Why don't you go turn on the tv or blast your favorite rock music, and maybe obtain some snackage because this is gonna be a long (but useful) journal entry. I've been drawing pretty much since I can remember....you'd think I'd be way good by then huh? Anyways, a lot of what I learned about drawing was entirely self-taught. I took a couple of art classes in high school, but they only reinforced what I alread knew. :3 Everyone has been so awesome with their encouraging comments and critique, and even the favorites are rolling in at a steady rate, so it's only fair that I give back right? I present to you muh knowledge:

GENERAL DRAWING TIPS
*I know people run this one into the ground, but it's absolutely true. You might be tired of being told this by your art teachers, but practice practice PRACTICE!!! You can read up anatomy and color theory all you want to, but it doesn't mean crap if you don't practice often enough to learn how to apply it.

*You ever have one of those days where you can't draw for anything? Hooray! You're normal now! Even professional artists will sometimes experience an "off day" or two, so don't force anything. It only leads to frustration. Find something else to do for a while. Drawing should be a stress outlet, not a creator!

*Halfway through a project, or are you nearly finished but can't figure out what else needs to be done? Take a break for a few days. Don't even THINK about your project! Examine your drawing after a while, and hopefully your mind (and eyes) will be refreshed enough to be able to pick out what needs to be done. When working on something for huge amounts of time, your eyes adapt to what your working on and your brain ignores any errors you may have made. These mind tricks make taking breaks essential!

*If you're just learning how to paint watercolors or shade with pencils or whatever, then there isn't a need to fork out a lot of money for expensive supplies. There are nice student grade supplies that'll do ya just fine until you've obtained a mastery of what you're trying to do.

DRAWING FROM A REFERENCE
*The law of the land (dA, which isn't reflecting on any admin, mind you, just what I've observed) seems to be "You used a reference? Hey, that's fine because you have 125534476689476574 pageviews!...You only have 30 pageviews! HOW DARE YOU BLATANTLY CHEAT LIKE THAT YOU LIAR!!!!" See how silly that sounds? Even the great masters used references. If they can use them, you can too!

*You better hold onto your britches and don't piss in 'em (lol, Cid Highwind)! What I'm about to say is mad crazy. GRIDDING AND TRACING ARE NOT FORMS OF "CHEATING" WHEN APPLIED AS TOOLS, NOT CRUTCHES! Here's an example for using tracing: I decided to draw a picture of L. Lawliet from the Death Note movie but was having issues picking out the outline. I took a piece of tracing paper and applied it to the reference, then I proceeded to trace the outline, picking up on only the essential characteristics. When I removed the paper, I had myself a nice lineart that looked like L! Cool! :3 Afterwards, I got myself a sheet of cartridge paper and studied the traced lineart very closely. Once I became familiar with it I then started to draw the outline freehanded on the cartridge paper. By choosing to trace like I did, I eliminated all of the details from the reference I was getting caught up on and forced myself to only see the necessary outline for my drawing. By drawing the outline freehanded on a different sheet of paper, not only did I practice my skillz, I also can say I DID draw the picture and I DIDN'T cheat! See how that works? No rules, only tools. XD

*Sometimes I'll turn the reference upside down and proceed to draw a silhouette of the subject, paying very close attention to the curves and angles of it. Once I'm pleased with the drawing, I then fill in all of the subject's details inside the silhouette. Not only is this a good way to help you fit a drawing onto the page (it helps me, anyway), it also makes you "see" the reference in a different way that kind of forces you to pay closer attention to it.

*There's nothing wrong with wanting to use a reference of Balthier or Gackt, but DO NOT SELL THE DRAWINGS! The fact of the matter is, while you may not see anything wrong with it, you're making money off of somebody else's idea. That's not cool.

DRAWING ANIME/MANGA
*Art teachers aren't particularly fond of you guys, but from what I've observed, they have good reason to be. You may not realize it, but some of you don't treat your teachers very well when you can't draw your favorite manga style in class. Chances are, your poor teachers don't have anything against you personally and they only want to help you. By being rude and argumentative, you're only holding yourself back.

*Learn to draw realistically at some point in time! It'll help your anime/manga skills immensely! Don't believe me? Find some of your favorite dA anime/manga artists and ask them. They'll probably tell you the same thing. :3

*Here's a challenge: for every anime/manga drawing you do, create a realistic one. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised at how quickly you improve in both styles.

Well, good luck you guys! I hope you found something relatively useful in this post. ^^ Feel free to suggest anything I need to add or if you need further clarification on something.