TRSE: How To Draw Tutorials:
Drawing Tools
The artists always need something
to draw with and there are many different types of tools such as pencils,
paintings, watercolors, color markers, color pencils, and computer coloring
the novice artists can try and go with those they like most. Many tools
can be found in the office supplies and art stores as well as various online
stores specializing in special art supplies, and it should be noted that
the tools always have pros and cons.
The papers come in many forms
and the best types would be a smooth and blank papers for clean drawings.
You can practice drawing on the blank newspaper type papers, sketchbooks
or any old printer papers. For best results, you want to draw on the papers
that are very smooth, very clean and thick. You can draw on the canvas
if you're interested in watercoloring, airbrushing or oil paintings.
The erasable pencils are the basis of all drawing,
and they are necesssary for experimental sketching and outlining out the
draft layout of a picture. There are many different types of pencils and
pens you can try and use. I suggest the pencils in form of 3H, and 2H which
"H" means hardness. The 3H pencils will produce very light lines useful
for light sketching to set up the layout of the drawing, and they are also
great with experimenting in the sketching, shading, and positioning of
any objects. 2H pencils can be used to draw the lines you want to draw
in preparation for inking or for shading. Don't forget the erasers needed
to erase any mistakes! The problem with the pencils are that they're always
messy and even erasers can leave behind any dusty marks. That can be solved
by taping a blank paper on the sketch and tracing the lines you want to
be drawn with softer pencils or pens.
The ink pens and markers are used to outline the
pencil sketches especially the lines you want to be drawn in ink as in
case of cartoon/anime drawings as well as computer-coloring. I suggest
any type of drafting or art markers with varying thickness from 0.5 to
8 millimeters and those are best for detailed drawings but they tend to
be overflow if drawn too slowly, or damaged if pressed too hard. The pointy
ballpoint pens also work especially when drawing long lines (straight or
curving), adding the wrinkles to the clothing or drawing the multi-lined
hairstyles, but they're not reliable in drawing small details.
A measuring ruler is which I consider a very important
tool for any drawings. A simple ruler helps make your drawings look more
accurate, symmetrical, and leveled (especially the face) as well as drawing
straight lines. I had seen so many pictures with lopsided eyes/faces as
if the artists haven't used something to keep the faces leveled. The rulers
can be used to keep the characters lined straight up without making them
look like they're ready to fall.
Beside the rulers, there are the templates that
can be used to help keep the drawings look neat. The example are triangles,
drafting templates with rounded holes used to draw near-perfect circles
and the "French Curve", a type of template used to draw curving lines like
a curving samurai swords and curving outlines of the cars. The French Curve
looks something like this picture.
There's this cel method which the animators used to produce
the cels making up the animated shows. It involves tracing a blank paper
over a sketched drawing resulting in a clean drawing. You can build a box
with glass on the top, and put a light inside it (but leave some opening
to let the heat out). Tape a blank paper to a pencil sketch, put it on
the glass, and then, trace what you want to be traced with ink. Such method
would result in a very clean drawing that can making coloring in any mediums
(pencil coloring, computer coloring, watercoloring, etc.) much easier and
cleaner, no more hassles of using the eraser. ^_^
Knowledge can be quite a powerful tool in learning
to draw many objects. I found the knowledge of science (human anatomy,
physics, biology, whatever) to be very valuable asset especially when it
comes to doing stories and technical stuff. "Bad science" (misinformation
and "flying pigs" stuff) tend to result in lousy stories (and lousy drawings
in several cases too). So it helps to take few general science classes.
For example, if you understand the science behind the roses, you'll able
to draw the roses well and Tuxedo Kamen/Mask from BSSailorMoon would
be very grateful, heheh. ^_^ You can pay attention to anything
out there and note how shapes and details of each object.
There are many books or magazines you can study
to learn how to draw something such as the pictorial books, National Geography
Society magazines, and those on How To Draw Manga, human anatomy, animals,
cars, etc.. Many advanced/professional artists (including Naoko Takeuchi)
reply on the knowledge of human anatomy to draw the human figures very
well. By reading on the human anatomy, the artists are able to make their
decisions on their drawing styles and preferences, decide on exaggerations
(like making legs longer), and to draw the characters properly especially
when they're in actions/poses. For example, the muscles under the skin
stretch and thicken as the limbs are moved. The knowledge of human anatomy
also helps the artists understand the limitations of the limbs' movements.
For example, a head cannot turn more than 160 degrees from one side to
other side. So it helps to get your hands on such books and magazines.
WARNING! With the recent advances
in the computer-editing technology, many pictures of so-called "Supermodels"
are very likely to be ARTIFICIALLY ALTERED meaning that they now have technology
to change the way the models look. The examples are breast enlargements,
fuller lips, beautying up the faces, lengthening of the limbs, and removal
of minor flaws like freckles. I advise against those kind of magazines
including those about the Hollywood-type celebrities.
It would be helpful to have real live models to
help with your human studies. You can use a mirror to observe your own
body, and see how your limbs move, but that could be a problem if you're
not a slim person, and you want to draw the slim characters. Any artists
also may have problems drawing the characters of opposite sex. For example,
I'm a male drawer, so I'm not completely familiar with a female body. But
it can happen that some male drawers would know more about the female body
than female artists do and vera vice
Now the four most important tools of all.... Brains,
Patience, determination and LOTs of practice. If you lack any of
those four, it would be very hard for you to become a good artist.
Let's move to learn about
Reading
the Patterns in the Pictures
