ok some things everyone drawing should do.

1) spend more than 15 minutes on your drawings. if you work on them for longer you'll see the mistakes. its like a project not a 5 minute doodle.

2) dont repeat the same things. eg dont draw the same faces with the same lines all the time. instead look at real faces. notice the surfaces. the highlights. the shadows. the shapes. the color. etc. faces are not just a flat panel. sure in some cartoons and some styles of art but those styles are probably not *your* style. try something different now and then.

3) if youre using lines spend time on making them cleaner. most good images with lines have time spent on them. images look so much better with clean lines.

4) make a rough sketch on the bottom layer and work it up into clean smooth lineart. sketches help so much with getting anatomy and ideas across.

5) the blur tool will not hide your mistakes. stop using the blur tool unless its for smoothing out shading. dont run it over a picture and dont put it next to solid lines.

6) dont post things for the sake of posting them if theyre not decent images.

7) dont complain about deleted pics. marcello runs this joint and if you dont follow his rules he has every right to kick you out.


and im serious. got that? ok good.. *steps away from podium* >_>

oh and it's a good idea to start at the beginner's board and then work your way up by getting better than you were before.

LOL, Mazi, even your icon is irritated. And guys, when doing lineart; make SURE you are on another layer before you start going over the sketch. I've made the mistake of staying on the same layer a couple of times, and it is absolute HELL, cleaning up the lines.

Didn't mean to make that rhyme. I swear.

Yes, and be modest–don't jump to the intermediate or advanced boards lightly. If you're unsure, draw on a lower board, and ask. Most likely you won't be ready for the next level, but you'll get input on what you need to improve to get there.

Keep in mind guys that we now have several moderators besides myself: method3, ArchMageZeratuL, Hakkai, mazi. So just because something was deleted, doesn't necessarily mean it was me. You'll never know who.

Remember to check your studio to find out why something was deleted, since it will be displayed in your points history (assuming the moderator was gracious enough to explain).

Spamming is a crime. There is a fine. Pay me a dime.

No rhyme in this post. Nope.

>_o; If the Moderater was not lazy enough to actually give a reason..

Some are just given. For instance.. Someone draws a line. Finished. All Done. Obviously deleted. -gasp- Oh well!
-cackles- So put some thought into your pictures.

I'm skeptical about this working. -_- Haven't people posted thingies like this and there has been no go?

Here's an idea. When people register, they should be automatically redirected to an updated rules page. Including these pretty rules here (If they aren't there already). Whad'ya think? Eh? Eh?

furyofroy: it doesn't really matter, since their stuff will be deleted whether they read this or not.

Some more tips

Buy every artbook you can get your hands on, for example books about art history and painters ,painting, sculpting ,animation,graffiti,film
if your not drawing , you should be reading on the subject, i think that all round knowledge will make you a better artist.

Keep in mind every artform is closy related too eachother studying them is good for your all round knowledge

sketching->painting->animation or sculpting->3dmodelling->cg animation its all the same.

Get books about clothes and cars planes architecture and all kinda everyday objects or draw from real life , but its allways nice to have a library of refrences

get some anatomy books or take figure drawing classes and make studys, try too understand how the underlying surface of a human is build and effects the rest of the body

take a sketchbook everywhere you go and draw what you see

take a notepad to bed to write down ideas and sketches

watch animation films and cartoons and study them

collect comics and manga's

go too a museum and study the master painters and sculptors

make lots of notes about stuff related to art

Dont draw something beacause its Easy ,but draw something because its Hard

I'm not sure buying every single book out there will help. Neither will studying the masters of paint like a college prof. Though, I agree with you about most of the other ideas you've proposed. :D I think the way to really learn is to have the discipline(sp?) of a professional artist thickly applied on you. In other words, just take a class. It's kinda like learning guitar -- I learned how to play better in a year than most people learn on their own in two, just by having an actual guitar player teach me, and push me to improve. Also, a college art class isn't the same as a high school art class, for obvious reasons. The college teachers actually teach you useful things. XD

That's just my opinion.

Einz: can you recommend any art books?

And to anyone, if you have any artbooks you like, consider writing a review of it for the 2draw.net docs system. I'm kinda slowly working on the system getting it polished up for prime-time (now it's rather limited although most of the core stuff is there), and thus we're looking for people interested in contributing content to the system.

i just typed a mile long story and hit backspace :-(

but ok second go

i have the book Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823015513/ref%3Dnosim/lksmsubsite-sub-bk-asin-20/103-6908730-7689450
this one a good ref if you are a 3d modeller ,drawings are made so that the basic underlying shapes are seen,much like a mesh on baselevel,for beginners it good cause it helps you see simplified shapes in complex objects like the human face and body,and it has a nice summary of art history
the book is not so expensive i bought it for 10 euro
i consider it a good book

online anatomybooks
at fineart .sk are also very good
http://www.fineart.sk/anat.htm

for art history i really recommend the book "A world history of art by hugh honour and john fleming"
its a book i got from college and it covers everything ,a summary of all arts and styles
its great for inspiration as it is almost a 1000pages thick,but its expensive atleast the dutch version was about 100 bucks
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1856691683/qid=1062571970/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/103-6908730-7689450?v=glance&s=booksbut its out of stock at amazon
its a good book ,if you are interrested in art,it doesnt have anything too do with learning how to draw, just art theory

collected works of various painters are always good for inspiration
---

by studying i dont mean like a college pro ,just go at your own pace ,i dont even call it studying for me its fun
i think studying the masters of paint is a good thing ,cause they had too tackle the same problems as we all do
in composition lighting anatomy etc
hell they even created the colortheory everybody applys to their pictures
but books are no substitute for drawing classes but i do feel that art cannot be teached in class,only the tools are tought
you just need too do it and evolve by exploring different styles,whitch will eventually lead you too the old masters of paint



a great painter once said
''there are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,but there are others who,thanks to their art and intelligence ,transform a yellow spot into the sun''

wow :o
i think i need to study anatomy more :'D

because the fineart.sk site is down
something fresh

http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/%7Ecbelland/public/loomis_FIGURE_draw.pdf

this is a Pdf version of the best figure drawing/anatomy books there is
have a look its very good
unfortunately the book is out of print
so better save it to disk

its from this site

http://www.saveloomis.org