[SushiMaster]

Hi. Sorry to ask a question which you've probably been asked hundreds of thousands of times yet again, but...

I'm trying to learn how to draw. Right now, what I'm doing is mostly trying to sketch photos out (with a pencil), or looking at other people's drawings and trying to reproduce that on the paper. I've been using some of Ed Tadeo's tutorials ( http://draw.itgo.com/ ) on how to draw and all, and I was wondering if there other tutorial sites for drawing, shading etc.

I'm not talking about tutorials like the one on sijun.com, which tell you the steps to shading with, say, a tablet (I don't have a tablet yet, though, theoretically, I should be getting one soon), but rather about tutorials which tell you how to decide what to make what shade? What to make bright, what to make dark? How to work out the lighting...? There must be some generic rules, etc... perhaps also tutorials explaining how to (or not to) smudge pencil strokes properly (I don't seem to be too good at it) to get a good smooth look on gradients... see what I mean?

Also, do you know of any sites with anatomical drawings that I could copy to learn where the muscles are, etc?

And of course any advice to a dilettante would be welcome! :-)

[Fred Flick Stone]

Don't need to apologize.

As of yet, I haven't seen a great many tutorials online that explain alot of what you ask. But there is a list of books you can start getting. I think if you type in the paint along with fred in the search engine, I listed a number of books that will help you in your endeavors. THe website you mentioned is not what I would call grade A. There are many things said on that site that were obviously written by someone who has "ONLY" drawn comics. This guy has not had a great deal of real art training, or real world figure drawing. He makes so good points, but more misleading ones than anything.
Look at those who came before us, all the popular professionals who got books published on them, etc. This is always the best place to start. Then figure out what you want to draw and or paint, then pusue those avenues. With art, there is so much to learn, that you should have one goal, and stick with it till you feel you have absorbed all that you can, and practiced it equally. The rest is a search and find kinda thing, like the rest of us have done and been doing for so long.

Good luck on your hunt...Go to www.wattsatelier.com or www.associatesinart.com. These are two schools I have taught at, and I know for a fact that they are top notch in terms of what you want in art.

[psi burn]

just an observation, the only posts i ever see by mr. fred are replies to anatomy, or tutorials... :l. no hidden meaning behind this, just an observation.

[This message has been edited by psi burn (edited July 11, 2000).]

[DeathbyDuplicity]

SushiMaster, get under Freds armpits and follow him around! No really! You can learn a lot from this guy, stuff that most of us here wouldn't take out time to tell you! By my opinion anyhow.

[AliasMoze]

SushiMaster,
I feel you, man.
I still haven't seen any resources for calculating a value generated by a light source. Fred was hosting a class in this forum earlier, having people shade cubes. I took it upon myself to do many, many of these, and I have to tell you it was the most educational thing I've done in painting. Do that if you can.

As far as smooth gradients and that kind of thing, I wouldn't worry about it. I'd lump this in with technique, which is something that should be avoided in the beginning IMO. Technique will be learned piece by piece over time, as you learn the essentials (again, IMO).

For example, on the heels of Fred's cube class, I had to do about 20 or so background paintings for animation. Then I found out I had to do them in Flash, vith vectors. It sounds nightmarish, but it was actually another great exercise in painting. I had to focus on getting the shapes and values correct first, which is at the heart of a good image. The rest is just detail. Then, when I got back to Photoshop, I actually WANTED to focus on those things, because I was simply used to it. Working with the limitations of Flash was like warming up to bat with the weights on. When you take them off, you swing harder.

Good luck. You seem to be asking some of the right questions. Just listen to Fred and Spoogedemon.

BTW, Here's one the images done in Flash I was talking about. It's all vector, no gradients at all and no transparencies. Also, there's the rough block of shapes. Sorry if I'm monopolizing your thread.



------------------
AliasMoze

"That activates my hilarity unit."

[This message has been edited by AliasMoze (edited July 12, 2000).]

[SushiMaster]

I've just found a pretty amazing (at least at first sight - haven't had time to study it all in depth) collection of tutorials along the general theme of "how to draw":
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/index.html

Thanks for the advice, guys! :-)

Daniel

[daz199]

heres the best tutorial you'll ever read:

1. practice
2. practice more
3. keep practicin!

thats how i became good at drawing and i'm only 15! i got a lot more drawin 2 do!
the best place to start for me was to copy off comic books...then after you get the shapes right start drawing your own guys. Spawn was the best help for me..

and 4 tha muscles...well i only have to look at my own arms hehehe
again comic books really help although they exaggerate things

i hope this helps!