Really need help.

[Yoshimaster96]

I've been trying to draw for a while now, but never seem to get any better. It feels as if I'm missing something big. I have a feeling it's creativity, though I could be wrong. I have been searching on Google "how to be creative", "creativity for the left brained", "creativity logically", "creativity analytically and concretely", to no avail. I like programming, math, and computer science and technology. I'm really the left brained, logical type. I really want to get better at art. Help please!

 

[Mikazuki Marazhu]

I'm left-brained but I never draw. I use my creativity in cooking because I have a passion for food.
Sometimes I wish I'm right-minded though. I'd love to win an argument against Clayton

 

[Crunchy_Bat]

Why don't you start practicing the more technical sides of art. Start drawing still lifes, getting familiar with body measurements and proportions, Or doing some calculated perspective work. There are plenty of calculated more technique heavy things you can do in art that rely less on creativity, and doing these things will help you develope a style and understanding of how to make better compositions.

 

[Charrio]

I find fanart works well when stuck.
It keeps your abilities moving and you don't have to think of a subject.
If your feeling brave use your own version of the character, if not basic Fanart works.

Its the trying to use your skills to adopt a new style or mimic the way a Character looks if different than your norm, you may learn something too.

 

[N30Nphoenix]

A good place to start practicing is to set up some objects (plants, dishes, fruits and such) and do some intuitive gesture, and this will give you a good feel for drawing forms.

 

[Yoshimaster96]

Sorry it's been a while, I was at school.

So, the process I go through for my drawings is as follows:
Draw geometric shapes aligned to a grid to form the outline.
Fill with color.
Shade if necessary.
Done!

There are reasons why I do geometric shapes aligned to an 8x8 grid:
Easier for my logical side to handle.
Easier to draw.

When i decide to do a drawing in Photoshop or PaintTool, my tablet is hard to use, the pen is wiggly, I can never draw lines where I want, etc. In fact, I can hardly draw straight lines at all! STRAIGHT LINES!

 

[Maugryph]

Sorry it's been a while, I was at school.

So, the process I go through for my drawings is as follows:
Draw geometric shapes aligned to a grid to form the outline.
Fill with color.
Shade if necessary.
Done!

There are reasons why I do geometric shapes aligned to an 8x8 grid:
Easier for my logical side to handle.
Easier to draw.

When i decide to do a drawing in Photoshop or PaintTool, my tablet is hard to use, the pen is wiggly, I can never draw lines where I want, etc. In fact, I can hardly draw straight lines at all! STRAIGHT LINES!

Ditch the grid. Your not designing homes. Character art is not like CAD. If you want to be fluid and your artwork to have life; You will need to practice gesture drawing and breaking down complex objects to simple 3d forms. For organic objects, straight lines are rarely needed.
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/constructive-form-pt-1
And if you want to get better at your line work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDNDOKnArk

 

[Charrio]

Ditch the grid. Your not designing homes. Character art is not like CAD. If you want to be fluid and your artwork to have life; You will need to practice gesture drawing and breaking down complex objects to simple 3d forms. For organic objects, straight lines are rarely needed.
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/constructive-form-pt-1
And if you want to get better at your line work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDNDOKnArk

This so much!
Organics like animals and nature NEVER have straight lines or perfection.
When you do see things like that in nature it's odd and usually means MAN has done some alteration since hard lines are rare in nature.

So when drawing it makes quite a difference to free hand things unless you're drawing buildings or anything man made.

 

[DrGravitas]

The whole Left-Brain logic, Right-Brain creativity thing is pseudo-science garbage and real neurology proves it. Don't let it psyche you out get yourself stuck in a mindset that tells you you can't change. Creativity is just a different way of thinking; it takes training and exercise. You can't draw straight lines and curves the way you want because you lack motor control finesse, not creativity. This will come with practice. How much practice varies from person to person because their life has pushed or pulled them in directions that develop general skill sets more applicable to the task they're trying to learn, not from some innate, hardwired tendency towards it; genetics and biology are far more complicated than that.

As for how to learn to think creatively, I suggest a combination of practicing what creators do with reading and reflecting the thoughts, sayings, and teachings of creative people. Creativity is an expression of a wealth of tacit knowledge, reorganized, reimagined, and remoulded towards the desires of the creative person and the outcomes they pursue. As with any other body of knowledge, you can acquire it; but as tacit knowledge it cannot so easily be taught.

Just don't give up and keep trying! If something isn't working, try mixing it up and doing something different. Seeking help is a good start towards finding alternative approaches.

 

[Maugryph]

This so much!
Organics like animals and nature NEVER have straight lines or perfection.
When you do see things like that in nature it's odd and usually means MAN has done some alteration since hard lines are rare in nature.

So when drawing it makes quite a difference to free hand things unless you're drawing buildings or anything man made.

Thank you

 

[Yoshimaster96]

I'm just really inclined to draw geometric shapes, so it's hard for me to draw freehand.

Have I been doing too much calculus and programming? XD

 

[Crunchy_Bat]

I'm just really inclined to draw geometric shapes, so it's hard for me to draw freehand.

Have I been doing too much calculus and programming? XD

Why dont you find some objects lying around your house that are rigid and geometric and arrange them in an interesting way, then draw them on white paper, then if you feel up for the challenge, drape a bit of cloth over them. HARD MODE!

 

[DrGravitas]

Or you could always give 3D Modeling a shot. It has a healthy mix of technical and creativity. Calculus and Programming skills definitely come in handy!

 

[Centradragon]

What interests do you have? Is there a way to fit art into one of your hobbies as a way to express/describe something? You could draw a more logical/functional map for a video game that needs it (probably ever old game ever, hahaha), or maybe you really love bugs and would enjoy drawing/recording all the different moth wing patterns you see? Perhaps you have a robotic toy that would be fun to take apart and draw diagrams of? You might even have a favorite board game that would be fun to create an unofficial expansion to.

Those things aren't necessarily "oh my god I just have so many feels for this", but I think they're still really fun and interesting to do. ALL artists have interests well outside the immediate realm of illustration, and I think creativity can't really be pushed in the way you're looking for. If you think logically, just do things logically. It will still be you and unique.



Actually, that's probably the difference between fine art and illustration — fine art you do of your own volition, and illustration usually has more of a commercial purpose (medical drawings, commissions, fantasy art for this or that client). One isn't better than the other, but you sound more like you'd enjoy the "focus" of illustration more than the overwhelming freedom of fine art. It isn't a hard line, either — some people will flow back and forth between the two, and others will stick to one or the other. Just try to figure out your interests, and see how you can apply art to make those even more enjoyable to you.

 

[FireFeathers]

Hello extremely logical artist! I too am extremely logical. And logically, i can tell you it doesn't mean a thing, lol. Creativity's based on both sides of the brain. The way to go around being wild and free spirit is to use your logical ness to be regimented and disciplined. Have set hours set aside for sketching, throw out all your goddamn graph paper because you are not a dot-matrix printer composing your dot-matrix symposium. Just...fucking burn it. No! Bad lefty. Accurately think about what you've done.

Centra and I were actually discussing this a few days back. She is very right brained...creative brained...whatever the normal one is/ and I'm more logical and planned. And there are pros and cons to both. I have trouble being spontaneous with my images. I like knowing what i'm supposed to draw, and i've got enough training to relax a little and draw whatever, but for the most part, I get a subject, I have good methods on figuring out what a customer wants based on how they talk about their description, and I'm able to fulfill what they want with a pretty high mark of accuracy. No, i can't just...start drawing some sort of beautiful nothing-thing and it turns out amazing and I call this new creature "the fluffernutter" on a whim, but I can combine and play around with biological forms i've learned to replicate, mixing things more like a recipe. And as a benefit, I don't have to wait for the right type of whim to hit me to be motivated to draw. I don't get artblocks. I get...art downgrades that I power through then come back better a month later.

The thing i saw with most of my stereotypical right brained friends (ie, collegue hipsters) is they had a hard time doing assignments. They didn't like being told what to draw (to the point of just quitting the program) they relied too much on what they wanted to see, instead of listening and responding to what the instructor wanted from them. And honestly, the vast majority of them didn't do anything with their degree after college, and a large portion of them don't have a job right now. I don't even think they paint, for the most part, they'd tell me how the teacher "spoiled" their want to draw. I had Jon Foster tear my portfolio a new one and tell me my stuff was shit, which parts were shit, and I just nodded and went "Okay! I'll fix it" then had my friends consoling me afterwards like Jon Foster spit in my face and I shouldn't give up on drawing. I had no inking to ever stop drawing or consider my career over, so i was sorta baffled why they'd think i'd be so upset. It's literally a fantastic benefit to be stubborn and disciplined. As your logical self will tell you- if you keep practicing, you will get better, and you will succeed eventually. And it's right.

So fuckin' rock it, friend!

 

[Yoshimaster96]

I'll need my graph paper for level design and pixelation of drawn graphics, but for now I probably don't need it.

I don't know how to pose my characters accurately and precisely. I also get a lot of art blocks, and very often. Ideas don't come to me.

What will the background be? Who will be pred and who will be prey? How fat or squirmy will the pred's belly be? I ask these questions, but no answer or response from anyone.

 

[Zeitzbach]

I don't think programming has anything to do with it. Think of it this way.

An art piece can be anything you can imagine.
And that every art piece can be broken down into shape. A picture, when it is shown on a computer, is just millions of pixels on the screen.

So if you're really the type to go "100% math", then use that math to your advantage and abuse the crap out of the golden ratio to get the exact ideal size for everything. Get the exactly length of the arm and compute it in your head the difference if the size and how much you will see if you pull it in at a certain angle (perspective). It may look dumb but it's just how it works if you have drawn blueprint stuffs before where you know the exact focus and reference point from swirling the compass around.

 

[Yoshimaster96]

Consider this an issue of its own:

I recently made this (warning, vore):
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15666786/
I don't see any improvement from my previous drawings such as "Satisfied Lumpy Alien" and "Alien Burps" series, but I don't know how to improve. How would I make my drawings better?

 

[Unsilenced]

Consider this an issue of its own:

I recently made this (warning, vore):
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15666786/
I don't see any improvement from my previous drawings such as "Satisfied Lumpy Alien" and "Alien Burps" series, but I don't know how to improve. How would I make my drawings better?

You don't go out of your comfort zone. You draw pretty much exclusively characters with spherical heads and rounded bodies. You don't really draw necks or facial features, and avoid PoVs that aren't dead-on or profile. You pick simple shapes from simple angles. You might think this makes for better art, since doing something easy at X skill level should turn out better than doing something hard at that skill level, but pushing limits is how you get better at art. Whenever you find yourself thinking "no fucking way I can draw it like that," draw it exactly like that. It will take longer and it might be frustrating, but that's how you're going to improve as an artist.

Here is probably the best piece of art in your gallery:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15227568/

Here you used a view that was somewhat closer to a 3/4ths view. Notice how both arms are visable, but one is obviously closer, and you can see the front of the character. The character isn't directly facing the viewer, nor is he directly facing the side. This is one of the most important angles to draw at. Most other common angles are permutations of it. You also gave the torso a more complex shape than a sphere or oval, which is what you commonly use in other pictures.

The feet, however, are still firmly stuck in two dimensions. Most people stand with a 45-90 degree angle between their feet unless they're standing at attention. This means that in this case, one should be 'down' the page, at about 45 degrees (diagonal), while the other might be pointing slightly "up" the page. Try not to draw things coming directly out of/into the page, or draw them going straight up/down/left/right relative to the viewer. These angles make objects look flat, like areas on the page rather than representations of physical objects.


EDIT: You are also worrying far too much about straight lines and geometric shapes. You need to draw free-handed. Geometric shapes can give you a general idea of what things look like, but on organic beings, lines flow. Also, think of geometry in terms of three dimentional volumes. Think of things in terms of simple solids. Cones, pyramids, boxes and spheres, instead of squares, triangles and circles.

Creatures are not made of straight lines. Everything in your body is basically kind of squiggly if you look closely enough. There are also very few sharp angles in the body. Most lines meet other lines at a tangent. There are exceptions of course, especially when one object overlaps another, but try to think of things as being generally rounded.

 

[Yoshimaster96]

Sorry it's been a while, stupid parental issues. Anyway, I think I'd like criticism on "Yuki's Fat Belly". I believe it's my best drawing on paper. None of the digital ones are any good, and recently my parents not only limited my computer time, but blocked FurAffinity as well. Luckily I can sort of access most of DeviantART, so I'll post there mostly, for however long this takes. Still won't post hardly ever though. This severely limits the time I can improve my drawing. So, any good suggestions or critiques?