Drawing skills?

[infinitylsx]

Hey everyone,

I'm new here and I am just beginning to venture into the beautiful style which is pixel art. I aspire to be a great pixel artist and I find much motivation around this forum. Though I was curious, must I improve my actual drawing skills to improve greatly as a pixel artist?

I do enjoy drawing and wish to get better, but should I prioritize that over pixel art? Is it necessary to make great works? As a beginner I can't tell if the reason I can't make a tree is because I simply lack the knowledge and know-how to be able to do it; or am I supposed to be good at drawing and draw a template first?

Regards,
Infinity~

[PartyFish]

You will learn as you work with pixel art 

I can't draw for shit when it comes to actual drawing but I still started drawing with pixels. I am still just a beginner and I have problems with lightning for example and alot of other basic things that experienced pixel artists can point out and correct immediately.

In my opinion you don't need any experience from drawing other stuff, as you will learn and progress with pixel art.

For your tree problem I suggest that you look up other peoples drawings and works and try to learn from that, That's what I always do. And of course get help from this forum 

I wish you good luck and all the best 

[MysteryMeat]

I'm of the EXACT opposite opinion, having learned to draw in pixels before properly learning to draw at normal resolutions.
It is VERY important to get the base knowledge for how to draw down before you start going for specific stylization, as I've learned. The more aware you are of anatomy, the better you're able to succeed when you reduce and exaggerate it like cartoonistry and pixel art requires.

I highly recommend starting with the Andrew Loomis guides, Fun with a Pencil is an excellent starting point. If you google him, you'll probably find resources from him pretty fast.
I also recommend doing figure/gesture drawing, which is a practice technique that forces you to get fast and loose with your poses so everything is more fluid and dynamic. It's a great starting point for art practice, and there's several websites devoted to the practice, like my personal choise Quickposes.com which describes the reasons for doing it and HOW to do it better than I can here: http://www.quickposes.com/tutorials
 
Good luck, and stay on it! It's a long process, but not nearly as intimidating as that time investment or all the complaining us artist types would have you believe with the internet at our disposals.

[infinitylsx]

You will learn as you work with pixel art 

I can't draw for shit when it comes to actual drawing but I still started drawing with pixels. I am still just a beginner and I have problems with lightning for example and alot of other basic things that experienced pixel artists can point out and correct immediately.

In my opinion you don't need any experience from drawing other stuff, as you will learn and progress with pixel art.

For your tree problem I suggest that you look up other peoples drawings and works and try to learn from that, That's what I always do. And of course get help from this forum 

I wish you good luck and all the best 

I'm of the EXACT opposite opinion, having learned to draw in pixels before properly learning to draw at normal resolutions.
It is VERY important to get the base knowledge for how to draw down before you start going for specific stylization, as I've learned. The more aware you are of anatomy, the better you're able to succeed when you reduce and exaggerate it like cartoonistry and pixel art requires.

I highly recommend starting with the Andrew Loomis guides, Fun with a Pencil is an excellent starting point. If you google him, you'll probably find resources from him pretty fast.
I also recommend doing figure/gesture drawing, which is a practice technique that forces you to get fast and loose with your poses so everything is more fluid and dynamic. It's a great starting point for art practice, and there's several websites devoted to the practice, like my personal choise Quickposes.com which describes the reasons for doing it and HOW to do it better than I can here: http://www.quickposes.com/tutorials
 
Good luck, and stay on it! It's a long process, but not nearly as intimidating as that time investment or all the complaining us artist types would have you believe with the internet at our disposals.

Thanks to both of you for your take on this. It's not that I believe pixel art is impossible to be good at without being a talented artist, but I was more concerned that it's necessary to not have a huge struggle at first. I'll continue practicing both and hopefully I'll improve each at the same time!