I used to draw, and my trick was practicing the same shapes (ideas) over and over. It never worked, but then again, that's probably why I turned to writing...



Good luck!

Ooh, good topic! I haven't done much pencil-shading for ages, but I'll have a go...



It really varies depending on how complicated the picture is, and how used you are to drawing that particular thing. Before I put the last little bits on a picture I try and leave it for a few hours or a day, then come back and look for mistakes.



If a sketch is giving me problems I do the same thing Pat mentioned, and draw a tiny version to figure out what goes where. This is good for poses etc. As for outlining, as I remember I did it very, very slowly with a good rubber to hand. 



I suppose it depends on the stage the picture's at. Spotting a major mistake right at the end is awful, but if it's still in the sketchy stage it can usually be worked out. Of course, these days there's always the magic of Photoshop if things get really bad...



Mechanical pencils (not sure how hard) for sketching and possibly outlining -- they don't need sharpening and give a nice thin line, and you don't end up with fingerprints everywhere. For shading, anything above a 2B -- the softer the lead, the darker the shading.



Usually, I draw in a circle and keep going round 'til it looks fairly even. If you need really accurate circles it's probably best to use a compass.


Useful Simpson-drawing stuff can be found in SFFC's Creative Pencil, including a few reference sheets from a Simpsons animator (Morpheus306).


One more thing: I'm not sure how many people already do this, but it's been invaluable to me ever since I started drawing. At regular intervals, turn your paper around and hold it up to the light so you see a mirror image of your drawing. You'll see it the way a new viewer would, and mistakes are much more likely to leap out.

Thanks for all the replys. Greatly appreciated and they have helped me spot a few problems in my drawing equipment/abilities

I think I know what my problems are.

I think its because I rush my drawings and I usually pick difficult angles for my drawings. I also make my drawings to small so its harder to add the details in. Im also using a 6H/5H pencil so I think this is making it harder for me to draw nice light construction lines since 6H I think is softer. I usually finish a drawing an about 30 minutes, and my mistakes still bother me but I dont want to rub out incase I do more damage than good. Yeh I think I need new rubbers/pencils, a bit more patience and I need to start drawing bigger.

Beb that link you gave me was very handy, thank you

 Pshah, anyone can draw as much as anyone can write. Well, almost. If the matter is how good or how bad, it's very subective and a lot of parameters are added to the final resolution wether you "can" or "cannot" draw.
In few words, you must ask yourself a couple things, like... doy ou want to learn or be able to "copy" some other artist or style? Or do yo uwant to use your own?
Do you feel more like a crafty, detailed artist or an animator, simple sketches with less lines for the best effect? or, if you dont know how to answer, i guess yo ushould just see where your heart goes
Anyway for the questions.

Well i measure my level of "good" basing on the tiem i spent on the picture. I cna be happy with a 10 minutes scribble, although it happens rarely. But more realistically, i'd say that a good penciled picture with a hint of background, more than one character and maybe soem hard perspective takes me from 6 to 10 hours to pencil in.
The fact is, i dont always completely pencil in a picture, so i can "stop" the pencil work sooner, i'll explain later.
 I do all my retracing in Photoshop using an optical tablet. Usually, when i’m finished with a pencil sketch, i don’t touch it any further, and do all necessary retouching and retracing in digital way.
Depends on the complexity of the picture, but i retrace freehand a couple of times (one for bigger lines, one for more thin details), and then i trace one final time using vectors, so to lay down the inks for the coloring.
They are my hell, and the main reason why i almost stopped drawing. I’m a perfectionist and one simple mistake, if it gets me while i am a bad mood, can bring me to destroy a pic that would be overall good. I just cannot accept them, even though i know they’re unevitable. Sometimes i manage to jsut let the picture alone for a day or so and next day... i hate it even more and i can it
I’m very eas to please, but when it comes to my stuff... :\ but it’s wrong, very wrong.
Well i dont give much importance to that. My favourite is mechanical HB 0.5, but i use also mechanical 4H 0.7 for constructions and wodden 2B for some shading and or heavy lines. but 90% is HB.
I stay as light as i can on the pencil (better if it is a 2H or more) and do many quick circles without ever lifting the pencil from the sheet. after 6-10 circles, the “interpolation” of all those lines produces a fairly good circle, that i can trace with a bit more heavy hand.
mostly though it’s a matter of practice. when i’m bored or waiting for inspiration for a pic i just draw circles all over a scrap sheet. After years of drawing, sometimes i can even do a good circle in just two passes. Ah, if only the Simpsons were just circles

if you want to use construction, then start from the bases and draw EVERY construction line that  you can use. compare lenghts, draw skeletons, draw circles for everycing, cylinder for arms and so on. The picture will be incredibly crowded and possibly impossible to understand what’s going on, but with time and practice, you will be needing less and less “construction aides”, and in the end you’ll just use a couple or three plus a couple of lines for movement.
Sizes wrong, it’s a matter of learning, don’t be afraid to learn “dissecting” other artist’s picture. find one that comes close to your idea of good proportions, or better, an official one. printi it, or open it up in photoshop, and try to guess the construction lines drawing them over the character. then take another sheet and draw construction first, trying to replicate the character.
Choose simple poses at first, characters standing and so on. Don’t get perspective involved.

The mouths are easy, once you’ve learned to think about them in 3D, they give sense of depth to the entire head: evne here i suggest you to look at a lot of official pics and see how it goes.
Lisa’s hair is an acquired taste i made a tutorial once about it, but it was quite complex.
It’s a bit of everything. Kneadable easers are good to clean out light sketches, but get good hardy white eraser for the more “rubbery” pencil. Avoid at al lcosts to rub the sheet with the side of your hand... the lightest sweat can make the pencil humid and hell to erase, when you won’t smudge it all over.
As for retracing, the method of transparent sheet is good, but i prefer to do it with optical tablet. When imho a paper sketch reaches the level where i did everything and any more line-erasing would make it more messy, i stop, scan, and work on it digitally.
Of course you need an optic tablet for this. They’re not too expensive anymore and if you really want to learn to draw imo it’s a very handy tool. If you want to get one, get Wacom, dont bother with cheaper brands, they usually have poor sensibility and they need batteries that increase the weight and off balanceness of the pencil.
Don’t throw them away.. put them away. You never know
Can’t search for any at the moment, but when i’ll be home i’ll ee what i can dig up.
Practice, practice!