Thread: I need some advice, anyone got wisdom?

Thx guys, thanks to you i got what i needed and am right on track, i think im fine with faces for now, i got the basics down, the whole prep. work seems kinda hard in itself and time consuming, but hey, good anime is right?

(please excuse me but i just had to finish this with this just once)


See You Next Time Space Cowboy!


(AO please close this thread now, im set)

If you still need some advice, I suggest this.

The area people fall down most in when drawing faces, is making the expressions appear realistic. While getting the proportions, distances and scale correct are usually important, it isn't always as vital as making the face look 'alive'. Showing emotion and feeling is central within the fields of anime and manga.

When just drawing the head, I find a good way of practicing this is just to copy out of different manga (after all, nobody can show you better examples than the real pros). Same goes for hair, eyes, mouth, nose and ears... they can even act a good guide for lighting effects as well. Every once in a while, stop using referances and just try drawing the faces free hand. Eventually, you should find yourself getting better and more confident in your abilities. Your own 'style' should also start to show itself in good time also.

As for expressions, the way learned was to create several characters... each with a different emotion (Think of the Seven dwarfs. Grumpy, Happy, Doc ect.) You're more or less on your own with this, but just be sure to learn from your mistakes as and when you make them. Strive to improve your drawings so that each one is better than your last (and acknowledge that there will be exceptions).

So long as you go with what looks good, and don't expect to become the greatest artist of all time overnight, then you should do fine. If you want to send me a sample of your work to comment on, just let me know.

Good luck. ^^

Originally Posted by AnimeAficianado

To all AO officials who have any advice as well as any members with some skill, i'm tryin to make one of my best works of anime ever, but i'm havin my usual problem. You see, i can't draw faces. I get scared and then end up not finishin it. I'm basicaly over the fear but i still can't get it right... any wisdom on how to draw faces?

Maybe u can draw face from online

Originally Posted by Sib

If you still need some advice, I suggest this.

The area people fall down most in when drawing faces, is making the expressions appear realistic. While getting the proportions, distances and scale correct are usually important, it isn't always as vital as making the face look 'alive'. Showing emotion and feeling is central within the fields of anime and manga.

When just drawing the head, I find a good way of practicing this is just to copy out of different manga (after all, nobody can show you better examples than the real pros). Same goes for hair, eyes, mouth, nose and ears... they can even act a good guide for lighting effects as well. Every once in a while, stop using referances and just try drawing the faces free hand. Eventually, you should find yourself getting better and more confident in your abilities. Your own 'style' should also start to show itself in good time also.

As for expressions, the way learned was to create several characters... each with a different emotion (Think of the Seven dwarfs. Grumpy, Happy, Doc ect.) You're more or less on your own with this, but just be sure to learn from your mistakes as and when you make them. Strive to improve your drawings so that each one is better than your last (and acknowledge that there will be exceptions).

So long as you go with what looks good, and don't expect to become the greatest artist of all time overnight, then you should do fine. If you want to send me a sample of your work to comment on, just let me know.

Good luck. ^^

thx sib, you really helped me with my confidence on this one, and im takin your advice, ill be sure to send you my work the second i get one that looks good!(as in not messy, im not being a critique of my own work anymore-lol-)

juust keep cool dont worry so much about messin up and u will come out with some faces like avatar n samuri chaploo

This site has some good basic tutorials:

http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial/tutorial.html

Sib's advice to copy from manga sounds like a great way to learn too. Just keep up practice and I'm sure you'll see improvement.

I love it when you can look back at an artist's eairlier issues and see how much they have improved and how their style has evolved. I think Appleseed is a good example of this.

Ok, hope that helps.

hey thx for the link, and also thanks just in general for helpin me out, again im startin to do better with my faces, it'll take a few weeks to get to top form but as soon as i finish cleanin up my picture i got right now, im gonna upload it so you all can see just how good (i hope) i am trying to be, im definately improving as you all said i would so, thank you all again, so much.... be sure to talk to you all later... thanks again!