Art, Writing, and Criticism

        Hello everyone and welcome to a new mini-series. As you can tell from the title we will be talking about three different subjects in this mini-series. The post will be broken up into three parts, each dealing with one of the subjects of Art, Writing and Criticism. But they will all intertwine after this post. So without further ado lets begin.

         One of the things I hear the most when I tell people I like to draw, or that I'm an Artist, is this:

That's cool, I wish I could draw. Or I can only draw stick figures.

      And if I'm honest it bugs me just a little, why you ask? Because the truth is Anyone Can Draw... Yes I know what some of you must be thinking right now:

Ha! anyone can draw but you haven't seen my drawing, Or anyone can draw but I'm not anyone, I just stink at it!

       But I'm here to tell you that your wrong. If you have two hands, can see, have a pencil and paper than you can draw (Hey I even know some people without hands, and who are blind that make art!). This is because drawing isn't a gift only given to the few, it's a learned skill. And just like with anything else it takes Time and Practice to get better. Any skill that you put time and practice into you will get better at it. Whether that is running, writing, playing the guitar, or drawing. Back when I started drawing my art totally stunk.

Yeah sure it did *eyes rolling*

      I'm telling you it was really bad (I'm not being modest here it was really REALLY bad). But I stuck with it and tried to get better on my own (which didn't really help). My art didn't really improve until I got a gift from my Parents:

         "Draw the Marvel Comics Super Heroes" was the book that took my drawing to a higher level. This book gave me the foundations for drawing that made me better, and the foundations is the stick figure. I never used one before but after that book I started to use it and my drawings improved.

      Sure I still didn't know a thing about proportions or muscle placement at the time. But that didn't matter because I had the foundations set. Now all that was left was to built upon that foundation. So over the next few years I either bought, or borrowed, books to help me learn. Under is basically all the books I used/use to learn and get better.

(as a side note I think there was girls with short skirts in this book. I think that was all but I can't say for sure. if there was anything else it would have been limited to one page) 

 

     Now I'll show you the way my drawing evolved thanks to the information I gained. It goes from the worst to the okay (I would show you something before I got my first drawing book but in a moment of "I don't care" I threw them out).

   

        As you can see (or at least I hope you can see) it moves from bad (and that's not even as bad I started out with) to okay. Now I'm not showing you these to get praise (I honestly don't want any praise for these drawings). The reason I'm showing  them to you is to demonstrate to you that drawing is a skill that can be learned and mastered. It may take time and practice but if you really want to draw just stick with it you'll get there.

      Now I'll give you the secret to drawing well. This is something that is soo helpful but easily overlooked by new artist. The secret to drawing well is the simple stick figure like this one (just a note this isn't my art, Credit goes to the artist who drew it)

     The thing you need the most when drawing is first the very basic stick figure. And the reason is because a stick figure will give you the general idea where everything will be placed before you start doing all the detail. Every great artist out there start with a stick figure, even if it is basic line figure. The point is indications. Then after the stick figure you put basic shapes on it.

Then the rest is just detail work until your left with something that looks complete. In the case of the stick figure I was showing you the finished product looks like this. (again credit to the artist, this is now my drawing nor do I clam it as my own)

(yes I know she has a short skirts, just ignore that)
        Now let me give you some more advice, something I seldom hear from other artist. Your first few drawing will be bad. So don't feel bad, and don't get down hearted. They will look weird and that's okay. What really matters though it that you keep drawing. You keep practicing, because that is the only way to get better.

     So do you want to draw? Do you want to be better at it? If you answered yes than you'll need some supplies. I now that can get really pricy, especially if you go to an art store and ask for help. Now I'm going to share another secret with you for absolutely no charge that will save the drawing beginner $$$.

    Okay so listen carefully...  0.99 cent (or dollar) stores are you best friends. You can find all kinds of pens, sketch pads, and markers for a dollar! Which is great if your just starting out. (If you want to know more about art supplies and art styles I could do a separate post about that. Just let me know in the comments if your interested.)

       Now on to the closer of this post. I've told you for quite some time that I was getting ready to show you some of my art and todays the day I'll be showing some. Mind you this is only my second and third time doing digital drawing so it's not that great (yet).

    This is the second digital drawing I made. The idea behind it is that Spider-Man has just received a picture mail from Spider-Gwen who is on Loom-world. She decided to take a selfie with Kaine (another guy with spider powers) who was totally not interested in taking one. 

       My third digital drawing was Deku, he is from a manga/anime called My Hero Academia. He was a normal kid living in a world of superheroes. That is until he gets his own superpower.

     That just goes to show you that if someone like me can come this far, then you can too!



     Well "That's all folks!"-Porky Pig. I don't know if I'll be showing more art here or not, if I do I know I want to get you all involved (like helping me chose what I'll draw and stuff). With that we wrap up the first part of this mini-series. So what did you think?  

 Until Next Time. Stay True to the King!

I don't own any of the characters I have drawn and neither to I clam them as my own. Any art that isn't my own all credit goes to the original artist. Please don't copy/repost my art without permission.