156 replies to this topic

[GonaDie]

Hello, I have started drawing mechs recently... Because I really wanted to make my own mech.So I am here for your help. Any tips will be appreciated. So take a look:

[Iqfish]

Not bad, not bad.

You have a knowledge for dimensional thinking, which is my worst problem.

Want a tip?

- Draw as much as you can

- Draw as much different stuff as you can to practice different shapes

- Look at different artists an learn from them.
Great links are:

http://spooky777.deviantart.com/
https://mwomercs.com...bishop-steiner/
http://shimmering-sw...deviantart.com/

Think yourself into their art, how they use color and shadows to create the feeling.


Practice is the key!

[GonaDie]

IqfishLP, on 15 January 2014 - 06:49 AM, said:

Not bad, not bad.

You have a knowledge for dimensional thinking, which is my worst problem.

Want a tip?

- Draw as much as you can

- Draw as much different stuff as you can to practice different shapes

- Look at different artists an learn from them.
Great links are:

http://spooky777.deviantart.com/
https://mwomercs.com...bishop-steiner/
http://shimmering-sw...deviantart.com/

Think yourself into their art, how they use color and shadows to create the feeling.


Practice is the key!

Thank you! I will use every tip you gave me

[Heffay]

GonaDie, on 15 January 2014 - 06:53 AM, said:

Thank you! I will use every tip you gave me

Keep in mind you are going to be your own worst critic. Or you should be. As IqfishLP said, practice as much as you can. Eventually you'll go back and look at your old stuff and say "what the heck, who did that? So horrible!"

Questions also work best when they are specific as opposed to general. "How do you shade the underside of the mech" would be a better question than "What do you think?" There are so many little components that go into a finished work you'd be surprised. Keep at it though!

[GonaDie]

Heffay, on 15 January 2014 - 07:09 AM, said:

Keep in mind you are going to be your own worst critic. Or you should be. As IqfishLP said, practice as much as you can. Eventually you'll go back and look at your old stuff and say "what the heck, who did that? So horrible!"

Questions also work best when they are specific as opposed to general. "How do you shade the underside of the mech" would be a better question than "What do you think?" There are so many little components that go into a finished work you'd be surprised. Keep at it though!

Thank you! You know you are right, yesterday when I made this thing I wanted to compare it with my first mech I made...It was horrible!

[baabaa214]

Nice

[Alaskan Nobody]

Your old stuff may seem horrible in your eyes - but watching the evolution of the art is sometimes a lot of fun.
I don't have much to add to what the others have said other than to second Iqfishlp (terrible name is the first letter an upper i or a lower L?) and Heffay's suggestions.

Don't be afraid to hold onto your old art - sometimes seeing how "bad" you were can help when you get down on yourself - if you were that bad then, how good will you be later? type of thing.

[Sparks Murphey]

Most of what I have to say, has been said by Ira Glass, and better: http://zenpencils.co...-for-beginners/

Take that to heart, and live by it. Whenever you make a new piece of art, you'll find something wrong with it. The trick is to keep digging until you find the bits you have done better than last time. That's what will drive you on, and keep you developing. Put your latest success somewhere you can see it from where you make your next art piece.

So, from an outside point of view, what do I think you should focus on, and where are your strengths already? You've already got a good sense of 3D space, as IqfishLP mentioned, though you need a stronger grasp of the vanishing point (the graphical term, not the 1971 film). Vanishing points are especially important for boxy objects, as they help convey the sense of scale and volume; without a strong vanishing point, there's the feeling that you are looking at the object from a very far distance through a telescope. Caveat: I've never got the hang of sketching them myself, which is why I work in 3D modelling programs and make the software do all the work for me.

After the straight line, the circle is one of the most easily identifiable shapes to the human eye, and it can tell when it's not looking at a circle. Practice them. Not "circles with anything", just circles. Fill a page with hand drawn circles, then get out a compass to see how well you did. Once you've got the hang of them, move on to ellipses, which are what circles will look like when not face on to you.

Assuming you're interesting in modelling robots/mecha/tanks/other mechanical things, take a look at real life examples (as well as other art) and steal... I mean reference the little extra accessories that hang of the sides, like antenna, access panels, air vents, and things not starting with the letter "a". Putting these things on a machine do two things. Firstly, they help trick the viewer into thinking it's a complex piece of equipment, rather than a box sculpted from solid metal. Secondly, they keep the eye looking at the picture and exploring it's details, rather than passing over it and wandering away. The engineer in me hates it, since on a real war machine all those pretty doodads would be covered up by solid, boxy metal armour, but the point of art is to look good, so I live with just the individual gadgets functional. When you make a machine, try to always keep in your mind "How would it work? How will that bend? How will I convey that functionality to the viewer?" Concept Robots has some great art to inspire this.

But always, always, keep in mind that the reason you find flaws with your work is that you have exceptional taste in robot art, and that taste has the power to be expressed in great artistry, if you can keep focusing on how you've improved in it's expression.

Edit: I don't half waffle on, do I?

Edited by Sparks Murphey, 16 January 2014 - 01:07 AM.

[XX Sulla XX]

One of the best things you can do at this stage is get more books and videos on perspective. And keep in mind have fun doing art and study and practice and you will get better and better. Here is a good video series on perspective. http://www.thegnomon...re/product/323/

[GonaDie]

Thank you guys! Your words mean a lot to me. Now I feel that I can do something great with my pencil.Thank you guys I really appreciate your help. I will keep working and maybe post another scribble some day

Edited by GonaDie, 16 January 2014 - 03:12 AM.

[dangerzone]

If you're lucky enough, a kind fellow by the name of Bishop Steiner will stop by for some encouragement

EDIT: It looks nice I suggest using a ruler for straight lines though, or a protractor. The tools of success

Edited by dangerzone, 16 January 2014 - 06:25 AM.

[GonaDie]

I made another one, I call it ''The not so horrible'' . So take a look: (sorry for bad quality of the picture)

[GonaDie]

So I made another one... I think it's quite good for my level. So here it is:

[CyclonerM]

Not bad!
I drew something similar once.. Not quite very good, i know.

[GonaDie]

CyclonerM, on 27 January 2014 - 06:15 AM, said:

Not bad!
I drew something similar once.. Not quite very good, i know.

Your MadCat is very cool,It has a lot of small details which is my worst enemy.

[tucsonspeed6]

GonaDie, on 27 January 2014 - 04:10 AM, said:

So I made another one... I think it's quite good for my level. So here it is:

There are a lot of parallel lines in this one in the torso and arms that you can use to force the eye to perceive perspective. Just draw where you would imagine the horizon to be, then pick a point on the horizon where these lines would be aligned with in the distance. Then just retrace those parallel lines so they all point to that single point. There are lots of examples out there of how to do this. Try googling single-point perspective, 2 point perspective , and even 3 point perspective. It's a really easy way to make a good drawing look great.

Also, it looks like you draw lightly, which is great, because it means you can draw several lines in one spot and decide which one looks best. When you've got a good idea of what you like, you can draw over the best line with a much darker line and erase all of the practice lines. You end up with a clean look that has a lot of contrast.

Your shading looks pretty good too. Just be sure to think about where to light source is coming from and try to imagine how each of the surface is affected. Some face the light, and others face away. Some might be blocking the light to other surfaces. Shading can be another really powerful tool to trick the eye into thinking it's looking at something that's really there in 3 dimensions.

[GonaDie]

tucsonspeed6, on 27 January 2014 - 12:48 PM, said:

There are a lot of parallel lines in this one in the torso and arms that you can use to force the eye to perceive perspective. Just draw where you would imagine the horizon to be, then pick a point on the horizon where these lines would be aligned with in the distance. Then just retrace those parallel lines so they all point to that single point. There are lots of examples out there of how to do this. Try googling single-point perspective, 2 point perspective , and even 3 point perspective. It's a really easy way to make a good drawing look great.

Also, it looks like you draw lightly, which is great, because it means you can draw several lines in one spot and decide which one looks best. When you've got a good idea of what you like, you can draw over the best line with a much darker line and erase all of the practice lines. You end up with a clean look that has a lot of contrast.

Your shading looks pretty good too. Just be sure to think about where to light source is coming from and try to imagine how each of the surface is affected. Some face the light, and others face away. Some might be blocking the light to other surfaces. Shading can be another really powerful tool to trick the eye into thinking it's looking at something that's really there in 3 dimensions.

Thanks for the help

[GonaDie]

Here is another one. Probably the best so far.

[Spurowny]

I just wanted to say that this is a terrific thread.
Looking at GonaDie's drawings evolve as he incorporates the advice offered in the posts here into them is really cool.
You have all brightened my day and I thank you.


Edit:Minor wording correction

Edited by Spurowny, 29 January 2014 - 05:29 AM.

[GonaDie]

Spurowny, on 29 January 2014 - 05:28 AM, said:

I just wanted to say that this is a terrific thread.
Looking at GonaDie's drawings evolve as he incorporates the advice offered in the posts here into them is really cool.
You have all brightened my day and I thank you.


Edit:Minor wording correction

Really?! Now you made my day.Your post almoust made me cry. Thank you for kind words.