Small story time.
Always liked to draw and doodle. Haven't done any since college. I'm sitting in a business meeting with a notepad and paper and start doodling a little. Couple dumb shields because they're nice easy geometric shapes that you can do various things with. I start drawing a sword but the line doesn't work so I turn it into the start of an alternating shading pattern thing, and do that for a bit.
I start again with...I'm not really sure what. But it's basically an arc-line. Then I make it into a vaguely crescent moon shape and it occurs to me that the line I took looks exactly like the Rune Arc from Elden Ring. So I finalize the shape on it, then just briefly sketch out the shape of Marika hanging from it, starting with the arms, hands and head and moving down to the torso and legs. And over the course of the next hour just add little touches and fills there and by the end of the meeting....voila, I have this nice little 5 inch Marika Hanging From The Rune Arc sketch. I haven't drawn anything with a pencil in probably 15 years, and yet this thing I did came out pretty nice by my standards!
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There's lots of ways you can choose to approach it. If "draw what you like/find your inspiration" doesn't work for you, then do what most artists do: studies. Pick a technique. Experiment with it. Work on it. Make something with it. Perspective studies. Stipling. Shading. Cross-hatch. Portraits. Weird geometric shapes that built off each other in layers. Replicate the art style of someone you really admire. (I did Dragonball Z....and Catholic Stained Glass art.)
Because you can have your subject, and your technique that you render the subject with. Those are two pretty empirical things. The third part of the is the creative spark that makes it your's, the way your brain processes lines and angles and ideas. That's something you just start expressing over time, it's the way your stuff naturally starts to look. Even as you get better that look to your art will stay with it unless you deliberately try to conceal it.
It's like....comparing a super technical Wildlife study with a free-form abstract illustration. Drawing is so broad that people's default go to answer of "draw what you like" is really the easiest answer they can give. It's a question you gotta answer: what kind of art do you want to make? What look do you want to achieve? Technical mastery? A unique style? Some people's "style" is taking all the technical details and schooled techniques and throwing them out the window.
So when people say "draw what you like" I interpret that as "draw something you get invested in." Maybe that's a better answer. If you don't get inspired trying to do comic book-like art, do a rigid study of an apple in half light. Try different things until something, some look, some style, some vision grabs a hold of your brain and you feel compelled to draw and finish it.
It's not always easy to get inspired. Especially when it feels like work. But that's why I think doodles are so important. As a thing you're doing during work or school to keep your brain engaged (and possibly relieve boredom) doodles can surprise you for how good something you half focused on is, and how it inspires you to go back in, make it better, make better lines, shade, etc....So even if you're not going to "draw a thing every day", doodle every day. Try to draw a complete tree that is only 4x2 inches on the page. Draw a piece of fruit. Draw a landscape on a postcard. Make a quick character sketch. A half-turned face. A spooky skull. A leaf.
Or just draw swords and shapes until the muse finds you, like I do.
Really just play. You can be studious and look up techniques for drawing and apply them to a series of studies.....or you can just play. I'm not a musician and so when musicians "just play" for fun it's like a magic trick to me. That something like that just comes spontaneously, practice or not. Drawing can seem the same way, but there I get the idea of "playing around until something cool happens." Drawing was one of those things I just did, unprompted and unguided as a kid, because it's something I enjoyed. I think if you can find the fun and spontaneity that drawing offers, you'll find there's more ideas to draw than hours or hands to draw them.
That's really the thing: fun and interest. I really had a good time on my Marika sketch. I pleased myself with it. You're approaching the art from "I want to get good at it", and that's understandable. But don't forget to have fun with it! Don't get so hung up on the how or what you lose sight of that.
Go read up on some techniques, think back to animated or illustrated things you've enjoyed and come up with an idea to play with, an idea to go chase. "What if Mickey Mouse, but I draw their character edgy-anime style, and then make the whole thing look like a 70s album cover with hard silhouettes."
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Topic: Looking for drawing advice (Read 4013 times)