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[ChibiSoma]

Is it me? Is it? Or is there a fairly wide range of stuff that apparently no one can draw worth beans. I'm dead tired and slightly off my rocker at the moment due to lack of food, so the only immediate things coming to mind are the following:

Hands. Feet (This is called Liefeld Syndrome). Jigglypuff. Powerpuff Girls (These two go back to the theory that the simpler something should be to draw, the harder it actually is.). And, let's say, trees.

There anything you folk have particular trouble with/Advice for/etc-and-whatnot?

Hair should probably be on that list. Hoo god.

[Lines]

i can draw hands. i love drawing hands. my problem is with lightning bolts. i can not draw them. those darn things elude me.

[Luke]

The theory is false, because my sister can draw anything.

So there.

Also, I can draw hands too. It just took me a long time to figure out how. On the other hand, I can't draw feet as well, because I haven't had as much practice drawing feet.

Trees and lightning bolts I can do. You just need to be able to randomize your branchings naturally.

Fire - now there's something that I struggle with.

[A-minus]

Hands and feet are tough.  I think the problem lots of people have is not with the hands/feet themselves, but their proportions relative to the attached body.  Too small, too large, or sometimes they just don't seem to belong to the right body.  

Yeah.  Hands especially.

[TrueNeutral]

Yeah, I can't draw hands and feet for beans.

[mberan42]

And, let's say, trees.

I win.

[alki]

my problem with hands and feet is the perspective. also i hate drawing wings. they're not too difficult but i'm never content with them.

[strangebear]

The word we are all avoiding in the question is "well" ... I can draw anything, but can I draw it well ... narrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!
Hands and feet, darn tricky avoiding giving your characters bunches of bananas for fingers ... or Frankenstein's Monster boots for feet.
My personal phobia is getting any story with horses in it. I draw horses that look like dogs, large mutant dogs. I will try and talk with the writer and see if we can re-cast his/her story in a future world after a nuclear attack and all the tribes people ride large mutant dogs instead. They get back to me and say the romantic triangle set in a girl's boarding school will probably not work as a post-apocalyptic tale, but thanks anyway.
Gahhhhh!

[KibBen]

Trees are easy - especially if you have one right there that you can draw. It's just a matter of looking at it as a whole, as opposed to a bunch of lines and things.

The biggest problem I would have with hands is the incredible ways they change when in different positions. I would expect a hand to look like such and such, but when I go to draw it, I'd find it wasn't. I'd try to draw what I thought should be there, but really wasn't, and it wouldn't work.

Really, nothing is hard to draw. It's just a matter of how you look at it.

[Alegis]

My hands or feet teh suck as well

drawn of course

[öde]

I can't draw anything well.

[Lines]

I'd try to draw what I thought should be there, but really wasn't, and it wouldn't work.

that's a huge problem when drawing. people, including me, forget to really really look at something they are drawing and continue to look at it.

i hate it when i'm working on a drawing of a person and i finally get things all measured out and then the model moves when i'm not looking. so i have to either guess what it did look like or erase it. but then they end up moving a lot. everytime i have had to draw feet, we always have the model who seriously can't stay still.

[strangebear]

whenever I have had the opportunity to work with models for drawings I had the comic design layouts ... so I knew the poses and shots I needed. I simply spent the afternoon with a camera getting loads of reference photographs. The models/friends didn't need to hold any pose longer than a few minutes for each set up ... I snapped away quickly (getting a ton of safety shots as well the shot I wanted!)
Later on I was able to hit the lightbox and trace off many of the pictures I needed directly onto the Bristol Board!

I hated working with seated models in art college. I found it uncomfortable and the way they would wander around to look at the hideous drawing you had done of them afterward was not good.

[GuitarJunkie]

Bikes are the things that piss me off.

EDIT - When drawing, it wasn't a general statement against our two wheeled friends.

[Lines]

i like working from models (except the jittery ones). there's so much you can't get from a photograph. but, working from photographs is more practical, because well, not many people like sitting still for long periods of time. let alone get naked. which is weird, because half of the people i know would model if they had the opportunity. (except drawing a friend naked is really really weird. like really weird.)

[bujiatang]

photographing jewelry sucks.  It is almost always overexposed.  I was chatting with a Turkish vendor a while back and he flippantly mentioned how easy it was with a lightbox and the Nikon dx2.  and I smoldered.  

I hate drawing hands.  I always botch one of the fingers: it will look unfortunately broken.  I mess up the angles somehow

[katsielyonz]

I have a horrible time with Tech and Mech kinda stuff.  Anatomy, no problem.   Rooms, background, trees whatever.  Big mech machine, cars or even just a gun???  OMG I look like I've regurgitated lines onto a poor helpless piece of paper.

I like to draw from photographs but only for study.  If I'm drawing like a picture or a comic strip I don't use referances.  If I can't get something I'll go out and practice drawing it and then I'll come back and draw it in the way I want.

[Night Rocker]

i like working from models (except the jittery ones). there's so much you can't get from a photograph. but, working from photographs is more practical, because well, not many people like sitting still for long periods of time. let alone get naked. which is weird, because half of the people i know would model if they had the opportunity. (except drawing a friend naked is really really weird. like really weird.)

i think it means you have really really really good friends and i cant draw feet for pennies.

[WailAway]

Trees give me lots of issues, so does figure drawing in general, bah, I'm terrible at that.

It's also difficult to depict natural things well, in that nature is to a certain degree random, and the random-ness is hard to perceive.

to me anyway, if that made any sense.

[greenMonkey]

i think it means you have really really really good friends and i cant draw penises

This is what I read.  I need to sleep.

Basically, I can't draw.

[Jayfarer]

Horses in mid-trot.

Them's hard.

[logosmonkey]

That reminds me.
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

This was on Drawn! last week I think and I've heard it a few times before that .. likely the event's aren't true but you know what.. the idea sure as hell is.

[TheLanyard]

Wow.  I really like that story.

I can't draw anything mechanical to save my life.

I love drawing people, but since I've never taken an art class, I've never really gotten to try the whole model drawing thing...  Ha.  I'm probably the only person trying to make a webcomic without any sort of art training...

[Alarra]

Hair and trees I can do no problem, but will agree with you on hands and feet. They are harder. I can draw them well enough, but they end up being redrawn 6 or 7 times before they're good enough.

[Shaft]

i think it means you have really really really good friends and i cant draw penises

This is what I read.  I need to sleep.

Basically, I can't draw.

I read it as "I can't draw trees"

Then I read your post, re read his, and read penises.

Then I laughed, because penises are funny.

[Mogman]

I can't draw in general, but the thing I see most people muck up is noses...

But then noses look weird and out of place/proportion on a lot of people's faces back in the real world, so no big surprize there...



As for the whole modelling thing, eh, i'd go for it if i got paid, but i've got stretchmarks something shocking and am somewhat a man of largesse...
(Oh, and also, i'm in Aus, so i dunno what the rules/laws ect are on modelling in general, let alone nuding up)

But really, for you guys complaining about a model moving, well, Duh! they're  supposed to, thats the entire point of it, to see natural poses and movement, if you want something that dont move, ask the model to make such and such a pose, then take a few photo's

[cTony]

I recently developed some nice tricks for drawing noses (haven't drawn for years and suddenly decided to get back into it - The growth and obseration over teenage years means that despite lacking practice i'm still better than ever ).

Hands... Easy if you have bony but not too spherical knuckles, longish but not unattractively long fingers and angular.. under thumby bits like me.. Good reference... eheh.

I start off with the wrist - Its really easy to miss the wrist and its structures, yet it can be a root location and really important in getting everything right. So, the wrist, considering the urna and radius (i think thats what those two bones are called), then simultaneously construct a curving plate with four proportioned spokes with balls on the end-> Taking it from there, i wonder about the 'whole shape' before the individual shapes of the fingers, and get a place ready for every bit of the hand before settling and properly defining any other part of it.

When it comes to faces, if i start with the nose the face is likely to be horribly messed up. First head shape and brow, chin, nose boundaries very lightly defined, but then, not nose (not for me), the eyes first (until they look right).

[Nosve]

I can draw hands well, if I'm paying attention. The problem is that all of my characters' hands look like my own.

[donovangelonardo]

I find that by drawing the knuckle of the index finger and then the index itself first, the rest of the hand follows pretty easily.  The index finger controls the direction and shape of the hand more than the other fingers, plus I tend to draw that finger in the front, with the others curved behind it.  Imagine drawing a mitten with a separate index finger, and that's how my hands usually start.  Palm-up views are much harder though, and thumbs are hell to draw

[mrtuesday42]

to the comment about no art training...thats me...no training what so ever...i have one book on drawing anatomy and thats the extent of my skills but my have they improved since i started...i can draw pretty much anything BUT people...god my people are always soo flat...its scary but ive gotten better with practice...so yeah...no training just practice and time...good luck

[pegs]

i've just a started at drawing - i'm 15, and planning to do a fine arts degree in fashion when i leave high school, therefore i figured some basic anatomy drawing skills would be a good idea.  i have one MAJOR problem and that is making my women all have huge rears.  it sounds hysterical but trying to put an idea of clothing onto a woman with a size 20 ass and a size 6 body is difficult!!

[KharBevNor]

Fire is one of my specialities. Nature I have little trouble with. Machines I am fucking good at to be frank. I do have some problems with anatomy though. Hands I'm a lot better with now, but I seem to have a propensity for fucking up the thumb. Foreshortening kills me. I can only get the limb lengths and whatnot right about 50% of the time. Perspective on mechanical objects doesn't bother me at all, but people it is so hard. The other major problem, which a lot of people don't realise because they basically don't bother with it, is clothing. I have two problems, capturing the creasing and capturing the texture. How the hell do you DRAW denim? Especially with pen and ink.

[wargrafix]

hello everyone, pretty new here.

Hands and feet are tough but I'm forcing myself to practice now. Trees and organic detail are my favorate.
Right now I'm starting a comic...with people....meaning lots of hands.

[Tin Monkey]

I seem to have trouble with lips, especially active ones.  Probably just need to study references and practice more than I have been.

What I tend to do when I'm having difficulty with various body-parts is go to a public area and people-watch.  It's a good idea to wear sunglasses.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

I have to say, I own at drawing tractors. no joke. But I completely fuck up hands,feet,arms,pretty much people in general. I can't draw people. i can draw insects,  horses, and inanimate objects. Just not humans. Wierd...

[Sporky]

Let me tell you a story:


Once upon a time, there was a boy who could not draw anything worth shitbeans.

The end.


Yeah, no, I suck.

[valley_parade]

I can't draw guitars. I love coming up with new designs and ideas in my head, but I cannae for the life of me draw them out.

[ekmesnz]

Wow.  I really like that story.

I can't draw anything mechanical to save my life.

I love drawing people, but since I've never taken an art class, I've never really gotten to try the whole model drawing thing...  Ha.  I'm probably the only person trying to make a webcomic without any sort of art training...

Isn't that what Jeph said he did? Teach himself to draw because he couldn't?

[Locke]

I can draw mechanical things really well, straight lines, perspective, very geometric curves, because thats all in the realm of the static.  If I draw anything organic I make it look like a statue.  A statue carved out of poop.

If I could make a comic in which the characters are non-moving machines, I'd be set, man.

[Shiney_Gothique]

I find anatomically correct birds that are also proportioned can be hard. Yet to see one that takes my fancy.

[Lines]

i think it means you have really really really good friends and i cant draw penises

This is what I read.  I need to sleep.

Basically, I can't draw.

I read it as "I can't draw trees"

Then I read your post, re read his, and read penises.

Then I laughed, because penises are funny.

haha. this whole thing made me laugh.

[ampersandwitch]

How the hell do you DRAW denim? Especially with pen and ink.

A finer nib, lots of crosshatching, and if you feel like it, a blue/indigo wash underneath.

[nigglesworth]

Well.. I can't draw boobs. It's a real shortcoming of mine! I mean, they always end up looking too saggy or too perky or way out of proportion.. Then occasionally I'll ask a boy for tips on drawing them and he'll use a compass to draw perfect circles, then proceed to "boobify" them. It's ridickerous.

I can't draw anime or manga style either. But, thinking back, that probably really helped me develop artistically, without having that crutch to hang on to. OH! And werewolf legs! I've got sketchbooks full of attempts to get it right, and I've yet to draw a werewolf body  I'm satisfied with. It's a real drag.

[MasterInquisitor]

Hands are really difficult. That's whyall my manga is set in winter, because I can give pepole mittens! If not, they have their hands in bags or behind their backs.

Also drawing 3D is hard for me, because I have a lazy eye and I can't do depth perception.

[Crayola]

Mechasex. I cannot draw mechasex.

...Seriously, Anything people-related. Excluding realistic eyes.

[Rewnad]

Realistic looking water... getting the whole ripple effect and reflections. I can do it... but not well.

[KOODustin]

Dude, I can't draw ANYTHING worth a damn.

[tomselleck69]

i know the original post was made forever ago, but the symptoms of Liefeld syndrome extend WAY past the inability to draw hands and feet.

i have trouble judging where the nose should be, relative to eyes and mouth. it's always higher than i think it is. i am also plagued by the inability to draw decent-looking hands without taking reference photos. i could also stand to pay more attention to the drapery of fabric, but I can usually phone it in well enough so that the inconsistencies with reality aren't noticeable.

additionally, kyle maclachlan is tough to draw, but morrissey and cary grant are very easy.

[Liz]

I cannot draw from memory to save my life, but I do pretty good on sketches. I did one from the CD booklet for Jonny Lang's "Turn Around" album.

Or here to check it out in other sizes. The quality is kinda bad because I just took a picture with my digital camera, but you get the idea.

Generally, though, I suck at anything living. Plants, people, animals. Blah. I'm horrid with proportions.

[magnanimusman]

draw them as objects.  Not feet.  That and get a book of anatomy.  And realize that they kind of squish when they get stepped on.