CAN someone please help me?

[CosmicSpectrum]

Hey everyone! I'm extremely new here.

Basically, here's the problem: ever since i started drawing, i was an
anime-mangatard, nothing to hide. And it's not that i hate the shit i draw,
i just feel like a reached a point where i'm standing still.

I want to move on from that crap at least for some time and actually
learn how to freakin' draw. Except, i have no idea where to start.
Can someone please help me out? I can share my latest drawings if
you need to know where i'm at.

Please help me!! :dead:

[Alex Chow]

The first big step has been taken; you've realized that studying Anime/Manga specifically places you in a plateau similar to how I saw it around 1.5 years ago.

A good start would be to draw from life. Even drawing something as simple as a coffee cup on a table can be beneficial in training your observational drawing skills. Find life drawing sessions near you though I needed a class with an instructor to get me started on those. Study artists like Loomis and Bridgman (books and online resources available pretty much everywhere). Study colour theory and anatomy (amongst other fundamentals) and examine how other artists interpret them. Most importantly, work your ass off till it drops, then go see a doctor :). It's a tough journey to dump all the "Anime guidelines" tutorials in the mind, which is still something I need to do.

I'm not the best example since I'm still in the very beginnings of my journey. If you want to see progress from a guy drawing a lot of Anime to totally friggin' awesome stuff, check out Jason Chan's old drawings (http://www.jasonchanart.com/gallery/). Very inspirational when you look at where he is now and where he was when he was 8 years younger who, also, began with exclusively Anime drawings (which totally destroys the Anime I used to draw :S).

[CosmicSpectrum]

Thanks loads for the help! It's not that i didn't have any idea that's how its done, but now i guess it's been confirmed =) I think the hardest part about learning how to draw is watching yourself suck )= for example, painting. I've always hated it because it looks terrible in the progress, so i never even had the patience to finish anything. I've been quite big on inking almost ever since i started drawing, and i also feel like i can't really go anywhere with it anymore. But thanks again for the help! I think i'll try to draw something right now, and might as well start a sketchbook here while i'm at it, so i can get some feedback.

[eminkey2003]

In my experience, I drew cartoons for a while, and got kind of frustrated because I could never do the things I wanted to do. I started drawing more realistic things (forcefully at first), and that improved me more than ever. It just makes representational art much easier. Now I look at old drawings I did, cartoons that I wanted to have decent 3D shape and anatomy and mass, etc.) and say "geez, this would be so easy now!"

Here's another example of an anime artist who really took off by studying anatomy and such. Go alllll the way back to the beginning of the gallery. Most of his drawings still look like anime, but there's much more to it than that. NSFW, nudity: http://www.alien1452.com/

[CCThrom]

I think the hardest part about learning how to draw is watching yourself suck

Yes... and it's something we all go through. Realizing that you're going through this phase is a very good step though... a lot of people never recognize when they suck, and so they never grow beyond that.

[Duztyn(db)Brown]

Yay IM in that stage now =(