I restart drawing

     

"I cannot draw!" Almost everyone says that more than once, including myself. And that’s totally true if you do nothing to change that. It would be correct to say that actually everyone can draw. Most people were drawing in their childhood until some adult made the huge mistake to tell them their scribbling looks crappy. So it happened to me.

   

In elementary school I was asked to draw a squirrel on the blackboard in front of the class. (Maybe because the teacher wasn’t able to draw it) And so I went to the blackboard and tried my best. When I was done, the teacher start laughing. She said that it never ever looks like a squirrel and maybe everyone else in the class could draw it better than me (you have to know that where I live these animals are quit common). So I looked at my sketch and noticed that she was right, it looked more like a cat hit by a car. This was the moment when I realized that I cannot draw and it’s better to put away my pencil. But tell me now, who can draw a fucking squirrel out of his head without any draft?

This is my story about losing the ability, the passion and foremost the fun at drawing. But I’m sure many of you can report similar. From there on every time I made a line on paper, a voice in my head told me that it doesn’t look good enough. Drawing is hard work; you have to learn how to see in order to learn how to draw. It’s not something that happens over night. If you’re telling yourself that you’re 100% untalented, make at least 500 drawings within the next 12 months (take your time for every attempt) and I bet you will never say that again.

I thought I should give it try, no matter how bad it gets and I arrived at the point where I’m having a lot of fun again. My scribbles are still far away from good (if you would like to know what I mean when I say good, then go and visit http://www.conceptart.org/forums/ and you know immediately what I’m talking about).

In this post you will find a mix between master copies (mainly Michelangelo, Raphael, and Dürer) and drawings from photos that I found on Google or did by myself. Last year I attended a figure drawing course. I recommend this to everyone because drawing from two dimensional sources isn’t the same as drawing from real life.

       

When I start a drawing session, I try to familiarize myself with pencil and paper. To get a sense of security I always do a warming up. I take a blank piece of paper and draw straight lines (as straight as possible) and circles (as round as possible). I fill the whole page and if I feel my arm or my body is still kinda stiff then I do yet another round (you should always draw with your whole body, so relax :).

The last two heads are copies of drawings that I found on the web. I can’t find the website again and I don’t know the artists name. So if somebody has seen the original, please send me the link so I can list it here and give the artist credit for the wonderful work.

18 Comments:

  1. StephenRMinkin says:

    You have a very rich style, Love your work

  2. ThomOlson says:

    Wow! Thank you for sharing this. I’ve been restarting my own traditional skills (I’m a game modeler) and this archive is very motivational. The work is also nice to look at without any ulterior motive–and the new sculpts you posted on ZBrush Central are incredible. You’ve really made gray pixols feel like flesh! Congratulations, and thanks again.

  3. Cory Parsons says:

    I admire your approach to anatomy. I studied it back in highschool under Burne Hogartth’s teachings. You have excellent movement in your traditional pieces which i try to incorporate in my own. Great stuff and Excellent technique. Makes me a little less worried about finding a position later on in life.

    http://www.myspace.com/probablemunkey
    Cory

  4. Cemre Ozkurt says:

    This is an great article Totally motivational and inspirational and also amazing Zbrush job there. Good stuff.

  5. JT says:

    I like your sketches a lot, once again inspiring stuff. Go back to your old school and slap that teacher with a fish!

  6. Moosa says:

    i clapping on your work

  7. Anto says:

    Your work has inspired my to start drawing again after 10 years.
    Thanks!

  8. Joker
    Selwy says:

    Hey! Thank you very much for all the great comments! I wish I had time to draw more.I’m quite busy with other stuff at the moment…
    Best regards,
    Selwy

  9. Paul says:

    I wonder if the drawing were totally drew from within your head after a lot of practicing

    or you still drawn from reference or live model

    just wonder

  10. Paul says:

    sorry you can delete my comment as I did not read the whole page now I know

  11. omid says:

    all your 3D and 2D work are amazing.
    tanx for sharing this.i tried before for learn drawing.but i failed.now you gave me good feeling and confidence for start again drawing…
    im modeler and animator.
    good luck

  12. Rydahlyn says:

    agreed and thanks for sharing, I read this book recently drawing on the right side of the brain confirms alot of what uou mention.. good to have some confirmation from someone with similiar intrests

  13. Reza hadi Lesmana says:

    this inspired me.. i’ll fight to be more great in drawing… thank you, Sir

  14. Mylaine says:

    Hi!
    Quick word to I believe your work is very very inspiring and motivating! Thanks so much for sharing.

    I was simply wondering, which matcap do you use?
    Did you created it yourself?
    If not, is it possible to acquire it?

    Thanks again.
    Cheers

  15. alexander gomez says:

    wow this is very inspiring, thanks for sharing and for letting us comment here too. very nice and yeah i agree about the squirel =)
    alx21creations

  16. Jalpprups says:

    Exelent info

    Thanks for posting!

  17. Avdoot says:

    This stuff is indeed motivational, though i was good at drawing at elementry school but after entering into 3d i just stopped drawing and now my story is the same, but i am gonna start drawing again, maybe 250 if not 500 in the coming 12 months.. 🙂
    Keep inspiring us and thanks a ton for sharing your thought process for making such killer stuffs.
    And its good to see your site back again.. 🙂 keep posting..!

    Cheers 🙂

  18. Ed says:

    Your last drawings look like paintings from lucian freud…looks good!

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