While its true that you can be born with artistic ability, I believe pretty much anybody can become a decent artist if they put the time and effort into it. Ive always been able to draw really well, but after not doing it seriously for more than 10 years I still had to put in a ton of time to become good at it again. The same goes for when I started painting, I couldnt just pick up a brush and paint whatever I wanted, it took time. Books from decent instructors can help also (Loomis and Hogarth are very good for portraits and the human figure in general).

DorF

Sweden961 Posts

September 13 2011 15:27 GMT

#22

On September 13 2011 23:24 Azera wrote:

Show nested quote +

Do you have any pics/videos of your drawings? =)

I would have, had I considered myself as good as Glider but I don't and there's no point in putting out videos showcasing your skills if they're just a lesser version of other people also showcasing theirs

Azera

3800 Posts

September 13 2011 18:55 GMT

#23

Hello guys, I recently just drew my first portrait picture thing. How is it?
[image loading]

unichan

United States4223 Posts

September 13 2011 22:38 GMT

#24

first of all i'm not really an artist but whatever, i'll try my best to critique it because i feel like that's what you want
one thing thats good to do is to hold up your drawing to a mirror because then its easier to see the flaws.
the first thing i noticed is that the eyes are completely different shapes - the one on the right is round and larger than the one on the left. the pupil things are off too, one of them is larger and they don't match up. i don't know if what you wanted was for one eye to look more closed, but it just looks strange. try to focus on keeping them the same shape because i think that's what you were going for here.
the nose is leaning too far to the left - it's super crooked and looks like it's about to fall off her face. her mouth is extremely off center. i'm guessing it's supposed to be a sideways smile, but when you sideways smile your lips do not move on your face to the right. her eyebrows are too thin, too smal, and too low. her ear is too far up and well... yeah.
the head is too thin, don't connect that line from the chin to the ear. instead from that angle you should have the line stop from about where you start to go straight up and then have the neck coming down. also about the neck, it's too short. i guess you wanted to have that tilted head effect but its just doesn't look right.
the hair - it looks super choppy and there's it doesn't look like flowy hair or anything. it looks like her hair got fried by her straightener and is just sticking out weirdly in a bunch of directions. try to keep the hair one shape instead of having it so piecey

yeah that's all i can think of for now... if there's anyone more qualified who wants to step in and give this guy some help that would be better

Azera

3800 Posts

September 14 2011 12:40 GMT

#25

On September 14 2011 07:38 unichan wrote:
first of all i'm not really an artist but whatever, i'll try my best to critique it because i feel like that's what you want
one thing thats good to do is to hold up your drawing to a mirror because then its easier to see the flaws.
the first thing i noticed is that the eyes are completely different shapes - the one on the right is round and larger than the one on the left. the pupil things are off too, one of them is larger and they don't match up. i don't know if what you wanted was for one eye to look more closed, but it just looks strange. try to focus on keeping them the same shape because i think that's what you were going for here.
the nose is leaning too far to the left - it's super crooked and looks like it's about to fall off her face. her mouth is extremely off center. i'm guessing it's supposed to be a sideways smile, but when you sideways smile your lips do not move on your face to the right. her eyebrows are too thin, too smal, and too low. her ear is too far up and well... yeah.
the head is too thin, don't connect that line from the chin to the ear. instead from that angle you should have the line stop from about where you start to go straight up and then have the neck coming down. also about the neck, it's too short. i guess you wanted to have that tilted head effect but its just doesn't look right.
the hair - it looks super choppy and there's it doesn't look like flowy hair or anything. it looks like her hair got fried by her straightener and is just sticking out weirdly in a bunch of directions. try to keep the hair one shape instead of having it so piecey

yeah that's all i can think of for now... if there's anyone more qualified who wants to step in and give this guy some help that would be better

Hmm... thanks for the feedback. I agree with everything that you said but I made the hair to look like it is because that's how I like my hair XD Hopefully this is a little better though, I haven't had much time to change stuff
[image loading]

i_imperator

Ireland94 Posts

September 14 2011 12:58 GMT

#26

I've been drawing since i was 2 years of age, i had a speech difficulty so i was able to develope the creative side of my brain.

When i was younger I was obeseed with sim city, and cities in general, so i drew alot of them. Then i was intrested in DaVinci, and started drawing in his style, I still have the sketchbooks.
Its a mixture of talent and Skill, i am good at drawing because I spent a good part of 8 years in secondary/high school practicing and learning how the masters, such as Davinci did there drawings. Thats how you get better, you find a artist that appeals to you and you follow his or her style, and then apply your own techniques. Thats how DaVinci and Michelangelo. became famous, they coppied and learnt from their masters and then adjusted it, so it became their unique style .

I did apply for a fine arts course last year before going to college, and i got something like 830/1200 points for it, that includes the leaving cert (exams that we irish have to take before going to college) and the points for the porfolio. However I decided to do a different Arts course, which involved my other passion, History.

If i do patent my drawings, I will post them up here, but not right now as i havent that and im very protective about my work. Oh and have you heard of Stephen Wiltshire? He was able to draw, tokyo, NewYork, Sydney, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London and Dubai from his autistic memory. Pretty amazing stuff.Here is a link to his gallery site :http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

plated.rawr

Norway1675 Posts

September 14 2011 16:30 GMT

#27

About your question of talent - I dunno. I think talent affects how well your early tries are, which can help on motivation, but ultimately, practice is the most important factor. If you draw a lot, you will develop your drawings. I suppose using drawing guides or mimicking someone else will help you increase towards specific goals, but the base of it is individual motivation and spending time drawing.

People have always said I have a talent for drawing. I've always loved it, ever since as a kid during preschool I was drawing on these huge thick-sheet paper rolls with others in my class. You know, kinda huge, collaborate drawings where we'd just draw random stuff on random parts and it'd all fit together into some overall thing eventually.

Anyhow, I drew a lot all throughout pre, grade-, middle and highschool, but the last ten or so years, I've hardly drawn at all, even though I still love it and think almost constantly about it. The times I do draw, the quality is still pretty good (relatively) and my style keeps developing even with my bi-annual drawing. I've got no motivation though. Which sucks, I'd love to draw a lot.

That aside, if you're motivated, don't worry about if you're 'talented'. Just draw as long as you want to draw!