1 I think it depends if you need to put pictures anywhere (like if youre uploading, giving presents etc, then just be happy/keep rubbing out and fixing) If youre just drawing for the craic, ehm... Actually i guess do what you feel comfortable with. LOL i dont think i have an answer for this.

2 I generally dont draw muscles for this reason (i stylise my arms and legs like a not-baws) xD but i suppose if you look at some real life pics of muscles, and some pictures drawn by artists it might help. When i look at pictures my brain kinda tells me if theyre correct or not, but it doesnt help my own drawing because when i draw them my brain just sort of... Doesnt care anymore xD So i try and learn from them and everything else; Incorrect, correct, natural, unnatural... Then when you know the rules (like where each muscle is and how it works) you can sorta free-draw them.

3 Are you talking about symmetry? Because i really couldnt help. Although maybe i could. If you flip your drawing in the mirror it helps look at things from a completely different angle and shows you what to do next. If you look at the hands flipped youll be looking at what youre supposed to be drawing and itl stick in your brain

or something

oh lord


id be surprised if you understood that, not even i can. Im seriously bad at explaining things :I BUT I TRIED xD

Thanks for responding! I understood what you said, It will be really helpful. Thanks!

1: Most of the art for now will be just for me, so I guess i'll just continue erasing. Until I get better anyway.......Whenever I do...

2: Thanks for the Idea! I'll try doing that tonight.

3:Yes, yes I was..... I'm terrible at symmetry.. So, Thanks for the idea with the mirror.

All of these will be a great help. Thanks!

-Aaron_nightfire

I hope so :D i love helping but i never am quite able to..

1 Something i learnt from sketching (now this is just a personal thing, im not suggesting it but it helps me) Is that if i really cant get something right i just stop and either start from scratch or start something new. It was really difficult in the beginning, and i still rarely do it, but it helps a lot, because i learn from the mistakes i made in the first pic and know what im doing. It also helps relieve the frustration that continuously rubbing out and redrawing brings :I

2 WOO! i wish you all the luck in the world!!

3 Symmetry... I honestly dont know how people do it! Its no problem, i got the idea from the internet >3> Its like the Inverse tool in Paint tool SAI and that is really helpful! :D

Aha, be not afraid because these are things a lot of people had/have had issues with (including me when I started getting serious about art). But to address your questions:

1: The paper is probably ripping because you're pressing down too hard with your pencil when you draw, causing you to have to erase harder. It's a weird thing to get used to but when you do your base drawing, try pressing down much lighter and as you flesh out and finish the drawing, you can press down harder. But it's always a good idea to never press down too hard(you don't want your paper to buckle and wrinkle). Another reason why your paper could be ripping so easily is that you're using regular copy paper. There's nothing wrong with using regular copy paper, haha, but sketchbooks tend to have a thicker paper so maybe that would be better. Hobby Lobby and Utrecht(if you're in the States) have really affordable, really good sketchbooks. And it's okay to be unhappy with what you've drawn just like it's okay to happy with what you've done, aha.

2 & 3: The best advice I can think to give you is to get into figure drawing such as life drawing or at the very least(if you can't get into any life drawing classes) is to look up stock photos on the net. Another good idea is to look up anatomy tutorials to see how other people stylize and simplify whatever it is you're trying to draw. There's this notion with some people on the net that if you use references, you're cheating or something bad like that. But if you go to art school, they'll tell you to use reference because how can you draw something that you don't know? How can you draw something that you don't understand? So collect references and study them with drawings. Knowing how much to define the muscles or what not to define comes with knowing the figure and the basic surface anatomy.

I know that's a lot to read aha but I hope it helps. And another thing, don't let it get you down. Art is hard. It's not easy. You gotta work at it almost constantly to get better. Another thing that might help you is to figure out what kind of art you want to do! Because if you can figure that out, it'll give you a set of guidelines to follow as you get better and better at drawing. If you have any more questions, please feel free to note me and I'll do my best to help you. u w u