What should I learn in order?

#1

What should I learn first?
What should I learn in order?

Hello fellow artists, I’m planning take art seriously from now on which I should of considered before hand (Time flies by quick!). I want to accelerate my improvement since just drawing a lot is painstakingly slow for improvement. I think Feng Zhu mentioned that in one of his videos…

My question is out of these core fundamentals which should I learn first, second, third… And so on.

Here is a short, very broad list I made of some fundamentals:

Perspective
Anatomy (human and animal)
Structure
Lighting
Color and Tone (They don’t go together do they?)

Probably my main area of study in the future will probably be character and creature design because I definitely love Bobby Chiu’s style and Terryl Whitlatch’s structure. And it’s what most stands out me. But just in case I still want learn environmental design because I heard its best to become a Jack of all Trades when freelancing in the future.

:curious: Not sure if this really matters or not, but I’m currently 14 (obviously little experience been drawing not that much for about 2-3 years) and while I have a basic grasp of drawing proportion my skills are quite poor. :sad:

What’s your opinion on this? Which should I learn first? I will be self teaching myself this so what will be easier for me? I already have several books and currently getting some if Andrew Loomis’s books.

If there’s any great tutorials on creature design or character design out there, it would be nice if you could share some!
:thumbsup:

I’m terribly sorry if this was posted in the wrong subject.
Thanks.

#2

My opinion is, it is painstakingly slow and there’s no other way. What you should start with depends on your level. If you know nothing, you start with simple 2D shapes in black and white. Copying them from somewhere, not making them up, because the copying is what teaches your eye/brain/hand system to function better.

Next is 3 dimensional shapes, again copying, that means basically Still Life. Simple objects first, with simple flat coloring, not too dark. Then more complex, but still black and white. Continuously and concurrently try to get more realistic with shadows and shading.

Then anatomy, animal and human. Because anatomy is made up of those simple shapes you practiced earlier. Simple perspective should come naturally after a certain amount of copying reality, there’s no need now to go into complex perspective. Unless you really want to, maybe it’s your thing, I don’t know. And if you wonder what to use for reference, try to use reality but rather than saying “I won’t practice today because it’s too much trouble to set up, I don’t have a cool object to draw, or the sunlight is gone, etc etc”, just get a photo from Google. Any training is better than no training.

Next drapery. Then color. This should now be a few years in the future, unless you’re extra quick, and by now you will probably know exactly what your weak points are and what you need to focus on next. In fact you’ll probably have known for some time.

#3

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