Muliama's blog

Today's assignment was a bit harder for me than previous ones. And that's because I took too much time on the tracing part. At first, I wanted to do 5 faces but I've got time to do only 2 of them… But that's alright! I gave myself around 15 minutes per face while tracing so that I don't use too much time on this part. For the faces, I had to draw them twice. One time with the reference and the other time from imagination. So to make things easier, I was drawing on my drawing tablet. For today's reference, I choose to draw characters from Hiromiya!

Today's drawings were harder than previous days, but it was an enjoyable process! I can see that my lines are improving on the drawing so I'm happy about the result! However, I had some trouble when I had to draw the face from a reference… And it was harder from imagination. The eyes are not in the same place when you compare the pictures. Which is… weird.

So we have to take a drawing of a clothed character and try to trace over it where the body part should be. It was pretty quick to do, so for today I took more references from different places. That's why I will be using my drawing tablet for today's exercise! It will be more convenient that way for me! But is mostly drawings from Tim Löchner, an artist that I really like. You can find some of his illustrations on Artstation. I also used an image of Komi Shousuke from Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu! Since I wanted to draw more male characters. So here is what I did for today's assignment:

I suppose that the purpose of this day was to learn the different curves of the human body and try to think about the basic anatomy. I think that I've done well on the basic outline! But my lines aren't very precise. I still have some problems with the pressure of the style here. I will have to train more in the future!

Today, I wanted to drew Kaguya Shinomiya from Kaguya-sama: love is war! So I've picked up some references from the anime to do today's assignment. Like it was asked I drew her face from two different angles. Here is the result!

The drawings turned out fine in my opinion! The feature of her face is coherent in both drawings and I really like her expressions. It was quite special to see the result honestly! I didn't think it would turn out that way! Although I need to find another way to do the shadows. Because doing them with a pencil doesn't give a good result… And maybe try to bring some color to my drawings? For example, I would like to add some color to the hair and the eyes. Because right now it's hard to differentiate the hair from the face and her accessories.

I've been drawing for some years now but it's always been a hobby for me, I've never practiced drawing seriously. I want to improve my drawing skills because I want to do some projects that involve drawing. And drawing characters is important for me! But I'm not confident in my drawing skills so far. I can only draw heads from some angles, my characters' bodies are weird and my characters' positions are limited. But I really want to improve that skill! So that's why I'm doing a drawing challenge! And since I want to see my progress, here is a drawing that I've done recently:

I will compare this sketch with the one that I will do after the challenge!

So in the following month, I will post every day to share my progress in the challenge! I'll surely talk about the choices I made, what gave me some trouble, and what I liked! I want to have a series of drawings, so we can see my improvements in the following month! I will use both digital and traditional drawings. Because I want to improve my digital drawing skills, but I still want to draw on paper and use my supplies.

Have you ever taken on a drawing challenge? If yes, have you seen great improvement in your drawing? Either way, don't hesitate to join me in this challenge if you want to! I'd be happy to see someone else doing the challenge!

The joy of starting!

Drawing is an excellent way of self-expression, a way to become more creative, and a way to see the world from a whole new perspective! You'll be so proud and happy to share your ideas and create beautiful drawings! And you'll learn SO MUCH about the world and the objects around you!

But if there is one thing that you have to keep in mind during this journey, is that everyone starts as a newbie! So don't be harsh on yourself and give yourself some time to learn and practice the things that will make you improve! Being an artist is a wonderful journey! Take some pleasure to live it!

Something else to keep in mind is that material is not an excuse! A pen and some printing paper are more than enough to start! The most important is to actually draw consistently!  Anecdote: I started to draw in my notebook during French class in middle school. (Don't be like me though listen during class)

So now you should be asking…

But what are the fundamentals I need to learn?

And you're right to ask this question! Just drawing every day isn't enough to improve your competence. You'll need to draw things that will make you improve! 

Having a good drawing foundation is important to build a good drawing style!! 

So here are the fundamentals you need to learn as a beginner:

Perspective

That is what will make your line on the paper feel 3D!

Here you'll need to learn about what makes an object feel like it has volume, how something farther away would look like, etc.

I have two exercises for this fundamentals!  The first one is to actually draw objects! Draw cubes, cylinders, and spheres in any direction you can think of!

Here is what it looks like when I do this exercise!

The second exercise is to draw these objects in an environment!  Horizon lines and vanishing points will be your friends here.

Here this will make it clear to you!

Construction

Construction is the ability to build new things with the simple shapes we saw earlier! You'll try to understand how objects would connect together. 

With this skill mastered, you will be able to draw ANYTHING! Because all things and objects can be broken down into simple shapes and volumes! 

Looking at references can be a good idea here! Look at a simple object and try to draw it with the volumes!

This is the way I practice construction

Gesture

I only have one thing to say here: GESTURE DRAWING! What is gesture drawing? Is an exercise! The goal of this exercise? To draw people with a time limit! You'll draw a pose in one to two minutes at first! Your goal is to get the GESTURE of the character in your drawing.

There are a few websites for doing gesture drawing! You just have to select the time and the type of images you want and draw! One of my favorite websites is Quickposes! But I'm sure you could find another one if you search a bit on the internet!

Now you know what to practice! Practice these fundamentals consistently and you'll see your drawing skills improving! 

Of course, you don't have to just draw spheres, cubes, and simple people you can draw things you want to draw! Just draw from good references!

Another thing that can help you with improving your art is…

Drawing challenges!

They're fun, put you out of your comfort zone, and make you draw things you would have never drawn otherwise! Isn't that amazing?

That's why it's such a good idea to participate in art challenges! Plus, having other people participating in the same challenge can help you boost your motivation!!

There is plenty of art challenges on the internet, but the one you should do to start drawing is certainly Marc Brunet's 30 days art challenge!  An art challenge that will help you start drawing in a month! You will practice the fundamentals and you'll see the improvement by the end of it! 

Maybe should I do this challenge? (Btw Marc Brunet's channel is an excellent place to learn from! Go look at some videos!)

In conclusion

You now have all you need to start drawing! You know that you'll need dedication and persistence, you know about the fundamentals you need to practice! You also have a perfect challenge to start drawing! Don't forget that drawing is an enjoyable journey! Don't overdo yourself, practice consistently, and be curious!

Feel free to ask questions or share some drawings so we can all track our progress!