˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

For drawing references 

Unless you're drawing explicit realism, in my opinion, expressions should be exaggerated to some degree. If you aren't doing a 1:1 recreation, the point is to get the FEELING across. Try making the expression you want to draw and feeling how your face pinches and stretches.

Skin doesn't just "disappear" when your face moves it around --- that's where wrinkles come from! Pay attention to where your skin creases when you emote, and use it to your benefit. It's a fine line between overdoing it and underdoing it -- find your own balance.

Ultimately, every expression has a little bit of push and pull, unless your face is completely neutral (and even then, there are still some wrinkles...). Learning to think of expressions as actions and reactions is VERY helpful in learning to draw them without needing a reference, and in learning how to stylize and push expressions based on references as well!

I think a lot of people end up with stiff or unexpressive emotions in their art because they're just trying to recreate a picture instead of understanding WHY and HOW the face is moving --- and it's a tough thing that takes a while to really pick up and learn. Hopefully is helpful in showing a way of thinking about it that can influence your process and approach to emotions!!!

Also, bonus: even without the lines, the planes alone still show a LOT of emotion.

I've been getting back into comics while I wait for more info from my concept job, and I thought I'd make a post about something very important to me, which is COMIC PANEL VARIATION and HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT.

Also, yes, before you ask, these rules can absolutely be broken. I strategically break them to create a noticeable shift or flow in the storytelling, like so:

Do not use Discord to host your files. Do not rely on Discord to preserve your text. DO NOT RELY ON DISCORD FOR ANY KIND OF PRESERVATION OR HOSTING!!

It CAN be lost, it WILL be lost! You must consider Discord as a part of the Core Internet, controlled by one company that hosts the servers.

I thought it was impressive at first that it replaced IRC, but now I am horrified. If the company behind Discord went under today, how many friends would you lose?

How many relationships? How much writing?

You may think this won't happen, but I remember when AIM went down and along with it, entire novels worth of interaction with my oldest friend.

IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU. IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. NO COMPANY IS INFALLIBLE.

1. identify what's making you draw so slow. can't figure out pose/anatomy? too perfectionist about inking? getting caught up in details? indecisive coloring?

2. timed gesture studies. draw a loose figure w photo reference in 10 minutes. do that a bunch of times. then 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute. train yourself to omit as much detail as possible while keeping the figure recognizable.

3. the dot/line exercise, sometimes called the "target practice" warmup. draw two dots, then a line connecting them. keep moving the dots farther apart while drawing the line as fast as you can while keeping it STRAIGHT (not wobbly!) and hitting the second dot. the line is ONE stroke. it's harder than it sounds. this should help you get an idea of how fast you can make a controlled stroke

4. look up tutorials on coloring more quickly in whatever art program you're using if you do digital art. chances are there's a tool or setting that can make it easier to fill in shapes. i almost never color by hand, i fill bucket everything

5. free yourself of "clean line art"... 9 times outta 10 people think sketchy lines are more visually appealing anyway. it's faster and they have more life. in my opinion at least

6. use lots of references. spending hours on a complicated pose from memory instead of just looking at photo/3D model reference isn't impressive it's just stupid and unnecessary

7. study with intent. if you struggle with leg anatomy for example, do lots of studies from photos (eyeballing and tracing), then try it freehand/from memory, rinse and repeat 9000 times until it's not something you get stuck on when it comes time to do an illustration/comic page

8. less detail. simplify. you can have ultra detailed art or you can draw fast. pick which is more important to you

9. bullshit it... draw ugly and bad but do it fast. done is always better than perfect

10. thumbnail. it's not just for comics. do a teeny tiny sketch of your drawing beforehand with colors. then use it as reference. helps to finish the actual piece faster when it's planned out

That’s likely a good sign that you need to be doing it more! The brain has a lot of little shortcuts it uses to figure out distance and trajectory and stuff like that. It’s how a lot of optical illusions work- taking advantage of those shortcuts to mislead the viewer’s brain into forming the wrong assumptions.

Drawing from the EYE, though, you bypass the ‘assumptions’ part and just copy what’s in front of you, and that serves the purpose of both strengthening your eye-to-hand communication AND teaching you to use those optical illusions yourself to enhance your work in other ways.

You know this image?

It says “this isn’t a pipe”. And it isn’t a pipe! It’s a DRAWING of a pipe.

The fact that it LOOKS like a pipe is an illusion. And that’s what representative art is: an illusion. Your brain assigning meaning to smears of graphite on paper, matching it to a shape it already knows from life and assigning it that meaning.

Thirdly, you don’t need to use the EXACT image you’re using as a reference and copy it entirely. You can use elements, or pieces- like using a picture of a cat to figure out the texture of a furry monster, or the patterns on a thylacine to add realistic stripes to a fantastical creature.

Most of the time, I personally use it like this: (and this will be frustrating, because I’m about to draw something realistic WITHOUT a reference, but…)

See, I KNOW what a hand looks like. Four fingers, one thumb, á certain number of knuckles and joints, where the thick palm parts go. But this still looks like a drawing. It takes a second to understand which parts are supposed to be which, ‘cause I’m not SEEING, I’m THINKING, and everyone’s brain has gaps.

Now here’s the photo I took to use as a reference:

And using this, I try again, substituting out the pen:

See the difference? Drawing with the mind VS drawing with the eye?

If I did this often enough, I could memorize enough of the image to draw a photorealistic hand from memory whenever I wanted, but I haven’t put that work in yet, and even if I DID, a reference makes it easier.

And if you’re working on something more unique and stylized? Do your sketch with the reference and then refine it from there. Use it for proportions and angles and foreshortening and colour and shadows and lighting and weight.