Anyone have some art tips?

Hello!

Any tips on drawing better? I have alot of trouble drawing hands, also with shading and some other things. I just thought I should make a thread to discuss this so I can try and sharpen my skills a bit ^_^

I've had a lot of trouble with both of those things, but what I usually do for hands is just look at real-life pictures and try to copy the positions the hands are in. I've been doing that for about a month now and I've started to grasp the over all look of hands and how to draw them But for shading...I still struggle with that haha

half of the time I don't even bother to draw hands properly rip. but as Yaxua said - references are always really helpful! I find that it's helpful to find the basic shape/flow of the hand first - or any body part really - and then add details onto it afterwards! :0 if that makes any sense lol
also, like you, I'm still learning how to shade/use colour properly but again, using references is helpful! also, try to pinpoint where your source(s) of light are coming from (front, back, side, etc) and figure out where it'd be blocked out/less strong - that's where you'd want to add shade/darker colours!
oh and watching speedpaints of other people drawing also really helped me grasp all this - maybe it'd help you too? idk I'm just rambling now, but anyways, good luck on learning and improving you art! ^^

Yaxua said:

I've had a lot of trouble with both of those things, but what I usually do for hands is just look at real-life pictures and try to copy the positions the hands are in. I've been doing that for about a month now and I've started to grasp the over all look of hands and how to draw them But for shading...I still struggle with that haha

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I totally understand! I've been doing the same with hands but...still not much improvment xD

I'm okayish with shading, still never looks realistic at all (not that I draw realistic stuff anyway)

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lunatepic said:

half of the time I don't even bother to draw hands properly rip. but as Yaxua said - references are always really helpful! I find that it's helpful to find the basic shape/flow of the hand first - or any body part really - and then add details onto it afterwards! :0 if that makes any sense lol
also, like you, I'm still learning how to shade/use colour properly but again, using references is helpful! also, try to pinpoint where your source(s) of light are coming from (front, back, side, etc) and figure out where it'd be blocked out/less strong - that's where you'd want to add shade/darker colours!
oh and watching speedpaints of other people drawing also really helped me grasp all this - maybe it'd help you too? idk I'm just rambling now, but anyways, good luck on learning and improving you art! ^^

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Nah it makes some sense :3
I once tried to draw hands based on my own, ended up drawing them the wrong way from how the arm was, idk looked deformed and I had to redo it xD I need more practice.
Shading can be a challange! I will definitely look up speedpaints! That might help alot actually Thank you!

I've been practicing shading for around 5 years, and though I feel like I do shading really well rn I still dont 100% grasp the concept. I've looked at a lot of different artworks to get a sense of how the shading works and it's helped me tremendously.

xSuperMario64x said:

I've been practicing shading for around 5 years, and though I feel like I do shading really well rn I still dont 100% grasp the concept. I've looked at a lot of different artworks to get a sense of how the shading works and it's helped me tremendously.

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Thanks for the help :3

Sometimes when I do shading I go for this weird paper story book look, and it's just so weird idk xD

I would just look up hand references and copy them so you can get used to drawing the shapes and angles. If you're modeling something, take a photo of your own hand in that angle as reference. I usually stylise / simplify hands because i hate drawing them lol

dizzy bone said:

I would just look up hand references and copy them so you can get used to drawing the shapes and angles. If you're modeling something, take a photo of your own hand in that angle as reference. I usually stylise / simplify hands because i hate drawing them lol

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I do the same thing with the simplifying XD

And okay, cool thank you

I suggest looking at other people's art and how they do it, it did help me a bit (I can't be talking though bc I succ lol)
And if you have insta I highly suggest checking out @drawin.references ?
I made this drawing with a couple of tips from the posts c:
http://i.imgur.com/xIz9Z1v.png

edit: Also what everyone tells me, practice a bunch! Even in class I doodle while the teacher is teaching lmao (algebra teacher mean thou he said sarcastically it's good that I care more about drawings than passing) not the best influence for u but yea

Bunnilla said:

I suggest looking at other people's art and how they do it, it did help me a bit (I can't be talking though bc I succ lol)
And if you have insta I highly suggest checking out @drawin.references ?
I made this drawing with a couple of tips from the posts c:
http://i.imgur.com/xIz9Z1v.png

edit: Also what everyone tells me, practice a bunch! Even in class I doodle while the teacher is teaching lmao (algebra teacher mean thou he said sarcastically it's good that I care more about drawings than passing) not the best influence for u but yea

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Oh okay XD Thank you!
That drawing is really good :3 Don't say you stink xD
I don't have insta, but I'll see if I can find out the references place?

I try to practice And np I don't go to school I'm a homelearner so I have plenty of time to draw xD

In the fine arts classes I've taken in both high school and college, we would be made to look at our hands and draw them on paper, both blindly (not allowed to look at the paper) and in contour (not allowed to pick up the pencil) it makes good eye-to-hand practice, and also if you do it enough youll pick up an intuitive understanding of how hands work: a square base shape, meaty/thicker thumb muscle, 3-jointed fingers. (Though none of this really matters if youre drawing very cartoony, which I prefer anyway.) My favorite time to draw my hands would be in class when I'm bored and there's not much else to look at. xD

Same for shading, we would look at a model and have to pick up on the lights and darks.. In middle school i was also taught that if you're drawing/shading from pure imagination, it's good to imagine a light source and what direction its coming from.
I think makeup tutorials are also sort of helpful.. especially highlight/contouring makeup tutorials. They dont even have to be videos, theres plenty images on it, too. Basically you highlight areas you want to pop out, like around the eyebrows, the upper cheeks, bridge of nose & tip of the nose, upper lip, ball of the chin; and then shade areas that go in or back, like the jawline, where the forehead meets hair, the sides of the nose, eyelids.

Also there's nothing wrong at all with referencing photographs or other art, so long as you aren't straight up copying or stealing. Because trust me, whatever other art you may use as a reference, 90% the artist used references, too. especially if it looks super realistic. I actually just recently downloaded some "chibi/anime" dress up apps on my phone bc I wanted to use them in case i needed a stylized kind of references. xD Oh and there's nothing wrong with straight up redrawing/copying art from the ancient masters to get a better understanding of anatomy/line/shading (as long as you aren't like, publishing it or something). I got assigned to do it in my drawing course fairly often.

double post ignore pls

Thanks so much for all the wonderful and great tips, Tifachu! It was very helpful :3 I'll try out some of that stuff! I think that as time goes on I'll get a feel for the hands and shading. References can be very helpful at times. I started out copying drawings (not tracing, just looking at the image and trying to draw it again) in the past when I was younger for practice and it helped alot. When drawing anime characters I'll look at drawings too, not to copy at all just to get a good idea of how I think it should look. So I think I get what you mean, even if you aren't copying, it can still be helpful!
Thanks again!

I'm still working on my art especially anatomy and hands but references always help.
For shading, remember to use tons of shades- light and dark.
Take a picture of urself or someone posing and draw from that.

Last of all, don't give up. No one is born to be an artist

Berry <3 said:

I'm still working on my art especially anatomy and hands but references always help.
For shading, remember to use tons of shades- light and dark.
Take a picture of urself or someone posing and draw from that.

Last of all, don't give up. No one is born to be an artist

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Thank you for your tips and kind words!

The only thing I can really say is practice until you get better! You'll naturally get better and faster at drawing if you practice everyday. <3

I stare at my hands when I'm having trouble drawing them. XD

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Bunnilla said:

I suggest looking at other people's art and how they do it, it did help me a bit (I can't be talking though bc I succ lol)
And if you have insta I highly suggest checking out @drawin.references ?
I made this drawing with a couple of tips from the posts c:
http://i.imgur.com/xIz9Z1v.png

edit: Also what everyone tells me, practice a bunch! Even in class I doodle while the teacher is teaching lmao (algebra teacher mean thou he said sarcastically it's good that I care more about drawings than passing) not the best influence for u but yea

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guuurlll
nice job ; 0

hana-mii said:

The only thing I can really say is practice until you get better! You'll naturally get better and faster at drawing if you practice everyday. <3

I stare at my hands when I'm having trouble drawing them. XD

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guuurlll
nice job ; 0

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Tysm wink wonk lol it was my first serious try too c:

Only way to improve is to continue to do it! For hands I know "blocking" can help a lot, where you draw shapes first then connect them smoothly. That's what I usually go with my drawings, but with the hands I usually make them so small that I leave out a lot of detail cause I HATE drawing them. XD They just take too much time, but when I put in the effort I can do it. Like other's have said there are tons of tutorials and stuff online like this. But really it's just practice!

Thanks so much everyone for all the tips and support!