Supplies
- Col-erase 1283 light blue pencil
I used to be very picky with the type of paper I used. Which used to be (Bienfang : Designer Series, graphics 360 100% Rag translucent marker paper pad) Now I just use regular paper. Actually the
paper I use is a little thicker than printing paper. - Workable kneaded eraser
- EraserStik 7066B
- Pencils H-6B, You can also use a mechanical pencil, but I wouldn’t recommend it anymore for the
mere fact that it wears out your hand. 6B soft lead pencils are so much easier to use, just make sure
your line is acurate. - Trace-Clean powder ,to prevent any smudges on your drawing. (optional) I also use a small sheet of paper that I put between my drawing hand and the actual drawing.
- Over head lamp and allot of drinking water. ( a must!) Make sure that the light source comes from
the left if you are right handed and vice versa if you are left handed.
Rough Pass:
I sometimes put two thicker sheets of paper underneath the page that I will be drawing on, so I wont leave an impression on the next page (if you are using a pad). I quickly rough out my drawing with the light blue pencil, using my thumbnail as a guide. I focus on the big shapes first. Once I get most of the big important shapes down, I go straight for the face. Usually I like getting in close to work on the detail.
The eyes of the character are the most important part of your drawing, unless you are doing a drawing where you don't even see the face. However, when you are doing a drawing with facial expressions, the eyes all always the main focus. They must look solid and well placed on your figure's head. They are in essence, the "window to their souls". I also like starting with the head because I tend to have the most trouble there. I sometimes cant decide if I want her eyes closed or open, if I want her to be looking this way or that way. Or if I want to make her sad or happy. By this indecision, I tend to erase allot. Which makes the paper wear out and bubble. Sometimes I simply cant get the eyes placed right. Sometimes I do my drawing and I feel that something isn't right, like it’s skewed or something. When this happens, I take my drawing over to the mirror and look at it backwards (if you have a light table you can turn your drawing over and look at it with the light on.). I know it sounds funny, but it works! It allows you to see your drawing in a whole new perspective. I have the problem of skewing my drawings to one side, I don't know why I do this, but I do. So I take and look at my drawing through a mirror, and it helps me correct my mistakes and make my drawing more solid. This is one advice I definitely recommend to any artist out there, in what ever you do. I believe that if your drawing works in reverse form, then you are successful in creating perfect form.
Now only imagine if you were to draw out the entire body of your character first, and it was beautiful! but you screwed it up when you got to the head. Lets say it took you several tries to get the face right, by this time I imagine your paper being all warped. You could probably still use the drawing, but it is going to cause you allot of problems down the line. For instance, when you try to scan in your drawing, the scanner is not going to read some of the lines on your drawing because the paper is so warped, that you literately have to take an iron and straighten out your drawing. Now I don't really recommend using an iron, but your welcome to try it. You will probably end up burning your drawing, believe me, I've done it myself. Yet through trial and error, I've learned how not to do things.
Proportions:
So I have given you reasons why starting with the head is important. Another reason is proportions in your drawing (i.e. Judy is 3 3/4 heads high). I know that in some of drawings I have done of Judy, she seems allot taller than 3 3/4 head high. Which in fact she is. I suppose I wasn't really consciencelessly thinking about proportions then, but I look at my drawing now and I think "My God, what was I thinking? Look at the space between her rib cage and pelvis!" Those are my mistakes for not checking with the proportions ( always look at your reference). I know that some of you don't really care if she is a head taller or not, but I see it, and so may other artist who are better than me. So make sure you keep your proportions right. I sometimes had to make the whole drawing over because I was drawing Judy's head too big compared to George's. Most of the time, I would just erase and redraw, but after a while of doing that, your paper wears out. Hence the scanning problem again.
On-Model:
Make sure you constantly look at your reference to keep your characters on-model. Unless you've created your own character and have mastered drawing it, you have no need of reference. Constantly look at how the character is drawn in order to create a drawing that wont suck, to put it bluntly. Nothing is worse than seeing a drawing that is trying be erotic, but ends up being funny because the character is so badly drawn. I don't want any of you sending out drawings that suck, so look at your reference. If you can’t get the character down right, then you are trying too hard, or just aiming too high. I believe if you have the basic drawing skills down, you can duplicate anything. However, it takes years of practice to be able to create a unique and appealing drawings, unless you have the natural talent and have no need of art schools, and can whip out a perfect drawing all the time. Which I doubt very much. A true artist is an artist who will dedicate his or her entire life to learn how to draw, paint, sculp, act, or just interpret what we see into a unique form. I once replied to a fan about drawing certain characters, and I have adopted that reply as my manifesto. It goes likes this "I guess what I'm trying to say is that my drawings are geared more to create an unexpected situation where the main characters are in the act of doing something you could never imagine them doing simply because it is not in their nature." Now that is a mouthful, but I believe that as being an intractable part of my drawings being successful.
Don't just copy what they did in the reference you have. Study it and understand the shapes and volumes. Know that if you decide to stretch some part of your character, it will be consistent and true to the volumes it possesses.
Appeal:
Probably the most important part of your drawing will be the appeal. Appeal sometimes blends in with the design of the drawing. However, if your drawing is overall appealing, regardless of the design or proportions, even not putting it properly on-model, I guarantee that is will be a successful drawing. I think for any artist, it should be their number one priority. Sure, proportion and design are also important, but it takes an appealing drawing for a viewer to say "hey, this is pretty good". Now I can’t tell you what makes a drawing appealing. I just draw what I would like to see. If people like it, hey! That’s even better. There is all sorts of people out there. Some of them might consider my drawings horrible and appalling. I am not aiming to please those people, but as an artist, you do have to think who you want to reach. Look at all those Joe Camel billboards that they had such a fuss over. The reason was that they were aiming at the younger generation. Kids would look at that billboard and think that it is cool to smoke. I suppose it really appealed to that type of audience. Through subtle manipulation, the Tobacco company was able to lure millions on young smokers. (You can read more about apeal in a book titled “Sex Appeal: The Art of Allure in Graphic and Advertising Design” by Steven Heller.) Now as artist, you possess the same power to manipulate your audience to either feel angry, happy, horny, or just shocked. You can orchestrate a composition that will transport your audience into a world that you have chosen. Once you have accomplished that, it is up to your drawing to give an emotional statement. You want your audience to actually feel what you felt when you drew it. So if you can’t feel it, then your audience won’t either. I think that is probably one of the parts that makes a drawing appealing, having the ability to feel something from it. One way to know if your drawing is apealing, is to just simply ask someone "do you like it?" it usually gets a response.
Jab