hullo!! you prolly get asked this so much bro and i apologize for being another one, but did you go to school for art? your work is so incredible and makes me think you storyboard or animate (or both)!! if you did go to school for art or animation, or even if u didnt, what do you recommend to fellow artists who want to try their hand at it or be able to broaden their skillset (an example being like i adore drawing, but dont rlly ever know what im doing when i try paneling or storyboarding or perspective, or even simply planning a scene out)? :0)!
something i seem to understand is that drawing and well any art form in general is about simplifying it first! how do you go about simplifying such a process? or even storyboarding? i often hear the best thing to do is to just make, and i agree wholeheartedly, but how do you make the process less daunting?
anywho, i hope any of that made sense and answer however you please!! either way, i at the very least wanted to get across and let you know that your work is wonderful and i love the humor you have! i especially love the way you are able to put things in perspective, stacking and foreshortening, im obsessed with how you make most anything look alive and man just the way you know how to make the illusion of a 3D being look so believable is so freaking cool dude holy bananas… it makes me tweak every time LOL!! idk if even that made sense but gosh!! it itches my brain in such a specific way! its also what made me prompt these questions!
before i ramble again, thank you for posting your art and thank you for reading this!! omg i hope it doesnt read as like .. what is that saying like buttering someone up? you truly dont have to answer my questions!!!!!!! i thought if i could get the courage to ask, i might as well let u know i think your work is awesome and why i thought to ask in the first place!!!!!
^^holy over explanation bro
Hello! First of all, wow, thank you so much for taking the time to write this, this is so sweet 🥹 I really appreciate it!! It means a lot that you enjoy my silly little drawings. Funnily enough, you're actually the first person to ask something like this! I'm not great at general art advice, but I'll try my best :>
So, a bit of a lore drop, yes, I did go to school for art, specifically for 2D animation! And I've worked in the industry for about 3 years or so? Though the projects I was on never required me to do full hand-drawn animation like I did in school. (If you're familiar with 2D rig/puppet animation, that's what I did.)
I'll preface this by saying there is no "right" way to pursue art, and this is just what I attribute to my personal growth. I've found that a combination of life drawing and learning basic anatomy is a good starter recipe. It's important to understand how forms are built in order to go about crafting your own interpretation of them. You'll notice that once you do, it becomes easier to take something complex and break it down to simpler forms, which is valuable when you want to reference things and study artists you admire. It's kinda like unlocking a new language! Suddenly, you're able to look at art and read the decisions the artist made to get there. There are tons of great resources that go into the process/theory behind this, but the anatomy/figure drawing books that helped me the most are the ones I've saved HERE!
A tactic that I find works well in making the process less daunting is using something you love/want to draw to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. For example, Vox's head is actually a great way to practice perspective LMAO incorporating something you enjoy into the learning process can help make things less overwhelming. Fun fact: I didn't start learning how to draw humans until I was around 19-20 because I only ever drew animals before then, but I used my enjoyment of fanart as a means to challenge myself and it made all the difference!!
As for storyboarding, I'll be honest, it's not a strength of mine JDKFHJ i'm also trying to learn more. The thing is, you want to start off primarily focused on the story you want to tell, rather than making pretty drawings. I highly recommend thumbnailing. I personally like using a template of small boxes on a page so it forces you to worry less about the details and more on the overall mood/actions of the characters, as well as composition. Some of my thumbnails basically just look like this:
And of course, references, references, references! I know it's likely been beaten over your head multiple times, but they really are lifesavers. If you can find 'em, use 'em!! I'll share my favourite pose reference site HERE.
Wow, this is a long answer LOL i hope any of this is useful or encouraging!! (Don't be scared to drop another ask if you have more specific questions or are interested in seeing my personal process for certain things!)
