How To Draw...What's the Best?

[LouiseChi]

Errol McGillivray

I lol'd.

Seriously though, I couldn't recommend any of them at all. I personally find them all to be trash that will hurt you more than help you in the long run if you're not already pretty sound in your skills before you pick them up.

then what do you suggest, if not how to draw books?  

[I.P.Freely]

The best how to draw type book I've ever had, I got on sale at Borders for 5 bucks. Anatomy for the Artist by Daniel Carter and Michael Courtney. I highly recommend that over the How to draw manga books any day. It's always better to get a good foundation in realism and anatomy before going into manga. I also find it much easier to find my own style when starting out in realism. (Sadly, however, I didn't. I too fell into the trap of starting with Manga.)  

[Errol McGillivray]

LouiseChi

Errol McGillivray

I lol'd.

Seriously though, I couldn't recommend any of them at all. I personally find them all to be trash that will hurt you more than help you in the long run if you're not already pretty sound in your skills before you pick them up.

then what do you suggest, if not how to draw books?

Observation. Life studies. I've started doing that recently and I can't tell you how much it's helped me understand things.

How to draw tends to really just teach you how to mimic and skip steps. I don't like them. I feel like they held me back for years.

I have plenty of reference books, but no step by step anything. Anatomy for Artists by Sarah Simblet is the one I have. (I have others, but those are mostly medical texts and figure drawing resources. Figure in motion, Figure drawing for animation, drawing muscles... the things that tell you information, but don't tell you a "do this do that" thing.)  

[KowPatty]

If you want to learn to draw, there are a lot of things you can do without even reading a book. Drawing is all about seeing -- so look at what you want to draw. A book can not, and will not ever do this for you. Here's a few things they'll make you do if you ever take a drawing class.

1. With a pencil and paper, look at something that interests you, and VERY SLOWLY draw the contours (outside edges) of the object on the paper... without looking at your paper. don't bother to pick your pencil off the paper. This is going to look like crap, and that's OK. What you are doing is teaching your brain to tell your hand where to go, and what to do. When you're a beginner I would say to do this at least maybe 5-10 times a week. You'll get a sketchbook full of terrible drawings, but your brain and hand will be communicating better.

2. Next, take that same object and draw it again, but this time, you can look at it your paper if you stop moving your pencil. you can pick up the pencil and put it back on the paper when you are ready to look away from the paper again. This is to train you to draw exactly what you are seeing, and keep up with the brain-hand communication. The drawings will still look like crap, but you'll notice an improvement. Same as above, I'd do this about 5-10 times a week as time permits.

3. When you're ready to start trying to draw while looking at your paper, remember to take breaks to just rest your eyes on what you're drawing from life. It is REALLY HARD to just draw from your memory if you are a beginner. This is because your memory does not contain every detail from what you see. When things start to look strange it is because your memory will fill in the voids with things that are not really there. Then you start to think, "hmm... it didn't really look like that, did it?" This is normal. So just remember to keep looking at what you want to draw.

4. Do some google searches for Composition. There are a lot of sites out there that show what a strong composition will look like, with small sketches of the overall shape of the positive and negative space. Positive space is the area in "front", such as the person, in a portrait, and negative space is everything else, like the background. You might want to look up positive and negative space too. A good rule for Composition, but this is not always required, is to make your composition leave the picture on 3 edges of the paper. This brings the drawing up close to you and makes it look more interesting. Also you can look up the Rule of Thirds if you want to add a focal point in an interesting place. These things will make any drawing a lot stronger.

5. Most of all, draw EVERY DAY. You don't have to color, build up value (shadows), etc if you don't want to, but at least try to draw something every day. Try drawing the same thing from different angles. Front-on and direct profile views are generally not as interesting as they are from any another angle. Look at something from the top... at a 30 degree angle, a 60 degree angle, turn it just a little bit away from you, look at it from behind, etc.  

[Risaya]

Personally I own a lot of 'how to draw' books, from a great variety of authors. However, I could already make reasonable drawing before I ever even purchased one. I use the books mostly for inspiration, whether it be poses, expressions, clothing, etc. But I never draw things directly out of the books. I just browse through them, let it sink in a night or so, and wake up full of inspiration! xd (tis true though)  

[Lancent]

In my opinion, these books don't realy help... The authors don't realy show you the secretes and the important stuff, always the basics with them...  

[sadaoakimichi]

How to draw books will only serve as reference, they will rarely actually teach you anything. I started my serious drawing with a book on how to draw shoujo, and it never did anything but give me something to copy. They will give you steps to follow when making the art, but they don't actually show you how to do those steps. They'll start you with a line, and then skip to the whole figure being drawn, leaveing you hanging on how they did that.

Since most artists are visual learners, try searching youtube for how to draw ____ tutorials. hey actually help because your seeing everything done bit by bit.

look through here and see if you can't find something to help you.: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+draw+anime+tutorial

I hope that helps. 3nodding  

[Anpu the black Seraph]

I myself have blown money on more than one drawing book. But alas, they help little. They're ok to look at and they can give you a few ideas, but as far as offering any real help, they fall short. Anatomy for Artists by Sarah Simblet, in my opinion, is an awesome reference book. It's packed with tons of photos (n***s) and useful info for growing artists. Drawing n***s is actually a useful way of learning the human form and making yourself familiar with the various curves of the body. Art Models Life n***s for Drawing Painting and Sculpting by Maureen and Douglas Johnson is a good book to use if your unable to find a class with a live nude model. And as others have said before, just draw. Life drawing is crutial. It's something I'm working on myself. I've found that magazines in general are useful. Any magazines. Hair style, body builder, wrestling, fasihion, music, anything with photos of people can be used as an excellent reference source. But the absolute best way to improve, and for me the hardest, is to just practice. Find time everyday to just draw. Anything you do will be a step forward.  

[perplexi]

Errol McGillivray

I lol'd.

Seriously though, I couldn't recommend any of them at all. I personally find them all to be trash that will hurt you more than help you in the long run if you're not already pretty sound in your skills before you pick them up.

Yesyesyes.

But yea dude, I think the first step in improving your skills is NOT buying a how to draw manga book.
Try Atlas of Human Anatomy by Stephen Rogers Peck (don't worry, they have it in Barns & Noble)  

[perplexi]

Also, take life drawing classes and/or go to art college.  

[WuBaku]

Personally I dont use any "How to:" Books. Agreeing with what the majority of the people have said so far they mostly hamper rather than help. You can get a lot more helpful books about art that just teaches you theories rather than just telling you what to do to achieve a style or look. (i.e. Magna, Anime, Fantasy etc)

Personal books I have my in library:
Burne Hogarth's Anatomy and Dynamic Wrinkles book. He'll teach you how the human body works, the muscles and how it moves and flexes. With the wrinkle book he demonstrates how clothing and skin wrinkles work, and how they flow naturally depending on what they are made from. (Cotton, skin, Leather, think starchy material etc.)

If your an animator (and even if your not) getting "The Animator's Survival Kit" book will help you make your poses more dynamic or life like. Showing motion in a still image is a lot harder than it seems. And that book should help you convey it.

3nodding  

[oxellebellxo]

personally, if ur lookin for help, look up a website or go online and look for something.
my favorite website is deviantart.com
u can post all ur art and look at other ppls art. just look at someone else's art as a refrence and go from there. or u can look up a tutorial or something. ur choice theree  

[The One and Only Kal]

I think it's funny how so many people believe that a how-to-draw book will hinder your creativity. The first books I looked at were from the How to Draw Manga series, and I loved them when I was ten/twelve. Look at my art now. Do I have a Manga/Anime style? One of my acquaintances - her devART is here - learned how to draw from the Christopher Hart books. While I couldn't bear to look at the How to Draw Manga series today, it was a vital stepping stone for me.

The best "step by step" example, and a book that is sadly no longer in print, is Fun with Pencil by Andrew Loomis. He was a truly excellent illustrator in his time, and teaches step-by-step in a manner which is both accessible and practical, as he takes you from cartooning to more realistic drawing.

The idea of step-by-step is breaking it down. When you're planning an elaborate piece or a life-drawing, you will spend most of your time simplifying. You will simplify the head into a sphere, or a cube, or a combination of the two, and you will simplify the body into a gesture - movement, or you will simplify the whole piece into a thumbnail with light and dark values. If there is anything wrong with the books you mentioned, it's just that eventually you will outgrow them, because Hart isn't a really good artist, and most of the artists who illustrated the How to Draw Manga series are amateurs (however, the information is often sound. The execution isn't.)

The only resources I can recommend to you, however, are very Western. A very good anatomy book (I find Sarah Simblet's book is full of pretty pictures, but not much substance) is Der Nackte Mensch by Gottfried Bammes. You can probably find it online. Hell, it's in German, but it's considered to be the best anatomy book ever compiled. Study that, and you'll be ahead of the game.

Figure Drawing For All It's Worth is also available on the 'net.  

[Ikari-no-baka]

I find them to not be so much helpful as doing things more so as reference to really tough poses.  

[cheerios18]

You know, not all books are bad. I think you just need to find some with good manga pictures in them not necessarily a how to draw book. I have a pretty nifty one with a whole bunch of Japanese comicers so there are a lot of different styles to experience. You just practice copying faces and eyes (NOT TRACING, AND NOT SAYING THEY ARE YOU"RE OWN) than you get a whole mix of styles in your hands.