Everything (or, almost everything) I personally care about drawing is sci-fi or fantasy, and sort of the whole point of it is that it doesn't actually exist, and therefore I can "see" in a physical sense only my own drawings or those by other artists.
Realistically, though, sci-fi and fantasy objects are based on objects we have in everyday life. If you look at sci-fi through the years, they have the era's aesthetic: The lines of 50's sci-fi are different from the 80's appeal, for example. And this is where you start to draw the imaginary stuff.
Sci-fi ships? Based off of a combination of naval ships and planes. Get reference photos and use these to guide you, adding and taking away as you see fit. Plant life on another planet? Use plants and fungus from earth as your guide. Again, get reference photos and use these to guide you, changing what you like. Want an easy way to start something more surrealist? Find 3 unrelated reference photos and combine them into one image - use a digital art program to combine them if you'd like.
Note the heavy use of reference photos: I use them whenever I want something shaped in a specific way. If I want a goldfish in a space portal, well, I look up a picture of a goldfish. If I'd like koi instead, I look it up.
(and by the way, my stuff, if you would like to see how it plays out in my work. It hasn't been updated in some time. https://www.deviantart.com/disgruntled-peon/gallery)
>https://jamesgurney.com/products/imaginative-realism-how-to-...
It also makes you appreciate paintings.
Curiously the book from the TFA is doing almost the exact opposite of what DotRSotB recommends. The former is about parsing things into shapes while the latter is like tracing from an imaginary glass in front of you.
For example, I actually have charcoal in my art supplies, but I have no idea what to do with it. In my hands it's basically the equivalent of a massive pencil. On top of that, even using it as a large pencil, whatever I draw just looks like a doodle rather than something with any kind of artistic quality
> In my hands it's basically the equivalent of a massive pencil.
What else can you do with it? What if you turn it sideways? What if you rub your finger where you've already drawn with it? What happens if you crush a small piece of it? What can you do with that? Grab a dry paper towel and start smearing your drawing. Get curious, get crazy.
Drawing realistically begins with understanding light and shadow and form. A good teacher will absolutely speed up that understanding, and if you can find a teacher or class I also highly recommend that, but it can also be achieved through careful observation and experimentation.
This is actually part of what has drawn me back to art after not doing it much since I was in school. After getting into my career and adult life, I've gotten so accustomed to following rules and best practices (HIPAA, coding styles, bills, etc etc) I eventually realized, with some shock, that I basically never did anything in life anymore that was purely random and experimental like the stuff you described. I want to balance that out with just having fun creating and being accountable to no one but myself like I did when I was younger. Discussing this further bolsters my resolve to get into this
Books are great, though its been a while since I've bought one: I think my last was portraits and the human body - these were great reference books and honestly, I still miss them sometimes. If I drew more portraits or city scenes, I'd probably get another set.
And realistically, once you get going for a bit, the main thing is practice. Seriously: The main difference between the experienced artist and the beginner is practice. If you can do 10 minutes most days, you'll start seeing a lot of improvement. Some of these practice pieces should be quick (and sloppy), some take more time.
I'd try a variety of subjects because it'll help you later on, but I'd suggest mostly doing pictures that you personally enjoy.
I would definitely suggest starting with more "traditional" art, mostly realism. While I personally do a lot of abstract or surrealist pieces now, I'm really happy my art instruction as a child (through high school) focused more on tradition because it makes me so much more flexible now. (I'm over 40, by the way). This said, if you really enjoy abstract work, start doing some once you feel you are getting some decent control over the pencil, pen, or brush.
And don't be afraid to go into more permanent media or to more sloppy media: You might find charcoal or pastels to be nice and expressive in ways that graphite won't. Similarity, you might have an affinity for ink. And don't forget trying out dip pens! The only way to get over that hump - and many others - is to just try things.
Oh, and have fun.
I'd love to tell you that I went through all this in 2020 during lockdown and now I'm an amazing artist after having a story very similar to yours. However, after buying a full box (12... 20... I don't know) of the fineliners, the first one stopped working almost immediately. The second one was DOA. I pretty much quit out of frustration after that. I recently just bought a 2 pack of a differnt brand (Sharpie), thinking something from a local store may have better luck than whatever Amazon decides to send me. So I'm going to give it another go.
I have seen enough drawing progression posts to accept that drawing is a learned skill and not something you're just born with. I also think patience is a big part of it. When I was in high school, the best thing in my sketch book for art class took me several hours. I was meticulous. Usually I just want to go from nothing to something good in 5 minutes. I've seen posts from people who made amazing stuff who say they spend 50 hours on a drawing. So I guess you get out of it what you put into it.
He's got affordable courses you can buy as well. The figure drawing course is excellent and a great place to start. He does a great job of teaching foundations so you'll be able to branch from just drawing into draftsmanship, painting, or digital art if you want.
For other resources see also: https://noahbradley.com/dont-go-to-art-school/
The recommendation to go to weekly figure drawing is excellent. I've been doing that now for years and it's changed the game for me. Highly recommend doing the same if you can. It really helps the mind to see things in 3D then draw them, vs drawing from reference photos (which I do too, but it's not the same).
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9fcc42a5f4867f3588e3677cac68e944... https://64.media.tumblr.com/a915729ac2c2b0bbba11d1b94c7f249d... https://64.media.tumblr.com/0496ee9d307c685c18103e81745e2862...
Here's my whole blog of everything I did: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/tawsy-art
The ticket for me was just to grind it every day. I made art just all the time. I'd copy paintings, do figure drawing, practice from still life, make comics, just anything and everything to get better. If I hated a drawing I'd just photograph and it move on, vs get hung up on disliking it.
Not the person you replied to: But yes. Definitely yes. I've seen adults, in the course of a couple years, go from a complete beginner to selling works that are interesting and fairly original in style. It took work and practice, of course, and most folks are fairly happy well before that. (this was in facebook groups).
Look at it this way: If you set off to do woodworking and followed tutorials, do you think you would develop woodworking skills enough to work with them? The answer is probably yes. Art is the same way.
It's hard for most people to stay motivated without that.. and getting good at art just isn't something you can achieve over the weekend. It's for long distance runners, not sprinters.
Apart from that, draw every day. Quantity beats quality, and ultimately results in quality. Overcoming self-criticism and excuses not to just create more art is half of what being an artist is all about.
I've always found finding things like this difficult. Red Ed classes are generally geared for young kids, to expose them to some new hobby, or for old retired people looking for something to do. I've tried a couple and felt very out of place.
There are community colleges, but that seems like a more involved sign up than I'd like (although I did it once in my mid-20s after graducating from university).
Other than that, I struggle to find in-person places to learn things. Art, cooking, gymnastics, etc. There seems to be a big gap in the market for adults looking to learn things without doing it all on their own. Is there something else out there I'm not aware of?
I do see there is a school just about a mile from me. They have various summer workshops, but many require I take a week off work; they have a couple weekend options too. It looks like they occasionally have some night classes, but they are full. A 10 month long class that doesn't start for 4 months and costs over $2,400 is full... that kind of blows my mind. It seems like doing one of these fundamentals classes would be the way to go before showing up for a 24 hour over 4 day deep dive, live drawing, workshop.
I guess I'll bookmark it and come back to it occasionally to see if something works out for my schedule and current skill level.
Yeah, they've kind of become trendy in recent years.
If you are motivated, while you wait for a class to open up you can definitely use some of the stuff they teach you on your own, like drawing from Bargue plates and casts. Draw from life as much as you can, too. Every little bit of drawing helps. You just have to keep at it.
There are also online artist communities where you can get feedback on your art. Again, a talented teacher is best, but peer critique can be helpful too... and being part of an online community works for a lot of people who can't find/attend an in-person class. So I'd see if I could find some of those. I don't have specific recommendations, unfortunately, but I know they're out there. Searching on youtube or social media sites might yield some results.
I've had luck in finding life drawing groups (where you draw from a live model) through meetup.com. They were pretty cheap. They offered no instruction, but at least you were drawing from life and were among other artists.
Good luck on your journey.