New design for Lau (OC)

Using Music as a Muse

When drawing, one of the worst things is sitting there in silence, staring at a blank piece of paper and thinking "Well, this sucks." Using music to inspire you is a great way to get juices pumping.
When I draw, I listen to music that reminds me of what I want to draw.
If I'm drawing Lau (My OC), and I want to make her look delicate or serene, I'll listen to calming music, such as Imogen heap or Lights.
When I'm drawing something more dynamic or synical, I'll listen to skrillex or bassnectar; something in that genre.
SO WITH THAT, I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF YOU

• Go create a playlist of ALL SORTS of genres you enjoy
• Listen to a song, and challenge yourself to make a quick sketch or doodle that mirrors the song or genre
• DON'T EXCEED YOUR LIMIT. ONLY DRAW THAT ONE PICTURE DURING THE ALLOTTED TIME THE SONG GIVES YOU.
• You will need:

1. Either a sharpened or mechanical pencil
2. A whole lot of paper
3. A varied playlist
4. An open mind and imagination

So, go challenge yourself today! If you want to take this challenge and show me what you came up with, I'll gladly take a look at them. Just send your sketches to my email: mylittlerennie121109@gmail.com

A pet peeve of mine: Bad manga/drawing books and tutorials plus a bonus; BASES

OKAY, TIME FOR ME TO WRITE IN ALL CAPS HERE, BECAUSE THESE BOOKS PISS ME THE HELL OFF.
THESE KIDS WANT TO COME HERE AND LEARN TO DRAW MANGA
OKAY, LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT WE CAN FIND
HOLY
  WHAT THE HELL IS THIS
GHOW DID THIS GET PUBLISHED EVEN
THIS SH IT GOT PUVBLIBSHED I  MEAN JUST



and also don't get my started on bases
That's not how eyes work
WHO WOULD EVEN USE THIS



UUUGGUGHGHGHGHHHHHHHHHH WHYYYY

Foreshortening

Foreshortening is hard to do, and I've only just begun finding it out myself. Here is my first example or foreshortening that hasn't been  a complete failure. It's a friend of mine's character, who I helped map out and design and whom I draw frequently. Just a reminder that nothing's perfect at first, and that we all have room to learn and grow! Here's to perfecting foreshortening!

Character Development and Drawing

When learning to draw, it helps to create characters to help you learn and develop a style and an understanding for the human body. When creating characters, don't use that "HOW TO DRAW MANGA BY CRAPPY ARTIST HERE" books, where all body types are all pretty similar, only varying in height and chest size in most cases. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Walk around your town or city and look at all of the different body types you see. There are thick, thin, burly or soft and elegant; fat, anorexic looking, healthy or even just a little bit chunky. It doesn't matter! When you find a feel for your two or so characters, start drawing them in every pose imaginable. Draw them old, young, adolecent; doing something fun and in motion or sitting down relaxing. Draw them with a significant other, or a friend, or their pets. Use their backstory to learn poses and anatomy.

 The most important thing to keep in mind is; DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MISTAKES!!

Not everyone is perfect. In fact, no one IS. Keep a sketchbook or two handy at all times. Do quick sketches, draw your characters over and over again until you know them better than you know yourself. This will help you get a feel for human shapes and motion.

Now, get going! Find a story, find some inspiration and don't be afraid to have fun!

Just a Few Tips

Now, a lot of people have asked me to give them tips or walk-throughs on how I draw. Until i can make up a step-by-step tutorial, I can offer a few of my anatomy tips. I will add pictures with examples soon

Human Anatomy

• When drawing the human body, it generally helps to start from the head down
• Heads are based on a circle, with the cheek bones and jaw line dropping NOT TOO FAR below the center of the circle. The biggest mistake I've seen people doing with their circle guide lines is use the bottom of the circle as their starting point. The bottom of the circle is used to indicate the MIDDLE of the face later on
• Fun facts about drawing the Face:

1. The bottom of your cheekbones will ALWAYS line up with the bottom of your nose
2. Your eyes are level with the center of your ears
3. For accurate proportions, some people use something called the triangle method. To do this, draw a triangle from the jaw bones up to the top of the bridge of the nose. Use this triangle as guidelines for the eyes and lips. The bottom of the triangle will be the lips, and eyes will lie just on the edges of the two sides of the triangle.

• When drawing the neck, remember the muscle structure that lies behind it. it's an outward curve; kind of like the Atari logo! there's a strong center line (The "adam's apple" and trachea) and the two curves lines around it (the muscles)
• Also, in regards to drawing the neck, the two side muscles become more prominent in certain positions, as well as on thinner people. Keep this in mind!
• The collar bones are connected to the shoulders. Find the bottom of your neck muscles, extend them to become the traps, then send a line starting on either side of the neck, extending IN FRONT of those muscles (since they're on the back part of the shoulder) and extend them into your shoulders.
• On thinner people, as well as muscular people, collar bones and trap muscles are prominent
• Keep in mind that the limbs are not just thin tubes, they have their own unique structure that are build off of the muscles that are there.
• Females have very differing muscle structure as well as smaller waists and larger hips than males. Use the old "hourglass" when starting out finding female form, as well as the "inverted triangle" for your males. When you get comfortable with those two shapes, find different body types and shapes! Not everybody has the same body, you know!
• Lastly, when thinking of placement for joints, arms, legs, etc, Think of those old barbie dolls you maybe had when you were younger (action figures aren't always that great for this example) Think of all the different parts she/he was made up of. The torso was one shape, then there were separate arms and legs. Think of those shapes and how they all fit together. This method usually helps me with the placement of shoulders, hips and legs.

Well, that's all I've got. I hope this helped you out!

Original Characters

My original characters here! They're my muse, and really help to keep me inspired to draw!