Pixel Joint Forum: Can you draw?

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bbtrix
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 27 July 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1

Topic: Can you draw?
Posted: 31 July 2018 at 6:17pm

Hello!
I created this topic to ask of you:
Can you draw? (as in freehand drawing)
Is drawing a necessary ability to be a good pixel artist?
How to practice/improve it for creating pixel art?

I ask this because every tutorial I see comes to the "do the linework" part and it is where I get stuck...I can't seem to do any interesting linework :(

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eishiya
Commander

Joined: 04 August 2022
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1109

Posted: 31 July 2018 at 10:03pm

The mechanical skill of drawing isn't necessary, but the knowledge that goes into it (light, colour, line, volume, anatomy, etc) is necessary.

Linework is not necessary for pixel art. Perhaps a form-oriented approach might suit you better? Block in the composition and major forms first, refine from there, then add lines at the end if you need them.

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PixelMart
Midshipman

Joined: 03 August 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 18

Posted: 03 August 2018 at 5:50pm

i won't say i can draw

as an example of a scribble:

it might help you

but in my first (a little bit professional looking pixelart)
i worked in a fery different way with drawing shapes first and adding outlines als details later
this worked amazing for my first project

but i don't know if it works well for everyone

but:
i am sure... pixelart wil help you to be better in drawing too.

I imagine how working on and understaing pixelart will teach me to make the most of nearly no colors and small sized images.
(like 3 or to colots on 20 x 20 pixels)

and use this knowledge on hd multiple time zbrush renders in photoshop with layereffects amnd more :D

and... if you want to do something with art....
try it... try again.. learn and train yourself.

art is a little bit like sports
you need to train it

I followed art streams who started worse than me..but drew every day for about 5 hours. then I see their works now i loose my breath, because they look so amazing

i'm not experienced in pixel art but before i bougth asesprite (the perfect pixel line tool looked like a big help) I looked up a lot of tutorials about this.
in the end my first uploaded picture here looks like this:

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Pikaychu
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 22 August 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5

Posted: 23 August 2018 at 9:31am

I can't draw (well) and at many times I'm thinking that this is my blocking point for creating beautiful sprites. (But I'm far away from being a good pixel artist too)

But as already mentioned, for "low res" pixel art, the theory of drawing, meaning basic knowledge in anatomy, color theory, lighting etc. seems to be sufficient if you just practice practice practice.

I can highly recommend CTRLPaint for learning digital art. It also has a great amount of free content. It teached me at least the basics in a fairly short time and is targeted at digital drawing, which I liked.

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DioShiba
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 18 October 2024
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 9

Posted: 11 September 2018 at 5:18am

Look, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't pick up on the foundations of art such as drawing, anatomy, color theory and lighting and all that stuff until I studied it more frequently in college.

And I dived into pixel art without much understanding of those. The results were varied between being bad and decent. Now with that understanding of the foundations that I've learned over the years I've noticed a extraordinary jump in improvements since I started out back in high school nearly 8 years ago.

I would agree that, with the point that PixelMart made that no matter what you wish to do in art you have to train and dedicate yourself to the medium. However, I would stress his point about how drawing and pixel art tend to go hand in hand. While not necessary to know one or the other skill, both have core concepts that they share that, with enough understanding of them by putting them into practice with both mediums you could practically make anything amazing.

This is usually why I stress to others that whether they're doing it for fun or for professionalism, it's important to understand the foundations at least.

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ConnyNordlund
Midshipman

Joined: 31 July 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 16

Posted: 24 January 2019 at 7:03am

I started off as a painter before doing any pixel art. So due to that I have to strongly disagree that the knowledge wouldn't be connected. I had an easy time picking up pixel art because of the traditional training. It was more a matter of understanding the medium. I believe you should practice both drawing and painting while doing pixel art. Because it goes hand in hand. It's fundamental knowledge that can be applied to basically all art.

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plaza
Midshipman

Joined: 27 March 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14

Posted: 28 March 2019 at 5:32am

It's definitely an asset to be an artist first, but don't let that stop you from jumping in and making your pixel art and posting it for us to critique.

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MicmasH
Midshipman

Joined: 09 September 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 32

Posted: 28 June 2019 at 4:20pm

O goodness, I have written this post 3 times already, and then had an accident and deleted it.

Anyway, I'll try to type all that out again.

When I first started out, all I had was an Ipad (first generation) and a horrible

5 gigabyte internet plan. I spent all my time looking up information about drawing. I found Monika Zagrobelna https://tutsplus.com/tutorials/search/human+anatomy+fundamentals' first, then Andrew Loomis, Burne Hogarth, Michael Hampton and George Bridgman. I learned about Mannequinization, forms, gesture and anatomy, but Monika really got me rolling. I always saved screenshots of pictures (downloading them was out of the question; 5 gigs doesn't divide evenly between 4 people!) on my Ipad. I learned techniques from other artists by thoroughly studying their art, then comparing it with real pictures (or Zbrush anatomy studies; far superior in my opinion!), and trying to emulate it.

I learned that there is no cheating in art; what you see is what you get. Cheating is when you copy someone else' art, modify the colors, and then say it's yours. Using techniques like Sinix Design, Sycra Drawing and Monika use, is not cheating.

I also learned to use really buff references. Bodybuilders (albeit kinda disturbing and sad at the same time) have these really clear muscles that I would compare to drawn muscle anatomy (like Drawsh). It helps to get a clear idea.

Most important is that you never give up. You never fail at art. A failed artist is one who has given up on creating artwork. Drawing ability is completely skill based, much like an electrical engineer or a fast food worker. Skills can be learned. Talent is irrelevant. Most people fail because they equate Drawing Ability with Talent, and then say they have no talent. A baby, then (by the same logic) is bad at walking, and should give up because walking is not for them.

No!

As you get older, you expect to be more experienced at everything, so when starting out completely new (like a baby), that expectation carries over. A baby learns by hard work and dedication to eventually walk, and then speak.

So no. Never stop learning. Never give up because you have nothing to lose as an artist. Always remember that art is hard work; but it's not hard labor.

You are sitting comfortably, entertaining yourself and others with your art. Just don't let anyone tell you art is worthless. Everybody needs entertainment to survive, and that is the service you provide. And remember to branch out. DO EVERYTHING that interests you. Branching out your endeavors means that you can take time off of one thing you love to work on another thing you love. It keeps me from feeling hopeless.

Here's a quick list:

Sycra Drawing /// Youtube

Sinix Design /// Youtube

Andrew Loomis/// Author

Burne Hogarth /// Author

Michael Hampton /// Author

George Bridgman /// Author

Monika Zagrobelna /// Website

Josh Reed /// Website (Drawsh)

(and don't forget to look them up in Images tab because sometimes websites are hard to navigate)

Sorry for such a long post. I hope this helps.

MicmasH

Jesus Christ be with you on your art journey

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dogboydog
Midshipman

Joined: 22 August 2019
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 24

Posted: 15 August 2019 at 5:42pm

I try to improve my drawing skill, but I'm definitely not there yet. Maybe if I keep drawing one day I'll be better at it.

My drawings/paintings/woodburnings:

instagram.com/wowyesokay

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cookii
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 05 May 2020
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2

Posted: 13 May 2020 at 9:26am

I started doing pixelart about a week ago. I cannot draw under any circumstance and that is one of the reasons i picked it up. I wanted to learn how to draw, but after trying it for a couple hours, i had no ideas what to draw and no motivation.

Then i started with pixelart and let me just say that it's way easier than drawing (at least for me). You see while trying to draw there were infinite ways how to draw something and that made it so hard for me. Pixelart made limitations like only four color palette, size and the fact that you have to draw with small squares. You can easily repair your mistakes because it's digital and therefore you can try as many times as you need to land that line just right.

Does drawing help with pixelart? Absolutely! Knowledge of perspective, shading, shapes etc. is very very helpful. But as evident, it's not needed at all. If you never ever made any visual art, you have to start somewhere. It doesn't really matter where you start, so this might be one of the best places due to the stuff i mentioned before.

Now about the linework. I don't know what are you trying to draw, but it sounds like you're trying something way too hard. Start small. The smaller, the better. A 16x16 sprite in only 4 colors is probably the place to start. You don't have to do any of those big drawings. They will come later. You gotta work your way up the difficulty. Nobody draw a huge, fully detailed 250x250 painting on their first try.

And don't worry. I think doing the linework is the hardest part of the process, at least in the beginning. It usually takes me the most time to get it right, but it's also the most important thing of the whole piece.

Final tip: If you're just starting out, don't make your own colors. Taking someone else's color palette is totally fine and it will look way better. You can learn colors later, after you know how to do lines.

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2blackbar
Midshipman

Joined: 28 January 2013
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 28

Posted: 17 August 2020 at 3:31am

Pixel art is painting essentially, so if you want your stuff to look good then yes you need fundamental knowledge about painting, what colors to mix and how lighting caffect the subject.
But you can also cheat, dumbcopy existing art but change the subject to your own, but observe how lighting behaves on original, try to copy it.
If you want it to look just averagethen just ignore everything and do what you want.Just be prepared for people ignoring your average efforts.
So no, you cant just skip that painting knowledge if you expect to be one of the best who can create any pose, any character, but if youre stubborn you of course can but then dont blame anyone but you that your art doesnt look like other guys.
Its basically painting process with big rectangles spaced next to each other + knowledge about antialiasing.
But being great artist wont make you automatically good or decent pixel artist, you need to practice antialiasing and contro colorcount.
Its the same with backgrounds and portraits, you can be amazing at drawing portraits but your background painting skills can be that of 5 years old kid, and no its not a joke, ive seen these.
So, start reading about painting and theory but paint with pixels.

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Diversions
Pixel Joint Forum : The Lounge : Diversions

Author	Message
bbtrix Seaman Joined: 27 July 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Topic: Can you draw? Posted: 31 July 2018 at 6:17pm
	Hello! I created this topic to ask of you: Can you draw? (as in freehand drawing) Is drawing a necessary ability to be a good pixel artist? How to practice/improve it for creating pixel art? I ask this because every tutorial I see comes to the "do the linework" part and it is where I get stuck...I can't seem to do any interesting linework :(
	IP Logged

eishiya Commander Joined: 04 August 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1109	Posted: 31 July 2018 at 10:03pm
	The mechanical skill of drawing isn't necessary, but the knowledge that goes into it (light, colour, line, volume, anatomy, etc) is necessary. Linework is not necessary for pixel art. Perhaps a form-oriented approach might suit you better? Block in the composition and major forms first, refine from there, then add lines at the end if you need them.
	IP Logged

PixelMart Midshipman Joined: 03 August 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 18	Posted: 03 August 2018 at 5:50pm
	i won't say i can draw as an example of a scribble: it might help you but in my first (a little bit professional looking pixelart) i worked in a fery different way with drawing shapes first and adding outlines als details later this worked amazing for my first project but i don't know if it works well for everyone but: i am sure... pixelart wil help you to be better in drawing too. I imagine how working on and understaing pixelart will teach me to make the most of nearly no colors and small sized images. (like 3 or to colots on 20 x 20 pixels) and use this knowledge on hd multiple time zbrush renders in photoshop with layereffects amnd more :D and... if you want to do something with art.... try it... try again.. learn and train yourself. art is a little bit like sports you need to train it I followed art streams who started worse than me..but drew every day for about 5 hours. then I see their works now i loose my breath, because they look so amazing i'm not experienced in pixel art but before i bougth asesprite (the perfect pixel line tool looked like a big help) I looked up a lot of tutorials about this. in the end my first uploaded picture here looks like this:
	IP Logged

Pikaychu Seaman Joined: 22 August 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5	Posted: 23 August 2018 at 9:31am
	I can't draw (well) and at many times I'm thinking that this is my blocking point for creating beautiful sprites. (But I'm far away from being a good pixel artist too) But as already mentioned, for "low res" pixel art, the theory of drawing, meaning basic knowledge in anatomy, color theory, lighting etc. seems to be sufficient if you just practice practice practice. I can highly recommend CTRLPaint for learning digital art. It also has a great amount of free content. It teached me at least the basics in a fairly short time and is targeted at digital drawing, which I liked.
	IP Logged

DioShiba Seaman Joined: 18 October 2024 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 11 September 2018 at 5:18am
	Look, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't pick up on the foundations of art such as drawing, anatomy, color theory and lighting and all that stuff until I studied it more frequently in college. And I dived into pixel art without much understanding of those. The results were varied between being bad and decent. Now with that understanding of the foundations that I've learned over the years I've noticed a extraordinary jump in improvements since I started out back in high school nearly 8 years ago. I would agree that, with the point that PixelMart made that no matter what you wish to do in art you have to train and dedicate yourself to the medium. However, I would stress his point about how drawing and pixel art tend to go hand in hand. While not necessary to know one or the other skill, both have core concepts that they share that, with enough understanding of them by putting them into practice with both mediums you could practically make anything amazing. This is usually why I stress to others that whether they're doing it for fun or for professionalism, it's important to understand the foundations at least.
	IP Logged

ConnyNordlund Midshipman Joined: 31 July 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16	Posted: 24 January 2019 at 7:03am
	I started off as a painter before doing any pixel art. So due to that I have to strongly disagree that the knowledge wouldn't be connected. I had an easy time picking up pixel art because of the traditional training. It was more a matter of understanding the medium. I believe you should practice both drawing and painting while doing pixel art. Because it goes hand in hand. It's fundamental knowledge that can be applied to basically all art.
	IP Logged

plaza Midshipman Joined: 27 March 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 14	Posted: 28 March 2019 at 5:32am
	It's definitely an asset to be an artist first, but don't let that stop you from jumping in and making your pixel art and posting it for us to critique.
	IP Logged

MicmasH Midshipman Joined: 09 September 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 32	Posted: 28 June 2019 at 4:20pm
	O goodness, I have written this post 3 times already, and then had an accident and deleted it. Anyway, I'll try to type all that out again. When I first started out, all I had was an Ipad (first generation) and a horrible 5 gigabyte internet plan. I spent all my time looking up information about drawing. I found Monika Zagrobelna https://tutsplus.com/tutorials/search/human+anatomy+fundamentals' first, then Andrew Loomis, Burne Hogarth, Michael Hampton and George Bridgman. I learned about Mannequinization, forms, gesture and anatomy, but Monika really got me rolling. I always saved screenshots of pictures (downloading them was out of the question; 5 gigs doesn't divide evenly between 4 people!) on my Ipad. I learned techniques from other artists by thoroughly studying their art, then comparing it with real pictures (or Zbrush anatomy studies; far superior in my opinion!), and trying to emulate it. I learned that there is no cheating in art; what you see is what you get. Cheating is when you copy someone else' art, modify the colors, and then say it's yours. Using techniques like Sinix Design, Sycra Drawing and Monika use, is not cheating. I also learned to use really buff references. Bodybuilders (albeit kinda disturbing and sad at the same time) have these really clear muscles that I would compare to drawn muscle anatomy (like Drawsh). It helps to get a clear idea. Most important is that you never give up. You never fail at art. A failed artist is one who has given up on creating artwork. Drawing ability is completely skill based, much like an electrical engineer or a fast food worker. Skills can be learned. Talent is irrelevant. Most people fail because they equate Drawing Ability with Talent, and then say they have no talent. A baby, then (by the same logic) is bad at walking, and should give up because walking is not for them. No! As you get older, you expect to be more experienced at everything, so when starting out completely new (like a baby), that expectation carries over. A baby learns by hard work and dedication to eventually walk, and then speak. So no. Never stop learning. Never give up because you have nothing to lose as an artist. Always remember that art is hard work; but it's not hard labor. You are sitting comfortably, entertaining yourself and others with your art. Just don't let anyone tell you art is worthless. Everybody needs entertainment to survive, and that is the service you provide. And remember to branch out. DO EVERYTHING that interests you. Branching out your endeavors means that you can take time off of one thing you love to work on another thing you love. It keeps me from feeling hopeless. Here's a quick list: Sycra Drawing /// Youtube Sinix Design /// Youtube Andrew Loomis/// Author Burne Hogarth /// Author Michael Hampton /// Author George Bridgman /// Author Monika Zagrobelna /// Website Josh Reed /// Website (Drawsh) (and don't forget to look them up in Images tab because sometimes websites are hard to navigate) Sorry for such a long post. I hope this helps. MicmasH Jesus Christ be with you on your art journey
	IP Logged

dogboydog Midshipman Joined: 22 August 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 24	Posted: 15 August 2019 at 5:42pm
	I try to improve my drawing skill, but I'm definitely not there yet. Maybe if I keep drawing one day I'll be better at it. My drawings/paintings/woodburnings: instagram.com/wowyesokay
	IP Logged

cookii Seaman Joined: 05 May 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Posted: 13 May 2020 at 9:26am
	I started doing pixelart about a week ago. I cannot draw under any circumstance and that is one of the reasons i picked it up. I wanted to learn how to draw, but after trying it for a couple hours, i had no ideas what to draw and no motivation. Then i started with pixelart and let me just say that it's way easier than drawing (at least for me). You see while trying to draw there were infinite ways how to draw something and that made it so hard for me. Pixelart made limitations like only four color palette, size and the fact that you have to draw with small squares. You can easily repair your mistakes because it's digital and therefore you can try as many times as you need to land that line just right. Does drawing help with pixelart? Absolutely! Knowledge of perspective, shading, shapes etc. is very very helpful. But as evident, it's not needed at all. If you never ever made any visual art, you have to start somewhere. It doesn't really matter where you start, so this might be one of the best places due to the stuff i mentioned before. Now about the linework. I don't know what are you trying to draw, but it sounds like you're trying something way too hard. Start small. The smaller, the better. A 16x16 sprite in only 4 colors is probably the place to start. You don't have to do any of those big drawings. They will come later. You gotta work your way up the difficulty. Nobody draw a huge, fully detailed 250x250 painting on their first try. And don't worry. I think doing the linework is the hardest part of the process, at least in the beginning. It usually takes me the most time to get it right, but it's also the most important thing of the whole piece. Final tip: If you're just starting out, don't make your own colors. Taking someone else's color palette is totally fine and it will look way better. You can learn colors later, after you know how to do lines.
	IP Logged

2blackbar Midshipman Joined: 28 January 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 28	Posted: 17 August 2020 at 3:31am
	Pixel art is painting essentially, so if you want your stuff to look good then yes you need fundamental knowledge about painting, what colors to mix and how lighting caffect the subject. But you can also cheat, dumbcopy existing art but change the subject to your own, but observe how lighting behaves on original, try to copy it. If you want it to look just averagethen just ignore everything and do what you want.Just be prepared for people ignoring your average efforts. So no, you cant just skip that painting knowledge if you expect to be one of the best who can create any pose, any character, but if youre stubborn you of course can but then dont blame anyone but you that your art doesnt look like other guys. Its basically painting process with big rectangles spaced next to each other + knowledge about antialiasing. But being great artist wont make you automatically good or decent pixel artist, you need to practice antialiasing and contro colorcount. Its the same with backgrounds and portraits, you can be amazing at drawing portraits but your background painting skills can be that of 5 years old kid, and no its not a joke, ive seen these. So, start reading about painting and theory but paint with pixels.
	IP Logged