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This isn't necessarily a tutorial, but more like a collection of tips that I've learned, either from my own, from art teachers, or from other artists, that have helped me improve quickly over the years. I'll divide it up into two sections: all artists and extra serious artists. I don't consider myself the most qualified teacher, but I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing some tips.



- Draw everyday for at least 15 minutes. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more often you draw, the better you'll be, trust me.

- Keep working on a drawing until you're satisfied. If you need to spend a few more hours working on your art, then use it. There isn't a time limit to how long you should work on a drawing (unless it's a commission or something).

- Bring a sketchbook with you wherever you go. You'll never know when inspiration will hit you, or if you find someone/something really cool to draw. It doesn't have to be a big sketchbook, a small pack of Post-It notes or a tiny notebook will work just fine too! Anything portable and easy to carry around.

- If you make a mistake while drawing, correct it first BEFORE erasing the mistake. If you erase your mistake, you might end up making the same mistake again. Stop and look at your drawing, analyze it and try to figure out what's wrong. Draw what you think looks right, and erase your mistake line. Repeat process.

- If it looks wrong to you, it probably IS wrong. So re-work it until it looks right!

- Take breaks if you're feeling tired or if your hand is starting to hurt. Don't push yourself if you're not up to game. You'll be a better artist when you're rested.

- Don't be afraid to start over. Sometimes, you'll come to a point where your drawing is covered in eraser smudge marks and nothing seems to be turning out right. That's the cue to start over on a fresh piece of paper.

- Critique is here to help you, not to hurt you. It's understandable that you may get very attached to your own art, but try not to get offended by the critique and suggestions offered to you. Every artist, no matter if they're a complete amateur or a professional, has something to improve on, and you might not realize what you need to work on until someone points it out.




- Draw from life. This means draw based on the world around you, not from your imagination. Some people call this "realism," but it's really just life drawing. Observe your subject and draw it. The more you understand the world around you through drawing, the stronger your drawings from imagination will be. Remember, everything stems from real life, including anime. Why not learn from the original?

- Practice drawing different subjects. If you're used to drawing teenage manga characters all the time and you feel like you're stuck, switch off and do something completely different, like drawing plants or old (real) people. You'll be a more well-rounded artist in the end.

- Work on your weakest subject. If you're terrible at drawing hands, then spend a whole week drawing nothing but hands, for example. You'll never improve if you avoid practicing something you're unfamiliar with.

- Your personal style will come naturally to you. I would even say that style is there the moment you put your pencil on paper. Style is how you handle your lines, your instinctive choice of colors, the way you move your hand across the paper, etc. Even when you're not drawing your usual art pieces or characters, your style will still be recognizable. Therefore, don't try to force a style out, just draw on intuition.

- Referencing is your best friend. If you're unfamiliar with a subject or a pose, always ALWAYS use references. Photographs, personal sketches, etc. are all valuable references. Important: This does NOT mean blatantly copy it. It means get the general idea of it based on the photos/sketches presented to you, and be able to derive your own work based on them.

- Study what is unfamiliar. Sometimes you might have to hit the books to learn something you don't fully understand. Studying in art is different than studying for a history exam; to study, you draw and practice. For example, if you need to "study anatomy," find a book from the library or from your own personal collection on artistic anatomy and copy the drawings/diagrams in there. Take notes as well, and then apply your new nuggets of knowledge to your art.

Hope it all helps. If you have a question on any one of these or if you'd like to share your own tips, please go ahead and post! We can discuss all our art-making tips together. biggrin

@peppermint90: What, like only 5 minutes a day to draw? Then draw 5 minutes every day. Use up any and all free time to draw, if you're serious about improving.

The thing about art is that you can't expect to become magically better overnight. Art is like music; do you expect to master the piano in a week? No way, you still have to practice.

If you're not good at drawing bodies, then draw more bodies. You won't improve on drawing bodies if you only practice drawing heads.

My recommendation is trying out Posemaniacs, which is a really amazing site that has a collection of 3D models (they are "naked" sort of, but they don't have any private parts and no skin either, just muscles). Go for the 30-Second timer, and start yourself with 90 seconds. Draw what you see on a separate piece of paper. You will have exactly 90 seconds to draw any given pose. Practice this at least once a day, for 5-10 minutes.

One thing I have to agree and disagree with is "Referencing is your best friend. If you're unfamiliar with a subject or a pose, always ALWAYS use references. Photographs, personal sketches, etc. are all valuable references. Important: This does NOT mean blatantly copy it. It means get the general idea of it based on the photos/sketches presented to you, and be able to derive your own work based on them."

Granted, this is 100% true. However, I have to say that trying to copy something to the exact detail can also be a powerful step in the right direction. And I mean EXACTLY. I have yet to do this, but it helps with your observational skills. For example, if your style is anime, screen cap a part of it that just sticks out to you, that you need help with--if the character has a powerful expression and you need work on expressions, then cap that, and draw it exactly. Or just get a full body shot of a character and work on that. You'll learn how folds work quicker, stances, and things like that. I wouldn't suggest it as something you do on a constant basis, but more along the lines of something to do while your creativity is on a dead streak.

Am I wrong in saying this? ((Note: I do agree that referencing helps a lot, I'm just saying that copying isn't always bad, either, as long as you learn something from it. ))

Wow, thanks for this!

here's some tips i compiled/thought of from my own basic knowledge of drawing. enjoy! mrgreen

Tip #1: Never give up on yourself. If you believe that you have some artistic talent, then keep at it. Practice makes perfect, plus you'll get better. (:

Tip #2: It's good to use a reference especially when drawing an unfamiliar pose. (References like: a mannequin(the ones for artists. lol), a photograph, get a friend to pose for you(if you can)

Tip #3: For beginners, but also for anyone who sometimes messes up on body structure (like myself wink ) draw an outline (like a stick figure skeleton) of the person or persons you're trying to draw.

Tip #4: It's always good to practice drawing from life (objects/people around you) to get a better idea of how the human form looks, or how birds look when they fly. (this helps your observation skills, and helps you get a better understanding of human anatomy and perspective)

Tip #5: Practice drawing from life and compare it with how you draw manga -- you'll notice how the proportions are not exactly the same but quite similar. (:

Tip #6: Use yourself as a model, like take photographs of yourself and draw however best you can. Then try drawing it as you, yourself were a manga character and see how you'd look. (This may sound kinda silly, but it's actually quite fun) ^^

Tip #7: This is probably obvious, but if you trouble drawing certain shapes or straight lines. Use a ruler, or get household objects/stencil in those shapes to help you out.

Tip #8: Practice as often as you can, whenever you can as long as you remember to keep studying so you won't fall behind -- you gotta keep those grades up. haha. wink

hope this was helpful to someone... wink

Ah, I see. No, I didn't mean as a final piece, forgive me if what I said came off that way. I did mean it as simply something to do in your downtime, when nothing else can inspire you. And agreed, there are some anime's out there that over exaggerate (but isn't that what you're supposed to do in said style, for the most part?)

And that's kinda why I said I agree and disagree. For a final piece, no. Copying for every pic, no. Go off of a reference or something of that sort for that. I'm just saying that throwing a copied picture in every now and again does help, especially when you have no inspiration. ^^ I'm not saying that it's the Holy Grail of art; it's far from that.

cool, people never put stuff like this out xd