so i'm planning on doing drawings (human) and stories and everything for my pets as a long term project to work on my art and writing anyway but i can't for the life of me learn how to draw any masculine faces or bodies. i don't really know what to do about it, and i want to draw them all myself.

(sorry if this maybe belongs in the art forums but there are hopefully some profile and other content ideas for these characters i can find here)

i also plan on a full treasure chest and whatnot.

do you have any examples of your art? : )

don't be afraid to make mistakes and practice often. perhaps you can pull up some references of what you consider to be masculine and try to capture that in your drawings. big noses, furrowed eyebrows, sharp jawlines, sculpted muscles, chiseled chest, body hair, big feet/hands, etc. try just focusing on one part of the body until you're happy with how you're drawing it.

you can also find an artist you like and try some of their techniques. I'm not saying copy or trace, just 'oh that's a great way to draw that certain thing I'll try that' ya know?

practice is the biggest part though. you may not notice yourself improve but you definitely are!

some good resources: anatomy guides photos of real human people

i'm already not very good with humans and anatomy already but i've been practising and i can at least sort of make a drawing, i dunno. it's new-ish territory for me, i've been a surrealist my whole life. here are a few examples, sorry some of them are sideways, i'm too lazy to fix it.

1 2 3 4 5

thank you for the resources so much. this is all good advice. i suppose just like everything else i have to practice. i have some masc drawings i'm working on that i will show you but i left the book at my bf's house. i do try and look at the big picture and think, how the heck am i gonna draw that? but i think perfecting individual features is a really great idea!!!

edit: WOW why is tinypic not showing just the picture wth idk what to even do about that ugh ????? edit 2: ok i fixed it and they're in the right directiion yay.

Actually, if you are looking for straight art advice then art discussion really would be best. I’ll go ahead and ping to move it.

As for art advice, practice makes perfect. Bazooka covered most of what I want to say.

thank you!

Your art has great lines and the eyes are lovely first off :*

Advice

1. A good rule of thumb when trying something new in art is that "not right" =/= Wrong

Wrong = Identifiable place you can "fix" (and you have the knowhow/ability to do it)

"Not right" however... It is new compared to your normal style therefore different. So put aside the "not right" sketches to work on later (instead of being me and erasing through the paper in frustration at the time).

2. Break out of your comfort zone. I mean actively deciding to sacrifice a piece of paper to the fuckup gods and draw something that looks somewhere between Not Right and Wrong. What do you have to lose? A piece of paper and time. So pick some "kill some time" time and just experiment. You might be surprised what ends up on that sacrificial paper. <3

thank you so so much aw!!

i really like the way you described the not right/wrong thing. makes so much sense and i think being able to separate that while i'm practising will be reallly useful

i love the idea of the sacrificial paper :0 i erase in frustration over and over all the time and tear out everything i don't like, i have tons of paper aside from my sketchbooks, i don't need to hoard it.. ugh you're the best!

YAY! Oh hon I'm so glad that was helpful! You're going to rock this <3 Go sacrifice paper >: D