How can I draw with more Detail?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!

[SkaR]

Hey, my names Erik and im 15 (keep that in mind) I've pretty much been drawing since I could pick up a pencil, I love drawing. But enough of my blabbing. I really want to know, how can you draw with more detail, the realism in my drawings are coming along, but I really can't draw detail. For example, the other day I was drawing this paladin type warrior guy, and as I was drawing the armor I kept performing pathetic attempts at making the armor detailed, you know with scratches and small dents here and there, things like that. But the more and more I tried the drawing just seemed to become a mess, and I got kind of discouraged. And seems no matter how much I try, intricate details seem to be impossible! I've been trying with every drawing and it's really starting to frustrate me:er: . Is it just that I need a lot more practice or I am I just over my head or what? Please Please help me! Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!:bashful:

[kovah]

reference pictures and practice

[Brendan N]

You're being too hasty. Making scratches and dents isn't creating detail, it's creating texture. If you want detail, it means you'll have to invest more time in your drawings and physically draw each detail, simple as that.

[Seedling]

Practice, especially practice drawing from life. :-) You can't draw what you haven't fully wrapped your brain around yet.

COme try Concept Art 101 - the link is in my sig. :-)

[lordofthebling]

Well first off, show us some examples of your work. We can't exactly offer much advice if we don't know what your skills are like.

In any case, at this stage of the game, detail should be the least of your worries. I don't know how skilled you are, but what you should be focusing on is just the basics. If you try to rush into detail without a solid foundation, you won't be pleased with the results. However, with practice, your renderings will become much more sophisticated, and realism/hyper-realism will become almost second nature. In a nutshell, here's what you should be focusing on:


Figure Drawing: Learn how to portray and render the figure in a variety of poses, both from life and your imagination. Attend open life drawing sessions if possible; if not, do quick sketches of people on the street, and ask friends and family to pose for you. Also, it's not as good, but try using an Art S. Buck mannequin, available at art supply stores, and even comic book shops. Wooden mannequins aren't good enough, so if you can't find the one I suggested, try using a posable action figure.

Train yourself in gesture, contour, mass/volume, form, structure, light and shadow, proportion, planes, line quality, basic anatomy and foreshortening. Develop a strategy.

Perspective: One of the most critical things to construct a convincing realistic image. Get a decent book on the subject, and become familiar with the way things recede and diminish in size as they get further and further away, as well as the way planes become distorted depending on the angle from your line of vision. Use this same knowledge to construct objects from simple geometrical forms, and develop a sense of proportion.

Light And Shadow: Study the way the appearance of objects are affected by light, and the way light interacts with objects and their environment. Special attention should be given to the direction and angle of the light, and what kind of effects it creates (reflected light, rim lighting, etc).

[Whitevillage]

Well said all. Also, working big (paper and resolution size) gives you a lot of space to add tiny details.

[chaosrocks]

sharp pencil?

chaos

[dreamscapediaries]

its all fine and dandy to say start with fundamentals. but you need to know where to look. for starters whether its anatomy or perspective there are a few books that can help.

Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition, by Burne Hogarth

Dynamic Light and Shade (Practical Art Books) by Burne Hogarth

Perspective Made Easy by Ernest R. Norling

Figure Drawing For All Its Worth, by Andrew Loomis(out of print, but you can find a copy at amazon or download online. possibly the best book i own and certainly the most used.)

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, by Stan Lee and John Buscema(great book to start to learn to draw figures and simplifying forms.)

once you establish some fundamental skill you should be able to branch off and draw from all your resources to create the effects you want. if its a spefic effect or texture i would suggest studying your favorite artists and learn how they do it. however do not copy!!! learn how to do it, but be original. your greatest resource should be from real life. i wouldnt expect a person to be able to draw a plane without knowing what each part looked like or why it was there. an artist needs to know what things look like and how they work. so study everything and arm yourself with knowledge.it'll expand your visual vocabulary and you will be able to create the things you want with accuracy. any artist worth his weight will tell you its hard work, and not some secret that a few artist keep closely gaurded. all your skill lies in that noggin you got there, arm it well.

[Coinpurse]

draw everyday for the rest of you life until your 6 feet under, burned to ashes, 1,000 leagues under the sea, inside of a wall, etc etc.

Best way to get detail in your work is to study from life. Plain and simple, but keep drawing period. Also understand light will help tons!

[SkaR]

Alright thanks alot guys, oh and Seedling, I love conept art 101, it' great, it really helps!:confident

[Seedling]

Awesome! :-)

[Cthogua]

Also, think about this, you physically can't acutally replicate all the detail/texture on a real, 3 dimensional surface in a paper bound 2D drawing. Another thing to keep in mind is that perceptually we only see detail on what we're looking right at, everything else around it is shorthanded in by your brain. Alot of "detail" can really just be implyed. Take a look at Criag Mullins http://www.goodbrush.com He's a MASTER of implied detail. You really only need crisp detail/textures on your focal point. Everything else should support that focal point.

If you're designing something, doing orthos/layout drawings then its different as you need to articulate all the little bits and pieces well enough so someone else can understand them inorder to fabricate/model it properly. However all those little bits and pieces should be dictated by function, so it really becomes a problem solving issue

[Momus]

im 15 (keep that in mind)

http://gunnerromantic.deviantart.com/

This girl's 16. Don't ever assume that your age will limit your capacity for learning.

[lordofthebling]

Oh. My. Gaaaawwwddd!!!!!!

[asoir]

http://gunnerromantic.deviantart.com/

This girl's 16. Don't ever assume that your age will limit your capacity for learning.
whaaat?! how do you know, it doesnt say her age. if so, jeesus *runs off to draw*

[junthi]

One important thing to keep in mind is that the whole picture doesn't have to be filled with details in order to make the picture look realistic. You should add more details to where the main focus of the picture is. Elsewhere the details may be less defined. This is a big advantage comparing to photographing. When you take a photo, the picture is filled with details that may keep the eye away from the main subject.

[Red_Rook]

Why dont you post some of your work, its going to be alot easier to critique for us and give you more specific advice

[tomwaits4noman]

i keep suggesting this site i am not getting paid for giving referrals.. wish i was lol.

www.3d.sk

has galleries of ppl, costumes, armour etc with a easy to use search engine,

also google images

and yes... practise, practise and yup... more practise