Drawing Help please

Furmaximus · November 30, 2012, 03:14:24 PM

Hey so i have been trying to draw my fursona last few days, but every time i draw it i ends up looking like a 12 year old. Also he is way to adorable, the cuteness need to be scaled back, but it appears that i cant draw un-cute things. Any tips for how to make him look older/less cute? (but not too much!)
here is the drawing: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/9365413/

Temrin · November 30, 2012, 03:22:30 PM

I always give people the tip to look at real life photo's of animals and people. Its helps with learning the contours of the face and muscle structures. : )

there are tons of tutorials on deviantart alone, on drawing techniques that might help you find the style you are looking for. So i would suggest to do both. Look at IRL photos of animals and humans, as well as tutorials.

this tutorial i've had in my favourites for a while now has some pretty good stuff. :) http://hippie.nu/~unicorn/tut/xhtml/
Though there are tons of tecniques to drawing things so look around! :D Always research!

If there are other things you want to learn/practice with artwork in general, let me know! i have quite a lot of general tutorials in my favourites that i could link. ^^

~Temrin

Furmaximus · November 30, 2012, 05:19:55 PM

Thanks for the help, thats a great tutorial, very in depth. I havent even tried drawing a body yet.

Temrin · November 30, 2012, 05:29:35 PM

Hopefully it comes in handy : )

Carl Foxmarten · December 01, 2012, 03:37:03 AM

The advice I've started to give people, and it doesn't just apply to art, is to look at pictures that you want it to look like.
Look at lots of pictures, sketch them, or even parts of them, and look at how your sketches change over time.

I've been told that this is really good advice if you ever get artist's block...

starflier · December 05, 2012, 06:23:46 PM

One book that helped me out a lot early on was Chris Hart's "Drawing Dogs and Puppies" and "Drawing Cats and Kittens"

That said, never take Chris Hart's advice on how to draw people. The man has apparently never seen one. But once upon a time he wasn't too bad at cartoon animals, and made some really easy to work with how-to books.

kohl · December 12, 2012, 07:49:50 PM

Needs more fluff and lines, smooth facial expressions are more interpreted as young features.

Dervacor · December 17, 2012, 11:01:51 PM

Quote from: Temrin on November 30, 2012, 03:22:30 PM
I always give people the tip to look at real life photo's of animals and people. Its helps with learning the contours of the face and muscle structures. : )

there are tons of tutorials on deviantart alone, on drawing techniques that might help you find the style you are looking for. So i would suggest to do both. Look at IRL photos of animals and humans, as well as tutorials.

this tutorial i've had in my favourites for a while now has some pretty good stuff. :) http://hippie.nu/~unicorn/tut/xhtml/
Though there are tons of tecniques to drawing things so look around! :D Always research!

If there are other things you want to learn/practice with artwork in general, let me know! i have quite a lot of general tutorials in my favourites that i could link. ^^

~Temrin

What an exceptional link, I think that'll help me out quite a bit too!

tokar · December 17, 2012, 11:07:53 PM

you might not like tigers (cats) but look at a box of frosted flakes. last box i had there was instructions on how to draw Tony on the inside. check the box to see if the instructions are still inside.

start drawing still life - fruits in a bowl. from there try to draw a copy of a picture of an animal. when you get reasonable with that animal try to draw a horse. amazingly horses are the most difficult animal to draw. get good at horses and you have it made.

Tef · December 18, 2012, 10:10:02 AM

Hear, hear. For horses, you should check out Edward Muybridge's trademark work of horses in motion.

Neox · December 19, 2012, 05:48:54 AM

The eyes are first-and-foremost the biggest "age-indicator" in this pic, from what I can see. You've drawn large, cute eyes, which is a trademark of indicating youth in most cartoon styles. Study eyes of other artists' anthro characters and you'll see what I mean.

Wereman · January 26, 2013, 04:40:50 PM

Nice start for a drawing Max, one suggestion is to have the muzzle come out more

What I found interesting in the tutorial Temrin gave is work with circles and boxes before tuning out the body and facial features.

Another resource that goes more in depth in the above mentioned topic is http://lackadaisy.foxprints.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=356, look at character consistency.

Lady Serpent · April 12, 2013, 06:10:41 PM

Sometimes a round head with eyes and mouth placed fairly low on the head will give a character a more child-like appearance. I don't know if that's quite the case here, as the eyes do seem fairly high-up on the head. Perhaps the eyes are a bit too large and widely spaced for an adult look. If you tried putting the eyes closer together (just a bit), and about halfway between where they are now and where the mouth is, I think you'll find you'll get a much more adult look.

The muzzle suggestion seems legitimate, too. Good luck! Are you planning on re-drawing this specific one again?

-LS