how do you make art with dyscalculia?

tbh ive never really used any kind of "math" to do art, what i do is just draw from what i see and even if i think about it hard.. its not fully math that is used in art but more just geometry and symmetry 

do you use a lot of references for your art or do you simply go for it and then try and figure it out? because what might help you get a better feel for how it all works is to just sketch out forms over a photograph, just to feel out the shapes of a body and faces. also dont fear completely redoing parts of your art even after lines are already done. if something looks wonky to you just play around with it till it feels more "right" to you!

i do use references (at least for the first 2) and i sketch the proportions on the ref too 

I've never personally had my math disability affect my artwork. I guess I don't connect the two? 

I've never had to use math when drawing. I know tutorials like to preach about proportions and measurements, but a lot of people figure out how to draw well without it. Just use your eye and judge by what looks good, and make sure to use references (what helps me specifically is referencing/practicing how other artists stylize their art instead of using real life references all the time).

As someone who (might) have something close to discalculia/dyslexia, i can relate! ,Especially with references, and most, if not all of the tutorials ive looked up have never helped me because i cant predict where a certain body part will be, or look like. I cant use stuff like feet or meters (or whatever the hell artists use nowadays/before) when drawing because i missed alot of that due to me just not understanding math at all and not being properly taught, but i dont really see it as a requirement. Same with those super complex head/body mesurement "hacks" that you see on tiktok/youtube where people use mathematical formulas to make a single head. It might work for some, but its absolutely horrible for people who dont understand measurements.

But honestly the best advice i can give is just to use references, BUT, dont copy them 1-1. Instead of just ramming head first into the thing your referencing, study the body parts that make up the reference. Break it down into simpler parts so you can put it on paper with your own style. (if that makes sense? hopefully im not being too brief). You can use the line of action method, but what i usually do (which might not be the best method with certain poses, but you can try it yourself anyways if it works for you!), draw out blobs of colour seperating each body part (like a silhouette) on the reference image, moving that sillouette next to the reference, and then trace over that silouette and eyeing the reference instead (like this for example). It helps me alot, especially with more complex poses that are harder to draw (like if the arm is hidden in the back, or if the outfit the person is wearing is black, or merging with other parts).

Consider the visual relationships between what you're drawing. I look at pictures and study what aligns with what. If I draw a line from the corner of the mouth up to the eye, it should hit about the middle of the eye, whereas the corners of the nose hit the corners of the eyes. If I drag a head to be over the torso, I know about how big it should be in relation to that torso and use that to check my work. I know an open hand should be about the size of the face. Everything in an image is related to everything else-- don't count out number of heads or try to perfectly measure, draw literal lines between parts if you must. But measuring the image against itself is your best bet imo.

This is a real life-drawing technique and the one most promoted in my personal art education. You'll learn best if you start from reference with this technique so you can understand what the relationships between given parts should look like and apply that knowledge to drawing from the imagination.

i usually measure images against what im drawing when im using references (which is like a lot of the time), but i also sometimes just.. measure by saying "how many times does this part fit into this other part?" when im drawing from a picture on mobile & doing trad art. 

I never though the two could be even related but it makes so much sense to me now? In my family we pretty much all draw except my youngest sister (It's not that she doesn't want to draw, she legitimately struggle with it a lot) and she is the only one diagnosed with dyscalculia. I'll be sure to keep any suggestions presented her to help her next time we do art-related activity with her so she has a better time! (it probably suck major time for her to be the odd one out not drawing TToTT)

I have dyscalculia but that's never really been an issue for me