/a/ Draw Threads

/a/ Draw Threads
-Introduction
--What are the /a/ Drawing threads:
These threads are for those of us that can't even draw a straight line. We that can't put into paper what we're seeing in front of our eyes. These threads should hopefully be of huge benefit to /a/, just like the Daily Japanese Thread, as it'll lead up to more OC and happy /a/nons.
--What time do they start:
1pm 4chan Time
--Why on /a/:
Its a way for /a/nons to practice drawing their waifus and other anime related pictures without being judged by others.
What to remember:
You wont be drawing like you are the artist from a Makoto Shinkai film at first, the important thing is to keep practising every day for as long as you have time for.

-Lesson #0: Materials (http://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/66402903/)
So, let's start a step at a time.
Before we begin drawing our waifus and whatnot, we need the skills. And those skills are acquired by practice. And to practice you need materials for it.

--MUST HAVE MATERIALS:
Either:
• #4B Pencil or just an ordinary number 2 pencil.
• An eraser, such a "Pink Pearl" or a white plastic eraser
• A pencil sharpener—a small, hand-held sharpener is fine
• Some paper
Or:
• A tablet, if you have one already or cash to burn

--OPTIONAL MATERIALS:
These arent necessary but can help your drawing
You will need a piece of clear plastic, about 8" x 10" and about
1/16" thick. A piece of glass is fine, but the edges must be taped.
Use a permanent marker to draw two crosshairs on the plastic,
a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing at the center of
the plane. (See the sketch in the margin.)
• Also, you will need two "viewfinders," made of black cardboard
about 8" x 10". From one, cut a rectangular opening of
4+1/4" x 5+1/4" and from the other, cut out a larger opening of 6" x
7+5/8". See Figure 2-1.
• A nonpermanent black felt-tip marker
• Two clips to fasten your viewfinders to the plastic picture
plane
• A "graphite stick," #4B, available at most art supply stores
• Some masking tape

--MAKING A VIEWFINDER
A viewfinder is a perceptual aid that will help you to perceive negative spaces by establishing
an edge to the space around forms.
1. Take a sheet of paper or use thin cardboard of the same size as the paper you use for drawing. The viewfinder must be the same format, that is, the same proportional shape, as the paper you are using to draw on.
2. Draw diagonal lines from opposite corners, crossing in the center. In the center of the paper, draw a small rectangle by connecting horizontal and vertical lines at points on the diagonals. The rectangle should be about 1 x 1/4". (See Figure 2-1.(http://i.imgur.com/QEK6W.png)) Constructed this way, the inner rectangle has the same proportion of length to width as the outer edges of the paper.
3. Next, cut the small rectangle out of the center with scissors. Hold the paper up and compare the
shape of the small opening with the shape of the whole format. You can see that the two shapes are the same, and only the size is different. This perceptual aid is called a viewfinder. It will help you to perceive negative spaces by establishing an edge.

--RECOMMENDED PROGRAMS
--Photoshop (https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html, $699, 30 day free trial)
The pirates favourite, photoshop is the most popular image editing software for professionals world-wide[Citation needed]. If you are willing to pay a hefty fee or just go to the pirate bay photoshop will give you a good all round package with the advantage of having a large tutorial base to fall back on, the filters are pretty nifty too.
--GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/, Free)
The gnu photoshop clone, while it is catching up with the for profit software it still lacks features that photoshop has. Only use if you enjoy freedom or don't want the bloat of photoshop.
---PaintTool SAI (http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/, 5250 JPY, 31 day free trial)
A Japanese program, with english translation, that is focused more on art that digital manipulation, this makes it a lot smaller than photoshop while still holding its own in the art department. It probably has the best brush customization and usability out of all the mainstream art programs so if you can survive with a smaller filter library it is probably the best choice. NOTE: There is no reason to restrict yourself to one program, use which ever program is easiest and gives the best results for a task.

--RECOMMENDED READING
If you are one of those people who likes to have a book to study while you try and learn a hobby try one of these:
---Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards.
While it IS full of gibberish, it's a great book for starters, because you can see some development in just a few days. NOTE: Lots of what we are doing at the beginning is from this book, so it you want to be ahead of the game its probably a good choice.
---Fun With A Pencil, by Andrew Loomis (http://www.slideshare.net/ratoilustracao/andrew-loomis-funwithapencil)
"I would recommend everyone start with this book as a starting point. It's the basics without the professional intensity." -anon
NOTE: Andrew Loomis has also produced other books on the drawing of cartoon that are worth checking out, such as Drawing the Head and Hands which is helpful if you need a more specialised book.