares, and then assemble them together into a rough shape of the creature. step two: examine all 290 bones of the creature so you understand its 3d shape, and then reduce those to 20 bones and draw them. step three: now understand the 475 muscle groups of the creature and overlap those on the skeleton.

every single how to draw book i’ve seen, british and manga alike, uses this method of instruction.

i want you to know, artist-instructors who use this pedagogical method: you’re idiots. this is not how to teach a beginner anything. it is akin to showing a kid how to add 2+3, and then requiring them to read the fundamental theory of algebra before they’re allowed to multiply. this is why people learn to hate math (bad instructors) and why kids give up on drawing at an early age.

the vast majority of novices learn through experience and imitation. the mere act of trying to copy something *is* learning. this is why i’ve been relentlessly copying gallacci’s furries - there are many kinds of them, in many poses. just making my own feeble imitations teaches my hand-mind how the creature “works”.

in the bottom right, drawing #10 is the first thing i’ve ever drawn myself that wasn’t in gallacci’s comics. i put down two ears, and, fearfully, began guessing which direction the fox was looking. i looked at the ears and guessed: if the ears are pointing right, it is looking right.

then i had to guess where the snout and nose would go, if it was looking right. on the right side of the face - okay! now where do the eyes go? on opposite sides of the snout - okay. now, it the snout is a long tube or prism, it kinda bunches up the eye orbitals against it, making the eyes look blocky on one side, and long and tapered on the other side.

suddenly i am drawing an adolescent fox. not because i first understood its musculature and skeleton, but because this is what drawing noses and eyes over and over taught me.

the deep research into muscles and bones can come later. MUCH later. YEARS later, as a form of refinement and precision. for now, i have my first fox. my very own.

#furry #drawing #learningtodraw

today’s drawing experiments with critters from steve gallacci’s erma felna series. i numbered them this time (starting at #1) so you can see how much the hand-mind relationship changes over a half hour.

as a kid, i owned a few “how to draw cartoons!” books which all had the same basic premise: you start from fundamental primitive shapes like circles and squares, and then assemble them together into a rough shape of the creature. step two: examine all 290 bones of the creature so you understand its 3d shape, and then reduce those to 20 bones and draw them. step three: now understand the 475 muscle groups of the creature and overlap those on the skeleton.

every single how to draw book i’ve seen, british and manga alike, uses this method of instruction.

i want you to know, artist-instructors who use this pedagogical method: you’re idiots. this is not how to teach a beginner anything. it is akin to showing a kid how to add 2+3, and then requiring them to read the fundamental theory of algebra before they’re allowed to multiply. this is why people learn to hate math (bad instructors) and why kids give up on drawing at an early age.

the vast majority of novices learn through experience and imitation. the mere act of trying to copy something *is* learning. this is why i’ve been relentlessly copying gallacci’s furries - there are many kinds of them, in many poses. just making my own feeble imitations teaches my hand-mind how the creature “works”.

in the bottom right, drawing #10 is the first thing i’ve ever drawn myself that wasn’t in gallacci’s comics. i put down two ears, and, fearfully, began guessing which direction the fox was looking. i looked at the ears and guessed: if the ears are pointing right, it is looking right.

then i had to guess where the snout and nose would go, if it was looking right. on the right side of the face - okay! now where do the eyes go? on opposite sides of the snout - okay. now, it the snout is a long tube or prism, it kinda bunches up the eye orbitals against it, making the eyes look blocky on one side, and long and tapered on the other side.

suddenly i am drawing an adolescent fox. not because i first understood its musculature and skeleton, but because this is what drawing noses and eyes over and over taught me.

the deep research into muscles and bones can come later. MUCH later. YEARS later, as a form of refinement and precision. for now, i have my first fox. my very own.

#furry #drawing #learningtodraw

this morning’s sketchbook, trying to draw anthropomorphic animal faces, in steve gallacci’s cartooning style. this is what failure and frustration looks like for a new illustrator in his 40s. the first 10 minutes nearly had me in tears 😅

the most interesting part of this is learning facial physiognomy by *hinting* at structures like noses and cheeks instead of using lines to represent them.

a line creates a boundary between things, which is fine for something like an eye which is well distinguished from the orbital bones and cheeks. but for something like a nasal bridge, which is a smooth ridge, using a line ends up making it too harsh, like an appendage. it’s often best to ignore the nasal bridge entirely and let the viewer’s imaginative perception fill in the gap itself

i’m now gobsmacked at how good cartoonists are at economies of lines. i always imagined visual realism would be harder to draw because it has so much detail (eg robert bateman’s work). as it turns out, the less lines i have to work with, the harder it is to describe an animal!

#learningtodraw #sketchbook #furryart

this morning’s sketchbook, trying to draw anthropomorphic animal faces, in steve gallacci’s cartooning style. this is what failure and frustration looks like for a new illustrator in his 40s. the first 10 minutes nearly had me in tears 😅

the most interesting part of this is learning facial physiognomy by *hinting* at structures like noses and cheeks instead of using lines to represent them.

a line creates a boundary between things, which is fine for something like an eye which is well distinguished from the orbital bones and cheeks. but for something like a nasal bridge, which is a smooth ridge, using a line ends up making it too harsh, like an appendage. it’s often best to ignore the nasal bridge entirely and let the viewer’s imaginative perception fill in the gap itself

i’m now gobsmacked at how good cartoonists are at economies of lines. i always imagined visual realism would be harder to draw because it has so much detail (eg robert bateman’s work). as it turns out, the less lines i have to work with, the harder it is to describe an animal!

#learningtodraw #sketchbook #furryart

this morning’s sketchbook, trying to draw anthropomorphic animal faces, in steve gallacci’s cartooning style. this is what failure and frustration looks like for a new illustrator in his 40s. the first 10 minutes nearly had me in tears 😅

the most interesting part of this is learning facial physiognomy by *hinting* at structures like noses and cheeks instead of using lines to represent them.

a line creates a boundary between things, which is fine for something like an eye which is well distinguished from the orbital bones and cheeks. but for something like a nasal bridge, which is a smooth ridge, using a line ends up making it too harsh, like an appendage. it’s often best to ignore the nasal bridge entirely and let the viewer’s imaginative perception fill in the gap itself

i’m now gobsmacked at how good cartoonists are at economies of lines. i always imagined visual realism would be harder to draw because it has so much detail (eg robert bateman’s work). as it turns out, the less lines i have to work with, the harder it is to describe an animal!

#learningtodraw #sketchbook #furryart

this morning’s sketchbook, trying to draw anthropomorphic animal faces, in steve gallacci’s cartooning style. this is what failure and frustration looks like for a new illustrator in his 40s. the first 10 minutes nearly had me in tears 😅

the most interesting part of this is learning facial physiognomy by *hinting* at structures like noses and cheeks instead of using lines to represent them.

a line creates a boundary between things, which is fine for something like an eye which is well distinguished from the orbital bones and cheeks. but for something like a nasal bridge, which is a smooth ridge, using a line ends up making it too harsh, like an appendage. it’s often best to ignore the nasal bridge entirely and let the viewer’s imaginative perception fill in the gap itself

i’m now gobsmacked at how good cartoonists are at economies of lines. i always imagined visual realism would be harder to draw because it has so much detail (eg robert bateman’s work). as it turns out, the less lines i have to work with, the harder it is to describe an animal!

#learningtodraw #sketchbook #furryart

this morning’s sketchbook, trying to draw anthropomorphic animal faces, in steve gallacci’s cartooning style. this is what failure and frustration looks like for a new illustrator in his 40s. the first 10 minutes nearly had me in tears 😅

the most interesting part of this is learning facial physiognomy by *hinting* at structures like noses and cheeks instead of using lines to represent them.

a line creates a boundary between things, which is fine for something like an eye which is well distinguished from the orbital bones and cheeks. but for something like a nasal bridge, which is a smooth ridge, using a line ends up making it too harsh, like an appendage. it’s often best to ignore the nasal bridge entirely and let the viewer’s imaginative perception fill in the gap itself

i’m now gobsmacked at how good cartoonists are at economies of lines. i always imagined visual realism would be harder to draw because it has so much detail (eg robert bateman’s work). as it turns out, the less lines i have to work with, the harder it is to describe an animal!

#learningtodraw #sketchbook #furryart

i had fun learning how to draw this faux-linocut on the cintiq.

my fursona - an arctic fox - comes from a beautiful linocut print by local artist Megan Stein which i stumbled upon 15 years ago.

i thought i'd re-interpret megan's linocut in my own style, as a canadian 1c stamp

i discovered that drawing with a 3px pencil leaves hard lines, almost like etching. it also leaves a lot of room for errors, of which i made many. rather than undoing, i just worked the errant strokes into the drawing.

more important: for the first time since i started drawing a few weeks ago - i had *fun*. it turns out i really love drawing animal eyes. they're surprisingly evocative and emotive.

#learningToDraw #illustration #digitalArt #furry

i had fun learning how to draw this faux-linocut on the cintiq.

my fursona - an arctic fox - comes from a beautiful linocut print by local artist Megan Stein which i stumbled upon 15 years ago.

i thought i'd re-interpret megan's linocut in my own style, as a canadian 1c stamp

i discovered that drawing with a 3px pencil leaves hard lines, almost like etching. it also leaves a lot of room for errors, of which i made many. rather than undoing, i just worked the errant strokes into the drawing.

more important: for the first time since i started drawing a few weeks ago - i had *fun*. it turns out i really love drawing animal eyes. they're surprisingly evocative and emotive.

#learningToDraw #illustration #digitalArt #furry

i had fun learning how to draw this faux-linocut on the cintiq.

my fursona - an arctic fox - comes from a beautiful linocut print by local artist Megan Stein which i stumbled upon 15 years ago.

i thought i'd re-interpret megan's linocut in my own style, as a canadian 1c stamp

i discovered that drawing with a 3px pencil leaves hard lines, almost like etching. it also leaves a lot of room for errors, of which i made many. rather than undoing, i just worked the errant strokes into the drawing.

more important: for the first time since i started drawing a few weeks ago - i had *fun*. it turns out i really love drawing animal eyes. they're surprisingly evocative and emotive.

#learningToDraw #illustration #digitalArt #furry

i had fun learning how to draw this faux-linocut on the cintiq.

my fursona - an arctic fox - comes from a beautiful linocut print by local artist Megan Stein which i stumbled upon 15 years ago.

i thought i'd re-interpret megan's linocut in my own style, as a canadian 1c stamp

i discovered that drawing with a 3px pencil leaves hard lines, almost like etching. it also leaves a lot of room for errors, of which i made many. rather than undoing, i just worked the errant strokes into the drawing.

more important: for the first time since i started drawing a few weeks ago - i had *fun*. it turns out i really love drawing animal eyes. they're surprisingly evocative and emotive.

#learningToDraw #illustration #digitalArt #furry

i had fun learning how to draw this faux-linocut on the cintiq.

my fursona - an arctic fox - comes from a beautiful linocut print by local artist Megan Stein which i stumbled upon 15 years ago.

i thought i'd re-interpret megan's linocut in my own style, as a canadian 1c stamp

i discovered that drawing with a 3px pencil leaves hard lines, almost like etching. it also leaves a lot of room for errors, of which i made many. rather than undoing, i just worked the errant strokes into the drawing.

more important: for the first time since i started drawing a few weeks ago - i had *fun*. it turns out i really love drawing animal eyes. they're surprisingly evocative and emotive.

#learningToDraw #illustration #digitalArt #furry

as promised some time ago, sharing my progress as i learn how to illustrate with a cintiq. i think of it as a postmortem after drawing, so i can understand what went right/wrong and improve.

today's learning task was to draw this little ink illustration from the D&D 0th edition basic manual (1981) by Erol Otus.

when i was 10 years old, i bought the basic set from an older teenager who lived down the street for five bucks. this was the first time in my life i had seen fantasy art, and i was enamoured with the fine line illustrations.

since my illustration focus of late has been fineline and hatching, i tried to capture some of the linework Otus did in his drawing.

you can see immediately some of the problems:
- the weapon positions didn't line up properly in a lot of places. this was a product of not thinking through the layout before i started drawing. there's a real visual logic to Otus's drawing: things are leaning and hanging from the wooden rack. to solve this, i should have drawn the wooden rack first, and used it as a way of positioning the weapons
- the inked hatching lines really didn't translate well to low-res pixel lines. his feel tight and textured. mine look rough and cartoonish. this isn't a problem exactly, but a different outcome than i expected.
- Otus *really* understands light sources, and i don't. look at how his shadows project to the exact places on the wall they should, based on a single light source sitting low and to the left of the weapons. this is where i struggled most to capture the mood with my rough pixel lines.
- Aseprite (or the Cintiq?) really started to lag after 30 minutes, and pixels began appearing 1-2 seconds after a stroke. i have no idea what causes this, but it really slowed me down toward the end.
- plan! roughing out a very fast sketch beforehand would have helped a lot to establish the dimensions and frames.
- my hand is not yet capable of drawing straight lines, but it's going to improve over time. while i personally love pixel-perfect straight lines, at least my wobbly hand makes it look cartoony.

#illustration #learningToDraw #pixelArt

as promised some time ago, sharing my progress as i learn how to illustrate with a cintiq. i think of it as a postmortem after drawing, so i can understand what went right/wrong and improve.

today's learning task was to draw this little ink illustration from the D&D 0th edition basic manual (1981) by Erol Otus.

when i was 10 years old, i bought the basic set from an older teenager who lived down the street for five bucks. this was the first time in my life i had seen fantasy art, and i was enamoured with the fine line illustrations.

since my illustration focus of late has been fineline and hatching, i tried to capture some of the linework Otus did in his drawing.

you can see immediately some of the problems:
- the weapon positions didn't line up properly in a lot of places. this was a product of not thinking through the layout before i started drawing. there's a real visual logic to Otus's drawing: things are leaning and hanging from the wooden rack. to solve this, i should have drawn the wooden rack first, and used it as a way of positioning the weapons
- the inked hatching lines really didn't translate well to low-res pixel lines. his feel tight and textured. mine look rough and cartoonish. this isn't a problem exactly, but a different outcome than i expected.
- Otus *really* understands light sources, and i don't. look at how his shadows project to the exact places on the wall they should, based on a single light source sitting low and to the left of the weapons. this is where i struggled most to capture the mood with my rough pixel lines.
- Aseprite (or the Cintiq?) really started to lag after 30 minutes, and pixels began appearing 1-2 seconds after a stroke. i have no idea what causes this, but it really slowed me down toward the end.
- plan! roughing out a very fast sketch beforehand would have helped a lot to establish the dimensions and frames.
- my hand is not yet capable of drawing straight lines, but it's going to improve over time. while i personally love pixel-perfect straight lines, at least my wobbly hand makes it look cartoony.

#illustration #learningToDraw #pixelArt

as promised some time ago, sharing my progress as i learn how to illustrate with a cintiq. i think of it as a postmortem after drawing, so i can understand what went right/wrong and improve.

today's learning task was to draw this little ink illustration from the D&D 0th edition basic manual (1981) by Erol Otus.

when i was 10 years old, i bought the basic set from an older teenager who lived down the street for five bucks. this was the first time in my life i had seen fantasy art, and i was enamoured with the fine line illustrations.

since my illustration focus of late has been fineline and hatching, i tried to capture some of the linework Otus did in his drawing.

you can see immediately some of the problems:
- the weapon positions didn't line up properly in a lot of places. this was a product of not thinking through the layout before i started drawing. there's a real visual logic to Otus's drawing: things are leaning and hanging from the wooden rack. to solve this, i should have drawn the wooden rack first, and used it as a way of positioning the weapons
- the inked hatching lines really didn't translate well to low-res pixel lines. his feel tight and textured. mine look rough and cartoonish. this isn't a problem exactly, but a different outcome than i expected.
- Otus *really* understands light sources, and i don't. look at how his shadows project to the exact places on the wall they should, based on a single light source sitting low and to the left of the weapons. this is where i struggled most to capture the mood with my rough pixel lines.
- Aseprite (or the Cintiq?) really started to lag after 30 minutes, and pixels began appearing 1-2 seconds after a stroke. i have no idea what causes this, but it really slowed me down toward the end.
- plan! roughing out a very fast sketch beforehand would have helped a lot to establish the dimensions and frames.
- my hand is not yet capable of drawing straight lines, but it's going to improve over time. while i personally love pixel-perfect straight lines, at least my wobbly hand makes it look cartoony.

#illustration #learningToDraw #pixelArt

as promised some time ago, sharing my progress as i learn how to illustrate with a cintiq. i think of it as a postmortem after drawing, so i can understand what went right/wrong and improve.

today's learning task was to draw this little ink illustration from the D&D 0th edition basic manual (1981) by Erol Otus.

when i was 10 years old, i bought the basic set from an older teenager who lived down the street for five bucks. this was the first time in my life i had seen fantasy art, and i was enamoured with the fine line illustrations.

since my illustration focus of late has been fineline and hatching, i tried to capture some of the linework Otus did in his drawing.

you can see immediately some of the problems:
- the weapon positions didn't line up properly in a lot of places. this was a product of not thinking through the layout before i started drawing. there's a real visual logic to Otus's drawing: things are leaning and hanging from the wooden rack. to solve this, i should have drawn the wooden rack first, and used it as a way of positioning the weapons
- the inked hatching lines really didn't translate well to low-res pixel lines. his feel tight and textured. mine look rough and cartoonish. this isn't a problem exactly, but a different outcome than i expected.
- Otus *really* understands light sources, and i don't. look at how his shadows project to the exact places on the wall they should, based on a single light source sitting low and to the left of the weapons. this is where i struggled most to capture the mood with my rough pixel lines.
- Aseprite (or the Cintiq?) really started to lag after 30 minutes, and pixels began appearing 1-2 seconds after a stroke. i have no idea what causes this, but it really slowed me down toward the end.
- plan! roughing out a very fast sketch beforehand would have helped a lot to establish the dimensions and frames.
- my hand is not yet capable of drawing straight lines, but it's going to improve over time. while i personally love pixel-perfect straight lines, at least my wobbly hand makes it look cartoony.

#illustration #learningToDraw #pixelArt

as promised some time ago, sharing my progress as i learn how to illustrate with a cintiq. i think of it as a postmortem after drawing, so i can understand what went right/wrong and improve.

today's learning task was to draw this little ink illustration from the D&D 0th edition basic manual (1981) by Erol Otus.

when i was 10 years old, i bought the basic set from an older teenager who lived down the street for five bucks. this was the first time in my life i had seen fantasy art, and i was enamoured with the fine line illustrations.

since my illustration focus of late has been fineline and hatching, i tried to capture some of the linework Otus did in his drawing.

you can see immediately some of the problems:
- the weapon positions didn't line up properly in a lot of places. this was a product of not thinking through the layout before i started drawing. there's a real visual logic to Otus's drawing: things are leaning and hanging from the wooden rack. to solve this, i should have drawn the wooden rack first, and used it as a way of positioning the weapons
- the inked hatching lines really didn't translate well to low-res pixel lines. his feel tight and textured. mine look rough and cartoonish. this isn't a problem exactly, but a different outcome than i expected.
- Otus *really* understands light sources, and i don't. look at how his shadows project to the exact places on the wall they should, based on a single light source sitting low and to the left of the weapons. this is where i struggled most to capture the mood with my rough pixel lines.
- Aseprite (or the Cintiq?) really started to lag after 30 minutes, and pixels began appearing 1-2 seconds after a stroke. i have no idea what causes this, but it really slowed me down toward the end.
- plan! roughing out a very fast sketch beforehand would have helped a lot to establish the dimensions and frames.
- my hand is not yet capable of drawing straight lines, but it's going to improve over time. while i personally love pixel-perfect straight lines, at least my wobbly hand makes it look cartoony.

#illustration #learningToDraw #pixelArt

i have a very specific goal in mind for learning how to draw: i want to be able to illustrate 1-bit black/white art for a game i'm working on.

i've always sketched and doodled with pens. on the computer, i've used a mouse for all of my pixel art. screenless digitizing tablets mystify me like a 3 year old holding a PS2 controller.

as a middle ground, i found a beautiful (and cheap!) Cintiq 22HD locally. it's a digitizer with a large LCD screen that you draw directly on. this is 20 year old technology, but it's perfect for someone like me who needs direct hand-eye feedback.

today's learning task was more or less an art test: can I draw assets digitally using a tablet instead of a mouse, and still have a similar look to ink/paper? how long does that take? does it look usable?

i redrew the Lithos sigil from Ultima VIII in Aseprite. the same one i drew earlier in this thread using a pen/ink. here's what i learned:

first, i was delighted to learn that Aseprite supports digitizing tablets (with pressure/size /velocity/angle!) right out of the box.

second: suddenly i have undo/erase/redo! wow! there are no undos with ink pens, and it didn't take long to appreciate how wonderful being able to erase an errant pen stroke is.

third: undo/redo/erase sure slows things down. on one hand, i became more interested in undoing and redrawing mistakes, instead of "working mistakes into the drawing" as i would with ink. on the other hand, i was able to clean things up as i worked, producing a less messy drawing. i'd say this took almost twice as long as my inked version.

fourth: the cintiq has already paid for itself. after i fine-tuned the pen pressure to tip size ratio, (minimum 1px, max: 8px), suddenly the stylus felt very dynamic in my hand, almost like a real brush tip marker. the ink pen i had been using was 0.5mm, and produced *too* consistent line widths. this allowed me to vary my width a lot!

fifth: i will need an entirely different approach to do fineline 1px pixel art using the cintiq. it will still be possible, i suspect, but not at my current ability and pressure/size settings.

(if anyone wants to know - the drawing is at 512x384 - my intended game asset resolution.)

#learningToDraw #illustration #drawing #dosGaming

i have a very specific goal in mind for learning how to draw: i want to be able to illustrate 1-bit black/white art for a game i'm working on.

i've always sketched and doodled with pens. on the computer, i've used a mouse for all of my pixel art. screenless digitizing tablets mystify me like a 3 year old holding a PS2 controller.

as a middle ground, i found a beautiful (and cheap!) Cintiq 22HD locally. it's a digitizer with a large LCD screen that you draw directly on. this is 20 year old technology, but it's perfect for someone like me who needs direct hand-eye feedback.

today's learning task was more or less an art test: can I draw assets digitally using a tablet instead of a mouse, and still have a similar look to ink/paper? how long does that take? does it look usable?

i redrew the Lithos sigil from Ultima VIII in Aseprite. the same one i drew earlier in this thread using a pen/ink. here's what i learned:

first, i was delighted to learn that Aseprite supports digitizing tablets (with pressure/size /velocity/angle!) right out of the box.

second: suddenly i have undo/erase/redo! wow! there are no undos with ink pens, and it didn't take long to appreciate how wonderful being able to erase an errant pen stroke is.

third: undo/redo/erase sure slows things down. on one hand, i became more interested in undoing and redrawing mistakes, instead of "working mistakes into the drawing" as i would with ink. on the other hand, i was able to clean things up as i worked, producing a less messy drawing. i'd say this took almost twice as long as my inked version.

fourth: the cintiq has already paid for itself. after i fine-tuned the pen pressure to tip size ratio, (minimum 1px, max: 8px), suddenly the stylus felt very dynamic in my hand, almost like a real brush tip marker. the ink pen i had been using was 0.5mm, and produced *too* consistent line widths. this allowed me to vary my width a lot!

fifth: i will need an entirely different approach to do fineline 1px pixel art using the cintiq. it will still be possible, i suspect, but not at my current ability and pressure/size settings.

(if anyone wants to know - the drawing is at 512x384 - my intended game asset resolution.)

#learningToDraw #illustration #drawing #dosGaming

i have a very specific goal in mind for learning how to draw: i want to be able to illustrate 1-bit black/white art for a game i'm working on.

i've always sketched and doodled with pens. on the computer, i've used a mouse for all of my pixel art. screenless digitizing tablets mystify me like a 3 year old holding a PS2 controller.

as a middle ground, i found a beautiful (and cheap!) Cintiq 22HD locally. it's a digitizer with a large LCD screen that you draw directly on. this is 20 year old technology, but it's perfect for someone like me who needs direct hand-eye feedback.

today's learning task was more or less an art test: can I draw assets digitally using a tablet instead of a mouse, and still have a similar look to ink/paper? how long does that take? does it look usable?

i redrew the Lithos sigil from Ultima VIII in Aseprite. the same one i drew earlier in this thread using a pen/ink. here's what i learned:

first, i was delighted to learn that Aseprite supports digitizing tablets (with pressure/size /velocity/angle!) right out of the box.

second: suddenly i have undo/erase/redo! wow! there are no undos with ink pens, and it didn't take long to appreciate how wonderful being able to erase an errant pen stroke is.

third: undo/redo/erase sure slows things down. on one hand, i became more interested in undoing and redrawing mistakes, instead of "working mistakes into the drawing" as i would with ink. on the other hand, i was able to clean things up as i worked, producing a less messy drawing. i'd say this took almost twice as long as my inked version.

fourth: the cintiq has already paid for itself. after i fine-tuned the pen pressure to tip size ratio, (minimum 1px, max: 8px), suddenly the stylus felt very dynamic in my hand, almost like a real brush tip marker. the ink pen i had been using was 0.5mm, and produced *too* consistent line widths. this allowed me to vary my width a lot!

fifth: i will need an entirely different approach to do fineline 1px pixel art using the cintiq. it will still be possible, i suspect, but not at my current ability and pressure/size settings.

(if anyone wants to know - the drawing is at 512x384 - my intended game asset resolution.)

#learningToDraw #illustration #drawing #dosGaming

i have a very specific goal in mind for learning how to draw: i want to be able to illustrate 1-bit black/white art for a game i'm working on.

i've always sketched and doodled with pens. on the computer, i've used a mouse for all of my pixel art. screenless digitizing tablets mystify me like a 3 year old holding a PS2 controller.

as a middle ground, i found a beautiful (and cheap!) Cintiq 22HD locally. it's a digitizer with a large LCD screen that you draw directly on. this is 20 year old technology, but it's perfect for someone like me who needs direct hand-eye feedback.

today's learning task was more or less an art test: can I draw assets digitally using a tablet instead of a mouse, and still have a similar look to ink/paper? how long does that take? does it look usable?

i redrew the Lithos sigil from Ultima VIII in Aseprite. the same one i drew earlier in this thread using a pen/ink. here's what i learned:

first, i was delighted to learn that Aseprite supports digitizing tablets (with pressure/size /velocity/angle!) right out of the box.

second: suddenly i have undo/erase/redo! wow! there are no undos with ink pens, and it didn't take long to appreciate how wonderful being able to erase an errant pen stroke is.

third: undo/redo/erase sure slows things down. on one hand, i became more interested in undoing and redrawing mistakes, instead of "working mistakes into the drawing" as i would with ink. on the other hand, i was able to clean things up as i worked, producing a less messy drawing. i'd say this took almost twice as long as my inked version.

fourth: the cintiq has already paid for itself. after i fine-tuned the pen pressure to tip size ratio, (minimum 1px, max: 8px), suddenly the stylus felt very dynamic in my hand, almost like a real brush tip marker. the ink pen i had been using was 0.5mm, and produced *too* consistent line widths. this allowed me to vary my width a lot!

fifth: i will need an entirely different approach to do fineline 1px pixel art using the cintiq. it will still be possible, i suspect, but not at my current ability and pressure/size settings.

(if anyone wants to know - the drawing is at 512x384 - my intended game asset resolution.)

#learningToDraw #illustration #drawing #dosGaming

i have a very specific goal in mind for learning how to draw: i want to be able to illustrate 1-bit black/white art for a game i'm working on.

i've always sketched and doodled with pens. on the computer, i've used a mouse for all of my pixel art. screenless digitizing tablets mystify me like a 3 year old holding a PS2 controller.

as a middle ground, i found a beautiful (and cheap!) Cintiq 22HD locally. it's a digitizer with a large LCD screen that you draw directly on. this is 20 year old technology, but it's perfect for someone like me who needs direct hand-eye feedback.

today's learning task was more or less an art test: can I draw assets digitally using a tablet instead of a mouse, and still have a similar look to ink/paper? how long does that take? does it look usable?

i redrew the Lithos sigil from Ultima VIII in Aseprite. the same one i drew earlier in this thread using a pen/ink. here's what i learned:

first, i was delighted to learn that Aseprite supports digitizing tablets (with pressure/size /velocity/angle!) right out of the box.

second: suddenly i have undo/erase/redo! wow! there are no undos with ink pens, and it didn't take long to appreciate how wonderful being able to erase an errant pen stroke is.

third: undo/redo/erase sure slows things down. on one hand, i became more interested in undoing and redrawing mistakes, instead of "working mistakes into the drawing" as i would with ink. on the other hand, i was able to clean things up as i worked, producing a less messy drawing. i'd say this took almost twice as long as my inked version.

fourth: the cintiq has already paid for itself. after i fine-tuned the pen pressure to tip size ratio, (minimum 1px, max: 8px), suddenly the stylus felt very dynamic in my hand, almost like a real brush tip marker. the ink pen i had been using was 0.5mm, and produced *too* consistent line widths. this allowed me to vary my width a lot!

fifth: i will need an entirely different approach to do fineline 1px pixel art using the cintiq. it will still be possible, i suspect, but not at my current ability and pressure/size settings.

(if anyone wants to know - the drawing is at 512x384 - my intended game asset resolution.)

#learningToDraw #illustration #drawing #dosGaming

putting an ink pen to paper and drawing something is about the most terrifying thing to me (second only to a paintbrush). for that reason, it has been 13 years since i last sketched something. i suspect many painters feel the same way about programming.

posting my drawing progress photos here under the #learningToDraw tag, so feel free to mute that one since you're going to see some painful stuff over the next few months.

this time, i'm learning from Arthur Guptill's classic book on drawing, "Rendering in Pen and Ink", which has exercises and theory on line art.

https://archive.org/details/rendering-in-pen-and-ink-arthur-l.-guptil/mode/2up

for practice, one of my favourite subjects is the Ultima VIII: Pagan manual (The Chronicle of Pagan), illustrated with incredible line art by Denis Loubet. the designs have simple geometry, yet are incredibly detailed when it comes to hatching and line work.

overthinking is one of my major weaknesses. so today i sketched out the design very quickly in pencil (the outer shape of the parchment and mountains), and then began filling in lines without any preparation or plan.

the most fascinating part of drawing is learning how another illustrator's style works (e.g. the implicit rule-like practices they follow as they draw). Loubet's line art is consistently tight, in a way that my hand can't yet manage. his lines start light (usually with a dash or dot), and then become increasingly thick toward the bottom. i'm guessing he was using a brush-pen.

i'm using a fountain pen with a 0.5mm tip. it favours lines of consistent thickness, so it produces a less painterly look. my mind/hand doesn't quite know how to produce a straight line, so i get crude wavy lines instead.

i suspect real artists feel a need to doodle and sketch wherever they are, just as mathematicians have fun solving equations in the margins. i can't say that i "enjoy" illustration like i do solving a programming problem, but i'm getting something valuable from it, even if i don't know what that feeling is.

#drawing #learningToDraw #dosGaming

putting an ink pen to paper and drawing something is about the most terrifying thing to me (second only to a paintbrush). for that reason, it has been 13 years since i last sketched something. i suspect many painters feel the same way about programming.

posting my drawing progress photos here under the #learningToDraw tag, so feel free to mute that one since you're going to see some painful stuff over the next few months.

this time, i'm learning from Arthur Guptill's classic book on drawing, "Rendering in Pen and Ink", which has exercises and theory on line art.

https://archive.org/details/rendering-in-pen-and-ink-arthur-l.-guptil/mode/2up

for practice, one of my favourite subjects is the Ultima VIII: Pagan manual (The Chronicle of Pagan), illustrated with incredible line art by Denis Loubet. the designs have simple geometry, yet are incredibly detailed when it comes to hatching and line work.

overthinking is one of my major weaknesses. so today i sketched out the design very quickly in pencil (the outer shape of the parchment and mountains), and then began filling in lines without any preparation or plan.

the most fascinating part of drawing is learning how another illustrator's style works (e.g. the implicit rule-like practices they follow as they draw). Loubet's line art is consistently tight, in a way that my hand can't yet manage. his lines start light (usually with a dash or dot), and then become increasingly thick toward the bottom. i'm guessing he was using a brush-pen.

i'm using a fountain pen with a 0.5mm tip. it favours lines of consistent thickness, so it produces a less painterly look. my mind/hand doesn't quite know how to produce a straight line, so i get crude wavy lines instead.

i suspect real artists feel a need to doodle and sketch wherever they are, just as mathematicians have fun solving equations in the margins. i can't say that i "enjoy" illustration like i do solving a programming problem, but i'm getting something valuable from it, even if i don't know what that feeling is.

#drawing #learningToDraw #dosGaming

putting an ink pen to paper and drawing something is about the most terrifying thing to me (second only to a paintbrush). for that reason, it has been 13 years since i last sketched something. i suspect many painters feel the same way about programming.

posting my drawing progress photos here under the #learningToDraw tag, so feel free to mute that one since you're going to see some painful stuff over the next few months.

this time, i'm learning from Arthur Guptill's classic book on drawing, "Rendering in Pen and Ink", which has exercises and theory on line art.

https://archive.org/details/rendering-in-pen-and-ink-arthur-l.-guptil/mode/2up

for practice, one of my favourite subjects is the Ultima VIII: Pagan manual (The Chronicle of Pagan), illustrated with incredible line art by Denis Loubet. the designs have simple geometry, yet are incredibly detailed when it comes to hatching and line work.

overthinking is one of my major weaknesses. so today i sketched out the design very quickly in pencil (the outer shape of the parchment and mountains), and then began filling in lines without any preparation or plan.

the most fascinating part of drawing is learning how another illustrator's style works (e.g. the implicit rule-like practices they follow as they draw). Loubet's line art is consistently tight, in a way that my hand can't yet manage. his lines start light (usually with a dash or dot), and then become increasingly thick toward the bottom. i'm guessing he was using a brush-pen.

i'm using a fountain pen with a 0.5mm tip. it favours lines of consistent thickness, so it produces a less painterly look. my mind/hand doesn't quite know how to produce a straight line, so i get crude wavy lines instead.

i suspect real artists feel a need to doodle and sketch wherever they are, just as mathematicians have fun solving equations in the margins. i can't say that i "enjoy" illustration like i do solving a programming problem, but i'm getting something valuable from it, even if i don't know what that feeling is.

#drawing #learningToDraw #dosGaming

putting an ink pen to paper and drawing something is about the most terrifying thing to me (second only to a paintbrush). for that reason, it has been 13 years since i last sketched something. i suspect many painters feel the same way about programming.

posting my drawing progress photos here under the #learningToDraw tag, so feel free to mute that one since you're going to see some painful stuff over the next few months.

this time, i'm learning from Arthur Guptill's classic book on drawing, "Rendering in Pen and Ink", which has exercises and theory on line art.

https://archive.org/details/rendering-in-pen-and-ink-arthur-l.-guptil/mode/2up

for practice, one of my favourite subjects is the Ultima VIII: Pagan manual (The Chronicle of Pagan), illustrated with incredible line art by Denis Loubet. the designs have simple geometry, yet are incredibly detailed when it comes to hatching and line work.

overthinking is one of my major weaknesses. so today i sketched out the design very quickly in pencil (the outer shape of the parchment and mountains), and then began filling in lines without any preparation or plan.

the most fascinating part of drawing is learning how another illustrator's style works (e.g. the implicit rule-like practices they follow as they draw). Loubet's line art is consistently tight, in a way that my hand can't yet manage. his lines start light (usually with a dash or dot), and then become increasingly thick toward the bottom. i'm guessing he was using a brush-pen.

i'm using a fountain pen with a 0.5mm tip. it favours lines of consistent thickness, so it produces a less painterly look. my mind/hand doesn't quite know how to produce a straight line, so i get crude wavy lines instead.

i suspect real artists feel a need to doodle and sketch wherever they are, just as mathematicians have fun solving equations in the margins. i can't say that i "enjoy" illustration like i do solving a programming problem, but i'm getting something valuable from it, even if i don't know what that feeling is.

#drawing #learningToDraw #dosGaming

putting an ink pen to paper and drawing something is about the most terrifying thing to me (second only to a paintbrush). for that reason, it has been 13 years since i last sketched something. i suspect many painters feel the same way about programming.

posting my drawing progress photos here under the #learningToDraw tag, so feel free to mute that one since you're going to see some painful stuff over the next few months.

this time, i'm learning from Arthur Guptill's classic book on drawing, "Rendering in Pen and Ink", which has exercises and theory on line art.

https://archive.org/details/rendering-in-pen-and-ink-arthur-l.-guptil/mode/2up

for practice, one of my favourite subjects is the Ultima VIII: Pagan manual (The Chronicle of Pagan), illustrated with incredible line art by Denis Loubet. the designs have simple geometry, yet are incredibly detailed when it comes to hatching and line work.

overthinking is one of my major weaknesses. so today i sketched out the design very quickly in pencil (the outer shape of the parchment and mountains), and then began filling in lines without any preparation or plan.

the most fascinating part of drawing is learning how another illustrator's style works (e.g. the implicit rule-like practices they follow as they draw). Loubet's line art is consistently tight, in a way that my hand can't yet manage. his lines start light (usually with a dash or dot), and then become increasingly thick toward the bottom. i'm guessing he was using a brush-pen.

i'm using a fountain pen with a 0.5mm tip. it favours lines of consistent thickness, so it produces a less painterly look. my mind/hand doesn't quite know how to produce a straight line, so i get crude wavy lines instead.

i suspect real artists feel a need to doodle and sketch wherever they are, just as mathematicians have fun solving equations in the margins. i can't say that i "enjoy" illustration like i do solving a programming problem, but i'm getting something valuable from it, even if i don't know what that feeling is.

#drawing #learningToDraw #dosGaming

sharing my thoughts about Art

#Zajey #Writer #Filmmaker #Filmmaking #Screenwriting #IndieFilm #Director #Storytelling #DigitalArt #ZBrush #3DModeling #Sculpting #Artist #ArtStudent #SelfTaughtArtist #ArtSchool #LearningToDraw #ConceptArt #CharacterDesign #VisualDevelopment

Day 1 of Learning to Draw
Back at drawing after a long break.
The sketchbook is by ArtSkills the pencil I'm using is by PaperMate #beginnerartist #artbeginner #learningart #sketchbook #sketchbookart #sketchdaily #dailysketch #drawingpractice #artpractice #artstudy #learningtodraw #sketching #sketchart #roughsketch #lineart #pencildrawing #digitalartbeginner #traditionalart #artjournal #artprocess #workinprogress #artoftheday #draweveryday #creativeprocess #artistlife #newartist #originalart

Pre-work doodle

#learningtodraw #doodle

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

ニャンププの絵を見て、こんなことが頭に浮かんだ（絵は描けないけど、試してみた）
Looking at Nyampupu's drawing, this came to mind (I can't draw, but I gave it a try)

#イラスト #blobcat #learningtodraw #drawing #nekoprogram #mekoprogram #misskey

Practiced “figure drawing” Pita on the couch (she kept changing pose), annoyed by the light but too comfy to go to the other room in her bed #art #beginner #drawing #learningtodraw

Practicend “figure drawing” Pita on the couch (she kept changing pose), annoyed by the light but too comfy to go to the other room in her bed #art #beginner #drawing #learningtodraw