To the artists of chopcult.

[Guest]

Man I'm really digging the frazetta style tank art I've been seeing on bikes like Lucille the pan head feature. I'm the kinda guy that like to do everything himself, and since I can't afford a lathe and mill, in the meantime I figure I could try and master the pencil and pad. I has been harder than I though to start, I'm 27 and have been drawing my whole life in spurts, so my mind has been having some serious obstacles with translating sight to paper. I was wondering what kind of practice gives you a "classical" ability to draw, any artists on here have any book, video, or practice recommendations?

[NeoDutch]

Find Andrew Loomis books. You'll find them PDFed somewhere on the web.

[Guest]

L.s.d.

[loddytoddy]

tracing paper. and drugs.
just keep at it.. there are videos online that show technique. some are pretty good and will have you drawing an apple with great detail in no time.

[gray]

As a classically trained illustrator, I would highly recommend taking a figure drawing class. It will be extremely challenging at first, but there is no better way to learn to measure distance and develop your hand/eye coordination.

[Mucksavage]

Speaking of figure drawing classes, this video is very funny and nothing like the figure drawing classes I had in college. https://vimeo.com/7032260

[LilBill]

a lot of that old frazetta tank art was done with decoupage . i'll be doing that on my pan longbike.

[Guest]

find the oldest heavy metal rags you can, pre 1977, the first where all frazetta ,look up early molly hatchet album covers (frazetta ),,then draw it over, and over ,and over, till you see ,what your mind sees ,on the paper. you gotta be into it 100% lotta guys, (me included ,draw,)gotta stand out, if you want the fame and fortune.

[Guest]

I've been doing the Van Gogh and drawing my hand(left) over and over, and chairs/random shit. I bought the book "drawing on the right side of the brain" and it has made a huge fucking difference in how I see and make drawings. I'll check out the Loomis book for sure, and I will sign up for a class at the local art center. Lilbill what was the source for the decoupage image, magazine pages? I looked up the process online and I am super interested in giving it a shot, thanks for the words dudes.

[Guest]

Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more! Doodle, ...doodle...a lot! It might be good to study subject matter in which you are interested in recreating through your mind/hand onto paper(or other media).
For instance, if you want to get good at doing portraits (perhaps one of the hardest things to do good), don't study architectural design. If portraits are going to be your focus, study the human skull, (in immense depth). Not only the bone placement of the human skull, but also the muscle placement, and different facial expressions, from different angles(full frontal, 3/4 profile,and 1/2 or side profile at minimum). Allow your thought provoking emotion to flow onto the paper(or other media) from within yourself. Study depth perception, scale and shading/lighting techniques, as these are applicable to all art. A piece can be shit, or top notch, depending on the use of depth perception/scale, shading/lighting. If while doing a piece, something just doesn't look right to you, don't be afraid to change it up a bit, to suit what you envision within your mind.

[sidewindersigns]

If your goal is to improve your drawing skills, the advice others have given here is good. If your goal is to paint a Frazetta onto a tank, that's a whole different subject, and it doesn't take a whole lot of drawing skill. There's a lot you'll need to learn, but it basically involves starting with the base coat color you want and learning to airbrush your design onto the surface. The technique I prefer is to cover the entire area with masking paper and then using graphite paper to trace the design onto the paper. Then, you have to CAREFULLY cut it out section by section with an X-Acto knife, painting each part as you go. The exact way to do that and the order to do it in will vary, depending on the design you're using and the color of your base coat. For more detail on what I'm talking about, I would recommend you get a copy of Professional Airbrush Techniques by Vince Goodeve, or any of JoAnn Bortles' airbrushing books.