{"author_name":"sowbug","cat":"LD #14 - Advancing Wall of Doom - 2009","comments":[{"author_name":"","time":"April 20, 2009 7:44 pm","epoch":1240274640,"text":"One of the most wisest pieces of knowledge told to me by my fifth grade teacher was that if you try to make something look straight, people will see the crookedness. But if you make it crooked on purpose, no one notice there is anything is wrong.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"sol_hsa","time":"April 20, 2009 7:58 pm","epoch":1240275480,"text":"I’m not claiming to be an artist by any scale, but here’s my few hints.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"5parrowhawk","time":"April 20, 2009 8:15 pm","epoch":1240276500,"text":"Light-sourcing works wonders, and doesn’t require much artistic skill. If you’ve ever worked with 3D before, it should be intuitive.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"April 21, 2009 12:00 am","epoch":1240290000,"text":"Yeah, I don’t buy in to the “gift” angle. But like anything, it takes work. Doing it (crappy results and all), and looking at stuff (trying to understand it) is how you get better. Pick up a sketchbook, grab a pencil, and start doing.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"April 21, 2009 2:46 am","epoch":1240299960,"text":"I firmly believe that anyone can learn to draw just like any other skill out there. I think a lot comes down to the fact that we tend to spend more time on things that we like to do or have found a drive for or that our parents may have noticed and encouraged from a young age. This time spent practicing builds our skills over time.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"April 21, 2009 2:49 am","epoch":1240300140,"text":"Oh yeah.. the title of this post reminded me of a great quip:","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"0rel","time":"April 21, 2009 2:54 am","epoch":1240300440,"text":"some lazy, but fun techniques using free graphics software could help, maybe:","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"0rel","time":"April 21, 2009 2:55 am","epoch":1240300500,"text":"oops<\/i>","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"0rel","time":"April 21, 2009 3:51 am","epoch":1240303860,"text":"(hmm, other post wasn’t display. markup errors or something…)","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"April 21, 2009 4:27 am","epoch":1240306020,"text":"My suggestion is a little expensive… Forget about drawing with the mouse and get yourself a graphics tablet. I bought the smallest Intuos3 tablet from Wacom on Ebay for a little over $100. Using it in the GIMP, it lets me create my own smooth style. That alone is all I needed to make art that looks (nearly) as good as production indie titles. Of course, the Linux drivers aren’t so hot… grrr…","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"robot_guy","time":"April 21, 2009 4:39 am","epoch":1240306740,"text":"If you’re more a programmer than a drawer and you have a reasonable grasp on the way shapes can be put together but can’t actually put them down on paper (or screen) you could go the route that I went and use PovRay. This is a 3D rendering tool that uses a text description rather than a GUI tool to describe the objects \/ image and therefore I feel fits better with people that program rather than draw.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"Hempuli","time":"April 21, 2009 6:08 am","epoch":1240312080,"text":"It annoys me that I can’t draw on computer like I draw on paper. Tablets aren’t very good imitations, sadly. \":(\"","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"sowbug","time":"April 21, 2009 9:09 am","epoch":1240322940,"text":"Hey everyone,","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"jovoc","time":"April 21, 2009 10:00 am","epoch":1240326000,"text":"Thanks! Glad you liked the article. And I know what you mean about people whose brilliant doodles look effortless — but you find out that’s really because they’ve been doodling since they could hold a crayon.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"ArmchairArmada","time":"April 21, 2009 2:06 pm","epoch":1240340760,"text":"I have always been an ok artist, but recently I discovered a few simple principles that have helped me to grow a little. Here they are:
\n * Don’t worry about technique.<\/b> How you’re creating the art does not matter as much as what it looks like.
\n * Don’t worry about being messy.<\/b> Draw quick and rough with the forms, proportions, and perspectives of the drawing in mind. Lines can be cleaned up later on a computer, with a light-table, or, if the rough drawing is light, on the same page.
\n * Don’t think, feel.<\/b> Does what you are drawing feel right when you look at it? Does it provoke the emotional reaction you are trying to achieve?
\n * Be progressive.<\/b> Only a few artists can go directly from a blank page to an awesome drawing. Instead, gradually make changes bringing a drawing closer and closer to being visually appealing.
\n * Stay in motion.<\/b> Do not focus too deeply on any one part of the page. If you go in close to try to draw ‘the perfect hand,’ for example, you might find that it is too small compared to the rest of the character’s proportions. Jump around all over the place starting rough and loose then work towards refining and adding detail.
\n * Keep the big picture in mind.<\/b> When you start a drawing it might be best to rough in basic shapes (rectangles, circles, amorphous blobs, etc.) just to get a feel for the layout and proportions of the drawing’s elements.
\n * Warm up.<\/b> I find that the first thing I draw usually looks terrible. Quickly get a few rough drawings out before trying to tackle a more serious one.
\n * Have fun.<\/b> If you are stressed out about how your drawing looks it will appear stiff, awkward, and unnatural. If you are simply having fun, though, your drawings will more likely be appealing, dynamic, and pleasurable to look at.
\n * Go easy on yourself.<\/b> People tend to judge themselves more harshly than other people would. Artists can look at their own work and see hundreds of flaws, where other people will likely never notice.
\n * Learn with each drawing.<\/b> Take notice of what can be improved in a drawing and try not to make the same mistakes again. This may seem to contradict a lot of what I previously said, but improvements can only be made if you know what to try to improve at.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"April 23, 2009 8:35 am","epoch":1240493700,"text":"To expand a little and cover Hempuli’s problem…
\n If you have a graphics tablet, you can draw your figures by hand on some paper, then just plop that down on your tablet and trace it into your PC.","spam":"N"},{"author_name":"","time":"April 23, 2009 8:52 pm","epoch":1240537920,"text":"You should watch Cactus’ talk at IGS. Here’s a torrent:","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1240273680,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"73336","p_author":"sowbug","p_authorkey":"510337","p_urlkey":"109158","p_title":"Faking artistic competence?","p_cat":"LD #14 - Advancing Wall of Doom - 2009","p_event":"LD14","p_time":"1240273680","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"20","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"510337","us_name":"sowbug","us_username":"sowbug","event_start":"1239926400","event_key":"90","event_name":"LD14"},"text":"

Fellow LDers,<\/p>\n

I can barely draw a circle, let alone cool monster or robot sprites. I’d like my next LD entry to involve real artwork, rather than just letters and geometric shapes. I don’t expect to ever see my creations hanging on a wall in a museum. But if I need a trash can in my game, I’d like to be able to spend a couple hours in a paint app and end up with something that looks like a trash can, rather than a gray rectangle with vertical lines.<\/p>\n

Do any of you know of books or websites whose specific goal is to teach geek coders how to draw simple iconic artwork? If so, I’d appreciate your recommendation.<\/p>\n

By the way, if you believe this is an unattainable goal (“it’s a gift — either you have it or you don’t”), or that I’m asking the wrong question, I’d still appreciate hearing what you have to say. I know that people who don’t have the “gift” of computer programming are nonetheless competent professional software developers after being taught how to program, so I hope the same is true with art.<\/p>\n

Please help me learn how to learn (or maybe just fake) artistic competence!<\/p>","time":"April 20th, 2009 7:28 pm","title":"Faking artistic competence?"}