Advices for a newbie

Hi. I'm pretty new in digital art and I seek some advices. In the past, I have made some 3D models for games, but soon realised that I really need a proper base in traditional art. I have discovered ImagineFX, with interesting images for sight-see drawing, but tutorials are way too advanced for my level. I need your advice on tutorials I should follow and how to get a proper start in drawing. How should I practice ? What are your techniques ? How did you begin ? I am at the very beginning in 2D art drawing.

Hey there Darksider!

Come on in and have some fun!!

Just show us your stuff and the advice will flow. It's a pretty friendly place and if you listen to the feedback, you will see improvement pretty quickly. I speak from experience here!

Looking forward to seeing what you got!!

Welcome darksider. What Dom said, and post some work up.

Unfortunately, there is not enough light to photograph my sketchbook properly. Tomorrow I will post some 2D sketches. For now...I will post some of the 3D ones.







Sorry for the pics improper size. Here you could see my first humanoid character, a Guild Wars 2 Charr I modelled for my guild's header contest, a fortress and a frame from my old school animation.

Here are some of my 2D sketches . ( again, sorry for the size. Don't know what is the proper one )

Welcome to the forums! You'll learn lots here! Regarding advice a good place to start would be still life drawings. If color is too hard then start with value or greyscale. Check out ctrlpaint .com and read all books by Andrew Loomis.

Do yourself a favour and use colour as soon as possible.

Still life is useful, as is life drawing. But make sure you do not avoid using colour. You won't learn to use it by avoiding it!!

Thank you for your answers . I have checked ctrl-paint website and the tutorials look quite promising. I have watched and followed the first ones. What do you think of them overall ? After completing all of the library ones, could I gain enough skill to draw concepts properly ? I think that in the near future I will also get a Waccom tablet . It could be used for drawing concept art, textures and sculpting, so it's good to have one. Having a look at Waccom tablets, I tought about an affordable option. I'm not decided between Waccom Intuos Pen&Touch small and Intuos Pen&Touch medium. Which is better ? Small or medium ? I will do most of the digital works on a laptop. Some say that for a laptop, small is better because of the smaller screen.

Darksider wrote:

Thank you for your answers . I have checked ctrl-paint website and the tutorials look quite promising. I have watched and followed the first ones. What do you think of them overall ? After completing all of the library ones, could I gain enough skill to draw concepts properly ? I think that in the near future I will also get a Waccom tablet . It could be used for drawing concept art, textures and sculpting, so it's good to have one. Having a look at Waccom tablets, I tought about an affordable option. I'm not decided between Waccom Intuos Pen&Touch small and Intuos Pen&Touch medium. Which is better ? Small or medium ? I will do most of the digital works on a laptop. Some say that for a laptop, small is better because of the smaller screen.

Regarding your questions: I've learned a lot from Ctrlpaint and continue to learn more. Sure they're basic but you will learn from them. I also recommend videos by Feng Zhu. They're more design/business oriented but still good.

To draw concepts better requires mainly practice. It's important to draw smart as well as in focus on your weak spots or areas that are important for you. I draw a lot of technical stuff (ships, cars) so I study perspective.

I have a Bamboo Create Tablet that is no longer available but I love it. I think for starters the Wacom Intuos Create (Wacom changed the name, they're the updated versions of the Bamboo line) or the Intuos Pro medium will suffice. The small ones are way too small in my opinion. A tablet is necessary because of pressure sensitivity.

Hope this helps.

Be careful not to put so much emphasis on theory that you forget the practical benefits of giving it a go!

Buy a basic pen and tablet. Get a cheep art app, like GIMP and get drawing! You will learn far more by trying and failing than by reading and theorising.

I use a Wacom bamboo tablet. It is the lowest priced and the most simple of their range and does me just fine.

I use Photoshop Elements 9. It's great for what I do and I think gets reasonable results. But GIMP is the app I started on. Give it a go.