Buy a sketch book and a pen. A good one like Microns. Draw in nothing but pen. Learn gesture. Find a local atelier or a joint that does figure classes and critique. Critique is essential.
Why pen? Because pen you cannot erase. It will force you to "see" and make deliberate strokes (pause) in your lining. It forces limitation and the best way to get good at something is force the limiting factor. In this case, the ability to erase. Being limited breeds and forces creativity because you're forced to come up with a solution.
How do I know this? Because I was always "the artist". In 7th grade my friend started using pen and he was so much better than me. Before this no one was better than me in art. We were all obsessed with WCW and Sting as it was the Monday Night Wars and that's what the two of us competed in: drawing wrestlers. He was my first art "rival" although it was unsaid and we were friends through all of it and I copied him by getting a pen and only drawing in it myself. This was when I was 12.
This is me at 15.
To my memory I drew all of this in pen, with no pencil outline beforehand.
This is a painting I made in college. It's Audrey Hepburn made in acryllic.
The fundamentals of pen will transfer to painting.
Sketch of my dog years back.
Leonardo Davinci is quoted as saying something to the effect of,"go out to the marketplaces and draw life."
Digital stuff:
Here's a wine logo I painted. Quality trash because its been stretched over the years.
From digital sketchbook:
Anyways I started drawing again and found my way back to my first love. I quit photography and gone back to what I call "the craft". I noticed all of my ideas in photography would be better suited in traditional art. I've got a lot of ideas and things to do before I die and I distinctly believe God put me on this Earth to make art.
Expect the road of being a black artist to be lonely. I took two art classes the entirety of HS (so I was in art class every day for four years) and the sole black student in a school with over 3000 and plenty of other black students. Ten years later, normie blacks are complaining about "representation" when there's a dearth of black artists and you didn't care about black art before. Retards.
This will factor into your figure drawing classes if you choose to pursue them. You'll likely be the sole black person in those classes. Warning, you might deal with passive aggressive cacs if you're even remotely good, but the ones that support you support you for life.
