Hello everyone, I'm new to 2draw.

I haven't drawn in many years - I used to, incessantly when I was a teenager. Somehow I abandoned this when I moved out too young and needed to get my foot in the door with the world. Remembering what a stress relieving and satisfying hobby it was, I'm returning to it once more but a little intimidated seeing as my skills have deteriorated. I'm in the classic spot of many fledgling artists - I feel like I am drawing what I think I see rather than what I see. I know there is no instruction manual for this, but if anyone knows of resources that help one overcome this perceptual challenge, please point me to them and you will receive my warmest regards. I have yet to check out all of the tutorials, but that's next on my list.

I'm a big fan of the buddy system, and I'm interested in finding a drawing buddy to spend some time with online critiquing each others work as we go, or even if we're not online at the same time, critiquing them none-the-less. That being said, I suppose it is fair to say I'm looking for someone with patience, a willingness to share, and dedication if we like the idea of setting up a few drawing dates. I classify myself as a beginner, but despite that I do have a fairly good eye and someone intermediate or further could be assured of detailed and well thought out criticism. In the latter case, I suppose it might take on a bit of a mentorship angle, and it is said that if one wishes to master a skill or a topic, they should teach and guide. Am I dripping with incentive yet? Teehee.

When I found 2draw I was extremely blown away. Impressed. In awe. INTIMIDATED. I have been playing around with many oekaki boards, but none of which compare to 2draw in terms of quality and diversity. It is very encouraging to know I am in a place surrounded by experienced and creative people.

A little about me: I'm Angelina, I live in Vancouver with my two kitties and a wonderful husband named Max. I'm old enough to know better, but young enough to get away with mischief. I study cognitive science and artificial intelligence, I build robots & work through Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash tutorials in my spare time. I work as an executive assistant and freelance design for the web, as well as a little print when I can. My favorite vegetable is bacon, and my favorite candy is... well, candy. I draw using an Intuos 3, which if I wasn't married to my husband, I'd probably marry insofar as one can marry an inanimate object.

Nice to meet you, 2draw. :3

Hello! Welcome!

hey, here's a useful book.
it has exercizes that gradually enables you to percieve and draw what you see, like an up-side-down drawing or negative space drawing. my art teacher uses it as an art textbook.

I never knew bacon was a vegetable i always thought it was meat, so does that mean it counts as one of my 5 a day? only joking obviously!

HiroDaZero - thanks for the recommendation, I will check that out.

*woah* Long introduction.

You could always just draw and ask for critique, if you've got the stomach to take it (a lot of no0bs don't, thus butt hurt feelings occur) than you can learn a lot.

Draw Bacon!

No problems with critique. I just thought the idea of drawing at the same time and reflecting on it would be cool.

I will put drawing bacon on my todo list. :3

Hi Angelina, welcome to the wonderful world of 2Draw.

You've already taken the first step in realizing your weak point, this is most important.

To tackle the problem, well, there's the easy explanation, and then there's the lengthy explanation.
The easy explanation is simply to 'draw'. Practice makes perfect certainly applies here.

I'm just gonna touch on the lengthy explanation.
What types of drawing should you do?
Observation from life is by far the best kind of drawing you can do for learning.
There's a certain exercise I've found very good is the 'blind contour'. How you do this is to look at a subject, anything at all, and draw it slowly and carefully without looking at your drawing.

The result won't be pretty, but that's the point of this exercise - it's simply an exercise, like press ups for an artist.
What you'll learn is to really observe the subject. Do this often and you'll start to break the habit of drawing in symbols i.e. what you think you see.

Of course some people find this sort of thing tedious, especially for hobbyists.
If you're making art for a hobby, I think having fun is the most important thing, as is for any hobby.

Hope my rambling didn't confused things for ya. =)

Interesting advise/exercise for me, too, HunterKiller. I didn't know about that type of drawing . Thank you. :)

i learned about blind contour at my school's art class last year.

it really pissed me off (we had to do full faces with one line) but now I can see how it's quite useful.
I think i'm gonna practice that this week.

by the way, welcome to 2draw triskele!