Ruto Should Be Doing Science...(Art Post)

[universe-X]

Cool, thanks!

[dahans]

Wow... I am impressed Ruto! I love your drawings. They look so real. Would you mind teaching me to draw? I really suck at it xD.


BTW I also love astronomy! Black holes rule! Everyone must broaden their (event) horizon! (this pun is really really bad!)

[Maretocks]

You rock.

Please teach me to shade so well? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? ^_^

[Ruto]

@ dahans and Maretocks

Now I should write an art tutorial, right?

Part 1: Materials (For pencil drawing)

Pencil: I use both mechanical and wood pencils, depending on the type of drawing I do. Mechanical pencils are good for smaller, detailed drawings, wood pencils are preferred for everything else. For the Link drawing, I used a mechanical pencil with 2B graphite. The "2" says how dark the graphite is (in this case, it's not very dark, 9 is the darkest I've seen), and the "B" means the graphite is soft.  



You will also find graphite labeled as "H" (hard) and "HB" (medium hard). I use ordinary soft lead pencils/graphite, so there's no need to buy things like special sharpeners for those "special artist pencils" XD.

Eraser: Very easy to find. The one on the top of your pencil is not always good, so I use a Staedtler Mars plastic eraser.

Paper: I have a sketchbook but if you don't want to buy one, some types of printer paper are fine.  Don't pick one that is too slippery, because the pencil will not stay on the paper well.  Don't pick one that is too rough because it will be hard to shade/blend. If you really want a good, but more expensive paper for pencils, try bristol paper

Tortillon: Rolled up pieces of paper I talked about in an earlier post.  They are used to blend pencil marks to create tones and shadows.

Something to draw: Pick something easy, like a cup.  

I'll talk about actually drawing in a second post. XD

BTW I also love astronomy! Black holes rule! Everyone must broaden their (event) horizon! (this pun is really really bad!)

Yeah, astronomy is lots of fun...! Also you get to stay up late sometimes.  

[KefkaticFanatic]

Hooray, generic flower photo!

[Ruto]

Hooray, generic flower photo!

Thanks. I literally have nearly a hundred of them.

Here's one I forgot about about till now.



I want a new camera I used the SD450 to take this, a camera I got in 2006.

[universe-X]

Wait, are these drawn? Or just pictures?

[Ruto]

The last post is a photo. I have drawings that are too big to be scanned so I just take pictures of them.

When I find some time, I'll do more paintings and sketches

[Nana1Popo2]

I love the drawing of Link! outstanding!

[Winter]

I love how you shade, I'm terrible at shading! I'm jealous

[Saria]

Oh! I know! Post your picture of Raven! It's good! By the way, the photographs are BEAUTIFUL! You should be a photographer. I'll travel around the world with you if you will!

[Ruto]

Aww thanks guys! Everybody looooves Link, lol.

I'll post up something for real when break rolls around. Anyway, quick drawing techniques. Basically stuff I can remember from art class, usually from the first few lessons.

You need about 5 large objects and 2 hours. You should draw during the daytime with the lights off, near the window, for better object shadows!

1) For the first lesson (see my cushion in charcoal?), the teacher had us look at two things: the proportions of an object and contour lines.
Proportions always fool people. For example, if you were to draw a person's entire head, where will you place their eyes? Near the top, right? NAHHHH  . If you measure carefully, a person's eyes is actually close to the middle of their head. Their nose is halfway between their chin and eyes.  And so on.  Always draw what you see, not what you think you see! So how do you measure things, since in real life you can't always run around with a ruler? Using your pencil!

Hold your pencil at an arm's length from where you are sitting or standing. See how tall the object is compared to your pencil. Then turn your pencil 90 degrees to see how wide it is compared to the height of the object. After you get an idea, do a light sketch of the object's height vs. width.  Repeat this step until you get all the necessary proportions and where to put important details, such as how high a certain detail is, or how far to the right or left.

2)Contour lines. This teaches you how space is filled, how lines are bent to create a realistic solid object. It's a good idea to draw simple, realistic objects to start. Like that lined cushion or a hose of some sort. The lines come from the center in that on and spreads upward and outward before converging at the bottom. It's hard for me to describe it, you just have to see it. Pay attention carefully to how the lines go. How close are they near the top? How far apart are they at the widest section? How do they meet?

You may get very frustrated the first time around. Maybe you will be too angry to erase your mistakes and just use a new sheet of paper. It is best NOT to do that, and use a good, clean eraser instead. You will find your old pencil lines and shading helpful for your next drawings!***

3)Shadows/shading Don't worry about them too much now. You don't really need them yet to create a sense of gravity/weight on your drawings. Darker and lighter lines will work.  If you are really lucky, and use charcoal and a chamois cloth or a pencil and a tortillon/your fingers, they just happen.  

4)Is it finished?Okay, this is from my painting class. If you are not sure whether what you have been doing, step back from your picture. Stand a few feet away and see your progress. Are you happy with your work? If not, keep working.  Do you see something you should fix? Yes? Then fix it

Stepping back lets you see your work as a whole. You may see problems now that you did not see when you were nose-to-nose with your picture because you were so focused with a detail. You will likely need to do this quite a few times when you are trying to submit your final project!


***as long as you didn't press too hard with your pencil the first time and make permanent marks in your paper.

 

End of lesson 1. For homework, I had to do 10 drawings of hands, 10 of feet. Take off your shoes, people!

Edit: Added url.

[Ruto]

I like you guys so here's something else without a friggin watermark. But photobucket images don't have great quality. Anyone else know better image hosts?

[Dude]

imageshack.us <3

[Jub3r7]

imageshack is blocked by windows parental controls. D: