Here’s the situation, I’ve been an “artist” for a long time of my life until recently. Throughout middle school to the end of 1st year Uni. I would draw like no tomorrow. In the past 3 years though, I’ve slowly lost interest and starting to lose the “skill” of drawing. I’m sure we all go through a hiatus phase in our drawings due to things in life or whatever. I’m just wondering though, what do you guys do to get that drive back after being out of it for a while?
Also, where can I get some good info on dynamics and perspective (aka Angles on different actions like running and stuff)? Any help would do. Thanks
I went through sort of the same thing, after college i went straight to work, after a year not focusing of not drawing, my ability started to dwindle, even focusing on a piece was hard to do because i was losing interest while working on it.
I think being around in an art community is the best way to get that spark back, visit art websites, visit websites of your favourite artists, watch movies (animated or normal), read books/comics etc. listen to music.
Being around art is the best way to get it back and also not trying to force creativity from an artists block.
I was in your situation too Jim_Kim…
Good suggestions BlakMind!
being in an art community/forum is definitely a huge motivator.
For me, visiting a local gallery or dropping in a figure drawing class would help get me back into the drawing mode again, or even flipping through some books for inspiration works too.
Man oh man, you and me need to have a drink and party about your similarities.
I loved art from childhood til maybe junior year high school. I just had so many other talents, and I realized I wasnt top dog and wasnt taking any art classes so why keep it up. The year before I stopped drawing I was crazy about it and to this day I still cant get how I used to draw like I used to. My poses before were dynamic, solid ballsy lines (nothing feathered and ‘sketchy’ like I do now.) Nowadays I just cant get the right poses and it takes me forever, and my art style has completely changed.
Since SFIV came out, I realized there are more SF fans to show my art to so I started drawing like crazy. It was new inspiration. I totally revamped my artstyle and decided I want to draw conceptual sketches for the SF community in my favorite art style, SFIII. I now challenge myself to various poses and angle I always shy’ed away from and left incomplete.
So in other words, find something thats bustling that you always liked to draw, but COULDN’T. I think that’s a big part, picking up on something you felt like you left off. Work on your hardest angles and with characters you love. Find a community.
i improve faster when i put myself around artists that are miles ahead of me. in some cases you dont even have to like their art, the most important part ive found is communication. internet forum communities are a goldmine for stuff like this. i like to browse cgtalk because of the daily sketch subforum and other things. hell to be honest i’ve grown on DA just a tiny little bit because of some of the humble artists i’ve ran into willing to pitch advice.
oh and somethign else to keep track of: blogspot! there are a shitload of good artists on blogspot willing to share information about art.
Sorry man, I don’t do the drugs. Been drug free all my life.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I guess it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one whose gone through this shit. Lately I’ve been playing TF2, I guess that’s what kinda got me back into wanting to draw. The art style is so…unique and cool, but it’s just so hard for me to understand the whole out of proportion thing, since I’ve always been one of those “IT HAS TO BE PERFECT!” type of artists. Everything has to work together otherwise it goes in the garbage. But I guess that’s part of the learn new things aspect.
Any good forums/communities out there for aspiring animation art, since my realism art really blows?
Hell yeah TF2 is awesome.:rock: And I don’t even play the game. I just love the art direction (it’s like the A Team + The Incredibles), and I really enjoy watching the trailers (especially the meet the Demoman/HW guy). Everyone should check it out. Awesome animation.:wgrin:
It’s true that a lot of good artists post there, even pros among pros. But there are a lot of other grades of artists there as well. There’s a guy on there that started with circles and squares, and now he’s painting photo realistic stuff. Make a sketchbook thread, start posting and you’ll be surprise how much you will learn and how helpful the community there is.
However, if you’re into environments though I would stay away from paperblue.net or you will be sick.
You can always shoot your stuff here or for an ego boost hit up deviantart, everyone so friendly there… then when you get negative comments there ha then you know youre crap.
I just love the art direction (it’s like the A Team + The Incredibles), and I really enjoy watching the trailers (especially the meet the Demoman/HW guy). Everyone should check it