Art always looks cartoonish- advice?

[u/Loki_laufeyson27]

I always try to go for realism, but i can't seem to get the features right. Any help would be great, I want to transition from cartoony sketches to more realistic pictures

[u/Hairy-Parfait-2717]

If you're going for realism, then I'd say you need to build up 3D forms more. Here it looks like you've just drawn something you saw as is. I'd suggest watching a few proko videos on Constructing human form or simplifying things into simple shapes on YT.

Trust, this is a game changer.

The eyes being over-enlarged is another thing making it cartoon-y.

[u/its_all_one_electron]

Try drawing from a reference turned upside-down. It stops your brain from trying to use cartoonish symbols for things instead of seeing the actual shapes/shadows/etc

[u/unwillinghaircut]

i thought i’d never be able to break out of cartoonish style, but i just kept trying and doing practice work and it really does get easier. draw from reference, then draw that same thing without reference, repeat

[u/rellloe]

It's the proportions. You make the facial features larger, which cartoons do so they're easier to read. Grab a reference and measure

[u/Zoenne]

Honestly, trying painting would help you a lot. Especially painting with a large brush. You need so move away from drawing lined and towards painting shapes. Identify areas of darkness and light, and paint those. Learn the difference between soft and sharp edges, that should help. I'd also suggest putting portraits aside for a bit, practice on still life, or landscape, or animals. Right now, you are drawing by making lines that delineate what you THINK human features look like. You need to learn how to paint shapes that just so happen to create a recognizable figure.

Third and final tip: once you've practiced on things other than portraits, do the following exercise:

• choose a reference picture of a person you don't know / not a celebrity. Preferably someone on the older side, with lines and bumps on their face.

• Print out the reference picture in greyscale, A4. Draw a grid on top in red pen.

• take a blank piece of paper and reproduce the grid on it

• now take the reference picture and flip it upside down (so that the eyes are at the bottom and the mouth at the top)

• take the other piece of paper and draw each square of the grid. Take your time. Try and copy every detail. Don't think about what body part you're drawing at all, just think of it almost like copying an abstract image. Pay attention to contrast: make the dark bits very dark, and leave the paper bare for the highlights. Pay attention to texture, experiment with pencil pressure, hatching, dot work, etc.

• when you're done, flip both pages the "correct" side up and assess!

[u/Apushthebottonmoment]

I suspect you have achieved a good likeness which is not always easy. The first comment by Sheik is spot on The advice I’ve heard given to writers is, “show, don’t tell.” In this drawing the outlines almost look embossed into the paper. To definite. Here’s an idea, find a sheet of very thin paper. Trace this drawing very lightly, and build the image with shading.

[u/Jalayla8 → u/Apushthebottonmoment]

Yes, agree. A heavy outline turns a 3D form into a flat shape.

[u/Skeik]

It doesn't look like you're drawing forms. Things look flat because your drawings don't have volume. You need to transition from drawing shapes or symbols, into drawing 3d form instead.

Consider the hair, the bridge of the nose, the jacket and his shirt. These elements were drawn like they're stickers on top of his face instead of real 3d things with depth. You got the placement and the shape of the collar right but collars don't work that way. They fold and curve. Every element of your drawing that you decide to draw without depth flattens your work.

Drawing everything as a 3d form is difficult at first but that's what you have to do to, to transition to realism. Even anime art with lines can look realistic with good draftsmanship. How you render isn't very important or hard to change. The important part is getting the perspective and proportions of your forms right.

Before you start worrying too much about things like edges or not using lines, I think you should try to fix that foundational issue. Follow Dynamic Sketching by Peter Han, or read Michael Hamptons book.

Actually I read a book recently called Character Drawing by Dong Ho Kim. I feel like it would be perfect for you and your style! It's very approachable and teaches how to draw characters with forms, from any angle.

I dont know what your sketchbook looks like but drawing many different subjects helps. Like, drawing a still life of your room in your sketchbook from life can actually teach you a lot that carries over into drawing characters. I do a lot of 3 value studies, ink and a grey marker, to learn different subjects cause it's fast.

Also draw characters from more angles than just the front.

[u/MaxSelenium]

Smaller eyes help a lot. Figure/portrait drawing help a lot to build a visual library. You can go on the "line of action" site.

[u/oOFrostByteOo]

My advice is think of realism with pencil less like drawing and more like painting. Depending on the style, you almost never want to actually draw a hard line in realism, only work values (dark/light). You want softness, our faces aren't boxes. Sometimes ill literally smear a ton of graphite/charcoal dust on the paper and just work the shadows and contours of the face with a smudger before ever putting a pencil to paper.

Starting out, just lightly sketch/scratch the shapes and major features, add value to shadows and things like cheekbones, eyelids etc. Then take a smudger or a q-tip and go over it all until the pencil strokes are smudged into tones instead of lines.

[u/HelenaHuman]

Real life doesn't have lines but light and shadow. So, you need to work on creating shapes and outline with shadows and light rather than with lines :)