Is it bad to learn to draw anime as your first form of drawing?

it may not be good to use Anime/ animation or Manga / comics as all around style to start with, but it is ok to use that style as part of a whole, if you want to learn more about drawing or painting all things, then real subjects would be a better contribute to understanding real objects, and allow you to redesign features from there, then Anime and other conceptual designs can be combined , and your own style can be created as you go, So real items around you home and town may be better to start with, people, buildings, trees, ... re-drawing Animation characters can be added within content when you find necessary, Human proportions http://www.realcolorwheel.com/human.htm Perspective drawing http://www.artyfactory.com/perspective_drawing/perspective_3.htm DELETER Manga Shop http://deleter-mangashop.com/index_en_usd_14.html Anime Studio - 2D Animation Software http://anime.smithmicro.com/index.php ..

Anime and manga are simplified from real life figures. And even though for some of those which are not really following a real human proportions , they master the perspective , gesture and flow of a human figure. E.g : Code Geass's characters. Everyone has different styles , no matter how the character is , if it somewhat looks right and feels right , it's always acceptable.

No, it's not bad. If you have an interest in it, that will help to keep you drawing. Also if you watch alot of anime or read alot of manga, you'll have noticed that the artists tend to mix styles, from more realistic styles, to caricature, to pure cartoony (chibi type representations). Ofcourse traditional western figure drawing (as in the almost photographic type drawing) will give you a very good feel for the nature(shape, structure, proportions, texture) of subjects. Cartoons and manga give you a good feel for expressiveness and natural movement (even though the characters may not have natural proportions, the sense of movement must be natural if the viewer is to be able to see the character as a humanbeing/animal/whatever). I think most artists much as they concentrate on a particular form (or maybe two), try their hand at more, or atleast draw inspiration and learn from other forms. Of all the cartoonists and comic artists I know of, I can't think of a single who hasn't made some figure drawings in their life. Anyway, got a little waylaid there. But back to your question. No, it's not bad. And if you choose to do that, you'll still probably find yourself experimenting with other forms before long if you expect to improve.

When you are first learning to make art, whether it is drawing, painting, sculpture, or anything else, you should concentrate on what you find most interesting. If you spend all of your time learning what others say you should learn, it will start to feel like a chore, rather than something you enjoy. As you get better at drawing manga, you will naturally figure out what you want to learn next. It may be better proportion, composition, or use of color and shading. As long as you remember to keep things fun, and push yourself a little bit at a time to learn new things, you can become a good all around artist.

although a lot of anime/manga doesn't have proper proportions (ie. longer limbs) quite a few have close to proper proportions when it comes to the face (although not the kind with the big eyes...) I had an art teacher once say that that was a perfect way to start though because it helps with detail in the clothing and such and is a great way to start out if you want to do art for comics or cartoons

I started drawing as my first form of drawing and now I'm quite good at it-if you want to be a good artist you should be able to draw all types of drawings-e.g. gothic style, which has quite exaggerated proportion as in narrow lanky limbs etc. or disney/anime... Anyway what I'm trying to say is that anime is a good way to start drawing.