I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on how to improve my drawings? Perhaps a link to a transformer drawing tutorial. Here are some examples. http://i16.tinypic.com/2u7wrxk.jpg http://i17.tinypic.com/2yjvblw.jpg
best advice is at this point, find somebody elses drawing that you like, try and copy it. practise that to the point where you dont depend on copying directly.
You're pretty good for your age. Just keep practicing, until you get to the point where you can see an image in your head, and copy that image to the paper accurately. Also it helps to start with the pose you want, make a stick figure of it, then sketch lightly around it in pencil until you get the body form you want. Make sure you have a big eraser too. Then outline the result you're happy with in ink.
One of the main things you need to do when drawing is to turn off the left side of your brain as the imagination is on the right side, therefore turnoff your tv For example so you don't have a distraction to turn to and think about using the left side of your brain and may disturb the thing you were imagining in your head. One of the things I learnt as a kid when I was copying another picture.... e.g. drawing a comic book cover I had (not tracing it) was to look at the picture you are copying (eg. comic book) while drawing the line on your sketch pad (eg. keep your eye on the comic not the sketch pad) and lightly glide your pencil back & forth sketching that line you are looking at. Doing that you will start to feel that line you are drawing and the length of the line will slowly become the correct length as you will feel where the line starts & ends. You will obviously go back over your light sketch with a darker pencil when your happy with the proportions of your completed sketch. Look at your sketch pad every now and then offcourse while drawing but remember to mostly keep your eye on the comic while gliding your pencil back and Forth till you feel the line is correct, then check it by looking at your sketch. Its best to step away from your drawing every now& then and look at it again from there and you will see any mistakes you many have made but not noticed when you holding the drawing in your arms. Although I have the book, I never got round to reading it but know it Is a high rated book that will teach you better than I am trying to here. Here is a link to the book on amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Drawing-Right-Side-Brain/dp/0007116454/ref=sr_1_2/026-1710298-5749217?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173566042&sr=8-2 lm obviously no teacher but I hope some of all that made sence. Good luck for the future.
no bugger that its all rubbish. get a book on anatomy and learn how joints work, there is really no short-cut like this 'wave your pencil around a piece of paper while turning your tv off' stuff. about the only thing vaguely useful you can glran from that post is that when you are drawing, you need to spend 90% of the itme observing and 10% of the time drawing. how old are you by the way? i cant see it in your profile..
Help Well I kinda learned own my own though i'm still between a beginner and intermediate, I mainly used other people's art work like Josh's and Blitz's. Also I use my tf figures to help me out in drawing out the character this was my first tf drawing I used cybertron hotshot as my reference [http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/43719793/?qo=5&q=by%3Ajimprime&qh=sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps I'm still learning but i've improved alot, I practice everyday even in school, even though i something get in trouble for that , so practice and u'll get better everytime
Hmm the best advice has already been iven..anatomy lessons..you need to know the way a human moves and how the body is connected before you can begin to warp it into other things. Most animaters/comic guys are Michealangelo standard illustrators. They know enough about the human body to distort it into cartoons and such. http://www.sketchtavern.com/forum/index.php This place has a lot of tutorials on drawing. I suggest going there and reading the basics section. Also ask them questions, they are cool cats over there.
I thought it was said he was 11. So just a general thing let's keep the language to PG just for this thread at least.
ok actually here's a shortcut.. find a photo of a person in a nice pose, then print it out.. then put another piece of paper over the top of it so you can just about see the person underneath showing through the top paper. then draw a rough outline of them.. then youll have all the basic proportions taken care of, which you can then expand out to turn into a transformer. if you keep doing that, you'll get used to how a body is constructed and moves, and eventually wont need to do the tracing
I have to respectfully disagree there my friend. There are no shortcuts when it comes to drawing (IMO). If you use shortcuts you are only screwing yourself in the longrun (speaking from personal experience). Leanring to draw correctly is more than copying. I hope the little guy learns a way that suits him but thats not going to hinder him in the process.
yeah but for an 11 year old, tracing figures is a good place to start, there arent many 11 year olds who have good enough dexterity observation and skill to do good life-drawing..
i would recommend against tracing. itd be one thing if he were starting from scratch but based on his dwgs, lil dude already has a sense of propotion and symmetry. why regress?
Thats where the basics of figure drawing come in..IE Stick men. Getting intot he habit doing gesture execises using stick men will help no end. Also learning to see the world in shapes helps with basic poses too. Like KA said it seems like a regression if he traces. I can appreciate where you are coming from though man. Tracing would be easier for the little dude, but in the long run its gonna mess him up. I don't want him goign through what I had too is all.
Thank you all for the help. I really appreciate it. I'd also like to be called a female. I'm not a guy.
What I reccomend is finding pics of the toys, and when you draw them, "modernize" them. For example the g1` wheeljack lacks a lot of articulation, so try drawing him with full articulation. The old toy could not bend at the elbows, but what if he could? Try looking at it that way, drawing out what you think he would look like. That way you are giving the design your original interpretation, drawing it in your way, rather than looking like a carbon copy of someone else. Its good to see how one draws something but its more important to know why he/she drew it in that way, rather than how. Hope that helps.
