I've recently had a big breakthrough when it came to my drawing. I realized that there are three ways that I can approach drawing. The first one is by telling myself that my job here is to finish the job - it's about completing the objective at hand. The second way is by asking myself "am I doing it right", and the third way is by asking myself a question that is so abstract that it cannot be translated to any language. I draw better from imagination than from reference.
In all skills there will be a gap between understanding a concept and applying a concept. That gap will vary in length depending on the skill and the individual but it's always there.
@@GraceDeGrace well when that happend try to exaggerate the pose just a little, there's is channel I personally recommend for everyone to checkout is josh black, you'll learn a lot, hope find it useful ^_^
Since you're new to Magic, I would highly recommend checking out a video called "20 years, 20 lessons" which is a talk that Mark Rosewater (head designer at WotC) gave to a group of people at GDC (Game Developer's Conference), as he explains a lot of the 'behind the scenes' stuff and why they do certain things. As a bonus, it's pretty funny video. If your husband hasn't seen it, he might be interested as well.
my one single art teacher gave some really good advice about references they're useful, but as the artist, you still have total control (and thus responsibility) over the final picture so even when drawing by reference, I like to go over the picture just on its own merit after I've done my best to capture the source I like to think this also means it's not that important to copy the reference. cameras can do that better already. the reference is essentially just a tool
For me the "I think I will draw a cat" kind of thought is a kind of death. It's much better, I think, to look at the images in your mind and draw those. The mind then flips back and forth between looking at the stuff on the paper and what is suggested there and looking at what the mind is showing you. The world "out there" is great, but it isn't as wonderful and mysterious as the world "in here". I think drawing is a way of uniting the two worlds, and pointing out ways they are secretly the same. If we note that we break down the world "out there" into symbolic references, we will see that same process mirrored on the inner world, but on that side, the abstractions are meaning. If the unison is completed properly, the cold world of practical symbols can convey deep, rich meaning.
Trying to capture an abstract concept or essence of something in your mind is so hard because the only place it exists is in your mind at least for me. I’d love to do more abstract things though, I hope with practice I can get there
When I started to draw again after a year of unmotivation, I struggled with exactly this problem (and is still struggling with it). I thought of a thing as a 2d image or paper doll where you rotate the limbs and joints in a 2d dimension. After so many attempts and struggles in drawing, I went back to basics. I remember drawing minecraft characters for 6 years, drawing cubes in different perspectives. "Perspective... perspective... THAT'S IT!", I thought to myself. I started practicing drawing 3d shapes in a 3d world. I draw a cube in multiple angles, I draw a cylinder in multiple angles, I draw a pyramid in multiple angles, I draw whatever shape I can think of in multiple angles. I made lines, shading, guides, arrows, just to tell future me how the shape "moves". After a while, I started to draw humans (not realisticly) again. Making the limbs look "short" due to them facing to the camera helped so much in drawing. Occasionally I can't avoid drawing with no perspective at all but I guess that's an old habit that will definitely die hard. Still though, learning to draw in angles is quite a big improvement!
Wow, what a nice video with a great art tip! The pleasant classical music complemented your laid-back voiceover sooo well. Got me relaxed! And the pets are adorable too! :D
I’m still quite confused. Idk if I’m too literal thinking or something but how do you “understand” how to draw something, but not use the lines you see? Do I make up new lines? I’m sorry I struggle a lot with this so I’m just not understanding.
The goal is to try to capture the “essence” of whatever you’re drawing instead of focusing so hard on where the lines literally are on the image. Many people have a very stylized, cartoony style that doesn’t line up 1:1 with the reference, yet the end result is still great and easily recognizable! I hope this makes more sense
Do we truly understand the complex nature of a cat? They morph and transform to their environment, always evolving. Their minds is that of a tesseract, thinking in a fourth dimensional space, a fractal. Think far beyon our comprehension at a fraction of the time we can process, while also tricking us as fools so easily. And on top of that, they merely observe and analyze us. We are but ameobas to their intelligence and grand design.
The information from this video is truly wonderful but I cant focus because of all those cute little critters shown 😭😭 the video with the small puppy and the bigger dog resting their head on the pup is soooo cuuute Plus the resting cat faces are so squishy i cant 😩❤
I too just started in the hobby introduced to me with playing commander games, but its really a very expensive one when I decided to look into the other formats, and while commander was always my first intro to the game, because they did the Warhammer deck, I'm hoping to branch out to other formats too. I enjoy the art but just don't see the use for it, would have been nice to have them as game pieces but that's just me. 🤔
I too just started in the hobby introduced to me with playing commander games, but its really a very expensive one when I decided to look into the other formats, and while commander was always my first intro to the game, because they did the Warhammer deck, I'm hoping to branch out to other formats too. I enjoy the art but just don't see the use for it, would have been nice to have them as game pieces but that's just me. 🤔
I understand! For most people I can see how they might not care which is probably why they don’t make them for every set. But as an artist, I love having something that I can physically hold and study as close as I want whenever I want. Collecting them and seeing all the art together also really helps me get in the mood to create more art myself!
I used to draw all the time when I was a kid, but I ended up hitting a wall in my ability to understand objects in space on a flat 2D surface just like this. All the advice and techniques I would find or receive never really helped me, especially because it usually included phrases like “Focus on the end result”, to help with maintaining motivation. It never felt right but I couldn’t figure out anything else to do. I stopped drawing for fun probably by the end of middle school and then entirely after high school. It’s been 10 years since then. I’ll still doodle now and then, but it still doesn’t feel like I understand anything I’m doing. Can’t fully comprehend why but this video is kind of refreshing. I still feel stuck but I also feel like a change in my understanding is finally right around the corner.
Keep at it!! Learning to train your eyes to break down real life into shapes is very difficult. And it’s so easy to get overwhelmed or swept away by the complexity of what we want the end result to be. For me, focusing on just one small 3D shape at a time made it easier for me understand. Coming from someone who would also lose motivation and stop drawing for long periods of time, I wish you the best of luck on your journey!!
I watch videos on this topic for entertainment purposes, not so much into drawing at this moment, all to say that the music, your animals, your pace and soft spoken voice made all this deeply enjoyable, thank you for the video ❤
I like this video a lot, it really reminds me of how I felt when I started out. I had to learn a lot of this by repetition, experimenting, and pure intuition, so it's super cool to see someone talking about it. Your art is super yummy fr and I love the texturing om the library piece !!
Theres so many comments here that are so interesting to read. If I were to offer advice it would be that creating new poses you haven't seen before can be done: A) by studying that pose specifically so you can recreate it easily, which works!! And IS good! But there's also B) studying the PIECES of what you're looking at (this is why breaking things into shapes is encouraged) For example, understanding how a cats legs bend, and where they cannot bend, will tell you what they're capable of, and therefore allow you to mentally move them around without needing an exact reference (though it's still good to double check and correct your work!) Muscles aren't the only thing either, there's a push and pull that occurs on the skin from the muscles stretching underneath, and there's even fat between the two that gives even more.. fullness to the form. So understanding the pieces that goes into a pose will make it easier to create new poses, and even study preexisting ones! And ofc you can always go the cartoonist route and simplify your lines to only the ones necessary, and exaggerate outside the known ability of your model (thanks to actually knowing it!) And it'll create more movement on the page (try looking at animation stretch and squash for that!)
What really got me out of my awkward phase in drawing people/animals was learning organic shape language, S curves and C curves changed my life for real
Magic is definitely one of those games that will always be more than the sum of its parts. You may stray away from it from time to time, but there are parts of you that you realize have undeniably shifted-- I feel like a really cozy spot of the hobby for you may be hand altering cards. It is such a fantastic subsection of the community. You can create your own art cards! (Be that making your favorite cards borderless / extended or adding goofy little critters tucked away within card frames to accompany your favorites)
@@GraceDeGrace You should show that in your next video :) Also, a bit of feedback, listening to you talking over the sorting footage kept me interested but just the sorting was kinda dull. Maybe if you do this again, give us some of your thoughts on games or art or whatever is occupying you at the time?
We have to constantly move her off to the side! But eventually, she does decide to just lay down somewhere nearby instead of in the middle of the battlefield
She normally does constantly mess with the pieces!! But I guess she felt like basking in the sunlight that day and she looked too cute, I had to record it!
MTG is a comfy place for me. Sorting, deckbuilding, getting lost in the art and the flavour text. The cards are like little windows into different worlds.
It really is an art in and of itself. There’s so much self expression in the deck you choose to build and how you play. The different sets make it quite enchanting!
The only deck I have right now is black, swamp cards that make it so that the opponent loses life while I gain life. I think I am going to try a green, forest deck next!
@@GraceDeGrace Good luck! Mono green stompy is always a good time. My fav deck is also life drain but I decided to go with black and white for colors. Vampire clerics. 😈
It’s happened a few times, where a good friend of mine will let me look through a bulk box he found or a small collection he bought off eBay, and it’s an experience I can’t find anywhere else. Thank you for sharing this video to emulate a part of that feeling. Good luck in your future in magic!