Ways to improve?

you stick a fork in a wallsocket, that's the only known way to get the spark if you're not born with it.

seriously though there isn't an answer to your question if "read the sticky, consult the recommended materials, and then draw for years" isn't satisfactory for you.

>>3045965

Draw. Draw. Draw. The main difference between you and all those artists you admire is the time they have spent drawing.

Look at things. Real life, pictures, artists you like. Collect references. Analyze, remember. Then draw more.

>>3045965
1.)study your fundamentals
2.)apply fundamentals to shit you actually wanna draw. Don't listen to retards who say not to draw anime unless you mastered realism
3.)Draw a shit ton and always be critical of your work. Look for feedback
4.)be patient. So many regards on ic think you can reach pro if you draw 16 hours a day for 1 years. That's like saying you can achieve the body of Arnold if you train hardcore for a year. It doesn't work like that, your brain needs time to rest. You will also deal with a lot of regression and progression periods. It's perfectly fine, improvement isn't a linear path
5.)Get out of your comfort zone. Interestingly, you have 2 factions of artists. On one end, you have those DA tier artists who draw out of their comfort zone but because they don't give a shit about fundamentals they don't improve. On the other end, you have artists who study their fundamentals but because they are too scared to tackle those really complex subjects, they don't improve much. The best artists do both.

>>3045965
>there's artists out there who are amazing at anime, but have never studied anime in their life.
would love to know how that's possible

>>3045976
>Don't listen to retards who say not to draw anime unless you mastered realism
People don't say that, they say to study realism and practice anime on the side, and it's sound advice. If you do the opposite you will be shit. Nobody is saying "Don't touch anime, don't even doodle it in the corner!!!" They're saying get the necessary skills in order to succeed at anime instead of just doing that fucking dorito chip head pin the eyes on the face type of shitty embarrassing cringy anime shit. Anime without realism looks awful every time.

>>3045991
>People don't say that

They do dumb ass. I've seen multiple times when people would say something along the lines of "stop doing anime, and work on realism instead" Hell, I could probably go on a forum right now and take screenshots but it would be a pain in the ass to find it.

>>3045991
>tfw I know a nigger who did nothing but draw using anime as reference
>He never used guidelines, his work usually starts with the eyes then he moves to the face, the hair and the body
>His style is pretty neat he is poor af but finally bought a tablet recently
My PC is broken I'm on my dad's now but as soon as I recover mine I maybe post a doodle of him here

I'm pretty sure I have some on my fb because he occasionaly sends me drawings there, but this PC is a time machine I swear it takes 10 seconds to open fucking google

>>3045965
1. read the book peak by anders ericsson
2. become knowledgeable on how to improve in every field
3. apply it to art

tldr of the book: while it is always possible to improve it is not easy and usually not fun. there is no evidence of talent, it is the amount of deliberate practice is what separates masters from others. so if you have a problem drawing hands, you focus on hands, if perspective or values give you trouble, you study that, etc, get out of your comfort zone, try things you have never tried before, set goals, monitor you progress, and figure out a way on how to maintain motivation. when studying focus as much as possible, study rather slowly and well to create good motor patters and habits find a good teacher if possible or a way to get feedback. and surround yourself with other people that will support and encourage you, or something like an artschool would be great as there are people working on the same skills to reach the same or similar goals etc.

>>3046105
>>3045965
also minimize distractions. quit 4chan, social media, reddit etc. you will struggle to improve your focus if you dont wean your mind from dependence on distractions.

build a daily drawing habit. try to draw at the same time and place everyday.

go to the library and pick some books to study from for all fundamentals. like pick one where you like the colors, one where you like the drawing, composition etc then copy them
i am currently reading the book drawing lessons by great masters by RBHale and it is amazing, i wish i had read it sooner very much recommend.

>>3046105
>>3046119
Post your art.

>>3045991
Too many beginners like you are confusing realism with the fundamentals. If you want to get good at anime / stylized lineart type work, studying realism is mostly a waste of time. You study the fundamentals alongside the particular style you want to get good at.

>>3045965
>"Draw what you love"
That's more for making it easier to keep yourself motivated, it's not really meant as an advice to replace focused study.

Even if you don't study, then drawing something, anything, is better than drawing nothing. That's the rationale

File: Deitch-Boulevard.jpg (217KB, 700x719px) Image search: [Google]

217KB, 700x719px

The "goal" of the serious artist need not be to draw photo-realistically, or even to embrace these "fundamentals" people around here worship. You want to develop your own style,your unique way of perceiving things and translating that to your medium of choice. Hence this pic,by a Zap Comics era luminary named Kim Deitch. You can see what influenced him in this one drawing,but he made the medium his own. Experiment freely now,and slowly you will find both mind and hand in harmony with the making of your art.

>>3046119
>quit 4chan
literally impossible

>>3045989
Oops, meant to say Anatomy.

Draw whatever you want, people like you who ask this kind of shit don't actually want to improve, you just want asspats and to be told you can draw anime.

>>3046301
You think he drew that without some understanding of the fundamentals?

>>3045965
What a cute kitty, anon.

This topic actually didn't turn out too bad.

>>3045965
It depends on what you think is not shit. When you reach closer to not being shit, that's improvement. Everyone has a different not shit though, so it's almost impossible to tell if a person is going on the right path because they're probably always changing paths anyways.

>>3046301
That image shows fairly strong fundamentals, only the anatomy is lacking. This is something I noticed with lots of oldschool cartoonists and comic book artists who are perceived as not that great technically. They have wonky figures but really solid everything else and because the figures look wonky, we tend to overlook just how much effort, accuracy and detail went into the backgrounds and props in a panel.

>>3046297
You're retarded dude. Fundamentals does incorporate realism. If for example I want to learn how to draw an animu nose, I will need to study the structure of realistic noses to understand how things are simplified. Same with everything from anatomy to posing.

>>3047137
That's exactly the misunderstanding I'm talking about. Reality =! realism

Realism is an art style, just like anime, impressionism, cubism, photorealism, hyperrealism whatever. The fundamentals obviously incorporate realism, but they aren't exclusively learnt through it. If an anime artist decides to study noses and he does linear line drawing studies of real noses to understand the structure and how to simplify them, he isn't studying realism but he IS studying reality / fundamentals. Same way how an impressionist painter doing a plein air color study isn't studying realism but still studying real life.

>>3047153
Realism and reality are the same thing you autist

>>3047181
>Realism was an artistic movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848 Revolution.
>Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined.
I'm quoting wikipedia.

>>3045976
this guy has it right. Though it's important to remember, if you want steady progression, try to fit drawing in everyday. That doesn't mean you have to create a masterpiece every day, just draw anything. Doesn't matter if its just some anatomy practice or a sketch or two. What's important is that you keep yourself from getting rusty. You can even just draw some anime faces if you want, you'll be keeping your mind in that state of drawing.

go easy on yourself once in a while too. Draw casually and don't really think too much, then go and work hard on a good piece. A lot of the time I notice a noticeable spike in my skills. Giving your brain that time to soak everything in is very important.

>>3047181
No, it really isn't you idiot. Hence the clear distinction between realism and photo realism or hyperrealism. Realist painters do a lot of things that don't exist in reality, playing with lost and found edges, changing values to be more appealing or to improve the composition, sacrificing color accuracy for the sake of color harmony etc. A good realist painter would never just copy reality 1:1.

>>3047214
Thanks for that info, anon.

This discussion is rather inspiring, so I give my thanks.

>>3045965
Learn perspective. It is literally everything.

>>3047637
This. Working on that with learning to draw and render with ink on the side.

>>3047637
>How to Draw by Scott Rob
>It's literally 99% about perspective
>Finish the book and have a clear mind on how to approach drawing now

Scott was right.....

>>3045965
the main thing is mileage, you don't have to decide between studying loomis and copying anime screenshots if you do both. Realistically, you can probably only study one topic for like up to 2 hours on any given day before you can't focus enough to keep learning things efficiently, so if you can block out 4 hours a day, you can spend 2 of those studying things the sticky told you to study, and 2 of those trying to draw things you wanna draw, and eventually things should just click.

>>3047637
it is literally everything
except for colour, light, gesture, design, subject matter, composition, storytelling, line quality, rendering, mark making, anatomy, visual library
perspective is literally everything, literally

loomis is actually fucking terrible learning material. i have to assume this is some kind of long running troll