Hi. I'm going to be posting some of my fanart in a little while (once I can find it/create some new stuff). This thread is more along the lines of how to create good anime/anime-style drawings, and discussing how different people do their fanart.
Most of my "good" drawings are based off of pre-done drawings by another person that I actually look at while I'm drawing, to keep a constant boundary to which I can understand how each important feature should be drawn. Like, if I need to draw a good eye, I try to find a drawing of an eye. Often, I will just take something like a card (a small playing card that I have lying around), and enlarge it 10x, while modifying the look to what I want. Now, when doing this, would you consider this to still be a real piece of art? (I mean, lol... it's not tracing... but it isn't exactly 100% my imagination mixed with drawing skills).
Anyways, I'd like to hear how you guys do your drawings (any neat tricks or things you've learned), and if there is anywhere you actually visit to learn how to draw anime better.