I am not the best at drawing backgrounds but I got the chance to practice with this piece.
https://redd.it/1o1pm4h
@rdrawing
https://redd.it/1o1pm4h
@rdrawing
Older dude here. Let's talk about drawing anime and why it can be harmful for newer artists.
I hope I don't sound sanctimonious or gatekeeping. This is meant to be helpful, not judgemental.
I see a lot of budding artists that like to draw anime. Nothing wrong with anime, but learning to draw this way can be counterproductive and hinder your progression as an artist. To understand why, we need to first understand the concept of a cliché as it pertains to art.
A cliché is a symbol for something. A kind of shorthand way to represent an object visually. You ever have a certain way you always draw an eye? A certain nose you like to draw? Nothing wrong with that. However, if you rely on these, it's going to stop you progressing as an artist.
Let's take an ear, for example. I recently had this come up. Ears are tricky and they can be difficult to draw because of their relatively complex anatomy. So let's say an artist is drawing a human head from the front, and they don't really understand the forms of an ear. To compensate, they use a certain simplified line shape to represent the folds and curves of the inside. It looks a lot like a question mark. Put it where the inside of the ear goes, and then flip it horizontally and draw it in the other ear. You've just drawn an ear, right?
Well, not really. What you've just done is use a symbol for an ear in lieu of rendering it based on its actual forms. We all know what the handicapped parking symbol looks like, right? Little stick dude in a wheelchair. It's so simple and we've seen it so many times that we begin to read it not as a picture of a human being in a wheelchair, but as an emblem that indicates "don't park here unless you have a handicapped placard." It's very similar to a logogram: "a sign or character representing a word or phrase, such as those used in shorthand some writing systems," but it's representing a concept instead of a word.
Drawing a simplified version of an ear is fine. But in order to properly reduce a form down to just a few simple lines, you need to understand what's actually going on there. Otherwise it's just a cliché you're using because you haven't put in the work to learn the anatomy.
So how does this relate to anime? Well, anime can be almost completely made up of clichés. Of course, some animes are visually stunning and masterfully rendered (Akira and Miyazaki's stuff come to mind), but you better damned well believe that when Miyazaki draws a very simplified, cartoon ear, it's coming from a place of real knowledge. If you asked the man to draw a realistic, anatomically correct ear from memory, he'd whip one out no problem.
What's my point? Well, it's this: if you want to ever become a really kickass draftsman or illustrator, don't ever get lazy with your art.
https://redd.it/1o1xlxd
@rdrawing
I hope I don't sound sanctimonious or gatekeeping. This is meant to be helpful, not judgemental.
I see a lot of budding artists that like to draw anime. Nothing wrong with anime, but learning to draw this way can be counterproductive and hinder your progression as an artist. To understand why, we need to first understand the concept of a cliché as it pertains to art.
A cliché is a symbol for something. A kind of shorthand way to represent an object visually. You ever have a certain way you always draw an eye? A certain nose you like to draw? Nothing wrong with that. However, if you rely on these, it's going to stop you progressing as an artist.
Let's take an ear, for example. I recently had this come up. Ears are tricky and they can be difficult to draw because of their relatively complex anatomy. So let's say an artist is drawing a human head from the front, and they don't really understand the forms of an ear. To compensate, they use a certain simplified line shape to represent the folds and curves of the inside. It looks a lot like a question mark. Put it where the inside of the ear goes, and then flip it horizontally and draw it in the other ear. You've just drawn an ear, right?
Well, not really. What you've just done is use a symbol for an ear in lieu of rendering it based on its actual forms. We all know what the handicapped parking symbol looks like, right? Little stick dude in a wheelchair. It's so simple and we've seen it so many times that we begin to read it not as a picture of a human being in a wheelchair, but as an emblem that indicates "don't park here unless you have a handicapped placard." It's very similar to a logogram: "a sign or character representing a word or phrase, such as those used in shorthand some writing systems," but it's representing a concept instead of a word.
Drawing a simplified version of an ear is fine. But in order to properly reduce a form down to just a few simple lines, you need to understand what's actually going on there. Otherwise it's just a cliché you're using because you haven't put in the work to learn the anatomy.
So how does this relate to anime? Well, anime can be almost completely made up of clichés. Of course, some animes are visually stunning and masterfully rendered (Akira and Miyazaki's stuff come to mind), but you better damned well believe that when Miyazaki draws a very simplified, cartoon ear, it's coming from a place of real knowledge. If you asked the man to draw a realistic, anatomically correct ear from memory, he'd whip one out no problem.
What's my point? Well, it's this: if you want to ever become a really kickass draftsman or illustrator, don't ever get lazy with your art.
https://redd.it/1o1xlxd
@rdrawing
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