Enkutays Art Journey & Struggles

[Enkutay]

I'm not sure if it is ok posting this here, so pls tell me if it's not or if I should change something 

 

Sooo yeah I already have some drawing experience, I'm not good at all, but I'm not a bloody beginner anymore I guess. I don't really know how to draw dragons tho and I'd love to draw my scroll or some specific dragons from time to time. I already found lots of (more or less) helpful tutorials on google, but it's not easy learning this because dragons can be drawn in many different styles and there aren't any real life references (I wish haha ❤️). Does maybe anyone have some advice for me for learning and practicing? Should I post my attempts here? 

 

Edit: here are some of my sketches! I put them in the spoiler so they don't take too much place. Sorry for the bad quality

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Enkutay
changed title to something more accurate

[Fuzzbucket]

Is this thread any help ?

 

 

[Enkutay]

23 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

Is this thread any help ?

I already read through that! It's very interesting, but there isn't much about drawing itself ^^"

[Morphie]

If you post attempts please let me know!

As for advice the best I can give that has been said thousands of times before,

Practice, practice, practice! Even if you don't notice it, practice will make you a better artist.

[Enkutay]

6 hours ago, Morphie said:

If you post attempts please let me know!

As for advice the best I can give that has been said thousands of times before,

Practice, practice, practice! Even if you don't notice it, practice will make you a better artist.

I know, but as I always say, if I don't know what exactly to practice, or any techniques or anything like that, practicing won't help me much ^^ I've already heard that 1000 times before, trust me  But I know what you mean.

[water_angel]

maybe browse the dragon requests thread. People there will often critique work that is posted and maybe you can take those to learn what to look for when you're drawing a dragon. maybe even ask permission to sketch a concept that you find interesting or you have  a good description for from the original poster and just try it for practice.

[Enkutay]

That's a great idea, thanks!

[Enkutay]

12 hours ago, Morphie said:

If you post attempts please let me know!

As for advice the best I can give that has been said thousands of times before,

Practice, practice, practice! Even if you don't notice it, practice will make you a better artist.

I posted some of my drawing attempts :3

[Fuzzbucket]

Where ? I can't see them anywhere.

[Enkutay]

@Fuzzbucket

They should be in the Spoiler 😕

[Morphie]

I LOVE That last center one!!! Keep on keepin on!!!

[Enkutay]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it

[Fuzzbucket]

OH - in the first post ! Doh !

 

They look very OK to me - I can't draw anywhere near as well as that.

[Enkutay]

@Fuzzbucket

Yeah, sorry for the confusion

Thank you! I think it's a good start, I just have the feeling I'm really bad at drawing dynamic poses, but I'll try to practice that

[Fuzzbucket]

Draw some bad ones, and look at them to see what makes them bad. Copy some with dynamic poses and see which bits you are finding hard to copy.

[Enkutay]

I just did this... I know it's technically pretty bad, it's been a while since I made some digital art and I didn't really put much effort in it because I don't have any motivation. I just tried to copy a Storm Dragon ^^"

[Fuzzbucket]

It doesn't look that bad to me - then again I can't draw. You need to see if you can get some of the cave artists to show up....

[Enkutay]

Thanks ^-^ Oof Idk if my low self-confidence can take that xD

[Fuzzbucket]

They are enormously helpful and gentle - look at their comments in request threads.

[Psycada]

If you're looking for a drawing book, I highly suggest looking at Dragonart: Evolution. It's made by the same artist who does Flight Rising! I used the book all the time as a kid and was so surprised to see the same dragons on some adoptable website that everyone was talking about. Also, as a general tip: your art will always passively get better the more you draw. I would only worry about looking at some anatomy and maybe some techniques, rather than constantly getting a critique. Skill will just come with time, have fun with it for now!

[Enkutay]

@Psycada Thanks for the book suggestion, that sounds really interesting! Tbh, I spent so much time trying to get better at drawing that it wasn't any fun anymore. Now I just want to have fun while drawing and create something that's decent and doesn't totally suck :'D

[Enkutay]

I mean I know exactly whats wrong with all the anatomy and techniques in the drawing above, I just don't care anymore :'D

Edited May 24, 2020 by Enkutay

[Psycada]

That's good to hear! I had a friend who would try to constantly get critique for their work, and later they just ended up hating their art since it was never "perfect". So I wanted to warn against that, I feel like a lot of beginner artist fall into that habit.

[Enkutay]

Yep I totally fell into that. Then I thought, after all I didn't start drawing because I wanted to become a perfect artist, I started because it was fun and I wanted to somehow express all the ideas in my head ^^

[Morphie]

14 hours ago, Enkutay said:

I just did this... I know it's technically pretty bad, it's been a while since I made some digital art and I didn't really put much effort in it because I don't have any motivation. I just tried to copy a Storm Dragon ^^"

Okay, sorry for vanishing there lmao

PLEASE don't take anything I say as an insult here, I tend to sound rude when I don't mean to.

The first thing I notice are the arms. They seem very sickly and thin, totally not natural. Also it seems like they're connected to the wings? The arms and wings, as far as I know, should be separated. At the base of the arm it should be very large and funnel down- that's something you understand, so good on that! Another point to fixing the arms is to make the two sections of the arm the same size, the two parts that are separated by the elbow.

The next thing I saw were the hands, erm, paws? Not sure what to call them. Let's go with paws. The bottom one looks pretty good! Could use some work, but it's really good! The above  one's thumb is big as hecc though, so it should be smaller.

Another thing is the legs; this is pretty much the same stuff as the arms, it seems to fuse with the tail. There should be a line blocking it there.

The wings seem a little strange? If it's on the inside of the wing there should be the "bone lines", which aren't present. If it's on the outside it should be a lighter color.

Okay lastly, the underbelly white should stop where the foot intercepts it. Remember it's always okay to now show where a marking stops or ends! Take it from me.

Hope I could help a little! Keep working at it!