[HN Gopher] How to Draw Animals (1930) ___________________________________________________________________ How to Draw Animals (1930) Author : ddtaylor Score : 133 points Date : 2022-06-05 05:05 UTC (2 days ago) (HTM) web link (dessinoprimaire.blogspot.com) (TXT) w3m dump (dessinoprimaire.blogspot.com) | hamiltonians wrote: | looks like physics disgrams too | ThrowawayR2 wrote: | Before you upvote this post, note that ddtaylor is basically | farming karma by reposting past HN stories that got significant | upvotes. You can see from the user's posting history that roughly | 2 posts per hour are occurring, one of which is usually an old | article, and this pattern has continued over the past several | days. It would probably be a good idea for someone to report this | to @dang. | | This kind of implies some kind of automated posting as well, | since it's unlikely somebody is sitting in front of their | computer 24 hours a day to post twice an hour. | gpspake wrote: | Reminds me of one of my favorite drawing books as a kid. [Ed | emberly's - Make a World](https://www.amazon.com/Ed-Emberleys- | Drawing-Book-World/dp/03...) | Minor49er wrote: | Same here. I loved Ed Emberly's books as a kid. I'm pretty sure | I also had the Big Purple Drawing Book, among others, since I | remember how he drew robots which I thought was really cool | Karawebnetwork wrote: | So this is where my grandmother learned all this! It seems that | years later, she still remembered how to make them. | | I spent a lot of time sitting next to her doodling while she did | chores around the house. I was always amazed at how she started | with triangles, squares and circles and then came up with amazing | animals. | | They are so identical to her drawings (which we no longer have) | that they bring tears to my eyes. | RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: | Looking at the examples, the step between the last and the second | to last of a series is much larger than the other steps. For | example the butterfly. | Tao3300 wrote: | tptacek wrote: | The second-to-last butterfly is the complete, instantly- | recognizable shape of the butterfly; the rest is just coloring | and shading. Getting the shape right is probably harder! The | butterfly also probably makes a point about the importance of | getting the basic shape right before you get tangled up in the | fine details --- you can be "wrong" about the butterfly pattern | and still produce a butterfly, but it's much less ok to be | wrong about the shape? | [deleted] | sydthrowaway wrote: | How does this compare to Loomis books? | egypturnash wrote: | More designey, less emphasis on installing a 3d modeling | package in your brain. Much less textual explanation. | marcodiego wrote: | Public domain? | elihu wrote: | See also: "Please, enough with the dead butterflies": | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27948008 | YeBanKo wrote: | It actually shows how to draw a more or less natural butterfly | position. | layer8 wrote: | Dead butterflies look really nice though. | JKCalhoun wrote: | Sort of like, sort of hate these books. | | They imply that there is a "trick" to drawing each animal -- if | you can just remember the initial shape, small strokes made for | each animal. Drawing by memorization. | | On the other hand they sort of show you that the final image is | built up, not drawn as a single, free-hand, outline. | | To be sure though it was a book like this that got me started | drawing as a kid. | [deleted] | guywithahat wrote: | It's crazy how little has changed in drawing styles since the | 30's. Those books look like something you could buy today (or at | least find on the internet, I'm not sure if people still buy | drawing books) | egypturnash wrote: | The fundamentals are always the same. Start with a rough shape | that vaguely resembles the thing you're drawing. Work over it | to make it look more like the thing. Look at real examples of | the thing if you want to. When you reach the desired level of | detail, call it done. | | The details change over time. New conceptual tools, new mark- | making tools. But the process I use as an artist is | fundamentally unchanged since the first caveman saw firelight | flickering on a bulge in a cave, said "hey, that looks like a | bull", then picked up a bit of charcoal to make some marks that | make it look even more like a bull. | zuminator wrote: | You actually _can_ buy it today: | | https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Animal-Book-Step-Step/dp/1631598... | noahbradley wrote: | I'd say a whole lot has changed in drawing styles. There just | happened to be a fairly accessible style of drawing that these | sort of books teach which has stuck around well. It can be a | nice intro to art and at least starts you thinking about how to | construct your drawings. But yeah, once you move past that it's | fairly impressive how much things have changed/evolved in | drawing. | dukeofdoom wrote: | Flickr has old books with drawings in them. Really fascinating to | see some of the visuals from a few hundred years ago. | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | HTTPS version: https://dessinoprimaire.blogspot.com/2012/02/les- | animaux-tel... | silicon2401 wrote: | Curious what advice I can get from HN on this. I've loved drawing | since I was a little kid, but gave up in middle school because I | just didn't know how to get better and didn't have access to | improving (no money, nobody I could ask, etc). As an adult, how | can I learn to draw? Ideally in a self-guided way | jgable wrote: | "How to See, How to Draw" by Claudia Nice is a good book for | learning to draw in a self-guided way. Doesn't take much money | -- $20 at any art supply store can get you a decent drawing | book and a decent set of pencils. | ottobonn wrote: | "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Edwards is a good | introduction to drawing. I think in particular it is a good | explanation of how much of drawing is learning to look at the | world, and exercises to improve your skills of looking at | things. One of the big takeaways from this book and other | drawing courses I have taken is that once you learn to draw | what you see, nothing is particularly easier or harder to draw; | in every case you are drawing what you see. The feeling of | difficulty in drawing a particular object often comes from | trying to parse it into visual symbols, then draw those | symbols, rather than seeing the object as a pattern of light | and reproducing that on the paper. | Tao3300 wrote: | praptak wrote: | I also recommend the Betty Edwards book. It took me from | stickmen to realistic drawings of chairs and hands :-) | | It also makes you appreciate paintings. | | Curiously the book from the TFA is doing almost the exact | opposite of what DotRSotB recommends. The former is about | parsing things into shapes while the latter is like tracing | from an imaginary glass in front of you. | nkrisc wrote: | Plenty of good suggestions so I'll just add: draw every day. | Guided resources are good but nothing beats _just doing it a | lot_. Start with some simple still life. Get a big pad of | paper, an easel if you like, and some charcoal. Each time you | do a drawing, to begin with, just focus on one aspect of it. | Try to just work on getting the perspective right, keeping in | mind a vanishing point. Next just focus on light and shadow. | Practice drawing circles. Lots of them. Over and over. Draw 100 | vertical lines on a sheet as straight as you can. Drawing uses | specific muscles and requires muscle memory to take the line | you want to draw in your mind and translate it onto the page. | The only way to build that is by just doing it a lot. Next take | your still life objects and draw it from the perspective | _opposite_ where you 're sitting, accounting for the light and | perspective. Add in some more difficult things like fabrics or | objects with fine texture. Your drawings will suck at first. | They always do. Save some as you go as a sampling of your | progress. From time to time compare your latest ones to your | first ones. What's improved? What hasn't improved? Go outside | on some lovely day and find a nice comfortable place to sit and | just draw whatever you see. Doodle when you're on the phone. | Draw in the margins of everything. Just keep drawing. | Broken_Hippo wrote: | If I were going to teach myself to draw today, I'd turn to | youtube. There are a variety of tutorials: I usually suggest | Alphonso Dunn upfront. He also sells books if that is your | preference. The youtube content is free, however, and covers a | variety of topics. | | Books are great, though its been a while since I've bought one: | I think my last was portraits and the human body - these were | great reference books and honestly, I still miss them | sometimes. If I drew more portraits or city scenes, I'd | probably get another set. | | And realistically, once you get going for a bit, the main thing | is practice. Seriously: The main difference between the | experienced artist and the beginner is practice. If you can do | 10 minutes most days, you'll start seeing a lot of improvement. | Some of these practice pieces should be quick (and sloppy), | some take more time. | | I'd try a variety of subjects because it'll help you later on, | but I'd suggest mostly doing pictures that you personally | enjoy. | | I would definitely suggest starting with more "traditional" | art, mostly realism. While I personally do a lot of abstract or | surrealist pieces now, I'm really happy my art instruction as a | child (through high school) focused more on tradition because | it makes me so much more flexible now. (I'm over 40, by the | way). This said, if you really enjoy abstract work, start doing | some once you feel you are getting some decent control over the | pencil, pen, or brush. | | And don't be afraid to go into more permanent media or to more | sloppy media: You might find charcoal or pastels to be nice and | expressive in ways that graphite won't. Similarity, you might | have an affinity for ink. And don't forget trying out dip pens! | The only way to get over that hump - and many others - is to | just try things. | | Oh, and have fun. | pmoriarty wrote: | I'd take an art class. There's nothing like having a talented | teacher (if you can find one) and lots of people around you | interested in and working with you towards the same goal. | | It's hard for most people to stay motivated without that.. and | getting good at art just isn't something you can achieve over | the weekend. It's for long distance runners, not sprinters. | | Apart from that, draw every day. Quantity beats quality, and | ultimately results in quality. Overcoming self-criticism and | excuses not to just create more art is half of what being an | artist is all about. | al_borland wrote: | >I'd take an art class | | I've always found finding things like this difficult. Red Ed | classes are generally geared for young kids, to expose them | to some new hobby, or for old retired people looking for | something to do. I've tried a couple and felt very out of | place. | | There are community colleges, but that seems like a more | involved sign up than I'd like (although I did it once in my | mid-20s after graducating from university). | | Other than that, I struggle to find in-person places to learn | things. Art, cooking, gymnastics, etc. There seems to be a | big gap in the market for adults looking to learn things | without doing it all on their own. Is there something else | out there I'm not aware of? | pmoriarty wrote: | Search around for an atelier. They are geared towards | learning to draw realistically, using classical techniques. | Searching for "atelier training", "atelier drawing" on | youtube will show you some results of the kind of thing you | can expect. Some are online, some are in person. In person, | in my opinion, is best. | al_borland wrote: | I just checked out a video and a lady said she spent 40 | hours drawing a small sphere. That might be slightly more | intense than what I'm after, but probably what I need | with my impossible standards. | | I do see there is a school just about a mile from me. | They have various summer workshops, but many require I | take a week off work; they have a couple weekend options | too. It looks like they occasionally have some night | classes, but they are full. A 10 month long class that | doesn't start for 4 months and costs over $2,400 is | full... that kind of blows my mind. It seems like doing | one of these fundamentals classes would be the way to go | before showing up for a 24 hour over 4 day deep dive, | live drawing, workshop. | | I guess I'll bookmark it and come back to it occasionally | to see if something works out for my schedule and current | skill level. | [deleted] | al_borland wrote: | Drawabox seems pretty popular on Reddit. It's pretty strict in | the "this is the only correct way to learn" sense. If you're | into that, it may be an option. It's self-guided, but you can | post to get "graded" along the way so you know where to | improve. | | I'd love to tell you that I went through all this in 2020 | during lockdown and now I'm an amazing artist after having a | story very similar to yours. However, after buying a full box | (12... 20... I don't know) of the fineliners, the first one | stopped working almost immediately. The second one was DOA. I | pretty much quit out of frustration after that. I recently just | bought a 2 pack of a differnt brand (Sharpie), thinking | something from a local store may have better luck than whatever | Amazon decides to send me. So I'm going to give it another go. | | https://drawabox.com | | I have seen enough drawing progression posts to accept that | drawing is a learned skill and not something you're just born | with. I also think patience is a big part of it. When I was in | high school, the best thing in my sketch book for art class | took me several hours. I was meticulous. Usually I just want to | go from nothing to something good in 5 minutes. I've seen posts | from people who made amazing stuff who say they spend 50 hours | on a drawing. So I guess you get out of it what you put into | it. | [deleted] | tptacek wrote: | Compare to the American classic from 1970: | | https://www.google.com/search?q=ed+emberley+drawing+books+of... | | Both are extremely charming. Are there other examples? | egypturnash wrote: | Lee J Ames's Draw 50 series. | https://www.goodreads.com/series/99108-draw-50 | rdubs333 wrote: | Mark Kistler taught me how to draw 30 years ago on TV and he's | still at it! | | https://www.draw3d.com/ | ralfd wrote: | Relevant: | | The classic owl meme: | | https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/eccj2/how_to_draw_an... | | Drawing "The Tick" with a simple oval: | | https://imgur.com/7HMbY | [deleted] | al_borland wrote: | More relevant: | | This book teaches you the middle bit on how to draw the owl. | | https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffeta/3523029611/ | tptacek wrote: | It'd be more relevant if the owl or Tick memes actually showed | you a process to derive a picture of an owl, or The Tick, like | this book does with many of the animals it illustrates. But you | just knew someone was going to have to drop this meme on this | thread. | xg15 wrote: | I dunno. In most of those, the "small details" are actually | small - but some, e.g. the butterfly, the boar or well, the | owl, get pretty close to r/restofthefuckingowl territory. | tptacek wrote: | Makes sense, pedogogically: if you're really trying to | teach anything, it's the idea of abstracting things and | building them up from shapes. You'd start by giving step- | by-steps for simple animal drawings, and progress to | examples that give less hand-holding. | | I guess if I have an objection to the owl meme, it's that | most of these examples pretty much just work; they're not | at all "rest of the owl" throw-aways. | xg15 wrote: | Agreed, which is why I meant _some_ of them. Most of them | look reasonably easy to follow, including the last step. | | I think in general, the owl meme has its purpose though: | I'd see it as a reminder to be aware of "expert | blindness": If you have lots of practice in a subject, | part of your skills or knowledge will become subconscious | and you're at risk forgetting they are acquired | skills/knowledge at all. If you try to write an | "introduction for beginners" piece without being self- | aware about this, things can get frustrating for the | people you're trying to teach. | | I guess the meme is the art equivalent of "a monad is | just a monoid in the category of endofunctors"... :) | tptacek wrote: | Right, I have no objection to the owl meme by itself, | just to the idea that these instructions are a good | example of it. But people see instructions on drawing an | owl and immediately post a meme that effectively says | "instructions on how to draw an owl are impossible". | Fooey. | arketyp wrote: | The owl meme is an exaggeration of the truth which | typically looks like these examples. The frustration too | is an exaggeration. I think the meme is very relevant, | although, I'll grant you, a bit trite. | corrral wrote: | Cheetah qualifies, too. The last step is like 95% of the | work. | egypturnash wrote: | The zebra is very Rest Of The Fucking Zeba. But then again | the zebra is also near the end of the book, and essentially | a stripey horse. You can sort of infer "well I already | showed you how to draw a horse, right? Draw a horse and out | stripes on it". | | Really the instructional step missing in the last images of | a lot of this is "go look at the actual thing and take | details from there". | Tao3300 wrote: | Pamar wrote: | This was already posted twice. | | Here is the link to the most successful submission (2019, I | think): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20110922 | jmathai wrote: | I missed it in 2019. Had I seen it then, I might not have been | interested enough to click. | | But my daughter just got into drawing animals so this repost is | very timely and I'm printing them out for her :). | tptacek wrote: | Thanks for the link! I'm glad to have more comments to read | about this. That thread has one of my all-time favorite | moderator comments on it. | | On HN, stories are "duplicates" iff (a) they've been posted | within the last year ("or so") and (b) they've had significant | discussion already on those threads. This post flunks (b) but | not (a) and is thus cromulent. | russellbeattie wrote: | cro*mu*lent | | adjective [HUMOROUS] | | acceptable or adequate. | | _" the continental breakfast was perfectly cromulent"_ | | -- | | I can never remember that word. For some reason it sounds | like it should be an English pastry of some sort. | | Everything is eroding slowly? | Pamar wrote: | I mentioned the 2019 posting precisely because it had lots of | comments. | [deleted] | barefeg wrote: | What is the progression that should be followed? I first I | thought it was step by step instructions, but some progressions | have deleted lines, or lines with modified shape. (Sorry for my | ignorance in this subject) | kqr wrote: | It is common to draw helper lines with pencil, then the real | shape on top with ink, followed by erasing the helper lines. | silicon2401 wrote: | How do you do that without smudging the ink? On the rare | occasion I doodle with some effort, I've found it impossible | to erase the pencil lines without just making things even | messier in the process lol | egypturnash wrote: | Draw with a light touch on the pencil. Addressing the paper | with the side of the pencil point instead of the tip helps | a lot - this stops you from making a trench in the paper | with graphite at its bottom, and forces you to use a broad | line without much detail for blocking things in. (This also | helps to train you to draw with your wrist static, which is | a good way to keep repetitive stress injuries from | happening. It was one of the first things the old pros | taught me when I started working in animation, because they | had all seen careers cut short by injuries from bad form.) | | As you add detail, shift to the tip of the pencil. Your | hand will probably smudge the first lines into nothingness | as you do this, it's not a big worry. Grab a white plastic | eraser or a kneaded eraser, and go at it. | | If you decide to go from pencil to ink, you can put some | thought into your choice of ink to select one that dries | quickly. You can also wait a bit for the ink to dry before | erasing. White paint/ink does exist but it's real hard to | find some that works well in a portable pen format. | egypturnash wrote: | Generally: use a pencil, not a pen, erase parts you don't want | any more. Or work digitally and lower opacity of early roughs | to work over in greater detail. These are all examples of | blocking in a simple shape and refining it towards an ever-more | detailed drawing. | | They are rendered in ink lines because that is far easier to | reproduce. | SimonPStevens wrote: | I think of it more like a learning guide. Initially you include | the guide lines and just sketch over them to refine the shape. | Once you've become familiar with the shape you can just draw | close to the final version with no guide lines, and just | mentally visualise the positions of the guidelines if you need | to. | treeman79 wrote: | When I took a college course to improve my art the most | important part I took away it was learning to see. | | A good session would leave me in wonder as I walked out of ro | and could see all the light and shadows on everything. Things | you never noticed before. | Tao3300 wrote: | lxe wrote: | Oh here we go again. Waiting for all the "this is a wrong way to | draw" critiques. Keep in mind that this is a children's book | about drawing animals using lines, not an anatomical study for an | academic artist. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-06-07 23:01 UTC)