How to Draw and Practice Drawing/Use Artbooks

[bones1]

I recently bought some artbooks and I'm trying to get the most out of them but they're simply calling for skills that I don't have. It's extremely hard for me to draw anything on my own (my weak point) but I can copy a lot of different sketches of stuff people have drawn (which gets old).

The artbooks I have are:
Wildlife Sketching, dover
and Fundamentals of Drawing Horses by Wilsher

How, exactly doI teach myself using these books? Wildlife Sketching has these, like, weird 'guideline' things, where the outline of a drawing is like square-ish or something

And how do I actually practice, to get better at drawing on my own? Because copying artwork gets old and isn't really helping ME to learn how to draw. But when I do try to draw stuff on my own it's all crap and I won't improve simply because I can't really draw anything ( I can't picture anything/draw realistic stuff). So, how do I practice drawing correctly so I can improve, and how do I use these artbooks?

[ehoeveler]

Welcome To ASC, Briana and #1, don't worry about your drawing looking exactly like what's in the book or #2, you can look at the book and just think about what's in there and then without referring to the pages, draw your version.
I get the sense that your current learning process might be too stressful - truthfully, it sounds like a drag.
The way I got started was by remembering things I saw and liked - trust me, they looked nothing like the real thing but
I had FUN doing it and just by practicing (but it didn't seem like practicing) things got better.
Art should be nothing but fun at first - shelve those books for now and see what you come up with. Keep me posted, E

[bones1]

Ok. thanks a bunch.

[ehoeveler]

LOL, I can see you're not satisfied with my answer. OK, try this - cover part of your subject with paper and work on the exposed part, one small part at a time. When you're happy with what you see, move that paper a bit so you can see an adjoining area and work only on that. Keep doing it that way 'til you finish.
Above all, relaaaaxx and feel - have fun! E

[Symphoneus]

Bones1, keep in mind that those books are full of "Tips and Guidelines".
Even for the people who worked at writing them, it's very unlikely that they draw all of their figures EXACTLY as they're shown in these books (that wouldn't be very much fun for the illustrator, now would it). What any book regarding art shows is "One possible way" of going about things. As an artist you must build these various "Possibilities" together until you form your own "Method"

Where you are right now, is the starting point for about half of anyone who's ever called themselves an artist. Do not discourage!
The other half (my half) can draw from imagination, but can't copy... The world likes to keep us all stocked in good reasons for practice...

I would suggest you find your FAVORITE things... copy those. Observe what aspects you struggle the most while copying, and "Intentionally change them" to suit your own taste (If you don't like a bird's beak, give your birds some duck bills || If you don't like jeans, try drawing people in shorts...)

Remember most fondly...
As long as you're pursuing art for your own purposes, there is no "Wrong" in what your doing... just tons of practice 8p

[Symphoneus]

Bones1,
(I'm rambling so...)
I see humans as being some very egotistical animals. We don't like to admit when we are wrong. This is especially true in the world of our imagination.
When we imagine things, we convince ourselves that we've "Imagined it Correctly." In imagining a dinosaur, I can easily see the array of it's teeth. I think dinosaur and an angry roar comes instantly to mind.

But what about its feet... What about its tail... What about the fins on its back (does it even have fins on its back [what? is this dinosaur suddenly a dragon?!])

I don't (often) think these things through, and because of this, there have been many points when I've come to realize, that what I'm drawing has nothing to do with what I've imagined...

I believe such meanderings have quite a lot to do with the artistic growth.
Making an animal's claw appear "too human", while it might be a failing from from the perspective of the artist, it might also add to the picture from the perspective of its observer.
...when bored - experiment...

[jenn_iam]

Briana, welcome...
All of the above comments you have so far are great, true and I agree with them...
I would like to add to them by noting, the suggestion of... Look at those 'guidelines' and think "shapes" when looking at your subject. Try not to re-create the images in the book, but rather... apply some (not necessarily all at one time) aspects or techniques to your composition. I have mentored young and old, as well as worked in tandem with artists of varying skill levels, and I can say one thing is common... We artist are visual. Seems dumb in its simplicity, but true nonetheless... If a tree looks like a triangle, or a circle... start there as your guidelines..

Using a landscape as an example... if some trees seem farther away than others.. then draw a horizontal line across your paper or canvas, to establish the horizon... then put a little dot or mark.. of the furthest point that you would be able to see, on or slightly above the horizon line.. Then decide... Do I see the top of my closest tree... if so.. make a mark at the top of your paper/canvas on whatever site it is... using a ruler... make a very light line that connects these two marks... Do the same kind of thing with where you think the roots of said trees will meet the ground. You may not see the closes trees trunk.. so pick the next tree in line, etc.. connect this mark to the horizon line.. (if your initial mark is above the horizon, make the root line directly below on the horizon line)...

Now.. add the trunks... start with only a few to get the hang of it... On closest (full heigth).. next somewhere in the middle.. and one really far (closed to that Vanishing point). if pines. block them like triangles.on sticks (your trunks)..

My best advice is play with it... no matter what terminology or technique you use, experiment. Keep it simple... Do things over and over, try differnt methods... Perhaps Perspective and proportion guidelines aren't for you and you are more of a contour artist... Experiment with that!!

There really is no Wrong way.. and every artist tackles the same things a little differently... Do whatever brings you to a happy point with your art, and is enjoyable in the process.. When both are met, then you have what works best for you.

All the best!

[stephanberry]

According to me, Books can help in the learning process but I use video tutorials as well. By referring the video tutorial you get practical knowledge on how exactly it is to be done. There are a lot of video tutorials but I often find that using a reputable source and help me learn a lot. Took me a while to find a good source for videos but I do use primarily use the videos from Jerry's Artarama. They have free art lessons and I have also purchased the DVD programs. Here is the art lessons area. http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-lesso ... ideos.html

YouTube is also a good source but the same applies. Choose a trusted source to get the best information. You can try both the options.