questions about Drawing Traditional Style

[durtyxsanchezz]

Hey guys sorry if theres already a thread bout this, i couldnt find it if there was but feel free to let me know where it is and ill delete this post,

but i have really got into American Traditional style and was wondering if anybody has any good pointers about drawing things in a traditional style..

for example, anybody can look at a horse head or a rose outside, but what are some key points in making things look more traditional?..

I dont want to have to keep looking at other artists flash, i want to be able to look at something at know what key points i could use that would help me give it a more traditional look rather than realistic.. thanks guys, Happy New Years!

[JackJukatt]

Hey, something I sort of know about! I can make my first post for you, get out the velvet ropes and holy water!

I know you say you don't want to have to keep looking at flash, but that seems like a sure way to grow an understanding of how it works. Redrawing someone's art isn't just about replicating, it's about observing more closely than you would by simply looking at something. If you copy a lot of flash art (or any style) and then compare it to your own attempts you'll eventually start to understand why certain things work and others don't (a lot of things like that aren't so easy to articulate, which is why there's no substitute for drawing tons to get better). Wood-cuts and blockprints and stuff like that are other forms you might benefit from copying too, since they use minimal shapes to indicate an image as well. Of course, I'm not a tattoo artists or anything I just like to draw, but I'm willing to bet that most of the tattoo artists here started out trying to draw tons of tattoos in the style that captivated them.

[durtyxsanchezz]

Thanks buddy, man for the past 3 months all ive been doing when i havnt been tattooing at the shop is looking at, drawing, and studying the old school flash.. im trying to get the basics of drawing trad. down without overly "copying" other artists flash... i saw something somebody posted about if you look at an object and get the anatomy of it correct than you can then apply what you know and it should turn out halfway decent haha

[pioneer]

Studying someones art is a great way to understand the concepts. With American traditional there are certain features to them with basic colors and black also with bold outlines to create the art but on a design concept that is on the artist and their own unique qualities.