grr..
well, one of my blog sites isn't working right now, and I don't feel like posting it on one of my other blogs, I'll post it here.
A note was written to me on my deviantART site asking about how I learned drawing, and since I don't really feel like typing it again the next time I'm asked this question, I'll store it here.
Hmmm.. Well! (prepare for a long story)
First of all... I was drawing for as long as I can remember. I loved coloring and drawing cats and dogs the most (this is when I was around 4 I guess) and I started drawing anime when I was maybe 6 years old. It wasn't serious drawing though, just for fun xD I loved the anime Sailor Moon, which was actually my very first anime, so I used to draw them all xD
What I did when I drew them, was I took a round coaster and traced it (to make a perfect circle) and used that circle for the Sailor Scouts' heads xD Sooo pretty much, they had HUGE heads, and tiny bodies xD
ANYWAYS. I kind of did that every once in a while, because I enjoyed drawing animals more, to tell the truth :XD:
I collected those Sailor Moon sticker cards when I was little, too x3 When I was around 5th grade or so, I took those cards and copied them as accurately as I possibly could. My mother had bought me a green sketch book and I loved that thing to death, so I drew all the characters in there, using the cards as reference. Eventually, after about 20 or so pages of characters, I was able to draw the characters without looking at the cards, which I was really proud of :D
I started developing my own characters after that. Mostly girls though, since I couldn't draw guys for my life (and I still can't XD) and I got a lot of encouragement from my parents, which really helped me on my path to becoming an artist.
In 6th grade in Sunday School, I was in class and a friend of mine was drawing anime girls. And I looked at it. And I was in such awe that I felt ashamed of my own art skills. I was actually quite a stubborn girl, so I etched the image of her drawing in my head and told myself, I'm going to draw like that. So when I got home, I took out my sketchbook and my pencil, and started drawing a girl with the same pose and clothes that my friend drew.
I found out later that I was moving, so I got a bunch of my friends' addresses, including the girl who drew anime so well.
When I got to my new house, I began writing to my friends. I wrote a letter to my friend who drew anime. We'll call her Jennifer.
Now, the greatest turning point of my art life: I wrote to Jennifer some time during 7th grade, and a week or so later, I got the most beautiful and treasured letter I ever recieved. She drew a beautiful picture of a girl with the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. It was really just a lineart and some pink pen for her eyes, but at that time, I thought it was the best drawing in the world.
That drawing did more for my art skills than anything else. At that time, I was determined to be able to draw like her. Heck, I wanted to be better than her. I practiced drawing more than I ever had before. I practiced, practiced, practiced, day in and day out and eventually I was adding colors, shading, and painting. My friends really supported me a lot as well, so I drew pictures for them, which they thought were really super good too xD (Now that we all look back at it, we all laugh and make fun of how I used to draw xD)
I continued to get letters from my friend Jennifer, and she later gave me her deviantART page (which is actually how I joined deviantART) and each time I compared my art to her own, and I practiced and practiced and here I am now! I must admit that I do think that I exceeded the skills of Jennifer long ago, but that doesn't stop me from continuing to practice. So, pretty much, pure stubbornness and jealousy has brought me to where I am :D But drawing no longer comes out of my jealousy, but instead it comes out from my heart, as a hobby.
As to how I actually learned how to draw-- Trial and error. I would grab piles of paper and sketch to my heart's content. I practiced anatomy, facial expressions, poses, different styles and clothing designs, hair, hands, feet, etc. I never learned how to draw from a "how to draw manga" book or any other kind of "how to draw" books, nor have I had anyone teach me how to draw, because I was the only person I knew personally who drew anime.
So I knew I had to teach myself. So I did. Oftentimes a couple years ago I would print out pictures from the internet and try to mimmick them, trying out different styles, so I did whatever I could to teach myself what to do. Eventually I was able to develop my own styles, but since they're still changing rapidly, I don't really have a solid style yet. The reason why is because I love different styles of anime. And I don't like to limit myself to a certain style just because I should claim it as my own "style". Do you know what I mean?
Another way I was able to learn how to draw was through a program called Open Canvas. It's a digital art program that has the ability to open and play art files. I downloaded some art files from the Open Canvas website and watched these Event Files and I was able to learn different coloring styles and inking styles as well. I learn well from observation, I guess.
Paintchatting really helps me practice anime, too. I began paintchatting about a year ago, maybe. and I was able to draw with many other talented artists on the same board and observe their drawings.
So here I am now, happily paired with a lovely Wacom Intuos3 6x8 tablet and simple little mechanical pencils and blending stumps, the tools of my most treasured hobby :D
