Draw with me, realtime tiger pen drawings (long commentary + art tips)
Transcript:
0:09
Hey everybody, I’m Jae. I’m an illustrator and a teacher. [music]
0:15
I help people improve their art skills and I’m here and [music] I want to
0:21
encourage you guys to draw with me. I’m going to be doing this drawing session
0:26
and today I’m going to be drawing a bunch of tigers.
0:33
So, I’ll draw a few tigers in this session. [music] And
0:38
you don’t have to draw tigers or anything, but uh feel free to just
0:46
uh be here with me and draw whatever you want. I hope this session can inspire
0:52
you to draw and you’ll see me drawing
0:58
and I hope maybe you can pick up some of my
1:04
tips or tricks on how I go about drawing so you can see everything
1:10
in the session.
1:25
I am using a regular Canson multimedia sketchbook.
1:30
[music] Uh, I like this
1:36
sketchbook because it [music] can do
1:41
you can use a variety of mediums and it’s pretty decent at handling um
1:50
different [music] mediums, but there are certain mediums that excels at and ink is one of them. And in this session, I
1:56
am using a Pilot G2 pen. It’s a gel [music] pen. And I like the way that
2:04
these pens just kind of glide and just very easy and smooth to draw.
2:12
They’re not perfect by any means. The um it can smear a little bit, but for the
2:18
most part, they are pretty quick drying [music] and uh they’re just uh very smooth. Then
2:26
ultimately when you’re drawing with [music] pen, I feel like that is the important
2:34
thing especially when you’re doing a uh
2:40
drawing um in [music] pen and you don’t know how
2:46
it’s going to go. So you kind of need to draw without worrying about the tool
2:54
that you’re using.
3:00
So, I want to encourage you guys to um create however you want to create
3:07
during these sessions. Hopefully, it’s drawing or maybe you’re a painter or maybe you like to create in different
3:14
ways. But I hope you can [music] um join me in this session and um
3:21
hopefully it can be just [music] a chill relaxing time as uh
3:28
we can create together. [music] And usually when I
3:36
draw animals, [music] and in this case these tigers that I’ll be drawing,
3:42
I [music] start with the eyes because
3:48
I feel like, well, eyes are the windows [music] to the soul, so they say. And
3:54
also with this, it kind of helps me
4:00
create the rest of the drawing. So what I mean is
4:07
like when I draw the eyes,
4:12
it creates a [music] landmark and a reference point for me to be able to draw
4:19
the rest of the features. necess the rest of the features, but when I draw
4:25
eyes, it kind of [music] creates a landmark to be able to draw like the nose next. Then the nose helps me be
4:31
able to draw the [music] mouth next. So, I’m constantly referencing these
4:38
landmarks that I’ve placed down to be able to draw the next thing. And I’m constantly in my mind referencing
4:46
um going back and referencing things like when I draw
4:53
this nose here, I’m determining how wide
5:00
the nose can be and I’m looking at the [music] eyes. So, it’s all just
5:08
uh in a way [music] in a weird way is kind of like math. I know that’s kind of
5:14
maybe a little boring to [music] say, but it’s just like mentally kind of
5:21
uh seeing how each
5:26
feature is the position of each feature is related
5:33
to another feature in what you’re drawing. So, I feel like if you can observe that and you can have a good
5:41
idea of how to um draw that on a piece of paper, then
5:46
you can draw anything. [music] In fact, one of the things I’m a huge
5:52
advocate about, I actually made a YouTube video about this, is that if you can draw like
5:58
the five basic shapes, and like if you can draw a sphere, rectangle, cylinder,
6:05
a pyramid, and uh I think there’s one more shape I’m [music] forgetting, but if you can draw
6:12
those basic 3D forms and you know how to
6:18
uh be able to draw them from your mind. I
6:26
really believe you can draw everything cuz cuz if you know how to observe
6:32
uh and be able to draw something [music] like those shapes,
6:39
then you can just use that skill to observe anything [music] and be able to draw anything.
6:46
The other kind of skill I’m using when I’m drawing [music] is just learning how
6:51
to use a negative space and being able to design shapes.
6:57
Uh [music] like so here’s what I mean. Like [music]
7:03
earlier I was talking about using landmarks as reference points and that’s because I can mentally
7:12
see how [music] the empty space around like the eye so to speak kind [music] of
7:18
relates to the position of the nose. So, if you know how to draw shapes, if you
7:24
kind of have a grasp and develop your observation skills to be able to be able
7:31
to position things, then I feel like you should be able to
7:37
[music] draw like anything. Not saying you’ll be perfect the first time, but with practice, with those
7:44
skills, then you’ll be able to draw anything.
7:51
So, if [music] that was too much of a technical rant, like I apologize, but I just kind of want to break down a little
7:58
bit of my mindset as I’m drawing these tigers.
12:32
[music]
24:20
[music]
26:15
I’m here drawing But I would like to know how’s the weather for you guys? How
26:21
wherever you are? Uh how has the weather been for you
26:27
lately? I normally work indoors, but I do [music] try to
26:33
make a strong habit of exercising, going out um each day. And the weather here has
26:43
been very mixed. Like it’s been rainy a lot.
26:49
Um sometimes it can be quite hot, but there are quite a few times lately where
26:55
we’ve been getting um very surprising weather. Like sometimes
27:04
we’ll get weather that is very almost beachlike. It’s like
27:10
uh that cool breeze. You know that cool breeze feeling? If you’ve ever walked
27:19
by on a shore next to a large body of water
27:25
and you get those spurts of wind and that cool refreshing
27:32
breeze that just kind of invigorates you is a
27:38
sometimes we’ve been getting that type of weather here so it’s been very refreshing and I always try to take
27:45
advantage of it and go out and enjoy that type of weather.
27:51
But um I wish we had more of those, but uh
27:58
usually those days are mixed in with uh
28:05
hot days or days that are uh rain rain throughout the day. But I’m
28:12
grateful for the moments of great weather that I get to enjoy.
28:20
And I appreciate just being able to go out
28:25
and enjoy those times. But how about you guys? Uh how is the weather for you
28:32
guys? Do you guys go out? I know normally artists tend to
28:38
stay indoors, [music] but I hope you guys can go out and enjoy
28:44
whenever there is moments of amazing weather.
29:08
[music]
32:13
[music]
33:38
[music]
35:33
Heat. Heat.
36:48
[music]
38:06
Heat. Heat.
40:50
[music]
41:46
Heat.
41:59
Heat.
45:33
Heat. Heat.
Get Jae Johns’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
45:38
[music]
1:04:41
So, I hope you guys don’t mind me ranting a bit about some of the challenges that I’ve went
1:04:48
through. Um cuz I think I think maybe hopefully
1:04:56
that what I say could maybe help somebody out there too.
1:05:01
And [music] I remember
1:05:07
when I was in [music] college, I was horrible at drawing.
1:05:13
And I knew it. Like deep down I knew that I wasn’t that good and
1:05:21
like I was around other people that were much better than me.
1:05:28
And at the time I didn’t know
1:05:36
what I could do to get better. But
1:05:42
I think in hindsight, I’ve learned so much and I’ve just listened to other people
1:05:51
that are professionals in the industry. And lately nowadays, [music] you can
1:05:58
listen to people and watch people like
1:06:04
create what they love creating. and you can see how they you can see their
1:06:12
process. So, I’m really grateful that I can [music] watch
1:06:19
and learn that way cuz I think in college it was much more isolated. Even
1:06:27
though I had a lot of friends [music] and peers that I can see their uh what
1:06:34
they do, it’s just uh at [music] that time you really you
1:06:40
weren’t with them all the time. So you couldn’t see how
1:06:45
they did things from beginning to [music] end. But nowadays people are posting their process and you really can
1:06:52
see and have an intimate understanding of how people do things.
1:06:57
And I realize now, and I think this is just
1:07:03
as a result of who I am, but maybe some other people
1:07:10
out there might be similar to how my mind worked at the time in college is
1:07:16
that my mind was super technical. like I needed to grasp things and have
1:07:23
understand things on a very technical level and a very precise level. For
1:07:30
example, if I was going to draw I was going to draw a a tiger [music]
1:07:37
then is I needed to know exactly how
1:07:44
um [music] the tail of a tiger fit in with
1:07:49
the backside of a tiger. And [music] I needed to draw the fur accurately. I
1:07:55
needed to be like that precise cuz in my mind I was thinking is [music] I need to
1:08:03
do things completely technically precise [music] in order for things to be a good
1:08:11
drawing. Fast forward years later as I’m watching professionals
1:08:17
is that I learned that couldn’t be further from the truth.
1:08:22
And the biggest insight that I’ve learned is knowing shapes.
1:08:29
And for some people, they might this might not [music]
1:08:34
uh click with them, but because of my graphic design experience, I knew about
1:08:39
design shapes and how to put things and compose things based off of the overall
1:08:46
shapes of things, right? So it wasn’t about
1:08:51
their teachings. The the knowledge I learned from these professionals wasn’t about like drawing a knee absolutely
1:08:57
correct. It’s just that what is the overall shape of that knee and make that
1:09:04
overall shape as appealing as possible. And then once you have the overall shape, look at it
1:09:11
and see how it relates to the other things surrounding it. [music] So you want to kind of create a harmony
1:09:17
kind of like in graphic design is where you if you design a poster [music] you want you want to see the different
1:09:24
elements as shapes and you want to have those [music] shapes all fit fit together in harmony. So that’s what it
1:09:31
is like in drawing too like when I’m drawing these tigers for example is [music] I’m
1:09:37
trying to look at everything as shapes and trying to ochre the shapes together.
1:09:44
So there’s kind of a harmony and that was a huge unlock for me and I
1:09:51
felt like um when I learned that and again it’s
1:09:56
not like it was told to me instantly and that it was just a [music] flip of a switch I grasp it is that those lessons
1:10:04
had to be shown to me over and over and after a while it just sunk in but I knew
1:10:11
there was something there when I first heard it. So I just use that to my
1:10:21
strength and use my design experience as my strength to kind of
1:10:28
understand that concept [music] and kind of make it work for me. So, if any of you guys are struggling
1:10:35
out there and you feel like you’re not able to grow or learn or anything like
1:10:41
that is that you never know what the unlock is going to be. So, I think one
1:10:47
of the biggest things that helped is just be very curious about things. Learn
1:10:52
as much as you can because you never know what piece of advice will work for
1:10:58
you. And again, I hope my little stories kind of help you, but they might
1:11:04
not. And [music] that’s okay because there’s another somebody else’s experience will be able
1:11:11
to help you. It’s just that you have to be curious and kind of learn as much as
1:11:16
you can to find whatever that [music] works. So, there’s a lot of benefits to
1:11:22
this, too. is when I considered myself horrible. I
1:11:29
know I didn’t. So, this is kind of a double-edged sword because I knew I was
1:11:34
horrible. And because I knew I was horrible, it didn’t make me want to draw as much,
1:11:41
but since I’ve gotten better, I’m excited about what I produce. So,
1:11:46
therefore, I draw more. So, it’s kind of like a weird scenario is like [music] when you’re starting out, it’s really
1:11:53
important for you to draw as much as possible. But the weird thing is for me and maybe for some of you is that
1:12:00
[music] when you feel that you’re bad, you kind of don’t want to put the effort in to draw more.
1:12:07
But, oddly enough is when you start to get
1:12:12
better is that you get excited to draw more. So
1:12:17
um so I guess ultimately is what I want to
1:12:22
say is like you really have to be patient with yourself. You really have
1:12:28
to see um and know and believe that you will
1:12:36
get better. But the only way to get better is of course by doing more.
1:12:43
So stay curious, try to learn as [music] many different things as possible
1:12:50
and then one day I know for sure you will stumble across
1:12:55
a way that for you to do things that makes sense and [music] you’re able to
1:13:02
be able to grow your um abilities.
1:13:11
Oh, if I can share another thing too is um
1:13:17
one one thing that kind of hurt me
1:13:23
when um I was learning to draw back in my college days is that I had this
1:13:28
[music] mindset that at every stage of your
1:13:34
drawing process, the result had to look Good. So, even if I was like a minute
1:13:41
into drawing, I felt like if it didn’t look the way that it should look,
1:13:49
uh, I would get disenheartened and [music] I I wouldn’t like it. But as I’m
1:13:55
watching again, and this is something I kind of learned from watching professionals like their process and stuff like that, is like I’ll be
1:14:03
watching these professionals draw who I know for sure are amazing artists and
1:14:09
then it will look like a train wreck. Like
1:14:14
their illustrations would look like a train wreck even into like five minutes
1:14:19
of them drawing or something [music] like that. It would just look off. but
1:14:26
they’re able [music] to put out a bunch of things then somehow
1:14:34
make it look good in the end. So the lesson I learned from that and
1:14:41
something I really want to share with you guys is that
1:14:47
um don’t judge yourself. Don’t judge the process of drawing too harshly. Like
1:14:57
keep on [music] working and then it might look weird to you as you’re
1:15:04
doing it, but then [music] as you continue to
1:15:11
work at it, it will start coming together. Then you can be amazed and
1:15:16
shocked by the results [music] of it. I just know even when I’m challenging
1:15:22
myself and drawing these illustrations with a pen, just
1:15:29
in the middle of it, I’m kind of thinking like this doesn’t look
1:15:34
something as much. But towards the end, I am pleasantly surprised about how
1:15:39
well, not really surprised, but I am happy to see it all come together.
1:15:45
um because I know like if you put in the work, I know [music] that things will
1:15:53
um work out. So that’s something I want to share with you guys.
1:21:19
[music]
1:21:34
[music]
1:22:44
[music]
