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Artwork (Digital) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Leopard
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Just a bit of fun directed at people who think its ok for their anatomy to be totally fucked just because 'its not meant to be realism!' This makes me so sad.
Someone draws a cartoon wolf or big cat or horse or whatever, with legs that wouldn't actually work because of where they're attached, or a head far too big for it to be able to hold up, or wonky eyes, and claims this is all fine because its a cartoon/fantasy animal and not MEANT to be real.
This is such an excuse for not being bothered to learn anatomy.
Yes, you can take some liberties with cartoons, and fantasy animals, but as people say 'you have to know the rules before you can break them'.
If you want to stylise a wolf character, you first have to know how a real wolf looks so you know which bits you can emphasise or change to best effect.
I mean, just fucking come out and say it 'to be honest, Im a bit lazy and can't be bothered to learn anatomy really. I only draw for fun so fuck it.' I'd respect people FAR more if they just said this than if they pulled the whole 'ITS NOT MEANT TO BE REALISM!!' bullshit. All the greatest cartoonists there are learned proper anatomy before they began twisting and contorting it.
John K knows how real chihuahuas look.
Its not hard to study an animal before you draw it, not with the internet and the hundreds of photos of it you can probably find. When I was a teen, I only had tv shows and library books, not a library of hundreds of photos at my disposal whenever I want. USE IT.
Poor Kiyama. He no has proper body.
Deliberately shit anatomy is deliberate.
Someone draws a cartoon wolf or big cat or horse or whatever, with legs that wouldn't actually work because of where they're attached, or a head far too big for it to be able to hold up, or wonky eyes, and claims this is all fine because its a cartoon/fantasy animal and not MEANT to be real.
This is such an excuse for not being bothered to learn anatomy.
Yes, you can take some liberties with cartoons, and fantasy animals, but as people say 'you have to know the rules before you can break them'.
If you want to stylise a wolf character, you first have to know how a real wolf looks so you know which bits you can emphasise or change to best effect.
I mean, just fucking come out and say it 'to be honest, Im a bit lazy and can't be bothered to learn anatomy really. I only draw for fun so fuck it.' I'd respect people FAR more if they just said this than if they pulled the whole 'ITS NOT MEANT TO BE REALISM!!' bullshit. All the greatest cartoonists there are learned proper anatomy before they began twisting and contorting it.
John K knows how real chihuahuas look.
Its not hard to study an animal before you draw it, not with the internet and the hundreds of photos of it you can probably find. When I was a teen, I only had tv shows and library books, not a library of hundreds of photos at my disposal whenever I want. USE IT.
Poor Kiyama. He no has proper body.
Deliberately shit anatomy is deliberate.
Category Artwork (Digital) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Leopard
Size 1082 x 669px
File Size 118.3 kB
You have a point. People shouldn't say it's not meant to be realism just to escape trying harder, although some people actually do like having wonky-looking characters that don't make any sense in their anatomy. I mean just look at most of the cartoons they have on these days..... OK, bad example. They look like shit. ^_^
Ah yes, but, that was my point with the line about John K still knowing what a real chihuahua looks like.
ALL the big name cartoonists studied real anatomy. They don't just draw things randomly. They emphasise things, modify things, exaggerate and lessen things in order to get their style, but they still know what real anatomy is and they still use that knowledge, even though to the untrained eye it doesn't seem like it.
You need to know the rules before you can break them. Characters like ren and stimpy are as stylised as you're likely to get, but their creator still knows anatomy extremely well.
ALL the big name cartoonists studied real anatomy. They don't just draw things randomly. They emphasise things, modify things, exaggerate and lessen things in order to get their style, but they still know what real anatomy is and they still use that knowledge, even though to the untrained eye it doesn't seem like it.
You need to know the rules before you can break them. Characters like ren and stimpy are as stylised as you're likely to get, but their creator still knows anatomy extremely well.
I think you're expecting a bit too much from 95% of furry artists, who can barely type out a complete sentence without falling into netspeak.
Of the 5% who take their art seriously enough to try to learn to improve, only a fraction of those will actually want to put in the time, effort and $$ to take formal training or even just get a book on how to draw.
I generally don't offer critiques unless someone asks me specificly, to avoid the "It's not supposed to be realistic" cry. But really, most furry artists are just casual hobby artists, so I don't expect or ask too much from them, and if I don't like their work i just don't look at it (or don't buy it, as the case may be).
Of the 5% who take their art seriously enough to try to learn to improve, only a fraction of those will actually want to put in the time, effort and $$ to take formal training or even just get a book on how to draw.
I generally don't offer critiques unless someone asks me specificly, to avoid the "It's not supposed to be realistic" cry. But really, most furry artists are just casual hobby artists, so I don't expect or ask too much from them, and if I don't like their work i just don't look at it (or don't buy it, as the case may be).
You don't need to take formal training, or spend any money at all. We all have internet access, we all have a google FULL of photos of our subject matter to study, a YouTube full of videos of things moving, we have almost INFINATE source material. Like I said, when I started drawing, we didn't have any of that. I didn't get the internet until I was 19, I wish I HAD done so I'd have all this available to me at a younger age. But even when I was 8 and drawing, without the luxury of internet, I would go out and observe animals, do life drawing etc on my own. You don't need to have any money for that.
I fall into 'hobby artist' myself, don't ever intend to do it as a career, do it purely for fun and to express myself, and yet I don't see why thats an excuse for shoddiness. If you're going to do something, do it properly. In fact, most of the artists you could name on DA and here who are really good at what they do are only hobby artists; few people make an actual living off it.
The 'if you don't like it, don't look' argument is very invalid when said person is uploading their art for the world to see. If you upload something publically, you're asking other people to look at it, and even give opinions on it. As much as you think 'if you don't like it, don't look' I think 'if you don't want opinions, don't post'.
I've got a lot of art I haven't uploaded because I don't think its good enough and Im not particularly proud of it.
I just don't see whats wrong with trying to better oneself. Particularly when the people this is referring to DO take their art seriously; they're usually the people who plaster 'OMG DO NOT STEAL!!!!' bullshit all over their characters, role play them, write back stories for them, draw them multiple times, use them to express themselves, and yet they are content to continue making enormous anatomy errors and, rather than learning from it and admitting their mistakes, they go batshit insane and try and excuse it with 'BUT IM NOT GOING FOR REALISM!!!!!'
I fall into 'hobby artist' myself, don't ever intend to do it as a career, do it purely for fun and to express myself, and yet I don't see why thats an excuse for shoddiness. If you're going to do something, do it properly. In fact, most of the artists you could name on DA and here who are really good at what they do are only hobby artists; few people make an actual living off it.
The 'if you don't like it, don't look' argument is very invalid when said person is uploading their art for the world to see. If you upload something publically, you're asking other people to look at it, and even give opinions on it. As much as you think 'if you don't like it, don't look' I think 'if you don't want opinions, don't post'.
I've got a lot of art I haven't uploaded because I don't think its good enough and Im not particularly proud of it.
I just don't see whats wrong with trying to better oneself. Particularly when the people this is referring to DO take their art seriously; they're usually the people who plaster 'OMG DO NOT STEAL!!!!' bullshit all over their characters, role play them, write back stories for them, draw them multiple times, use them to express themselves, and yet they are content to continue making enormous anatomy errors and, rather than learning from it and admitting their mistakes, they go batshit insane and try and excuse it with 'BUT IM NOT GOING FOR REALISM!!!!!'
I can appreciate your passion on the issue. I guess I've been around long enough to realize a lot, maybe most, of the people posting don't really want to invest the time and effort to improve, and nothing anyone does or says will make any difference in their behavior.
My particular peeve are people who start stories or comics and never finish them. But after years of browbeating, nagging, flattering and cajoling some people, I've discovered that all the talk in the world makes not one iota of difference in what they do. In fact, sometimes people will deliberately NOT do what you want them to do just to prove that no one can 'tell them what to do."
Yeah, it sucks, but you can't change human nature.
re. ignoring crappy art-- what else can I do? Tell everyone who's work is bad that they're shitty artists? There's not enough time in the day. Besides, for most of these people, ignoring their work is the cruelest thing that can be done.
I try to take a more positive approach-- watching and favoriting the work of artists who I think are decent and give a damn about what they do.
My particular peeve are people who start stories or comics and never finish them. But after years of browbeating, nagging, flattering and cajoling some people, I've discovered that all the talk in the world makes not one iota of difference in what they do. In fact, sometimes people will deliberately NOT do what you want them to do just to prove that no one can 'tell them what to do."
Yeah, it sucks, but you can't change human nature.
re. ignoring crappy art-- what else can I do? Tell everyone who's work is bad that they're shitty artists? There's not enough time in the day. Besides, for most of these people, ignoring their work is the cruelest thing that can be done.
I try to take a more positive approach-- watching and favoriting the work of artists who I think are decent and give a damn about what they do.
Tell everyone who's work is bad that they're shitty artists?
No, no no, not at all.
I really hope no one thinks this is an attack on people who have less than perfect anatomy skills. Its SO not. It'd be hypocritical for me to do that when my own anatomy is frequently not perfect (I can't name one artist who IS perfect all the time)
If someone is a 'bad' artist, they need critique, help, advice to make them into a better one. They certainly don't need to be belittled or ridiculed since we were all shitty at one point.
This is about people who shun critique, think they're artistic geniuses, and scream at anyone who crits their anatomy with 'BUT ITS MY STYLE!!!' as if style instantly excuses all anatomy errors.
Knowing your anatomy flaws and working on them is one thing.
Continuing on with them by convincing yourself that its ok to draw something totally inplausible that would never be able to actually move or function because its 'a style' shows a startling lack of maturity and ability to admit one's short comings.
I know I can probably never change people, and that wasn't even the point. I probably can't change most of the things I rant about in art, but I can still rant about it. If even one person looks at it and reconsiders their approach to anatomy, its worth it.
If not, it was just fun to draw!
No, no no, not at all.
I really hope no one thinks this is an attack on people who have less than perfect anatomy skills. Its SO not. It'd be hypocritical for me to do that when my own anatomy is frequently not perfect (I can't name one artist who IS perfect all the time)
If someone is a 'bad' artist, they need critique, help, advice to make them into a better one. They certainly don't need to be belittled or ridiculed since we were all shitty at one point.
This is about people who shun critique, think they're artistic geniuses, and scream at anyone who crits their anatomy with 'BUT ITS MY STYLE!!!' as if style instantly excuses all anatomy errors.
Knowing your anatomy flaws and working on them is one thing.
Continuing on with them by convincing yourself that its ok to draw something totally inplausible that would never be able to actually move or function because its 'a style' shows a startling lack of maturity and ability to admit one's short comings.
I know I can probably never change people, and that wasn't even the point. I probably can't change most of the things I rant about in art, but I can still rant about it. If even one person looks at it and reconsiders their approach to anatomy, its worth it.
If not, it was just fun to draw!
lol I know this one chick who begs you for a critique of her work and she'll nag and nag and nag until you finally give said critique. Well, if you say one thing bad about her art, she goes batshit on you and starts screaming and usually logs off the internet and cries for awhile. Ugh.
Either way, I agree with your post. Studying anatomy is a very simple thing to do, and you're right, with the internet, there is no reason to not try to better your art if you actually care enough about it. I've been offering people redlines and tips on what I have learned and even people don't want a free service to better themselves. T'is sad.
Either way, I agree with your post. Studying anatomy is a very simple thing to do, and you're right, with the internet, there is no reason to not try to better your art if you actually care enough about it. I've been offering people redlines and tips on what I have learned and even people don't want a free service to better themselves. T'is sad.
Honestly the thing that annoys me about these artists is the fact that their "style" is already based on a popular one they've already seen a million times. I'm all for distorted, wacky stylization, but it has to be unique to the individual. Most of these seem like they were drawn that way because it's popular and they know they'll get a big circle of fans instantly. Same goes for sparkledogs. Art is not a popularity game.
Generally, I believe that too. Art is purely self expression, to me. I only draw to vent, never with an aim to get into the business or get notoriety.
And its not even bad anatomy per se that vexes me......we all have bad anatomy from time to time, even the best of us. But its the excuses used to justify it. If people want to draw completely borked anatomy, thats their choice, and if they say 'Im only drawing for fun, I don't care, I know its completely unlike this species real anatomy, but its only for fun', then thats fine.
But when people begin taking their art incredibly seriously, bitching at anyone who critiques them, and whining about how unique and special they are, but they're still drawing borked anatomy......I just can't take them seriously.
I just want people to ADMIT, whether they choose to follow it or not, that anatomy is important.
If I drew a wolf with ears on its nose and 3 legs and a squished up, tiny snout, people wouldn't recognise it as a wolf. No one would be able to identify it. So in that respect, anatomy is vital to getting people to actually realise the message you're trying to give, and the species you're trying to draw.
If someone wants to vent through their art by using a wolf, because they feel it represents them, then if they want other people to also feel something for the art, (which they clearly do if they're uploading it for the world to see) they kinda have to make the character look like a wolf, or else no one else will get it.
And I do firmly believe that everyone who uploads to the internet is looking for some kind of recognition, no matter how much they claim their art is all personal and they don't care what other people think. Of course they care: they're uploading it for other people to see.
I know artists who do, genuinely, just draw for themselves, and they never even show anyone. I was the same before the internet came along. I think people need to accept that once you showcase something on the internet, you're asking for other people to look at it, and have opinions on it, and you want them to at least partly understand your art.
And for that, some basic anatomy is vital.
And its not even bad anatomy per se that vexes me......we all have bad anatomy from time to time, even the best of us. But its the excuses used to justify it. If people want to draw completely borked anatomy, thats their choice, and if they say 'Im only drawing for fun, I don't care, I know its completely unlike this species real anatomy, but its only for fun', then thats fine.
But when people begin taking their art incredibly seriously, bitching at anyone who critiques them, and whining about how unique and special they are, but they're still drawing borked anatomy......I just can't take them seriously.
I just want people to ADMIT, whether they choose to follow it or not, that anatomy is important.
If I drew a wolf with ears on its nose and 3 legs and a squished up, tiny snout, people wouldn't recognise it as a wolf. No one would be able to identify it. So in that respect, anatomy is vital to getting people to actually realise the message you're trying to give, and the species you're trying to draw.
If someone wants to vent through their art by using a wolf, because they feel it represents them, then if they want other people to also feel something for the art, (which they clearly do if they're uploading it for the world to see) they kinda have to make the character look like a wolf, or else no one else will get it.
And I do firmly believe that everyone who uploads to the internet is looking for some kind of recognition, no matter how much they claim their art is all personal and they don't care what other people think. Of course they care: they're uploading it for other people to see.
I know artists who do, genuinely, just draw for themselves, and they never even show anyone. I was the same before the internet came along. I think people need to accept that once you showcase something on the internet, you're asking for other people to look at it, and have opinions on it, and you want them to at least partly understand your art.
And for that, some basic anatomy is vital.
Drawing, I suck at anatomy and I know it. But I do study the animal beforehand (and humans, if an anthro is in the works), and I always ask people what I've done wrong so I can try to fix it in the future.
In sculpture, my main talent, anatomy is everything. People won't pay for something that looks as though it couldn't get up and walk off. Whether super realistic or not, it HAS to be anatomically accurate even if I'm making something cartoonish.
In sculpture, my main talent, anatomy is everything. People won't pay for something that looks as though it couldn't get up and walk off. Whether super realistic or not, it HAS to be anatomically accurate even if I'm making something cartoonish.
Oh yes, this annoys me shitless. There's styles and there's skills...and saying "It's not supposed to be realism" is just a exuse for being just..plain bad at anatomy. Why not admit and try to learn from the mistakes? Really, it's not that hard.
How about making a "how to draw a rat guideline"-tutorial? :)
How about making a "how to draw a rat guideline"-tutorial? :)
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