Since this is a fan ART site and I'm sure most of you would like to be somewhat good at drawing fan art...why not post some stuff about how to improve as an artist!
These are some resources I find very helpful.
This guy has some basic things on how to draw, but he explains it in a way that allows for your own artistic expression. Most of the things he says in his video I already know, but I didn't come to know those things until lots and lots of drawing and observing and analyzing and I just wish I saw this videos before...'orz But I still have learned a lot from him anyway.
BY the way, this video is just...just makes me want to draw...;3;
(And the end is just sweet)
Also I can not stress to you guys enough (not that I have said anything about it...or have I?) DRAW ALL THE TIME!
Not only that, but gesture drawing drastically improves your anatomy drawing skills.
For those of you who don't know what gesture drawing issss...you probably do!
Gesture drawing is where the artist gets a model or picture of whatever and draws it very very quickly, usually about 30 seconds or more.
It's quick and easy. Well, by easy...uhh...I guess it's easier when you get used to it. Since I already drew in a gesture-ish style in most of the drafts of the pictures of my gallery (thinking they were actually the skeletons, heh) it was really easy and fun for me! XD
But they're a bit of a drag, but you can see some extreme improvement for just doing them for a few days, or even the first time! O3O
This site I find very nice for gesture drawing:
If you can't handle the nude and the clothing is bothersome then this is also a very good place (though not with real figures):
For learning about eyes, this blog really really helped: tentopet
I learned everything about eyes just from looking at that pic!
Remember to STAY AWAY FROM HOW TO DRAW MANGA BOOKS!
By that I do NOT mean the actual How to Draw Manga book series:
Which actually teaches you a lot of very important stuff about drawing manga and isn't all, draw this head and then this stick for a neck and this GIGANTIC ball for the eyes 'cause, y'know, anime characters have big eyes, right?
Anybody on this site can say for sure that anime characters DO NOT have ginormous bug eyes:
(My art teacher actually had that and used it as an example of anime..."orz)
Tracing is totes okay as long as YOU DON'T POST IT ONLINE AS YOURS. Which I totes did when I was younger because I didn't know any better...but yeah, people don't like seeing it. Nobody will be impressed except yourself at your amazing tracing skills (unless you can animate it! :D).
Draw from life is basically what I learned from How to Draw Manga Books. They are helpful in inspiration and to lay down a cleaner pathway to observational drawing so I definitely recommend them.
In fact, I think there was one book that said DRAW FROM LIFE and then went on to explain how anime and manga capture that essence of life. That's why those books are so darn helpful! ;w;
Also, realize what is good drawing! Over confidence is a bad thing! Hate on yourself until you get better, but don't hate on yourself so much you stop drawing altogether (that's really bad).
Don't be like Yuko:
You're not gonna get better if you think you're so great a drawing.
To sum it up
-Try to practice gesture drawing every day
-DRAW every day
-Draw from life and observe the people around you (even if it's creepy, do it like a ninja! 
)
-Just because people call it anime doesn't mean it is, look for the aesthetic quality!
-ProkoTV is very helpful
-NEVER GIVE UP!
About anime/manga since it's not completely accepted and there are those people who are all like 'SAVE YOURSELF! DON'T DRAW MANGA!' who are just a bunch of wimpy crybabies who can stand up to critics that or conformists...
The art critics who dislike anime only see this:
And not this:
(Which by today's standards of art...I think if critics saw this their heads would explode because they are too narrow minded and didn't think artistic quality existed in anime...>3>)
...Although there seems to be a strange problem I've just now noticed with anime....that it might have EXCELLENT top of the line gorgeous eye bleeding beautiful art, but the story is weak. While on the other hand it can have the most deep, meaningful, touching, thoughtful, plot but the animation has been pooped on (like Shin Sekai Yori). Or it can be a good combination of both like with Michiko e Hatchin, but you unfortunately aren't blown away.
Sorry for the little rant, there...'orz
I have one more thing to say/rant about and I feel I must say it because I have yet to hear anyone else say it.
BE ORIGINAL!!
Most of the people who like anime are teens.
Y'know what else they like?
Music! Whether it be romantic ballads or energetic dance beats or hardcore rock jams or more sophisticated instrumental music. Whatever it is it inspires you to do your thing, so what do you draw? Kissing scenes! Girl with headphones! Lots of roses everywhere because that's symbolism, right? I'm much deeper than that, rock music has more feelings, so I draw skulls and lots of black and deep things because I see beauty in dark things and I'm so serious and mature.
Yep, nope. No you do not see beauty in dark things, you just like the colour black and you like scaring people and then wonder why they don't understand your feelings. You are not in the least bit mature (whatever maturity is, pssshh).
Kissing scenes are alright, but romance and love is nothing new. Roses are nothing new either. They might be pretty and they can be very symbolic, but don't lean on their symbolism.
The thing that really bothers me about...well, everyone, humanity, blah. WHY CAN'T ANYONE BE ORIGINAL? Why can't anyone just think about themselves instead of their images or who they want to be.
Before you start to draw something you think you've seen before stop yourself and draw something you WOULDN'T draw.
Maybe you want to go draw that guy looking all kawaii (and definitely not like a boy what-so-ever) STOP! DON'T! GO DRAW A HOMELESS GUY!
I know what you're saying, though. 'Originality is impossible because nobody has ever been truly original.' Yes, that's completely true...but if you navigate through deviantart you'll see exactly what I'm complaining about.
Lemme just look at the front page right now...(doing most popular 24 hours).
What do I see?
-An 'everyone is beautiful no matter their body type'...how many times have I heard this before? EVERY SINGLE DAY. I understand people have different body types. Love all around. Don't judge people. It's a nice little moral to remember, but it's be overdone so much and I have yet to see anything particularly clever that's actually thought provoking (which is the point of any art form)
-People don't understand me! I'm lonely! (<-- I just read this in Temple Grandin's book, but apparently that percentages of manic depression of artists is very very high so actually we DO understand you. Not put that manic depression to work and give us your feelings that you CAN'T describe)
- I'm a dragon, drawn well, but boring to look at!
- I'm a person with a rose! I'm drawn well, but...I'm just a person with a rose
Now, what I see all the time are the following. If you draw a picture of these, they're for your own enjoyment, but nobody really cares that much about it unless you show off some sort of amazing skills:
-Anything with just a rose a the focal point
-Marilyn Monroe
-Audrey Hepburn
-Skulls
-Tattoos
-Some sort of subculture: goth, punk, scene, etc. as the focal point (I see a lot of these. As long as it's not the focal point it's alright, but if you're just gonna draw a goth girl and say 'She's beautiful, too' then you're just failing so hard. Drawing it with the focus on the cultural aspects, let's say, the fashion or the design aesthetics are A-OK! :D)
-Girl with headphones
-Girl with cat ears
-Girl with stripes or arm warmers or fishnets or whatever
All of these can be totally fine if done really really well, but they are soooo incredibly over done that art critics especially DO NOT want to see them.
Something that the Nostalgia Critic said in one of his videos was (I'm paraphrasing here) that the movie is only bad when the mistake or problem or cliche etc. is the FOCAL point of the movie and that's all that we can see. It's not that we can see the puppeteer in the background that bothers us, it's that we can only look at the puppeteer in the background.
Yes, I have drawn pictures that have been horribly unoriginal and I don't look back at them fondly. What I've learned to do to stay original is if I think of something that I have seen before or that is cliche I think of how I can flip it around and be original.
When I look at the sky and think of an anime character flying in the sky, no, why are they in the sky? Maybe they're floating on a hot air balloon. No, that's been done before. Steam punk air balloon? Even worse. Maybe that's not really the sky and they're stuck in what looks like the sky. Why? Because of that one feeling...how do I say it in words...it's just like you're stuck in the sky and can't reach the ground. It's frustrating and uplifting at the same time! 'orz
That's how it should go!
Inspirational Quotes:
“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper
“Art doesn’t have to be pretty. It has to be meaningful.” ~Duane Hanson
“Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art.” ~Neil Gaiman
”Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” ~Steven Pressfield
“A piece of art is never a finished work. It answers a question which has been asked, and asks a new question.” ~Robert Engman
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, but must be felt with the heart.” ~Helen Keller
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ~Oscar Wilde
“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” ~André Gide
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~Emerson
“Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth.” ~Rumi
“To see far is one thing, going there is another.” ~Constantin Brancusi
If I find more helpful things to say I will definitely do it another time!
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I'm still thinking about that anime review thing....Hrmmm...Maybe I shouldn't get too carried away with everything...I still need to work on that Idolling chap. 3! TT^TT And I have yet to start any dance videooosss...I still need to tell my parents what I want to dooo...blaahhh...>3>
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A nice song from Michiko e Hatchin to end the post:
ADIOSSS!!
