Hey there Drawspace!

I seriously want to get into the Gaming Art Industry, however, my drawing skills are horrifying. It ****** me off when I have many creative ideas in my mind that I want to put on paper, but it looks terrible. How do you guys sketch well? My sketches look like a frickin grade 1 student made em. Someone help =D.

Thanks,

JJBEANS

i think everyone starts out with all the ideas and no skill to put em down and that is what drives us to draw, take the lessons here on this site, and you will be amazed at the end at what you can pick up and how fast you can grow..we all of us here, are at different stages and skill levels, but one thing we all have in common is the PRACTICE..constant practice

good luck to you

I can look back at some of my first attempts and they look so childish .. through constant practice and staying with it Daily I see the changes,, even in a few Artists here that I have come to know .. If you have the desire and the stick - to - itness.. then you will Surely see you get better.. Also I may add to what Kay has said.. find a medium that you feel comfortable with ,, sometimes the other mediums will surface as interest later on down the line .. Keeping in mind that with each one you have to not give in when you don't get the results you hoped for .. I hated watercolors in the beginning because I could not control them as well as I could Oils.. I stayed with it ..took a few classes and formed a style all my own .. I haven't looked back since..One thing you will notice here is that we all have a definite style .. Check out the Challenges .. all the same references and each one of us with a different way to interpret.. I wish you luck and much courage.. Carol

I agree. I practice every single day and i keep all of my drawings making note of the date they were drawn.
I found this site a few years ago and have not looked back since. I hope it helps
http://www.idrawgirls.com/

Well, first of all, I think you are doing yourself down - having looked at the post in your gallery http://www.drawspace.com/forums/index.php?...i&img=41187 your drawing skills don't look "horrible" to me.

Course of action:

- get yourself a sketchbook, draw all the time - any time you are sitting around - in a cafe, on a bus or train, watching tv, etc

- work through Brenda's lessons here on the site.

- post more work here, post work for constructive critique. Join in on the forums.

- there are basically two approaches to drawing figures - constructive and observational. Constructive is typified by books by Bridgeman
http://www.amazon.com/Bridgmans-Complete-G...e/dp/0806930152
and by Loomis (Loomis is not in print, but easily found online).
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/

Observational is typified by Tony Ryder and David Kassan - see Tony Ryder's book on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Complete-Gui...g/dp/0823003035
, and see the demos section of David Kassan's website.
http://www.davidkassan.com/instruction.shtml

- while Drawspace is great, for gaming art you really should also become a member at conceptart.org too, and get actively involved there, as well.

- also - now you've posted - take advantage of the resources and people here and elsewhere - so often, I see people posting messages like yours, who then go back into "lurk" mode instead of continuing dialogue and discussion and making active use of the contacts they've just made.


Dave

Here you can download several very good books about drawing the outline and sketches - http://risuem.org.ua/category/sketch
Unfortunately, this is Russian site, and the book is also in Russian. But you can translate the page with using Google. And in the books a lot of pictures. Download, you will not regret.

If you want to start somewhere, you found the right website This community is full of professional artists who would love to give you advice and help. I have been drawing tons since I found out about the site about a month ago and have improved 500%.

I also want to draw fantasy/sci-fi and I was frustrated at the start when it looked so stupid. Drawing fantasy art is drawing on a very high level since you will be drawing completely without reference from pictures or real life. If you want to draw trolls and elves then you first need to know exactly how the light source creates shadows, how to create the texture you want etc. There is no "trick" in drawing, there is only practice and practice and even more practice.

hey lance, long time no see, good to see you around again.

Practice... Practice...Practice and study everything around you....post your work here and at other sites...get all the feed back you can during the process...It has taken me 5+ years to get back into the swing of things. It doesn't happen over night...you have to teach yourself how to really see before you can really draw...at least that has been my personal experience.

Good luck,
Laura

Great site Lance !! Thanks...

There was disscussion on here one time with a game designer, I can't remember when. Been sometime though. May be able to do a serch and find it. But there is alot of work that goes into that kind of thing.
A sketch is just an idea that goes through many stages. Your first sketch maybe just line's or doodles and then you do some research, find/take referance pics, work out prospective, and just keep fleshing it out till you get to were you want to be. May take days or weeks, maybe months!!

Alexa, spasibo, mne prigoditsya!!!

Here is a link to keep you inspired http://www.conceptart.org/.

Though don't get your hopes down if your drawings don't look like this for a while, these people are the best of the best and have probably gone trough a process of years and years of practice. First with traditional mediums and then on computer. Both take years of dedication to master.

You'll notice that most of the professionals in the concept art industry work with programs like photoshop and illustrator. I wouldn't call it "easier" than drawing the traditional way but it does make sketching much more convenient.

Found the thread I was talking bout. http://www.drawspace.com/forums/index.php?...;hl=game+design
I don't know if he still hangs around but I bet he can help you alot.

Now that is someone who knows his stuff, thanks for posting that Pencilnhand