I will second this request...
I'll give you the best advice you'll ever get when it comes to art.
Do not expect to magically begin drawing perfectly <,< it will not happen. Its a long process and involves alot of practice - just like anything else <^-^> As for resources - I'm sure others can give you those (I don't use any myself <'x'>
; but I just want to encourage you to keep practicing and not be down on yourself.
You never "fall short" unless you're just being lazy in your work - practice practice practice - practice till your arms fall off - and then keep drawing with your teeth. Tis the only way to improve >.<m And *try* not to compare yourself to the art gods... <;_;> its depressing, I should know! <,<
A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.
I will make note of one book that has drastically increased my ability and understanding. The book does not just say 'here is a step by step process on how to draw a human form' and then give several pictures, etcetera. It goes into the psychology of it all, and is really quite interesting. I will say I saw a /huge/ improvement after a week of using the book, myself.
Said book is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. After numerous other books that never really got through to me, I haven't bought anything since.
I recommend "The Marvel Way to Draw Comics."
It's a very old and still very good book to learn the first steps of drawing. It focuses on a lot of the basics that people lack, or simply want to skip before moving onto the more elaborate drawings. While there are a lot of better books for learning how to draw more accurately or more realistically, I've yet to find a book that had as much A to Z as that one. Especially for those people just starting off.
http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Massacre_Melanie -the original Fire/Dark Corruptor -
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=115217
The Guide to BURN
I second the nominatio of Drawing on the Right side of the brain. Very excellent resource, really makes you rethink how you SEE... which is very important in drawing!!!
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Everything I've seen here, every piece of incredible art has just continued to make me more and more jealous of people's talent.
Does anyone know of any resource showing tricks, proportions, etc to drawing people? I've tried on my own to replicate some basic things, but I constantly fall short, especially on faces.
Tutorials, resources, etc. I'll take any of them.
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There two real important things that most practiced artist will agree upon.
First: learn the basics. That is, learn the use of line, light and shade. Understand perspective for making the illusion of a 3 dimensional space on a 2-D surface. Learn direction forces, the way the image draws a viewer's eyes around the page. Do life studies, draw people in various poses to get a better understanding of how the body works.
If you can, I would do what Rowr is doing and take a class or two. But all good artists have learned those things regardless of whether they are self-taught of if they went to school.
Second: practice, practice, practice. Even if what you are doing is going well, keep going. And, above all, learn from your mistakes.
Finally, many artists agree on this fine book: [u]Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain[u] by Betty Edwards. It's a very good book that helps you train eye to hand coordination for drawing, among other things.
There is one other thing: Do not be offened by critiques that tell you what's wrong with your picture and how to fix it. Critiques like that aren't meant to make you feel bad, but are inteneded to help one grow as an artist.
When you take an art class, your teacher will very likely have everyone critique each other's work. This helps a student see the flaws in works so that they can better see the flaws in their own works.
Anyway, good luck!
Aye, art class be good! Even if your professor is absurdly picky and you don't understand the reasoning behind his critiques!! 
I have had luck with several of Christorpher Hart books (he has an entire line), this web page is great for faces www.sierravista.wuhsd.k12.ca.us/basicart/faces.htm, and well as many tutorials online about inking coloring etc (although I do not have those pages at my fingertips sorry).
Other than that practice, I have definately seen improvement since I had to currage to post here to get critisism, imput, and push myself to practice.
As has been stated get the base first!!! I will often completely ignor the chars picture other than basic body type. I spend at least 2/3 of my time getting the basic form/potition right before adding any detail.
Learning to draw superheroes and learning to draw real life are two very different topics in my opinon. The former requires imagination, something you don't need to bring to real life, because all the details are spelled out for you... and I'm not talking about color theory because that too is subjective.
There are plenty of sites out there that have online drawing communities which help beginners, and I believe these require an almost "second job" thinking if you are gonna push yourself to become better.
That said, I'll state it again as a personal choice, if you "add" manga thinking to your everyday drawing, not as a substitute, but as an addition, it can only help your story telling ability. *
There is no substitute or shortcut for drawing for real life, you just have to do it.
While many sites offer great tutorials, it can't beat having feedback for your mistakes, or inspiration for your hopes. My advice is to check out some art sites, they usually have seperate forums for drawing, figure work, and or illustration.
When I use to moderate at Wet Canvas, we started a weekly art event to get people motivated and in practice. It is now an entire forum unto itself, so I'm quite happy to have been the father of that. However those events were geared towards mid level abilities that were stagnating. WC also offers a lot of great threads on learning, but whoa you'd have to cypher through all the kerrrap like on any site.
If you want some industry inspiration, check out the sketchbook threads on Concept Art.Org. Also if you can find the Andrew Loomis books, they seem to be popular with beginners...
In my search for that, I found this... scroll down to the Fine Arts section and click on the drawing links.
Hope that helps...
LJ
* note to those who want to take up the anime vs realism arguement, not why I said what I said...
Yes. Learn to draw from LIFE! People! Objects! All that. Don't try to jump into drawing Anime, superheroes, comics etc. You must learn to draw from life! Then you will be able to exaggerate features and such properly and have it still look good! *nods* That's why I"m taking an arty art class. 
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Yes. Learn to draw from LIFE! People! Objects! All that. Don't try to jump into drawing Anime, superheroes, comics etc. You must learn to draw from life! Then you will be able to exaggerate features and such properly and have it still look good! *nods* That's why I"m taking an arty art class.
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...brief and to the point. in essence nails it square on the head. I agree completely.~
...the sword is truth...
~whiteperegrine~
Also recommend "Drawing Comics The Marvel Way." Good beginner stuff and some good tips throughout.
Thanks for the tips guys. I'll go take a look at those books.
I've taken numerous art classes, but unfortunatly none on the human form. I find myself trying to draw just the outline for the face about 20 times before I'm even moderately happy =\
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I've taken numerous art classes, but unfortunatly none on the human form. I find myself trying to draw just the outline for the face about 20 times before I'm even moderately happy =\
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That's good. But remember to look back at those 20 sketchs and study them to see -why- they aren't good. Compare them to similar poses from other artists to see what maybe you missed.
But as others have said, learn the basics first and learn to draw from real life. Every single style whether anime, superhero, or what have you all comes from a foundation of real life. Stuff in particular you -need- to learn is anatomy, foreshortening, perspective, and when -not- to draw something but leave it implied.
The eraser is my best friend.
Everything I've seen here, every piece of incredible art has just continued to make me more and more jealous of people's talent.
Does anyone know of any resource showing tricks, proportions, etc to drawing people? I've tried on my own to replicate some basic things, but I constantly fall short, especially on faces.
Tutorials, resources, etc. I'll take any of them.