How should I practice Drawing Anime

[Benu]

Hey guys, I just wanted too see what you guys think about how I should practice Drawing. I don't know if any of you have seen my art or not I have to put some more up one of these days but I just really don't know how I should practice drawing. Now when I sit down and draw it just becomes harder and harder for me to just focus and draw because I don't know what to draw and how to improve my drawing skills. I want to improve so bad but I don't know where to start. I don't know how I should practice drawing either! I don't know if I should just look at a bunch of anime pic's and try to draw them the best I can freehand or if I should trace and then try to draw freehand or practice tedious shape and guide lines which take me forever to draw or do somthing else. I just get so stressed out because I try alot of things and I get no where! I just get so upset too when I try to make up my own chars. too because I just don't know how and they look too much like other anime chars. from different anime and manga when I try too draw my own chars. If anyone has any tips or ideas on how I can get better please let me know I really need help!

[Shinja]

hmm well i started by looking at sketchs of anime cels, and trying to draw them either stright or by useing simple shapes to get the basic shape of the cel started. you can learn alot from sketches of others how they get the eyes right and stuff. to find cels to practice with just go to ebay and serch for what ever anime you really like and type "(anime here) cel", and there'll probaly 5 or six cels, i would just save the image files off the ebay auction and try to sketch them. ill post an example of one you can use.

if you like i can show you step by step how i would draw a simple pic

[Mave]

It doesn't hurt to trace and copy other works (not shameless ripping off and claiming as your own though! Just for practice!). I started off that way a few years back. I drew YYH/GW/RK characters first and eventually broke off to my own creations (as I got more comfortable about drawing anime/manga). Even now, I still get inspirations and ideas from seeing other ppl's works.

Also, don't pressurize yourself. If you're too hard on yourself, it gets difficult. Do enjoy the drawing.

Oh yeah, do keep your old drawings...useful for checking on your progress and old ideas are always valuable.

[nekomi]

*claps to Michiru T* Tracing is invaluable, especially at first. ^__^ But like she mentioned, just use it for practice. ^^ Many artists talk about the "physical memory", which is basically saying that your hands will remember the motions they need to make to draw well (just like riding a bike, you never really forget). By tracing, you can help to build that sense before you even really earn it yourself. ^^;

To make sure you don't end up copying someone's style, I'd offset tracing by following art tutorials online. I started with the face tutorial at http://www.polykarbon.com, although I'm sure there are many more informative tutorials on the 'Net. ^.^

If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about original characters yet. I did fanart almost exclusively for my first year of drawing anime (game fanart especially, because it gives you more stylistic leeway), and then switched entirely to original drawings. Of course, you'll be compelled to draw your own characters, so go with it when the inspiration hits! Just don't force it. ^__^

Anyhow, that's just what I've learned over my drawing career. Hope that helps ^___^

[Spencer]

I'm not a very good anime artist myself, but I'm posting here anyway just for the heck of it.

I am trying to learn eyes now, and http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial/tutorial.html has very good tutorials on anime/manga. That's what I use, anyway. Polykarbon is okay too, but I only use that for Photoshop stuff. I doubt that helped, since it was basically just a link, but it's a good link, so that makes up for my babble.

Later

[Shinja]

hey spencer cool avatar!

[Spencer]

Heh, thanks. I'm a Beatles fan.

Ringo was so cool.

[Shinja]

yeah ringo was my drumming inspiration

[EdHead]

to develop my own style i looked at a whole lot of different pics from countless artists and picked out what i liked from each one. thats basically how i learned to draw anime/manga.

That's what I do too! Although at first it was a little confusing by looking at different styles. I used to mix realistic and anime-istic (I don't know what else to call it) features in my characters, but since I was just starting it never turned out the way I wanted it to look like! >_<
So maybe this isn't such a good method for beginners... You should practice one certain style first and, after you get used to it, try something. But this is just a suggestion, not everyone is the same.