• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

I want to improve my drawing skills so I can work with animation

Turbocks

Well-Known Member
So a while ago I got my hands on a Wacom S drawing tablet because I really wanted to start drawing digitally so that maybe I can develop the needed art skills for animation but what sucks is that I am barely even using the thing and I dislike drawing on paper.

I know there are a lot skills I need to know as well if I want to get good at animation and storytelling but the one thing I learned from the animators survival kit is that learning the fundamentals of drawing is the first thing one needs to do.

So I tried teaching myself to draw which was things like human anatomy using reference+studying but most of the time I was drawing boring geometric shapes because I can't think of anything else to besides what I have read/watched in numerous tutorials.

I have heard of people watching a ton of tutorials regarding art which causes them to get stuck but that is not the issue for me and I do have a few animation/art youtubers I appreciate and those are mainly Drawing with Jazza or Toniko patonja.

I have the drawing with Jazza pdf file on my pc which I sometimes read, I have also read the animators survival kit and both are absolutely amazing art resources.

I am not sure what I am lacking if it's creativity/motivation or if it's something else.

I am not really all that concerned if the quality of my art sucks or not because I could not care less about that or what others think because what matters to me is that I am able to improve my art skills.

The problem is that most of the time I just end up doing something else like analysing malware on virtual machines which is my newest special interest or listening to loud orchestral music on repeat while doing the above mentioned task instead of dedicating my time to using my drawing tablet with Krita.

What is also kind of keeping me from actually doing digital art is that things just feel slow in terms of improvement and it really decreases my motivation for example if I draw a basic human figure I just draw the basic structure and put little to no effort into much besides the basics which can just be broken down into basic shapes and the rest I simply don't care about improving for example the eyes or ears nor do I feel like searching up and downloading reference images which always just end up cluttering my computer desktop after I forgot I even had said reference image on my computer in the first place.

I know I could be drawing the same stuff over and over again to improve it but I just don't feel like drawing the same thing hundreds of times to improve because I am just lazy and want to move on with what else I am doing at the moment.

I have no real favourite artists online but I have been looking for one.

What I want to make is art/animation with characters that may look cutesy on the outside but with stories/subject matter that are incredibly dark and depressing sort of like shows such as Happy tree friends where it starts out looking like a normal kids show but things quickly go south really fast but I am not sure what are the artists that make that kind of art online.

Am I alone feeling like this with art and animation in general as somebody with ASD?
 
I just don't feel like drawing the same thing hundreds of times to improve because I am just lazy and want to move on with what else I am doing at the moment.

lol
The way to get really good at drawing, especially figure drawing: hundreds if not thousands of practice drawings.
And no use of erasers.

Start with a class with a live model and do lots gesture work. 15 seconds. Then move on to 30, a minute, and then 5 minutes which will feel like a long time.

If you don’t like drawing on paper then get some cheap board mounted canvas and a use a brush with ink or with cheap paint.

Best of luck to you.
 
Do you want to draw figures though? My calling is art, but in school all we did was portrait, figure drawing and still life. It didn't peak my interest, and as such I go distracted a lot.

I'd much rather draw a bowl of fruit where all the fruit is alive and looks dangerous, rather than be able to realistically depict said fruit bowl. At the end of the day, the clarity and reality of said bowl will never be matched on the paper or canvas - as I have no desire to hone my skills toward photorealism. I can appreciate the magnificent techniques involved, but even true to life photorealism feels rather lifeless to me.

Go with your intuition I suppose. Also, see if you can find a face to face tutor. Learning through doing, whilst having an experienced overseer is an invaluable and efficient way at learning something new. Especially daunting programmes such as creative suites.

Ed
 
I personally have a hard time doing art, if i see it as a task. Maybe try to have fun wiht art first before moving on to other practice. And if is just colored shapes in a sketchbook. It doesn't have to look pretty or perfect, it has to make fun.
 
I never took an art lesson in my life and the only book about drawing that I actually read from cover to cover was Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. That led to me getting into unstructured doodling, just letting my mind and hand wander over a piece of artboard and not forcing things. You can see a few bad photos of some of the results here: Autistic Doodler

I would mention that for every piece I posted there, at least a dozen other things never made a connection and so were set aside as a failed attempt. It takes time and much practice to be able to hold a line and express a vision. You must be willing to work at it. The book I mentioned posits that anyone can learn to draw. It merely takes practice and the willingness to keep at it. Digital or actual traditional art media require practice, as often as you are willing to give to it. I started doodling in my late twenties and early thirties. All the pieces I posted to the above thread are from my early forties onward. I still think of them as nothing more than doodles as they are so abstract.

If you have a passion for it, want to get better at it, do not give up. Learning about your tools and your media are paramount so that you feel at ease enough to free your mind and try things over and over again until they become somewhat second nature, which is training your hand and eye to work together without having the brain get in the way. The big obstacle is wanting perfection immediately and being unsatisfied with what you are producing.

Good luck! Keep at it long enough and eventually you will get to a point where things start to work for you, and whatever your mind can imagine will take shape under your guidance.
 
keep drawing, improvement is suppose to be a slow process. Its a skill building activity rather than a one and done or follow directions type of deal. U have to like the thing ur persuing enough that youre ok with being bad at it in the beginning. If u find the want or need to be part of a community so u can take more part in drawing join an art discord or find art clubs. Theres plenty for adults. The slow progression is to be expected, i recommend first and foremost not to compare urself to other artist whether that be in age or skill rather use the skills they have developed and put it into ur own work. I personally do that a ton always using other peoples art as ref when i draw.
 

Attachments

  • 40.png
    40.png
    3.2 MB · Views: 45
I would agree with what others have said; making art that excites and motivates you and grinding it out is the way to go. At some point, just going over the same old tutorials and basics will become less-than inspiring and you'll want to expand by doing exactly what you started this for. Working on your own projects with a definite final goal could really help you put what you've learned into action and stay on track :)

I'm not a traditional artist by any means, but this helped me in terms of graphic design, creative coding and putting digital mixed mediums to better use
 
Pretty much what everyone else said. I would also look up animation tutorials online. There's also this book, which I've had since I was 9-10 years old, yet still has very useful advice.
a63ea53798f82ae58b9071df4b1f2326.jpg
 

New Threads

Top Bottom