Learning to draw

Jon · Jan 13, 2023

Day 1:

Day 34:

NauticalGent · Jan 13, 2023

Slight difference...

Jon · Jan 15, 2023

I ordered myself a Pentel Graph Gear 1000 drafting pencil (0.7mm) and got it yesterday. So, I decided to just draw a quick sketch on a bit of notepaper to see what it was like. I was standing up, it was quite dark, and I did it in about a minute.

My result was quite good, and showed that I have definitely improved a lot. The image itself is only 1 inch high and looks quite good at that scale. Naturally it won't look quite as good on here because the image will be shown much larger.

It seems like this course has instilled in my mind a kind of template for some objects.

The_Doc_Man · Jan 15, 2023

This morning (1.15.23) on the CBS morning show there was a discussion that caught my eye because of my writing hobby. I was considering future publication of my fantasy novels (if I ever find an interested buyer or if I decide to on-line self-publish) and I wanted to illustrate a few scenes. My drawing skills definitely are not up to the task and I have used home-guide books before to little effect. My cousin, who IS a commercial artist, wants a significant fee for each drawing and one novel's worth of artwork might take a few thousand bucks if I contract it out.

However, there are now many on-line sites that do AI Art based on verbal descriptions, very similar to the ChatGPT site Jon showed us. I may have to look into that. Anyone who is curious can look up "AI Artwork" to check it out. They are not necessarily free but they do seem to have reasonable prices for the number of images I think I would want. I have found several major and a few minor sites with varying fees including a pay-as-you-go where you buy "credits" ahead of time. Some of them allow you to get non-watermarked art that can be included in your other work. The issue that is open to consideration is that it might not be copyrightable without some effort. But it HAS been done.

Jon · Jan 16, 2023

@The_Doc_Man You can get free credits to use the OpenAI system here:

DALL·E: Creating images from text

We’ve trained a neural network called DALL·E that creates images from text captions for a wide range of concepts expressible in natural language.

openai.com

Jon · Jan 16, 2023

I used my new drawing pad and mechanical pencil today. The paper is much better quality and no more lines on it.

NauticalGent · Jan 17, 2023

Jon said:
Why try to reinvent the wheel? The book I got works!

You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less: Kistler, Mark: 9780738212418: Amazon.com: Books

You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less [Kistler, Mark] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less

www.amazon.com

Edit: Check out the table of contents on Amazon. It shows a picture next to each section so you know what you will learn to draw.

I bought this as an anonymous gift for my ailing father in law. Hopefully this will engage his brain in a positive way and give him something to look forward to and, more importantly, a sense of accomplishment and worth.

Isaac · Jan 17, 2023

Hint, it goes perfect with a Rocketbook from Amazon!

Now that's just me personally talking. A real draw-er would recommend certain pencils, etc. but taking the learning to draw casually (me), the Rocketbook is perfect.
I draw in the evenings, I scan my Rocketbook page to instantly memorialize it by date to Google Drive, then I wipe it clean - the perfect notebook to accompany my new hobby.