The Only Art Roadmap You'll Ever Need!

Summary

This video is a comprehensive guide for self-taught artists aiming to excel in anime art. The presenter shares an art map distilled from a decade of experience, designed to streamline the learning process. The map is divided into four stages: Basics, Sculpting and Modeling, Rendering, and Detailing. It emphasizes the importance of hand-eye coordination, accurate drawing, and understanding of perspective and anatomy. The video also touches on shading techniques like two-tone shading and the significance of color theory. Additionally, it promotes Milanote, a planning tool that aids in organizing art projects visually, and offers the art map for free to viewers who sign up through a provided link.

Takeaways

• 🎨 The video is aimed at self-taught artists who enjoy drawing anime art and seeks to simplify the overwhelming amount of online knowledge into a manageable art map.
• 🗺️ The art map is divided into four stages: Basics, Sculpting and Modeling, Rendering, and Detailing, designed to guide artists from beginner to intermediate levels.
• 👀 The first stage emphasizes the importance of observation and hand-eye coordination, suggesting that beginners aim for at least 80% accuracy in replicating drawings.
• 🏗️ 'Sculpting and Modeling' involves understanding basic perspective and using geometries like cubes to construct characters, leading to studying anatomy and mastering mental rotation.
• 🖌️ 'Rendering' introduces the concept of two-tone shading, a fundamental technique in anime art that helps outline the character's silhouette without relying on line art.
• 🌟 The video recommends studying light and shadow fundamentals, including midtones, cast shadows, and reclusion shadows, to enhance the rendering skills.
• 🎨 'Detailing' focuses on adding texture and color, requiring a good understanding of color theories and practices like copy painting to learn from other artists' work.
• 🛠️ The video suggests that techniques like line art, contrast, and composition should be the last to learn, as they are less fundamental than the foundational skills.
• 🔗 Milanote is highlighted as a productivity tool for organizing art projects visually, with a special offer for viewers to access the presenter's art map.
• 💌 The presenter encourages engagement, suggesting viewers comment on their current stage, subscribe for more content, and consider supporting the channel on Patreon.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video for self-taught artists?

The video focuses on providing a comprehensive art map for self-taught artists to excel at anime drawing, based on the creator's decade-long experience.

How does the video aim to simplify the process of learning anime drawing?

The video simplifies the learning process by dividing it into four stages: Basics, Sculpting and Modeling, Rendering, and Detailing, ensuring there's something for both beginners and intermediate learners.

What is the first step in the art map for beginners?

The first step is to accurately draw what you see, with a focus on hand-eye coordination and aiming for at least 80% accuracy in replicating simple drawings.

Why is hand-eye coordination considered more important than art theories for beginners?

Hand-eye coordination is crucial because without it, all the art knowledge acquired will only remain theoretical and not translate into practical drawing skills.

What is the significance of practicing drawing from different angles?

Practicing drawing from different angles helps develop the ability called mental rotation, which allows one to imagine an object from various perspectives without needing references.

What is the role of Milanote in the video, and how does it enhance productivity?

Milanote is used as a planning tool in the video to create an art map, and it enhances productivity by helping organize thoughts, plans, and creative projects visually.

How does the video approach the topic of shading in anime art?

The video introduces the ambient occlusion method, also known as two-tone shading, as a fundamental technique in anime art, emphasizing the importance of understanding light and shadow.

What are the key aspects of the detailing stage in anime drawing?

The detailing stage involves adding texture and color to the model, requiring a good understanding of color theories such as values, hue, saturation, local color, and complementary color palettes.

Why is copy painting recommended in the learning process, and what does it offer?

Copy painting is recommended to study other artists' work and understand their thought process, which helps in learning various techniques and improving one's own art style.

What is the final advice given to viewers about learning techniques in anime drawing?

The final advice is that techniques should be the last thing to learn, as focusing on them too early can hinder progress, and implementation of learned skills is crucial for improvement.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Mastering Anime Art: A Comprehensive Guide

The video script introduces a self-taught artist's journey in mastering anime art. It emphasizes the overwhelming amount of knowledge available online and the confusion it can cause, particularly in understanding anatomy for art. The artist presents an art map that encapsulates a decade of experience, aiming to streamline the learning process. The map is divided into four stages: Basics, Sculpting and Modeling, Rendering, and Detailing. The first stage focuses on the importance of observation and hand-eye coordination, suggesting that beginners aim for 80% accuracy in replicating drawings. The script also discusses the use of basic geometry to construct anime characters and the concept of 'mental rotation' for drawing characters from various angles. A sponsorship by Milanote is mentioned, which is a planning tool that helps organize thoughts and creative projects visually, and the artist offers a free art map for viewers who sign up through a provided link.

05:02

🖌️ Shading and Detailing in Anime Art

The second paragraph delves into the rendering stage of anime art, specifically the use of two-tone shading to create a realistic appearance. It explains the importance of understanding the terminator, the boundary between the light and shadow on an object, and the difference between direct and diffused light. The script advises starting with simple shapes and progressing to more complex ones, including human figures. It also touches on the study of light and shadow fundamentals, such as midtones, cast shadows, and reclusion shadows. The detailing stage involves adding texture and color, requiring a good understanding of color theories. The artist suggests studying other artists' work through copy painting to understand their thought process and improve one's own art. The script concludes with a reminder about the free art map available through Milanote and encourages viewers to support the artist on Patreon, subscribe to the channel, and follow on Twitter for commission inquiries.

Keywords

💡Self-taught artist

A self-taught artist is someone who has acquired their skills and knowledge primarily through personal exploration and practice, rather than through formal education or training. In the context of the video, the speaker identifies as a self-taught artist and aims to share their accumulated experience in anime drawing, which is a testament to the possibility of learning and mastering artistic skills outside of traditional educational settings.

💡Anatomy

Anatomy refers to the study of the structure of living organisms, including the human body. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of understanding anatomy for artists, particularly when drawing anime characters. It's mentioned as a fundamental aspect of the art map, indicating that a solid grasp of anatomy is essential for accurately and realistically depicting characters in various poses and angles.

💡Hand-eye coordination

Hand-eye coordination is the ability to use one's eyes to guide one's hand movements, which is crucial for drawing accuracy. The video emphasizes the importance of developing hand-eye coordination, suggesting that it is more important than art theories for beginners. The speaker advises starting with simple replications and progressing to quick sketches to train this skill.

💡Perspective

Perspective is a technique used in drawing and painting to represent three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. The video mentions basic perspective as a key element in the art map, including one-point, two-point, and three-point perspectives. Understanding perspective is essential for creating the illusion of depth and correctly positioning elements within a scene.

💡Geometry

In the context of the video, geometry refers to the use of basic shapes like cubes and spheres to construct and visualize three-dimensional forms. The speaker recommends using geometric shapes to build up the structure of anime characters, which helps in understanding and drawing the human form from different angles.

💡Mental rotation

Mental rotation is the ability to imagine an object's appearance when it is rotated in the mind. The video describes this skill as crucial for drawing characters from various angles without needing external references. It allows artists to visualize and draw characters from any perspective, which is a significant step in mastering anime art.

💡Two-tone shading

Two-tone shading is a shading technique that involves using two distinct tones to create the illusion of light and shadow on a surface. In the video, it is referred to as a fundamental technique in anime art, where it is used to outline the silhouette of a character by distinguishing between the light and shadow parts of the geometry.

💡Terminator

The terminator, in the context of the video, refers to the boundary between the light and shadow on an object, which is a critical concept in shading and lighting. Understanding the terminator helps artists determine where the light falls on their subject, which is essential for creating realistic shading and depth in their drawings.

💡Color theory

Color theory is a set of principles that guide the selection and combination of colors in art and design. The video mentions color theory as a necessary foundation for the detailing stage of anime art, where artists need to understand values, hues, saturation, local color, and complementary colors to add texture and color to their models effectively.

💡Copy painting

Copy painting, as discussed in the video, is the practice of replicating other artists' work to study their techniques and thought processes. It is presented as a valuable learning method for artists to understand and absorb various artistic concepts and styles, which can then be applied to their own work to improve and develop their unique artistic voice.

💡Marco's color notes

Marco's color notes are mentioned in the video as a resource for artists who want to dive deep into color theory. These notes likely provide insights and guidance on how to use color effectively in artwork, which is an essential aspect of the detailing stage in anime art where artists add texture and color to their models.

Highlights

The video is a comprehensive guide for self-taught artists interested in anime art.

The speaker introduces an art map that condenses a decade of experience for mastering anime drawing.

The art map is divided into four stages: Basics, Sculpting and Modeling, Rendering, and Detailing.

Observation and hand-eye coordination are emphasized as the most fundamental aspects of drawing.

Accuracy in drawing is crucial, with an initial goal of 80% accuracy for beginners.

The importance of practicing with real-life photos for quick sketches is discussed.

Sculpting and modeling involve understanding basic perspective and using geometries like cubes for 3D visualization.

Anatomy study is crucial, with a focus on drawing characters from various angles.

Mental rotation is a skill that allows artists to visualize characters from different angles without references.

The video features a sponsor, Milanote, which is a planning tool for organizing creative projects.

Two-tone shading, also known as ambient occlusion, is introduced as a fundamental shading technique.

Understanding the terminator and light types is essential for effective shading.

The video suggests starting with simple two-tone shadows and progressing to more complex forms.

Detailing involves adding texture and color, requiring a grasp of color theories.

Copy painting is recommended to study other artists' work and understand their thought process.

Techniques should be the last thing to learn, as per the speaker's experience and advice.

The speaker offers a free art map for viewers who sign up for Milanote through a provided link.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content and support the creator.

Transcripts

K if you're a self-taught artist like me

and you like to draw anime art for fun

this video has everything you need from

start to finish since the Advent of

Internet we have been overwhelmed with

an access of knowledge so much that we

don't know which ones are useful and

which ones are not making it more

confusing for a simple topic like

Anatomy there can be thousands of

tutorials available online so in this

video I'm going to introduce you to the

one art map that you ever need in your

entire life to Exel at anime drawing

this map sums up my decad long

experience as a self-taught hobbyist I

hope this video can save you years of a

necessary practice and tears from

depression all right without further Ado

let's begin personally I Divine the art

map into four simple stages Basics

sculpting and modeling rendering and

detailing whether you are a beginner or

at an intermediate level there's

something in store for you all right

let's delve into the first stage of the

art

map let me ask you kis what's the most

fundamental aspect of drawing oh oh I

know

tent no the answer is observation more

precisely hand ey coordination you see

observing is easy but translating what

you see onto paper is hard unless your

brain is a printer so the first step is

to accurately draw what you see the

keyword here is accuracy now if I ask

everyone to draw this SAS I'm sure you

can do it just not accurately without

accuracy all the art knowledge you have

acquired will only remain as knowledge

that is why H ey coordination is more

important than art theories as a

beginner aim for at least 80% accuracy

when replicating simple drawings start

by copying simple cartoons or anime

characters and then progress to Quick

sketches using real life photos the

exercises serve very ious purposes such

as training hand eye coordination

capturing form contour lines and gesture

training accuracy developing a keen

sense of proportion sensitivity to the

curvature and inclination of lines I've

created a detailed video on these

exercises feel free to check it

out I refer to this stage as sculpting

and modeling yes drawing anime art is

actually quite similar to 3D modeling

here's how it works so the first thing

you'll encounter is basic perspective

your illustration can be onepoint

perspective twoo perspective or threo

perspective then focus on drawing

geometries especially cubes because they

are easier to visualize

three-dimensionally due to their

six-sided structure generally I prefer

using them for the head chest and pelvis

once you are able to use basic geometry

such as cubes and spheres to construct a

simple body you can then delve into

Anatomy I've created tons of tutorials

on Anatomy study so feel free to check

them out after that your next goal is to

be able to draw any character from the

panty shot angle what oh my bad I mean

all

angles to do this you need to practice

until you have acquired the ability

called mental rotation which allows you

to imagine an object from different

angles with this ability you can

mentally rotate the character in

different angles and you won't need

references for a particular angle

anymore allowing it to fully materialize

the image on your mind onto your canvas

once this skill is acquired we move on

to our next

topic but before that let me tell you

about today's sponsor milanote if you

haven't noticed I'm currently using

milanote right now to create my art map

and it's been a game changer for my

productivity milanote is not just any

planning tool it's the ultimate platform

for organizing thoughts plans and

creative projects visually whether

you're a content creator a designer or

just someone who wants to improve your

art milanote helps you bring order to

the chaos with milanote you can easily

create your art improve Improvement plan

with just a few clicks you can map out

weekly art sessions set goals and even

put links to remind you which video

tutorial to watch on that day depending

on your learning stage you're currently

in so if you're serious about leveling

up your art game noan not is the

sidekick you need now here's the

exciting part I'm giving you access to

my art map for free when you sign up for

milanote through the link in the

description here's a snit pick so if

you're interested click the link below

and sign up for Milano and take your

creativity to the next level

after constructing your model you must

add Shadows to create a more realistic

appearance in blender there's a shading

technique called the ambient occlusion

method it's also known as two-tone

shading in anime art two-tone shading is

one of the most fundamental techniques

in shading to do this you must first

understand what's the Terminator and how

to distinguish the light part and the

shadow part of your geometry also

understanding various lighting types is

important as well especially direct

light because it's commonly used when

dra drawing an anime style besides it's

easier to identify the Terminator under

direct light than diffused light for

beginners I recommend you to start by

studying simple two-tone shadows and

progress from basic shapes to more

complex ones also remember to practice

shading with different light source

directions once you're comfortable with

basic shapes you can advance to human

figures for this I suggest examining and

painted anime figurines don't worry

Senpai I'll be sure to examine it in

detail no my dear kohai it's to help you

understand how Shadows change with mass

and form a well executed two-tone

shading can outline the entire

silhouette of the character without

relying on its line art after this you

can learn the fundamentals of light and

Shadow like midtones cast Shadows Etc I

recommend watching proo shading light

and form Basics at this point you should

be able to identify the Terminator and

apply two-tone shading to outline the

entire silhouette of the character

without its line art besides you should

also be able to implement the knowledge

that you've learned from the

fundamentals of light and Shadow into

your two-tone shading base this includes

adding midtones cast Shadows reclusion

shadows and so

on detailing involves adding texture and

color to your model for this stage you

need to have a good grasp on color

theories such as values Hue saturation

local color complimentary color palette

and much more I highly recommend you kis

to check out Marco's color notes and

color Harmony if you want to dive deep

into this topic up to this point in my

self-taught journey I've realized that

no matter how many tricks theories or

tips I require from these videos I still

can execute them while painting and the

results are always me but you know what

this is when copy painting comes into

play unless you're a very talented

artist you need to study other people's

artwork and understand the artist train

of thought when they're painting which

means you have to make notes experiment

figure out why they use a particular

color shape keep asking questions absorb

all that knowledge and apply Richie

nordon once said Learning Without

implementation is arrogance so make sure

you implement them now I know your

drawing mics still look horrible after

all that studying but trust me the more

you study the better you get during the

copy painting process you will learn all

sorts of techniques like Lon art Co and

warm contrast brightness contrast color

contrast composition visual guidance

storytelling ing emotion and atmosphere

many people tend to learn these

techniques first when they just started

drawing and they think these techniques

would help them to improve faster

however techniques should be the very

last thing to learn how ironic and Co

that is the last of my hon take it say

bye tell me in the comments down below

which state you're in right now also

don't forget that you can access my art

map for free when you sign up for Miller

note through the the link in the

description feel free to support me on

patreon I really appreciate it please

drop a like subscribe to my channel and

follow me on Twitter DM me if you want a

commission from me all right that's all

for

meist is a Christmas song this is a

Christmas this is a Christmas song the

Christmas trees on fire Santa's holding

the lighter my parents are both liar