Hey, I'm new to the community! But not GL! I am pretty sure, about 1-2ish years ago, I completed every shoujo ai/yuri/josei oneshot/short series ever put on the Internet and had started giving up on it. And I'm happy to say, getting back into the genre, that new stuff has spawned in my absence!
Anyway! Important part: I'm a fan of GL. I've read a lot of it and wish to someday "give back" or contribute to the GL fandom-community with my own stuff or fanart. Any advice on how I should start? I'm not very good at drawing, so does anyone know how I should improve on that? Any websites or techniques or such?
I'm a college student so I have limited time, too

There's really no simple and easy way. The best way is to invest a ton of time and work into it. Anyone who is good will attest that nobody started out good, and nobody became good immediately. Everyone who is good got that way by investing a lot of work into practicing to become so.

Practice life drawing of actual models (or photos) to get the basics. This is something a lot of people hate doing, but it's really important. It helps you learn basic anatomy, structure, and three dimensional volume, and a number of other things you can't learn from the next step. Anatomy and facial structure tutorials are also helpful.

Pick out your favorite artists and copy their drawings freehand- not trace. Try drawing the exact same images the exact same way. Doing so will help you dissect their style and figure out what exactly it is about their work that makes you like it, providing a foundation for your own style.

After copying an image exactly, do it again but different. Change the pose a bit. Change the angle. Make the image your own. This will help you develop more senses for drawing something original from scratch.

Do rough sketches that are completely original, entirely from your imagination. They will look shit. Try to figure out why.

You won't be able to do it yourself. Share your works. Accept criticism. Find people better than you who can correct your work. This is probably the most difficult step. Sharing something you think is terrible. Having something you think is pretty good criticized and called awful. It's extremely difficult, but also the only way to learn what you're doing wrong and fix those problems. Because there are a lot of things you won't notice yourself.

Watch how other people draw. Especially people better than you. You'll learn new techniques you wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Look for rough sketches they've done. Look for rough drafts of finished works. Look for videos showing their whole process.

Practice every day. Without fail. Draw something of some sort every day. If possible, dedicate an hour a day, at the bare minimum.

Finally, this is not a step-by-step list. You should be doing all of these things. That doesn't mean doing every single one of those things every time you practice. But you also shouldn't be exclusively doing one of them and neglect all the others. The proportion of time you dedicated to each can be modified depending on what is more important at the current time, but they need to all be touched on occasionally.

And that's just how to practice and learn. Getting into techniques would be another lecture entirely.

If you're really interested in drawing, DON'T just imitate manga or fanartists. Copying someone else's style won't teach you much beyond how to imitate that person. You don't learn why they stylize the way they do, why they pose the way they do, what construction goes into the earlier stages of the drawing. It's not much better than tracing.

Seriously, go back to the basics. Find Andrew Loomis' books, there should be free PDFs online if you dig around a bit (if you can't find them, look me up on IRC). Particularly Figure Drawing For All It's Worth. It's one of the foundation works in drawing, and I've seen it recommended by almost every professional artist I've spoken to.

Remember that drawing from photos has some big weaknesses, and it's better to draw real objects at first while you're learning how things work. That said, and this is very important, use reference material as much as possible. Don't listen to people on DeviantArt or wherever telling you that if you're good you don't need it. That's bullshit. Professional artists use reference every single day. Animators are famous for having mirrors at their desks, or going into the hallway to act out scenes. Remember, you can't draw something if you don't know what it looks like, and reference is how you find that out.

Obviously, don't trace. It's easy to tell when people trace. But more importantly, it teaches you absolutely nothing. So there's zero benefit to tracing at all.

Learn structure. Draw from life. Learn what "drawing through" means. Learn gesture drawing, that one's really important. Learn functional anatomy. You don't need to know all the muscle names or draw every bone of the hand (unless you're actually drawing a skeleton's hand of course), but you need to be able to draw the visible groups of muscles and how they move. Like how a flexed upper arm looks different from a straight upper arm, that sort of thing.

Remember that style is the last part of the process. Don't try to cover up mistakes by saying "it's my style" because nobody actually believes that. Style is like putting curtains in your house, but it doesn't do any good if you haven't built the house yet.

moguTL has a lot of good advice, especially in terms of drawing every day. Try different approaches too. Different people are drawn to different approaches, but the only way to figure out which one you are drawn to is to try as many as you can.

Oh, and if you ever want critique and assessment of your work, I'd be happy to help.

Practice life drawing of actual models (or photos) to get the basics. This is something a lot of people hate doing, but it's really important. It helps you learn basic anatomy, structure, and three dimensional volume, and a number of other things you can't learn from the next step. Anatomy and facial structure tutorials are also helpful.

By this, you mean actual models, correct? Copying models and stances, etc, from photograph models online or people/things posing for you real-life? Just verifying.
Thanks! I have started copying down panels/scenes from fav manga, but I hadn't thought of the other things, like trying to change angles/poses.

Oh, and if you ever want critique and assessment of your work, I'd be happy to help.

Thanks for the advice!
And know that I literally just got a DynastyScans account last night when I ask this, but how would I show you drawings to critique? Through here or another medium?

Practice life drawing of actual models (or photos) to get the basics. This is something a lot of people hate doing, but it's really important. It helps you learn basic anatomy, structure, and three dimensional volume, and a number of other things you can't learn from the next step. Anatomy and facial structure tutorials are also helpful.

By this, you mean actual models, correct? Copying models and stances, etc, from photograph models online or people/things posing for you real-life? Just verifying.
Thanks! I have started copying down panels/scenes from fav manga, but I hadn't thought of the other things, like trying to change angles/poses.

Sometimes actual models simply aren't available so you're pretty much forced to use photos. But you have to recognize the weaknesses of photos. Real models are always better.

Look around your area to see if there are any life drawing clubs or classes, a lot of cities have them. Plus there's stuff like Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School, which puts life drawing into a cabaret setting. It can be a lot of fun.

As to photos, you need to remember that the purpose of life drawing is, in part, learning to translate a 3D form into a 2D representation on paper. Photos do this for you, so you don't get to be a part of that important process. Plus, the way cameras mechanically flatten an image can cause misleading shadows and introduce distortions, which if you're not well familiar with the real thing can be hard to compensate for.

Even drawing clothed people on the bus or in a coffee shop is worthwhile, though. Plus you can learn about day-to-day clothing and fashion that people like, which can add a bit of realism to your work.

Figure Drawing For All It's Worth

Yeah, that's an amazing book. Drawing, at least at first, is way more technical and, uhm, mathematical, I guess, than you'd think. So getting a good book is really helpful and cuts out a lot of trial and error from the process of learning.

Regarding poses, Deviant has you covered,

And probably the most important tip is to just not give up. Learning drawing from scratch is a lengthy process and it's gonna take months and years until you're anywhere near the quality of what you see in most of the pictures on for example the image section here.

last edited at Mar 9, 2016 10:02AM

Figure Drawing For All It's Worth

Yeah, that's an amazing book. Drawing, at least at first, is way more technical and, uhm, mathematical, I guess, than you'd think. So getting a good book is really helpful and cuts out a lot of trial and error from the process of learning.

Regarding poses, [Deviant(http://pose-emporium.deviantart.com/gallery/) has you covered,

And probably the most important tip is to just not give up. Learning drawing from scratch is a lengthy process and it's gonna take months and years until you're anywhere near the quality of what you see in most of the pictures on for example the image section here.

Look up MJ Ranum's stuff in the stock section on Deviant, it's all very well done with appropriate lighting and good equipment. It's some of the best figure stock you're likely to find.

Another couple of book recommendations, if you've got a few dollars to spare.

• Vilppu Drawing Manual by Glenn Vilppu - former Disney animator, has good stuff on gesture and building up figures from basic shapes (sphere, cube, cylinder, cone)
• Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgeman - a good approach to combining anatomical detail into groups for the artist's use, works well paired with a more traditional anatomy book so you can see what he's making groups out of.
• The Human Figure by David K. Rubins - nice and cheap, a good anatomy reference.
• Perspective Made Easy by Ernest R. Norling - also quite cheap, pretty much the essential book on perspective.

If you can find it at a library or something, you might also check out Drawn To Life by Walt Stanchfield. It's a lovely two-volume set that collects the handouts he used to give out at Disney's animation school. There's a wealth of information there, not just on things like form, construction and gesture, but on the attitude you take into drawing. It's quite a lovely read, although a bit of an investment. Might be better just to borrow that one if you can.

To me copying poses didn't work in the beggining. When you know nothing about proportions and just start copying, it's like you are trying to learn something without understanding it first. You will remmeber it for one hour, but then you won't be able to put it in work for your own characters.

I would suggest to start learning about the proportions with head measurement. For the face too, use the guidelines in the front view, and when you get familliar, start the different angles, like side view, 3/4 etc. (More advanced is the above view and every other angle)

For the body, just learn the head measurment and where the hips, torso etc fall.
You just have to practice the proportions a lot in the beggining, before attempting to make your own poses.
More advanced is the muscles and curves, that ultimetly give that nice look and realistic.
To me it was difficult to learn the different curves, like the leg and arms. Also a tip, it would be better if you start practicing only on a male or female proportions first. Because if you try to do it both at the same time, you may mix the up and get confused.

After you are keen with it, which does take some time, you can start loooking at other artworks to see how the poses work.
The action poses require perspective and overlapping and are advaced, so if you are a begginer, I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Well, you can work with poses gesturally, as with Loomis' mannikins. That helps your mark-making skills, and the whole idea of flow. So it's not wasted effort if you're doing things like 30-second poses during your warmup, even if you're not there with proportions just yet.

Oh yeah, and one lesson you should learn early on is things like not drawing feathery lines. Try to always draw your lines in one smooth motion wherever you can, and mostly have a light touch. That'll pay off a lot in the long run.

Get in the habit of "drawing" with your pencil above the paper a couple of times before lowering it and making the actual mark. You can get surprisingly straight lines and accurate circles that way, with a little practice.

I don't know, I guess everyone learns differently. When I was trying to copy the poses without having the knowledge, it didn't work for me. When I practiced on the proportions, it got better on its own.

A very good book I've recently come across is Mark Crilley's "Mastering Manga" Volumes 1 and 2. The first volume is the introductions about the propotions and the basic stuff, and the 2nd talks about more advanced thinngs, like perspective and poses.
Also he does How to Draw videos on Youtube that are helpfull. I'd say it would be a good starting point.

Oh, speaking of videos, this one is absolutely the best hand tutorial I've ever seen. I've seen a few pros recommend it too.

Sycra's stuff is good in general, very much worth watching.

Oh yeah, and one lesson you should learn early on is things like not drawing feathery lines. Try to always draw your lines in one smooth motion wherever you can, and mostly have a light touch. That'll pay off a lot in the long run.

Get in the habit of "drawing" with your pencil above the paper a couple of times before lowering it and making the actual mark. You can get surprisingly straight lines and accurate circles that way, with a little practice.

Feathering is actually a habit of mine (drawing a few different lines and erasing the the ones I don't like), so it's helpful to know that I should get out of that habit now for future stuff.

So far, I'm going back to the beginning and just practicing 3-D & proportions & drawing primitives like this video related: https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=WL&v=myv6B_DjiYE

I'm in a calculus class, and we're actually getting into 3D integration with finding volumes and such, so it's actually quite convenient to start with basic shapes like y'all said.
I actually wasn't expecting much of a response to my post, so my gratitude is without bounds.
Another thing I had a question on: I've been drawing with pencil and paper. Should I do it another way? I know a lot of people seem to use some type of computer/tablet drawing program or something. Does it matter that I am using pencil and paper?

Nope, pencil and paper is probably the best way to start. Especially if you get a big pad of newsprint and a surface to clip it to (I like cartridge paper like they use on flip charts). It's cheap, and has the advantage of being big so you aren't tempted to draw cramped like on a smaller surface like the cheaper tablets.

An important note on that. Try always to draw from your shoulder, not your wrist. Unless you're doing very fine detail, you normally shouldn't move your wrist much at all. Get your whole arm into it. You'll get better results, it helps do away with feathered lines, and doesn't apply so much strain. When you get to things like gesture, it's pretty much vital anyhow.

An easy exercise you should add to your primitive practice (which is similar to how Vilppu approaches drawing) is to draw two dots on a piece of paper and try to connect them with as straight a line as you can, drawing from the shoulder. Do this a bunch of times each day, you'll get very good at it. Same for curved lines, try putting two dots and drawing an S-shaped curve that intersects both. Learning that sort of thing is pretty fun as part of your warmup, and has big benefits.

As to tablets, there are different points of view, but I've heard a lot of people say that starting with real media (pencils, pens, brushes and so forth) before moving on to using a tablet is a good idea, because you have a feel for what the digital version is trying to emulate. But it's not a critical step, so go with whatever makes you comfortable.

Oh. and a materials recommendation. For broad stuff like gesture and so forth, Sanford Design Ebony pencils are great. On a surface like cartridge paper or newsprint (good for practice because it's cheap as hell and who cares if you mess some up?) it glides really smoothly and leaves a satisfying black line. A little messy, but far less so than charcol, chalk pastel or conte, although those are fun too.

Hm, I think for the proportions it's useful to learn how many heads equal a torso/arm/leg and so on so even if you are having trouble you can remember that and try to fix your mistakes. Also it is good to start with a base for the body, creating simple geometrical shapes and then adding the details on top so that you can easily fix any mistakes.
Also for the face I think it's good to use guidelines to make sure that you are putting things in the correct place. For example having the eyes in alignment. Many times even if they seem to be aligned they are not so it's useful to flip the image (using a mirror) because somehow your eyes become used to what you are seeing and you can't spot mistakes that easily. That being said when you seem to have fixed it while looking at the flipped image and then look at the original you see another mistake -.- but you have to do it a few times to make sure it's fixed.

last edited at Mar 9, 2016 9:25PM

Oh, and one rule that all artists must follow: If it looks wrong, it's wrong.

Even if all your technical details are right and you followed all the rules correctly, if it simply looks off then you gotta change it. You just shrug, say "these things happen" and move on.

Feathering is actually a habit of mine (drawing a few different lines and erasing the the ones I don't like), so it's helpful to know that I should get out of that habit now for future stuff.

Redrawing the same line a few times and then picking the one that looks most correct is fine when doing a rough draft. Most artists do that. They'll use a lighter pencil, less pencil pressure, or a color pencil, and then go back over the one they like best when cleaning up the draft. The problem is with drawing a bunch of short lines. It's an extremely difficult habit to break. As much as possible, you want to draw your curves in one smooth motion. Because smooth curves are the lifeblood of a good-looking drawing, especially when drawing life.

Well, you can work with poses gesturally, as with Loomis' mannikins.

That reminds me, there are actually drawing mannequins you can buy, they are super useful.

And yeah, when you work with poses, you shouldn't just copy the pose, you should always actively try to understand the anatomy and perspective behind it. Even when working from a pose, do a mannequin-esque sketch to start off you're picture. Only use the pose as reference.

Well, you can work with poses gesturally, as with Loomis' mannikins.

That reminds me, there are actually drawing mannequins you can buy, they are super useful.

And yeah, when you work with poses, you shouldn't just copy the pose, you should always actively try to understand the anatomy and perspective behind it. Even when working from a pose, do a mannequin-esque sketch to start off you're picture. Only use the pose as reference.

Wooden mannequins do have drawbacks though, so they're better for more experienced artists who can compensate for them.

Well looks like Nezchan already gave you a tour for the basics so I'll just throw some links .

As Nez said, Loomis can help you! http://alexhays.com/loomis/ it doesn't depend on the style you will pick, you gotta learn the basic human anatomy and if you later want to change to a more cartoon style, you still need to understand what you're doing and what you must change or not.

I always get reference photos, from movies too, disney or even from manga and even if I don't use it at all, but you better try looking for them. A pro will have like 5000 or more pictures for reference and he might not actually use them during drawing but all the experience and memories of each one pile up and make a library in the brain, you gotta build that step by step. So if you see a pro not using references, is not like s/he doesn't need it, is because he has seen enough to avoid using it all the time.

The best advices I can give you:
Do not compare yourself with other artist that have years in the field or that happen to be younger than you. It's okay to admire their work but don't let it take you down like "I'll never be like that" or "They have so much talent unlike me..." Use Shia's video if you feel down or this one better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbkZrOU1Zag

Flip that shit horizontally ! Use that motherphucking option ALL THE TIME! seriouslly your mind can play tricks on you and this one is one of many ways to actually see what you're really doing.

Start filling up your reference gallery http://imgur.com/gallery/kvweW