See some of my traditional medium / fine art pieces. I don't do a ton of this stuff any more just because i'm so busy, but it's good to see it now and again to remind me of some of those essential and timeless design rules. I've recently been studying a lot of John Singer Sargent's work...what an incredible great american Painter...WOW.
ART TIP: Which brings me to a point that I wanted to make to aspiring artists. I see a lot of people studying anime, manga and various illustration artists as their soul source of reference material. I wanted to rant about this for a minute.
When we see a great illustrator manipulating anatomy, lighting, lines or anything, it is based on good design / visual language. In so many words, 'they do it for a good reason'. 'Learning' to draw from these can be really fun. Don't get me wrong, I used to draw ninja turtles and he-man all-the-time. But it can be dangerous without knowing why they made the choices they did, our visual library becomes skewed.
It's important to start from the right place. 'What place is that' you ask?! It's life, life is the right place to start. Drawing people from life, not photos, cartoons, or illustrations. Getting see the way light reacts, what true anatomy looks like in the real world, and studying these things in your sketchbook is the best use of time to become visually literate.
Knowing how to draw correctly will aid you exponentially when it comes time for you to experiment with your own style. You'll have reasons for your design choices...it'll be not only your own style, but it will be an expression of the way you view the world around you. Once you understand the basics, manipulate away, at that point you'll know what to change in order to communicate your design.
So go have some fun and dig that nose into your sketchbook!
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