Teach me to draw/animate?

[Shyknight]

Even though I've been telling everyone my whole life "I can't draw" and basically blowing off anything to do with the visual arts, I've decided I want to try my hand at animation/cartoons. The problem is... well, I suck. I have no experience and have no clue where to start. It's quite difficult learning how to animate drawings, let alone learning to draw well in the first place. So... what do you guys recommend I do to get started? I'm serious about this, I really want to become good at this. I'm not content to just write literature and music, I have to experience the whole spectrum of art in all its forms.

[Eihger]

I'm taking a course at school that cover everything you need, and more. I'll be kind as to show you how when I have gotten 2 things

1 completed the course
2 your address

[Accer]

If you're on your own, and starting from scratch, I recommend that the first thing you do is practice copying.

Find a picture you like in any medium -- black and white to start out with, because color introduces a bunch of new skills. The reason most people think they can’t draw is because they draw things symbolically, instead of what they actually look like. When asked to draw a flag, they’ll draw something like this:



Instead of like this:



When you copy the picture, your goal is to not see the picture in terms of “a shoe” or “a hand”, but a bunch of lines and shading that have no meaning. If it helps, turn the picture upside down and copy it. Another thing you can do is grid the original picture, and put faint grid lines on your own picture, to make sure the proportions are correct. Don’t think of it as cheating—many professional artists do this all the time.

Every beginning art class I’ve ever taken starts everyone out with copying. My high school art teacher said drawing was a lot like playing a musical instrument. You don’t start by making your own pieces right off the bat, you practice someone else’s while you develop your skills. Even if you don’t want to do drawings in the style you are copying, you’ll get used to using the right side of your brain instead of your left, and getting your hand to do what you tell it.

[Ultimate Altron Da'Ooh]

Start Simple: start doodling and than work upon that to see how you can make it more realistic or abstract (cartoon). This will not happen over night though. I made these characters in the 5th grade and I'm still working to make them better.

[Eihger]

I have been adding to a picutre for over a year now, it STILL sucks

[Ultimate Altron Da'Ooh]

Mine look preety good but people call me a perfectionist.

[Arina]

a hint, it doesn't have to be perfect the first time, just I recomend drawing it in pencil and have eraser on hand, or else the reycling company is going to call and ask you to do that, because your going to waste alot of paper using pen.
Another idea is buying a how to draw book, pick something in there you want to draw, then follow the steps, don't worry if it's not perfect, just try your best, after you finish drawing it, refine it till you like it using your eraser
. Last thing, try drawing things in pieces, like take people, draw a hand or an eye, or if your drawing a tree, try drawing the parts seperatly, it's less of a strain if you draw things in bits then trying to drawing in a whole
(hope this helps)

[Cryptonomicon]

When I was young (Well, younger, I'm 13 now) I always drew really heavily. I broke a few pencils pessing too hard. It made it impossible to erase well and looked terrible. Always sketch, always light. You can fix it up later, just start with a light outline. The hardest thing for me has always been perspective, but the trick with that is to just imagine it as a series of lines, as said above. Don't think of it as either the whole object/scene, or the parts of the object/scene, or the sum of the parts of the object/scene. Think of it as... Just lines.

I suggest getting a sketchbook and just doodling the hell out of every single page. Just anything. It doesn't even have to look like something thats something, or even an attempt at something. It just has to be the contact of pencil to paper, preferably forming lines and shading, because that does in fact develop skills.

One more suggestion. Just jump into it. I didn't think I could draw for a really long time, then I just tried for the hell of it. It didn't come out to well, but better than I expected, so I kept going. And don't get discouraged, I've been doing it for like 3 years and I still suck. But you do get better as time goes on, and its satisfying to do something you like.

[Shateiel Kruess]

Alright, first thing to tell you, art is something you do. And it's not like playing an instrument. Anyone can draw. But only a few can "draw" if you know what I mean.

Although that's too vague of a statement, I'll say this: Start out drawing something that comes to mind. Heck I started out in kindergarten drawing a little dude which consisted of a circle, with two stick arms and legs and a mario hat. I evolved after that rather quickly, but especially when I saw anime.

Although I may be contradiciting myself when I say this; study how people draw, and how things look. Sure, copying may help, but then that's trying to be someone else, and not yourself, cuz then you're trying to compare your art to someone elses, that means nothing when art is mainly your own style. I'll say that it helps to study someone else's style a bit, to know how they draw, but then shape that into the way you draw. Now I'm seeing that I'm contradicting myself....

Another tip to do is to practice. Pure and simple. Take it step by step. And have patience. And a drive to draw. I say start drawing something when you are inspried. It really helps. Heck, if you need to, start from ground base with stick figures. That'll at least help you get movement and positioning down with people. For objects, just plainly study what a chair or something looks like in perspective.

So start practicing.

[Arina]

since I saw this again, I know how you all see drawings as lines, but you know that just makes it confusing and less personal as a drawing you did, look at it as something you want to do and do it, if it's not perfect the first time don't worry, because you get better at it, we all started somewhere, hell I started with normal pens and notebook paper drawing circles and mishapen bodies, now I can draw decently (13 years later) it takes time, don't expect the best the first time, but strive for it

[Ultimate Altron Da'Ooh]

You can make the stick figure, than add muscle, than the skin, and the hair and everything else. That's how I do it.

[thearchgu]

Hey you can be like Shirt Guy Dom his Comic Strips make no sense and they consist of Stick Figures

[Ultimate Altron Da'Ooh]

Wha...................?

[Quietus]

I'm probably not one to be giving advice, but if you want to develop your own style of drawing, I have a suggestion: writing.

If you can draw something in your head, draw it with words. This will make it easier to refer back as you draw. you can reread what you wrote and it will refresh your memory, stop you from straying off your original design. Not to mention that writing also helps many people to more vividly impress an idea into the brain, so you retain it longer. Keep a notebook with you, when an idea pops in your head, write it down, maybe sketch a doodle. as it sits in your head it'll flesh itself out.

Quietus