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Is you a artist!
15 years ago
General
Right, seriously guys, I don't know how often I tell this to everyone who asks me but it's enough to warrant fair use of a journal about it.
It took me about 9 years to draw furry art like I do now. This does in no way mean it takes that long to reach my status. Hell, some people are just born with fantastic skills, I can respect that. The main point is; you practice, you get somewhere.
Another thing I'd like to note: If you think your own art is perfect, you're doing it wrong. You need to be honest with yourself and find the criticism you need to improve your own art! If you can't even find your own criticism, how are you going to take anybody else's. :b
THAT BEING SAID
This is a very good example of why disliking your own art is a good thing! The more you see wrong with it, the more you can fix for the next time you draw! Hell, I don't fully like any work I do. I always end up nitpicking at things at the last minute, whether it's myself or my commissioners or friends who point it out to me.
So don't get demotivated by it! It's human nature to find fault in one's own devices. It's like evolution; not saying we need any more fingers but if we did, we might eventually end up with one in the future, right? What's to say your art doesn't work like that? What's to say you can't look at an arm, think "Hmm, it's slightly skewiff" and instead of going Bawww I'll go give up my art will never be good", why not just go "I think I'll sketch up a few arms on a piece of paper/tablet, see if I can get them looking better before my next picture"?
The more positive side of things are always so simple to find if you want to find them. Nobody's telling you to give up or go away, to stop art. If anyone is, I challenge them to do better than you before they have the right to claim it. :b In the end, WE WANT YOU TO IMPROVE. We want to see your art up there, with the big guns, flashing its juicy tender private parts in all directions!
So quit moaning and do it! DOO EET!!
It took me about 9 years to draw furry art like I do now. This does in no way mean it takes that long to reach my status. Hell, some people are just born with fantastic skills, I can respect that. The main point is; you practice, you get somewhere.
Another thing I'd like to note: If you think your own art is perfect, you're doing it wrong. You need to be honest with yourself and find the criticism you need to improve your own art! If you can't even find your own criticism, how are you going to take anybody else's. :b
THAT BEING SAID
This is a very good example of why disliking your own art is a good thing! The more you see wrong with it, the more you can fix for the next time you draw! Hell, I don't fully like any work I do. I always end up nitpicking at things at the last minute, whether it's myself or my commissioners or friends who point it out to me.
So don't get demotivated by it! It's human nature to find fault in one's own devices. It's like evolution; not saying we need any more fingers but if we did, we might eventually end up with one in the future, right? What's to say your art doesn't work like that? What's to say you can't look at an arm, think "Hmm, it's slightly skewiff" and instead of going Bawww I'll go give up my art will never be good", why not just go "I think I'll sketch up a few arms on a piece of paper/tablet, see if I can get them looking better before my next picture"?
The more positive side of things are always so simple to find if you want to find them. Nobody's telling you to give up or go away, to stop art. If anyone is, I challenge them to do better than you before they have the right to claim it. :b In the end, WE WANT YOU TO IMPROVE. We want to see your art up there, with the big guns, flashing its juicy tender private parts in all directions!
So quit moaning and do it! DOO EET!!
Im super nit picky with myself when i draw :<
Some day imma be better then I am now
you don't know how hard it is to be a rule 34 artist on a site full of people who in private tell me that they hate seeing their precious childhoodicons doing things they don't want their kiddies seeing, and it drives me away
Seriously I have to open up my pencil case and everything it's horrifying.
i need to learn to accept im not gonna get any good unless i try....lol my only issue is i have trouble keeping a stead hand
i never thought i was perfect, but i was stuck in a state of mind saying i didn't wanna improve for whatever reason D:
this happened when someone threw the following words in my face "you are is not sellable"
i was crushed 8C ...but i pushed me to improve even more tho, so it was a double sided blade cx
And yours not.
HAH HAH! *points*
So I think I won't have to worry
although I still need to wean myself off of using pose refs ._.
Use this:
http://www.posemaniacs.com/
Yeah, but, I had someone I respect as an artist tell me I should work my way into being able to draw my own proportions eventually. So I'm slowly working my way to being able to come up with poses and draw them out correctly.
Weaning off of model references is a goal for plenty of artists but its a goal that takes an eternity of tireless practice to reach, and in truth you'll never be able to create perfect imaginary proportions, no one ever has. Besides, I've never heard a good argument for why exactly the use of references is something to work away from, and when it comes to working with anthropomorphic characters I believe it to be a necessity due to the diversity of species and body types, there's just no way anyone can memorize that much diversity.
While you could develop a formulaic structural technique, as so many of us have, this would limit the variations of each figure and make characters appear generic to one another in structure. Whether or not this is good or bad is up to the artist.
However I don't really enjoy when someone goes 'HEY YOU REFFED POSES FROM THIS THIEF'
(I've had that happen. ._.)
I can understand still USING refs. Cos, I mean, hands are a bitch. But it's not good to rely on them too much, or else you won't be able to draw without having a ref right there. :b
By using references while also developing a successful building method the repetition will improve skill. But without being able to instantly check the angles, proportioning and perspective of a figure then you'll skip over mistakes without recognizing them in time to correct them, which is critical since the rest of the figures measurements and angles can and will build upon that one early mistake. This is a common way artists stagnate. You can at any time take away the references, but its only with them that you'll be able to quickly improve your style and skill.
Never be afraid to check up on an anatomical reference. Sooner or later you'll find you'll only need it for things like hands and knees, maybe an awkward sitting angle, but it'll be so miniscule a reference, nobody will notice anything. To expect to learn the body off by heart *without* some sort of reference is like trying to figure out how to get through a complex cave system, and choosing to leave behind the map. :b
I doubt I'd ever stop using refs at all anyway. But it is good to learn at least some stuff yourself in my opinion.
I'm just a little paranoid of getting slammed or others looking down on me for having to ref stuff.
I tend to look up refs for clothing or weapons or stuff, and poses if I need be. (If I get inspired by something however then that's a whoooole nother story)
...
PLEASE DON'T STOP SIR!
Super cereal response:
The community is too afraid of criticism to even judge itself accurately. It seems that without the ability to post anon individuals of the community just cowards away from making any useful criticisms and instead go for the zombie worshiper rout, posting only positive thumbs up messages or not saying anything wrong. Then anyone who does step out of this line, set by the followers of artists, they get their heads chopped off. That would be fine if it prompted a discussion, but all it usually consists of is someone denoting the words of someone else completely.
I've critiqued several works throughout the site and almost every time I do so I either get bashed by other followers of the artist or flat out ignored.
At the same time there comes a point where even the person in question, who could gives the most constructive criticism in the world, has to step back and think 'did I envelop that a little too harshly...?' Often, if not conveyed in a polite and appropriate manner, it can just sound rude and abrasive and, in fact, this often makes the point of the criticism almost irrelevant since the artist often takes the criticism the wrong way for it. The best way to do it is to consider you were speaking to a friend about it, or hell, if you speak to your friends with a harsh tone, imagine them as your boss. (If you speak to your boss with harsh tones... good luck keeping a job down ;D) You *want* to be nice since you're trying to help them, not trying to knock something into their heads.
Lastly, what you may have to understand is that no matter how badly the rest of the public take your replies; they'll still get through to the artist who, no matter how they react, whether they jump on their fans' bandwagon or refuse to respond in kind, will probably look over the criticized areas in their artwork all the same.