I wish I could draw... aid me!

I really do wish I was better at drawing. I get really vivid depictions of things in my mind, but when it comes to actually drawing them, they never come out quite right.

I'm not bad, if I have something to copy from - I've attached a picture of a gnoll ranger/psion from my Acrozatarim campaign. I drew this from a diterlizzi picture that I thought depicted gnolls in the way I wanted - wild and noble, not slavering rabid jackals - with a fair number of alterations. The original is a profile of just the head of a gnoll from an adventure in a Dungeon magazine that pitted the players against a druid circle of gnolls, hobgoblins, half-orcs and kobolds.

But even so, attempting to draw is a slow, often frustrating process. This picture was actually mostly drawn while I was drunk, which probably helped

What I'd really like to be able to do is draw better - especially people, and especially their faces!

So I ask you, benevolent folk, do you know of, for instance, any good sites which give tutorials on such things? Do you have any good hints or tips? I may never be a diterlizzi but I'd really like to brush up my skills a bit.

Oh, the gnoll is called Storm Eagle, btw

I'm not much of an artist, in fact I haven't tried to draw anything in years. However while I was in high school (10+ years ago) I found a video called how to draw comics the marvel way (or something similar). The video actually helped me with the basics of what steps to follow. I don't know if this would help you but it might be worth a trip to blockbuster.

If you go down to your local comic book shop, there should be a dozen books that should give you the specifics on how to get better. Look through them first, otherwise you don't know what you're getting.

However, the good ones will emphasize this: practice. If you draw an hour a day, you will get good, maybe not professional, but enough that you can draw a decent pencil drawing. But don't just draw one thing... draw faces, of all types, different poses, body styles, objects, buildings, settings, everything. If you draw the same thing over and over, you'll get really good at drawing that, but like anything else, you need to challenge yourself, drawing new things, to get really good.

If you want to draw people better, then my suggestion would be as follows.

Get a camera and photograph parts and poses, try to have your muse (aka Victim <g>) stand against a nondescript background, or place their hand, foot, face etc.. in front of a plain surface (hang a sheet if need be) so their is no distracting backdrop.

Then process the pictures, and practice drawing the parts and poses, practice over and over until you can draw the various pieces and positions without needing to look at the photos.

Remember it is the part or pose you are trying to reproduce not the subject so it doesn;t need to be identical, just anatomically accurate.

Once you can do the basics, it's easy enough to vary the parts enough to represent gender, size and so forth..

Understanding how the body works and moves and looks helps to develop a sense of how it should look in your pictures.

Ok, I'll say up front I don't know if Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing For All It's Worth is public domain, so I don't know if it's existance on the internet is 100% kosher, however it is a spectacular book, and I highly recommend picking up a hard copy. I will go ahead and include the link to the site that has it posted on the net, and let the mods do their thing if they don't think its fair game.

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/3939/?pageNumText=1

Same as above, I'm not 100% sure of the legalities, but there is some useful stuff.
http://www.geocities.com/mmwtutorials/

If you have any interest in manga style this might be helpful, and even if you don't you might find something useful.
http://www.polykarbon.com/


Advice....hurm. If you can, take a life drawing course, I am right now and it has been immensely helpful. Practice, draw your friends, draw your dog, draw yourself. Get a good anatomy book (like the one I mentioned above) you have to be pretty choosy because there are a lot of not so helpful anatomy books out there. Another decent one is Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy, I wouldn't recommend it as your sole anatomy but its good for comic book style muscle groups. Well done rambling.

Carnifex said:

I really do wish I was better at drawing. I get really vivid depictions of things in my mind, but when it comes to actually drawing them, they never come out quite right.
I'm not bad, if I have something to copy from - I've attached a picture of a gnoll ranger/psion from my Acrozatarim campaign. I drew this from a diterlizzi picture that I thought depicted gnolls in the way I wanted - wild and noble, not slavering rabid jackals - with a fair number of alterations. The original is a profile of just the head of a gnoll from an adventure in a Dungeon magazine that pitted the players against a druid circle of gnolls, hobgoblins, half-orcs and kobolds.
But even so, attempting to draw is a slow, often frustrating process. This picture was actually mostly drawn while I was drunk, which probably helped

Click to expand...

I tolally understand your fustration it's very diffecult to draw things on paper as cool as they look in your mind.
Drawing will always be a slow process, you get quick at it, but the process is still time consuming, your never going to be able to draw and amzing character out of you head in 10 seconds, make the time to take the time to do the drawing right.
(btw diterlizzi is one of my favorite illustrators. )

Carnifex said:

What I'd really like to be able to do is draw better - especially people, and especially their faces!
So I ask you, benevolent folk, do you know of, for instance, any good sites which give tutorials on such things? Do you have any good hints or tips? I may never be a diterlizzi but I'd really like to brush up my skills a bit.
Oh, the gnoll is called Storm Eagle, btw

Click to expand...

You can start by taking a drawing class if you never have before, (life drawing is the basics that lets you draw every thing else) find a teacher that you think can draw well and learn from them, watch how they do what they do, if there are no "good" teachers (they don't draw demos for the class that impress you) try and find a class where there are students that draw well and try and learn from them by observing.
Learning to draw is not some kind of quick thing you can just one day wake up and do, it's not that simple, it takes a long long time to learn to draw well.
Though a book is never a subsitute for a good teacher, you should get Glen Vilppu's drawing manual (my old mentor).
His manual is now being used in schools all over the world, he is one of the best drawing teachers alive today.
Here's his website:
http://www.vilppustudio.com/
As far as 'Storm Eagle' your drawing isn't bad for just starting, but I think gnolls are more like hyenas, your looks a little more like a lion.
Hyenas look kinda like mix of a dog and a cat with a long neck and spots, I did a real quick skecth to kinda give you some idea to play with so you can work on your drawing further. (I hope you like it. )

Find a life drawing class.

Practicing from photos gives you a tendency to focus on the details and you never actually learn how to get gestures that aren't stiff and unnatural. Doing exercises like 30 second pose sketches and drawing the negative space around the subject will teach you a lot.

Check out some of the life drawing stuff on Tony D's site and you can see how he applies what he has learned to his fantasy stuff.

If your local art supply store has a bulletin board, there may be some life drawing sessions listed there. Also, check with local art schools if you have one.

Good luck - Ed

bump for Carnifex, and cause I like this kinda stuff.

A couple of books to check out for theory:

Anatomy Lessons from the Masters
Drawing on the right side of the brain
Fantasy and Science Fiction art techniques
Masters of fantasy illustration

In addition to practice, grab as many art books as you can. I literally have shelves and shelves of art reference material. I have gotten to know people in second hand bookstores in a fairly wide region and get some excellent deals, in addition to finding material at www.budplant.com

hope this helps,

hellbender