# Creating with your Pencil.



## Myke (Sep 6, 2005)

if you like to draw but have a hard time developing ideas, 
here's a quick and easy way to help you with pretty much anything you want to create.

all you need is a pencil and some tracing paper and you are set.

you can also use this method to draw from photo reference, or for certain parts  you are having difficulties in a big piece you are working on.

I'm going to use a face I did using this method as an example.

first you take some regular paper and and keep drawing whatever you want to draw until you come up with a good idea, be it a pose or a scene or whatever. just draw till you find something you kinda like that you would like to see more rendered.

once you find something, take out the tracing paper, and roughtly sculpt with your pencil what you want to do. just worry loosly about proportions just put everything there







after you did that, you take a fresh piece of tracing paper and lay it on top of the first one 

then you start drawing over that. you can fix proportion errors this way. still keep it rough but a little tighter in terms of lighting. don't do much detail.






repeat the process, place another piece of tracing paper on top of your second drawing, and keep refining it. slowly working in the detail and lighting






keep doing this until you feel you are complete.










I stopped at five, but there are always things I can play around with. In the end it's your choice how far you want to go.

and if you are one of those digital people, you can do this same exact thing on the computer with the layers and your layer opacity

happy drawing. and keep at it!

UPDATE: 

if you are into character design and still sorta don't get it, I did a character development study to show you

again start drawing poses on scrap paper till you find one you like
1) draw the pose loosely. worry about basic shapes and basic proportions





2) start tightening things up a little, worry about the anatomy and tighten the first drawing. you can see that I didn't like the arm dangling on the first one so I changed it. 





3) now start adding smaller details like roughly do the eyes and face and start putting clothes on the figure





4) here's my final piece. You may notice that the line quality is lighter. That's because I did the first three drawing with graphite pencil, and this last one with mechanical pencil so I can be tight and accurate. Also notice the strokes I used for the boots and miniskirt. They follow the form, which helps the viewer understand the form underneath the clothes (that and it's another level of depth you can achieve with your art) 





happy drawing.


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## th3sandm4n (Sep 6, 2005)

will try if I ever get off my ass to the art store ;P
Hope to see more tut's from you Myke

PS- I like #4


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## Luse (Sep 6, 2005)

Or you can do it like me and use a lightbox 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




...but good ones cost money...

The one thing I love about tracing paper is how well it smudges, rub your finger over pencil marks and you can get a good buid up for toning a drawing

Good idea here myke, it'll help some people, I'll sticky it for further instructions


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## Myke (Sep 6, 2005)

QUOTE(Luse @ Sep 5 2005 said:


> Or you can do it like me and use a lightbox
> 
> 
> 
> ...



actually I have one, it's just not so usefull with bristol board heh, but yeah light box and printer paper works the same way. I like tracing paper better for that exact reason you just wrote. the smudging.

oh and thanks for the sticky BTW


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## memyselfandi (Sep 6, 2005)

QUOTE(Myke @ Sep 5 2005 said:


> if you like to draw but have a hard time developing ideas,
> here's a quick and easy way to help you with pretty much anything you want to create.
> 
> all you need is a pencil and some tracing paper and you are set.
> ...



good job*claps*


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## lolsjoel (Sep 6, 2005)

^ That's a lot to quote...


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## Myke (Sep 7, 2005)

updated with a character design section for all you character designers out there.


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## Dragonlord (Sep 7, 2005)

nice tutorial myke. had once a self made light box myself but somehow i didn't get my head round this technic. since then i draw the char with pencil and nearly no pressure, then giving more pressure on lines that look like they please me and rub others that are not good.

about yours... you do redraw in each step the figure or do you leave shining through what is below? (i think not as you would suddenly move the paper in an odd way and it's off, but who knows)


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## Myke (Sep 7, 2005)

QUOTE(Dragonlord @ Sep 6 2005 said:


> nice tutorial myke. had once a self made light box myself but somehow i didn't get my head round this technic. since then i draw the char with pencil and nearly no pressure, then giving more pressure on lines that look like they please me and rub others that are not good.
> 
> about yours... you do redraw in each step the figure or do you leave shining through what is below? (i think not as you would suddenly move the paper in an odd way and it's off, but who knows)




first I use tracing paper, so you don't need a light box at all, and of course I redraw the figure because there's always something that needs to be fixed =)


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## th3sandm4n (Sep 7, 2005)

wow, like the Updatde =)
The shading on the skirt and boots certainly owns, great tip I'll try and impliment....I'm in such a non creative slump now =/


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## Psyfira (Sep 7, 2005)

QUOTE(Myke @ Sep 7 2005 said:


> first I use tracing paper, so you don't need a light box at all, and of course I redraw the figure because there's always something that needs to be fixed =)


Cheap improvised alternative: plain jotter paper. It's thin enough to see through whilst still having a solid white page to work on, and if you have a huge pad of the stuff the plain sheets below whatever you're tracing help make the lines show thorugh to the sheet you're drawing onto. May need to be in a fairly well lit room for it to work though, dependant on how faint your original sketch was. Best of all it's dirt cheap; 100 sheets for about a quid. (or 200 sheets if you know where to look *cough*student union shop*cough* 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




)

I redraw figures a lot, mainly cuz I'm too lazy to clean up my construction lines or I've pressed far too hard while drawing them to be able to get them off the paper! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 I've never gotten the hang of this press lightly thing.


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## Darkforce (Sep 7, 2005)

Wow, really impressive Myke.

*Sigh* it's my friends birthday on Sunday, and I'm trying to design her a card. I've been desperate to get out the habit of using copyrighted characters in work I produce (need to start doing stuff to put in my portfolio), the problem is that my characters look really generic and uninspiring... I think my biggest problem is hair, especially long hair and elaborate hairstyles.

Oh and any recommendations for a graphics tablet? I'd absolutely love to get a wacom but I've got a budget of around £40-50 so I can't afford anything larger than A6... I might get lucky and find an A5 one second hand cheap, however any suggestions for other reputable brand would be good. Currently I have an old cheap ass Medion tablet, nice size (A4+) but the pen is awful; it's just about useable for basic colouring but that's about it, lol.


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## Myke (Sep 7, 2005)

wacom's the best, I thighly highly suggest you save the money and get a nice big Intuos 3. OR you can look on Ebay since the Intuos 3 just came out, you could probably find the Intuos 2 for dirt cheap. that ons is great too.
as for the JOtter paper, where you gonna find a piece of jotter paper that's really big if you need a big piece? I never really used jotter paper. I thought it came in colors not white (at least I'm looking on google and I don't see it white). but if it works thats great =). I still can't find anything good about this paper, but Jotter pens. Is Jotter just a brand name ? In the end I think I find tracing paper the most usefull though. No need for a lightbox, no need for extremily good lighting. 

so you are wondering, well how the hell do I transfer my final drawing on the actual piece of paper I am working on???

there are different ways to do this. 

1) Simply scan it, and print it out on the paper you want to do your piece on (I do this but I have an epson 2200. I suggest you do this if you have a good and big enough printer)

2) simply copy it. By the time you are done with the piece on tracing paper you probably drew that figure five or six times. That means the figure is fresh in your head, you will notice that you won't have a hard time copying it.

3) take the sheet of tracing paper you did your final drawing on. Flip it to the side where there is no drawing, rub graphite ALL OVER it. now flip the drawing around again and place it on the sheet of paper right side up with the actualy drawing facing you, then start tracing your drawing. The graphite on the back functions as transfer paper. When you press down, because of that graphite, it leaves a line on the piece of paper under the tracing paper.


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## Zarcon (Sep 7, 2005)

These are great Myke, thanks for giving up your time to make these. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I'd just like to point out that another alternative is to do all this on Photoshop with seperate layers acting as the tracing paper if you're confident with using a tablet, or heck, a mouse if you're really good at it.
Although this only applies if you're not going for the pencil look and plan to colour it on the computer or make a print and paint over it.

Once again, thanks Myke.


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## Dragonlord (Sep 7, 2005)

QUOTE(Myke @ Sep 7 2005 said:


> 3) take the sheet of tracing paper you did your final drawing on. Flip it to the side where there is no drawing, rub graphite ALL OVER it. now flip the drawing around again and place it on the sheet of paper right side up with the actualy drawing facing you, then start tracing your drawing. The graphite on the back functions as transfer paper. When you press down, because of that graphite, it leaves a line on the piece of paper under the tracing paper.


this one is a nifty one. got to try this out if i find a conventional pencil somewhere.


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## Psyfira (Sep 7, 2005)

QUOTE(Myke @ Sep 7 2005 said:


> as for the JOtter paper, where you gonna find a piece of jotter paper that's really big if you need a big piece? I never really used jotter paper. I thought it came in colors not white (at least I'm looking on google and I don't see it white). but if it works thats great =). I still can't find anything good about this paper, but Jotter pens. Is Jotter just a brand name ? In the end I think I find tracing paper the most usefull though. No need for a lightbox, no need for extremily good lighting.


You got me there; A4's about as big as it goes!

I doubt it'll be for retail online. It's not a brand name, it's just a nickname (maybe only used in the UK; I'm getting the impression it means a journalist's notebook in the states?) they give to really cheap and nasty thin white paper, the kind of crap that you'd find in a cheap stationary shop for kiddies to draw on. It is harder to see through than tracing paper thou, so I reckon it's way below the level of something a professional artist would even consider using. 

It looks like Tracing paper's definitely the way to go for decent quality stuff. Jotter's more like plan B for someone who's still learning and doesn't want to spend the extra money trashing decent tracing paper.

This' just my humble opinion anyway; remeber which one of us is the professional artist here


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## Deleted member 49417 (Feb 1, 2007)

Nice tut, very creative...cept I'm not that good at drawing, so it didn't come out that well...


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## thegame07 (Feb 1, 2007)

it reminds me of hotel dusk


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## Hitto (Feb 1, 2007)

Nice work, Myke! Are you doing this on your free time, or do you want to make it a living?

It may sound stupid, but the very best way to gain technique is by copying. Copycopycopycopycopy everything you see. Find a nice manga drawing? Copy it. Wanna draw an 8-bit mushroom? Copy it. Salvador Dali? You're gonna take a few fucking days on your first try, but copy it! You're working at opening your mind here, so copy even the stuff you think looks like shit, or is in a totally different genre than what you usually like to do!

And always do your best to add your own touch! Else you're just tracing stuff, you learn much less. It's still good to do plain copies, though.

There are gems hidden in every piece of art you can see, and most importantly : inspiration. The more you gorge your eyes on foreign work, the more yours will be diverse and unique.


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## Psyfira (Feb 4, 2007)

Not sure I entirely agree with that, I mean direct copying other images is a good place to start to pick up skills but it can only get you so far. I've got a friend who's absolutely amazing at copying stuff, put an illustrated book in front of her and she could replicate pretty much anything in it. But try to get her to draw a person and she's hopeless.

Copying's fine for working out new ways to use media and shading techniques, but if you're just carbon-copying pictures it can't teach you perspective, compostition, anatomy or colour theory. (I suppose using references is a form of copying, using parts of another image to help you with sections of yours in which case yes that is rather useful)


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## Kyoji (Feb 5, 2007)

If you want to improve drawing technique, start with the basics. 

Start by spending some time doing some blind contour drawings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_contour_drawing)
The principle behind this is simple. Humans recognize objects in two ways: by seeing it, and by identifying defining shapes that make up that object. Take a bowl, for instance. 





We can see this is a bowl. This is a perceptual drawing of a bowl, what it looks like when I see it.




This is a conceptual drawing of a bowl, the basic elements of a bowl put together. Notice how you can still recognize its a bowl even though there is no perspective to it, but it looks, for lack of a better term, retarded.

Blind contour helps you see things and draw them perceptually, not conceptually. As you get better, and your skills of observation get better, more and more can be accurately drawn from memory. Don't expect to be able to bust out figure drawings from memory after a few hours of practice though.

The biggest problem with straight referencing material is that you are just copying; you might as well just stick the source picture into a photocopier and call it a day. Referencing comes in handy when you are trying to learn a new technique, or are trying to stylize a certain object or picture. 

If you want to draw people, get out there and draw people from observation. Make "notes" as to how certain areas look in relation to others. The first step in drawing a stylized version of anything (ie, all illustration) is familiarizing yourself with the subject. I guess it all just boils down to this: if you want to get better at drawing, get better at seeing and plotting and interpreting what you see.


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## Hitto (Feb 13, 2007)

QUOTE(Psyfira @ Feb 4 2007 said:


> Not sure I entirely agree with that, I mean direct copying other images is a good place to start to pick up skills but it can only get you so far. I've got a friend who's absolutely amazing at copying stuff, put an illustrated book in front of her and she could replicate pretty much anything in it. But try to get her to draw a person and she's hopeless.
> 
> Copying's fine for working out new ways to use media and shading techniques, but if you're just carbon-copying pictures it can't teach you perspective, compostition, anatomy or colour theory. (I suppose using references is a form of copying, using parts of another image to help you with sections of yours in which case yes that is rather useful)



Yes, using reference can be considered a form of copying; Everything is copying anyway because if you're doing non-abstract or non-scifi (and I mean cthulu-level shit, not humanoid aliens), it's always easier to just use reference work and, from there, add your *own* touch. The basic idea is that one shape, copied enough, becomes a muscle reflex. And big deal if your friend can't draw "out of thin air" ! I regularily have tons of reference books and images lying around, and when I have a problem, pick one up, look at it for a few seconds, go "aaah, I get it now", and go back to work. Tell your friend she shouldn't feel so hopeless about it!

Blind contour drawing is good, too. But hard to do *well*.


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## Kyoji (Feb 13, 2007)

QUOTE(Hitto @ Feb 13 2007 said:


> Blind contour drawing is good, too. But *impossible* to do *well*.


Fixed


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## blade85 (Apr 6, 2007)

I've seen this on the dota-allstars forum as well lol

Are you by any chance the same person


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## Psyfira (Apr 6, 2007)

Is who the same person? (there's a lot of people posting in here). dota-allstars is registered members only so I can't look.


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## Kyoji (Apr 6, 2007)

QUOTE(Psyfira @ Apr 6 2007 said:


> Is who the same person? (there's a lot of people posting in here). dota-allstars is registered members only so I can't look.


I'm guessing he means Myke.
I'd say chances are someone stole it from this site :\


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## blade85 (Apr 6, 2007)

Yeah i mean Myke

its still a pretty good tutorial though


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## Myke (May 13, 2007)

Hitto- I did this tutorial like a year ago, I appreciate all the comments on it,
I'm already making a living doing art. I'm a tattoo artist and rock poster illustrator...I just did a poster for Cypress hill last week. 

@blade85, iif you could direct me to that forum post on that site I would greatly appreciate it, since I gave them no permission to use it.

thanks


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## apb407 (Oct 13, 2007)

i cant see any user posted images why is that


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## blueskies (Oct 13, 2007)

QUOTE(apb407 @ Oct 13 2007 said:


> i cant see any user posted images why is thatÂ



probably because he posted them like 2 years ago and they're gone now.

Weird, I was just thinking about Myke's art, and how I used to check out his DA site.  I fucking love his style.  Anyone know (maybe myke himself if he's still around) if he has a website with any new art?


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## apb407 (Oct 13, 2007)

^ i cant see Mykes stuff either and that was only a couple of months back


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## Dylan (Apr 9, 2008)

none of the images appear


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## Myke (Jul 31, 2008)

blueskies said:
			
		

> QUOTE(apb407 @ Oct 13 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > i cant see any user posted images why is that
> ...



thanks for the kind words. Yeah this thing is over 2 years old. shit I'm surprised this thing's still up actually. I don't even remember where I hosted the images. Sorry I have been very busy with my work lately. I'm expecting to make a comeback on DA soon. Not sure when but soon. 
hope you guys are doing well.


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