Shadow Major
Deliverer
Current project: The Realm Wanderer
Posts: 234
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Post by Shadow Major on Jan 5, 2012 3:08:51 GMT -5
I'm just doing a sort of test here. Please let me know if any of the questions do not seem plausible, and the moderator may feel free to delete this thread if needed.
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Post by Crombie on Jan 5, 2012 4:19:16 GMT -5
I use guidelines all the times, but I used to not to. After learning about them, and using them for around 2.5 years I've learned how incredibly easy they can make drawing complex images.
I also say drawing in general helps. My advice is normally, learn how to use guidelines, how to rough sketch, and learn how to draw with reference. When you can copy other artists' works with little to no problem, then you have truly begun to get an understanding of how they're used and the purpose they serve.
I highly recommend if you want to get any better you draw 1-3 hours a day with or without a reference using guidelines and rough sketching out the image you plan on drawing. (I also recommend that if you draw with reference, draw stuff from old artists and not new ones. Just because older ones tend to have a better idea of what they're doing than new ones.)
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Post by MBarbour on Jan 5, 2012 5:46:02 GMT -5
Good question, and poll.
I would say, when I began drawing two years ago, guidelines were a way of life for me. I used to begin every drawing with guidelines. I experimented wildly with the idea of them, and tested various hardnesses of graphite. Truth is, while my hand is about as precise as anyone's I can think of in comparison, it remains quite heavy in terms of how dark I draw my lines in general. One thing I can say is, that I found that 9H offered such delightful hardness, the amount of pressure I put behind the pencil remained very erasable. That is neither here nor there though.
At the point in where I am now, I only use guidelines when I feel they are completely necassary. The one thing I have learned through the process of creating my characters for my manga though, is that after about 10-15 conceptual pictures of an individual character, I no longer need them. That is why I say, most of the time.
For certain if you are drawing something outside of your comfort zone, sketch it as many times as needed to get a feel for it with your dexterity, and when you attempt to apply it to your permanent medium, make guidelines first. One technique for this I found very useful, is sketching the object out as darkly as necassary on a piece of regular printing paper, then trace it out in guidelines on your final medium. (Using a lightboard for this is EXTREMELY helpful).
I would also echo Crombie's sentiments on the practicing about 1-3 hours a day at minimum. You will be surprised at how drastically your skill increases. I usually draw anywhere from 7-12 hours a day, but that is because I work for graphic design company full time and a tattoo artist part time.
Hope that helped.
- Mike
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Post by qytopathic on Jan 5, 2012 20:03:40 GMT -5
Guidelines? Yeah, it depends. If I'm going for a full, finished picture, then I will always use guidelines because I don't want the eyes to be off, perspective to be off, etc. If I'm just drawing for the heck of it I always find it easier to draw a circle in pencil then using the circle as a guide go crazy with a pen. I don't use guidelines for scribbly drawings though.
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Post by dvandom on Jan 6, 2012 0:29:22 GMT -5
Guidelines are sort of an intermediate phase. You start off not using them, and it's obvious you don't, because your proportions are all subtly off, etc. Then you use them, and things firm up. Then, if you make it far enough you internalize everything and can get stuff right without guidelines.
---Dave, solidly stuck in the middle phase there.
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Shadow Major
Deliverer
Current project: The Realm Wanderer
Posts: 234
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Post by Shadow Major on Jan 7, 2012 3:04:46 GMT -5
Hmmm... very interesting! Thank you for the replies. I must be honest here; I do not use guildlines often myself (if you call the circle of the head a guideline), but after reading your comments, I think I'll have a go at using them more. Come to think of it, the only time where I do use guidelines all the time is in my Graphics class, but it's called "crating". Again, thanks for the feedback.
~ [shadow=red,left,300]Shadow Major[/shadow]
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