Beginner artist. I've got some questions!

[Utage]

First off this is probably going to be a fairly large post with quite a few pictures. Huge thanks to those who help out, this forum's been a huge help in getting me started with drawing and it's been fun learning. I've yet to find any good guides though, so for the most part I've been winging it by looking over different guides and incorporating that into what I've been (trying) to do.

 

My first question is when drawing a head, do I use a perfect circle, like the one on the left, or one more like on the right? Does it actually make a difference or can you just use either?

My second question is if there's any kind of trick to drawing jaws/chin lines. Every time I've tried they just wind up looking absolutely horrid and kind of wonky. I can't seem to get the shape like on the right without it straight out looking like a V. You can see mine on the left:

 

And my last question is the interesting difference's in art depending on nationality. I've noticed that every guide I've found in English for "anime" seems more akin to cartoons rather than anime, moreso that all English artists seem to have a similar style. It's made learning an "anime" style fairly difficult as I have nothing to go on because I cannot find a guide for that particular style.

Is it possible to learn this style on my own, or am I just overthinking it? To give an example of what I mean I threw together something real quick. The two images on the left are two different Japanese artists. The picture on the right is from an English artist, and I've noticed a lot of other English artists use a similar style to his.

[Siriya]

Hi! I will try to answer your questions the best way i can! :D

 

My first question would be:

Do you use a tablet to draw? From the jawline question,i get the feeling that you are using a mouse. Why? Because the line was drawn very slow, without lifting the pen/mouse.  EDIT: Please ignore this question, already got my answer from your recent posts.

 

To answer your first question, most artists dont use a perfect circle when making a head. Those are mostly reserved for tutorials. :) The circle on the right is perfectly fine. 

 

Second question: If you are using a mouse to draw, use the line tool to make the jaw. If you are using a pen tablet,then you have to stop forcing your hand, keeping the pen on the tablet from the start till the end isnt good. :) Try drawing with quicker lines, lifting the pen in the process. If you try to draw a long,curved line without lifting the pen, your hand will cramp up.

 

Third question: You don't have to copy anyone's style. I am sure you have your own. Try drawing an eye without giving it much thought. There is a natural form/line/shape that you will get. For me, for example, i most of the time draw something like a half circle,thats the form i am happy with. You can also ''build'' your own style by ''borrowing'' the eyes of one artist, the hair from another, the mouth from another one and so on. Don't limit yourself by trying to copy the style of a single artist.

 

Here are some examples for circles,jawline and eyes that i scribbled down real quick. :) 

As you can see, the circles i draw for heads are far from perfect. I use quick hand movements.

 

Try making the jawline with 4 separate lines. Remember not to force your hand. :)

 

Try out some eye shapes.Try to find the shape that feels the most natural to your...hand and brain. xD

 

If you have any more questions, i would be very happy to help you. It's really nice to see,that you are having fun at drawing /learning to draw. :D

 

 

[Siriya]

This might help.

I noticed that in your jawline image, there is actually no drawn in limit/point where the chin should be and where the jawline meets. That's pretty important. Maybe drawing in a red dot (see picture) where the chin should be, will help you. That way,you have an aim, a goal , a precise spot your lines have to meet. Also see the jawline, its important that u use more strokes (in this case 2/ side). Don't try to draw the whole thing with one long line. :) 

[Siriya]

My bad, i read some of your recent forum posts and now know that you are using a tablet.So please ignore my question in the first post. To draw in a more natural way with a tablet, you have to imagine,that you are using a pen and paper. It wont break,so don't be scared of it. Slide your hand across the tablet while drawing, just like on normal paper. It took me a few days to get the hand-eye coordination right when i got my first tablet, so be patient. :) 

[Utage]

Thanks @Siriya! That's really good advice. I appreciate it. ^^

 

I actually have been keeping my pen on the tablet the whole time when I draw lines, eheh. I'll try out what you said. My lines look kind of off/curved if I do it quickly, though I haven't had the tablet long so I'll just keep practicing until I get the hang of that.

 

As for the jawlines part, in another thread it was recommended that I use diagonal lines. Would that work as well, or would it be easier to try the dot?

 

[Siriya]

1 minute ago, Utage said:

Thanks @Siriya! That's really good advice. I appreciate it. ^^

 

I actually have been keeping my pen on the tablet the whole time when I draw lines, eheh. I'll try out what you said. My lines look kind of off/curved if I do it quickly, though I haven't had the tablet long so I'll just keep practicing until I get the hang of that.

 

As for the jawlines part, in another thread it was recommended that I use diagonal lines. Would that work as well, or would it be easier to try the dot?

 

You should try out both, and see what works for you. :) Which one gives you a better result. Everyone has a different way of doing things. Maybe,with time,you even discover a new method for drawing heads.  Pick the one you are more comfortable with. 

[Utage]

This isn't too bad for my second attempt. I think? I tried out using the dot as a "marker" this time for the jawline and chin, it looks a lot better than before for sure. Though I think I made the circle too wide, it should probably be a bit narrower. It looks like the jaw could be a little shorter too.

[Siriya]

You can get a shorter jaw by placing the dot higher up. :) Try experimenting with it.

[Peo]

@UtageWith time you get better with that. Don't worry. 
For me it seems already like you improved a lot. Keep it up^-^

[Utage]

It's not exactly the next Picasso, but it's a pretty solid start considering the best I could draw two days ago were stick figures!

Changing the jaw and eyebrows is pretty fun too.

 

I can probably learn the rest, and get better from practice at this point, but I've got two last questions.

 

Is it bad etiquette to copy parts of the body to different areas? Like for the ears I drew the left ear, then copied it and reversed it for the right ear. I wouldn't normally, but I can never get the ears/eyes to match when I draw them again on the other side.

 

The last one is what order I should be learning to draw the body parts. I'm guessing it's head>hair>body?

 

Also thanks for the help again, I'd probably still be drawing high-res stick figures if not for your guys' help. ^^

[Siriya]

Looks good. It looks like you are getting a hang of drawing the head. Nice.

 

To answer your questions, no its not ''bad etiquette'' to copy one eye and glue it on the other side of the face. But, i would encourage you to do something else. Flip the canvas. That way you get a mirrored image. For example: for me its easier to draw the right eye, so thats what i start with. After i have drawn the eye, i go to Edit (most of the time there is a shortcut for this) and flip the canvas. Now the right eye i just drawn turned into the left eye. Now i can draw the other eye comfortably. After i am done i flip the canvas back,and check for mistakes. The 2 eyes dont have to be exactly exactly the same.

When i get very frustrated i use the copy/paste method as well. But i try to avoid that.

 

Flipping the canvas is a great way to check for mistakes. Your eyes get used to the drawing you are working on, flipping the canvas will give you a fresh view. You should flip your canvas every 20 mins, to check for mistakes, or things that are just off.

 

Face and hair, i think, should be the first part to concentrate on. You can tackle everything at once as well. It's really up to you . :) But if you start with the head and hair, you will be able to draw portraits at first, then you can start with the body. But its really up to you.

 

What i wanted to ask, if you dont mind:

 

What knd of tablet are you using? What drawing/painting software are you using?

 

I noticed that you have no pressure sensitivity enabled. :) 

[Utage]

I'm using an Intuos Art for the tablet, and Clip Studio Paint for the software.

 

Yeah like I said, I just picked it up two days ago so I haven't really messed with the settings too much, although I did see that option. I should probably turn it on.

 

(Thanks for the tips!)

[cactusberry]

Just gonna drop this guide here http://hel999.deviantart.com/art/Face-Drawing-Tutorial-180756806 it's not anime style but it'll definitely help you learn proportions and such. My friend draws several anime styles very well and he says this guide helped him a lot when he was learning to draw.

[Siriya]

10 hours ago, Utage said:

I'm using an Intuos Art for the tablet, and Clip Studio Paint for the software.

 

Yeah like I said, I just picked it up two days ago so I haven't really messed with the settings too much, although I did see that option. I should probably turn it on.

 

(Thanks for the tips!)

Nice! I am also using Clip Studio Paint! I really love that program. If you have any questions ,please feel free to ask. If you would like some of my brushes/pencils that i made, i would love to share. :)

 

About pressure sensitivity, please enable it. You will have a lot more fun and get better/prettier lines.

[ArtBoxx]

Practice drawing lines...just draw free lines on your canvas. It's always a good start. 

[Zerecas]

One basic thing that you should take note of, (just in case you don't realise) is that during your drawing or colouring processes, flip your canvas horizontally once a while, you may spot some awkward appearance mistakes.

[Ninfu]

Im gonna say this now you've lot more to learn before even thinking about these stuff.

 

Im gonna link you good place where to learn basic stuff. Also pls if you decide to learn them follow instructions of each lesson and start from beginning. It takes time and effort to learn these things but everyone has to learn them somehow

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/

[Utage]

2 hours ago, Ninfu said:

Im gonna say this now you've lot more to learn before even thinking about these stuff.

 

Im gonna link you good place where to learn basic stuff. Also pls if you decide to learn them follow instructions of each lesson and start from beginning. It takes time and effort to learn these things but everyone has to learn them somehow

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/

 

Yeah I'm aware it takes time. It's pretty fun though, so even if it takes me a year of daily practice I don't mind. Just seeing myself go from stick figures to something that looks remotely like a human head is really fulfilling.

 

7 hours ago, Siriya said:

Nice! I am also using Clip Studio Paint! I really love that program. If you have any questions ,please feel free to ask. If you would like some of my brushes/pencils that i made, i would love to share. :)

 

About pressure sensitivity, please enable it. You will have a lot more fun and get better/prettier lines.

Alright, cool! I'll go ahead and turn it on now then.

As for the brushes, I think I'm just going to practice the basics and try out drawing heads until I get the hang of it before I worry about that kind of thing. I really appreciate the offer though.

[Ninfu]

6 minutes ago, Utage said:

 

Yeah I'm aware it takes time. It's pretty fun though, so even if it takes me a year of daily practice I don't mind. Just seeing myself go from stick figures to something that looks remotely like a human head is really fulfilling.

 

Alright, cool! I'll go ahead and turn it on now then.

As for the brushes, I think I'm just going to practice the basics and try out drawing heads until I get the hang of it before I worry about that kind of thing. I really appreciate the offer though.

Yup then i highly recommend doing those tutorials while they are not for just manga but they'll help you lot. And take it easy do lessons few hours a day then if you got extra time just doodle something. Fastest way is just to do it everyday.

 

Also you can try to copy other artist work and try to figure out how they did their art but that something when you know your fundamentals and rules.

That lesson gives quite nice start for beginners and you dont have to worry about what to do. Im too kind of beginner or well not beginner but not skilled enough and im doing those excersises almost every day and those lesssons

[Utage]

Oh, well apparently I did have pen pressure enabled! Or at least I think I do. Does it seem like it's not enabled @Siriya?

[Glitch]

I dont know if anyone has said anything but it is okay for it to look really messy and very sketch-like. You can clean it up later. If you try to just "copy by eye" without making multiple strokes, it's exactly why you get that weird wonky jaw from your opening post. Until you improve to a point that it becomes second nature, use your strokes! You can see it from Siriya's post (the first reply).

[Utage]

18 hours ago, Glitch said:

I dont know if anyone has said anything but it is okay for it to look really messy and very sketch-like. You can clean it up later. If you try to just "copy by eye" without making multiple strokes, it's exactly why you get that weird wonky jaw from your opening post. Until you improve to a point that it becomes second nature, use your strokes! You can see it from Siriya's post (the first reply).

Yeah the strokes definitely make a world of a difference, that being said, I still have some trouble with making the jaw look pointy. I've definitely gotten a little better than when I started out though:

 

I'm having a little too much fun with this.

 

EDIT: While I'm thinking about it, I found something curious. I noticed this artist doesn't use a center line or a guide line. In addition to that, he draws the jaw INSIDE the initial circle. What's the deal with that, is it just some "I operate on a completely different level of skill" kind of thing?

 

 

 

[Utage]

I hate bumping my own threads, but I'm really curious as to why that artist drew the face and jawline like that. Does no one know?

[Karurosuda]

Its just a way they draw, I do it too. They have enough experience to guesstimate the shape without guidelines. For the circle,  its more a proximity thing;  the reason they do that is to make sure all components of the head (head, hair, etc) more or less stay within that circle so everything comes up to scale and avoids oversizing.

These are just individual habits some artists have