#3) i'm pretty much a sketchbook artist these days so having a place to put stuff online for track-keeping isn't as important

[morecrearty]

high-key thinking about coming back to tumgle after all this time

[snailythefan]

Hi Snaily! How have you been? Im here for a pretty serious ask.

My boyfriend has been drawing for a while, I honestly think he's doing real good. But recently he's been feeling down about his art, he doesn't know why he should bother improving his art if his style is *basic* to some people, and it hurts a lot for him. He knows he should be drawing for fun and not force improvement to stress him out, but there's only so much I can do as his loving partner who doesn't draw at all.

So... what was it like for you, Snaily? When you started drawing many years back, how did you not feel like shit looking at how it could be better but you don't know how? What advice can you give to a beginner artist?

(You can answer this privately if you want btw, and ask me for his art if you need to see them. Much love <3)

hi peng!! always nice to hear from u! I'm gonna reply to this publicly because to be honest i can't resist to give this kind of advice to any and all beginner artists (but i am putting it under a readmore because as you know i love to ramble and this will get LOOONNNGGG and will Truly be The Ramblings of a Mad Man (gender neutral))

firstly, since I hear that he feels hurt by the idea that people out there might find his style "basic". That's a rookie mistake (that literally everyone makes when they start getting Serious about Art). The mistake being Caring Profoundly About an Outside Audience that's Ever Watching and Judging.

Which I literally cannot blame him or anyone for it, ESPECIALLY in this modern social media landscape where newer artists feel like they gotta get GOOD at the VIRAL RAT RACE so you gotta get that sweet, sweet validation in the form of likes, reblogs, retweets etc etc.

So that's my first tip I suppose: don't fall for the entrapment of being obsessed with getting any and all sorts of SWEET VALIDATION during your art process. This is hard to condition yourself to! I myself fall prone to it! It's actually kind of natural. Even if the validation you seek isn't online, surely you're expecting it from your peers or teachers or family members or whoever gets to look at your sketchbook (or you know, your medium of choice).

You want people to notice your art and all the effort you put into it. It's okay! DO welcome those who do!! But never NEVERRRRRR NEVERRRRRR commit the mistake of placing the value of your art on how much praise it gets from others. That's a one trip road on having an Absolute Bad Time. THE ONLY PERSON you should be looking to make happy with your art is YOURSELF first and foremost!!! Always!!! This is the Golden Rule!!!

So people (imagined or otherwise) think his style is """Basic""". Okay! That's literally not a crime anyone can arrest you for!! So what if you're LITERALLY starting and your art looks """basic"""!!!!!!! WHAT IS THE CRIME HERE!!!! CAN'T MY MAN JUST CREATE IN PEACE!!!! LET HIM COOK!!!!!

If he's starting out, i think it's pretty expected of him to just have a "basic" style you know? He shouldn't be ashamed of it! The best chef in the entire world right now didn't start making The Most Delicious Food To Ever Grace Anyone's Plate on DAY 1. They probably started with a goshdang sandwich. Many of them maybe. Until they could make the Perfect Sandwich even in their Sleep and only until then they felt ready enough to explore Further Possibilities In The Kitchen.

(Is this metaphor working? I sure hope it is!)

Anyway.

"How did you not feel like shit looking at how it could be better but you don't know how?"

Well that's a fun question because to this day I get extremely frustrated whenever I realize my Art Level isn't up to my standards. But THAT'S OKAY- even in my case!

If you're Serious About Art (as in, you LOVE making art) you'll constantly feel like you're having to catch up to artists that are doing MILES better than you. Which happens to everyone. Truly it's only the curse of having A Good Taste In Art (so you automatically Set Standards For Yourself based on what you personally consider Great Art).

So again, something to not be ashamed of. But also something to Learn To Live with. I get it!! I truly do!! You see some guy online who apparently is only 14 and they're already making compositions with complex perspectives and an amazing sense of color theory and you'll want to bite off your hands!!!! But you can't let that stop you!!

You're just gonna have to learn to Fail, Constantly. Failing Gracefully! Sucking At Art Again and Again!

You might think this conflicts with the Golden Rule (i mean, if you're not happy with your own art- then what's the point yeah?)

But it's all about Love babey. Loving the process of failing constantly, because deep down you REALIZE you're learning how not to suck little by little.

It's also an exercise in letting Spite guide you. So what if you're bad!!!!!! What if you've somehow committed the crime of being A Bad Artist!!!!!! The cops will never catch me fucker!!!!! SEE HOW I DESECRATE THE HOLY ACT OF "CREATING GOOD ART" AHAHAHAHA!!!! LITERALLY NOBODY CAN STOP ME!!!!! <- the attitude to Have. Yes you gotta be prepared to be Unhinged and to have active Disdain towards 4th Plane Entities that are probably judging your art quality. (Unless my experiences aren't universal and nobody else feels a salacious self-satisfaction whenever they draw something that looks like an affront to The Universe, knowing they can just Try Again).

Anyway those are the benefits of sprinkling a little Spite alongside all the Love for the process of Making Art.

At the start you might feel like you're only making bad art. So! Own it! unironically my life philosophy is that everyone should make more BAD ART!!! ARTISTS OF THE WORLD UNITE TO MAKE MORE BAD ART, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS!

that's for the mental approach at least.

So, what about the technical side? How do you actually take all those feelings of inadequacy and wrangle them into something productive that will help YOU get better at the art you want to make?

with the warning that i am a self taught artist so i might not the the perfect person to ask, but truly the most IMPORTANT skill you want to hone is OBSERVATION and COPYING WHAT YOU OBSERVE.

Basically you're gonna study the artists you like! You're gonna stare REAL HARD at the details in the art they make! And THEN. You're gonna try to copy THAT! Hell, you might even want to TRACE what they do at first** (**THIS ADVICE IS FOR PRACTICING. DO NOT TRACE AND THEN POST ONLINE FOR OTHERS TO GO "hey man wtf this is just you tracing X Artist" DO NOT!!! DO THAT!!!) just so you get a feel for what they have in their art that You Don't and learning how to slowly replicate that.

That's how I learned the ropes at least. Literally printing manga panels and then tracing over them during my Peak Weeb Years. Ah little snaily, how time flies. Another thing i liked to do was watch speedpaints of artists i liked but at like -2x speed. So it was a slowpaint and i could STEAL THEIR SECRETS <- another valuable art skill

Anyway, that's what I think it's the most important (to observe!)

...but also you might want to either take art classes OR watch a buuuuunch of tutorials on youtube for The Basics (basic anatomy! shading! values! color theory! perspective! gesture drawing!!!)

You feel like shit about your art? Fine! Then realize your life is your own and you have the absolute power to change that directly!! GO ON YOUTUBE AND LEARN THOSE BASICS!!!!!! don't be like me and struggle this much with perspective after years of making art!!!! (Though in all fairness, even those good at it struggle with it lol)

So! I am all out of advice for a newer artist.

TL,DR: YOU WILL SUCK A LOT AT FIRST BUT THE MORE YOU PRACTICE AND LEARN ABOUT YOUR FAILURES, THE MORE YOU'LL LOVE TO SEE YOUR IMPROVEMENT AND EVENTUALLY YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DO THE ART YOU WANT TO MAKE.

Peng if you could forward this to your bf i would be very grateful. Good luck to you two!!! Thank you for reaching out!! And remember!! Never give up!!!!!

[randomquietkid]

"Surfboards and Sketchbooks" pt2

(If you haven't read part one of surfboards and sketchbooks please read it before you can find it on my page. Sorry I don't have a masterlist with all my fics yet, I can't figure out how to change the name on the links and I don't have that many posted. This part accidentally kinda turned into an all about me so you get to learn a little about me. If you want me to change some of the things because it is too personal and isn't varied enough I can totally do that. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing another part and I know what it will basically be talking about but I don't know what will happen so who knows I might have a fourth part too. I do think this part was a little all over the place and I don't like it as much as the first part so sorry If it disappointed some of y'all cause I think I could have done better.If you enjoy don't be afraid to send in requests there is a pinned post on my page of all the characters I would write about)

Trigger warnings: none. Probably cursing

Enjoy <3

Y/n POV:

I walked into school with my music blasting in my ears. I was listening to Alec Benjamin. As I looked around I saw that pretty much everyone looked the same. Tan, blond or brown haired, and a Summer wardrobe. Me on the other hand pale, brown hair and graphic tees, flannel and ripped jeans (I put what I would wear just because it was easier to write but I will change it if any of you would like. Kinda like a description of what I look like though ;) stood out from the crowd. My phone was laying on top of my sketchbook and book (right now I'm reading the Good Girl Complex but you can choose whatever you want) with my wire earbuds out the charger plug. I walked into the office to get my schedule from the front desk lady and saw the guy that I drew at the beach walk out. "JJ not even into first period and your already here" the Lady at the front desk said as she walked back from the printer with my schedule. "Yep. Sorry Mrs. B" he said "Y/n Y/l/n,here's your schedule dear. Have a great first day" she said as she handed me my schedule "thank you" I replied and walked out the office. 𝘑𝘑 was his name. As I made my way to first period from the office I saw JJ look at me walking away. Did he recognize me too, I really hope not.

First period was Social Study's. It was boring. I get the whole "don't want to repeat history" thing but if this generation did anything for history it would be either burn the world down or get so bad that people leave it, probably both. As I drowned out the teacher and started drawing in my sketchbook I heard shuffling next to me and saw 𝗝𝗝 sit in the desk next to me. Fuck. "Well I didn't want to jump right into work so I want everyone to fill out this get to know me worksheet" the teacher explained and many annoyed groans and complaints were verbalized but I just rolled my eyes. What are we 10, my teachers have been giving us that same worksheet since 1st grade. JJ passed me the sheet with a smile and leaned over to whisper " Have you also been doing this sheet on the first day of school for forever" he questioned with a small laugh "yep. Pretty sure they don't even read them just throw them away, basically gives them a free day" I said telling him my theory. He laughed "makes sense. I would" I nodded in agreement. " this may seem weird but, were you the one to sketch me at the beach two weeks ago" JJ asked. Shit he knows. " umm yeah. I'm sorry about my friends" I said apologizing for whatever they did. " don't worry about it, you have real talent. It was amazing"." why thank you" I smiled back at him as I felt my face heat up. Our conversation ended with both of us smiling as I looked at the sheet and saw the same questions as last year. 'What is your favorite food' *favorite food* 'what is your favorite music to listen to' *favorite music* (character playlists. Very hard to choose. Theres sooo many good artists) 'what do you like to do in your free time' *what you like to do* (for character purpose y/n will like drawing/painting and reading) 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔. 'Your favorite show' *your favorite show* 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑓, 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒/ 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑜𝑛 (I have an unhealthy obsession with sharks thanks to my sister making me watch jaws at the age of six and then i had a really weird dream that got over my fear of sharks) 'favorite movie' 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑚𝑐𝑢 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒, 𝑗𝑎𝑤𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑔, 𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 'favorite summer memory' 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑥𝑒𝑠 *what you did* (I did go to a concert and a lot of book stores but summer isn't over yet where I'm from) 'favorite color' 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 * your favorite color* (black or greens) 'do you have any pets' 𝑛𝑜 *your pets if you have any* (I kinda forgot what else were on those sheets so that's all and I have two dogs) 'dinggggg' finally class was over. "As you get ready to leave put your papers on my dest, I can't wait to read them" our teacher said. Me and JJ gave each other a look and both laughed a little as I bet he thought about what I said earlier. I got up and put the paper on the teachers desk and left the classroom. As I put my earbuds back in and pulled out my schedule to see where I was supposed to be next I felt a someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw JJ behind me playing with his rings and his friends by the staircase doing a horrible job at trying not to watch whatever was about to happen. "Hi" "hi" "umm so I was wondering if you want to sit with me and my friends at lunch" he asked "yeah I would love to" "awesome" I laughed a little and he smiled "what's your next class so I know where to pick you up from" he asked "wow such a gentleman, umm I have *blah blah blah*" he smiled and said "really, me too. Well actually all of my friends and me do" "that's great. Do you mind walking me I have no idea where I'm going" I asked as I put

My schedule in my back pocket. "Yep no problem" he said leading me to his friends. "Y/n this is John B, Pope and Kiara" JJ said as he introduced his friends "hi" I said and they all waved. "Y/n has the same class as us next and she doesn't know where to go so she's walking with us" he explained to his friends and the nodded and started leading the way. I got a little distracted when my earbuds got tangled in the swirl of my sketchbook as I tried to untangle them I heard John B ask JJ "sooo definitely don't have a crush on her" not convinced. I heard him wince because JJ elbowed him in the ribs "shup up. And I don't know but shut the fuck up I don't want her to hear you" JJ said. I laughed a little at his antics. When we got into *blah blah blah* classroom JJ and his friends sat towards the back, as the sat down I almost sat in a seat towards the side of the classroom with the door but JJ patted the seat next to me implying me to sit there. I gave him a 'are you sure' look and he nodded. "You sure" I asked again once I sat down. "Positive" he replied smiling.

As the teacher went on about some of the class rules and units and shit I started drawing a little alien dude in the corner of my sketchbook as I felt a piece of paper hit my hand. I looked over and saw a crumbled up piece of paper on my desk and I saw a smirking JJ next to me. I opened it to read it and it said "go on a date with me Saturday" with two boxes below one with yes one with no. I could feel my cheeks heat up as I read that. I checked the yes box and gave it back to JJ. I looked over at him to see his reaction, he had smiled really big. That made me smile. So we were just some idiots smiling in the back of the classroom as the teacher explained rules. But I didn't care, even though i don't know the kid I'm freaking out about our 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 Saturday.

[edenorisshitposting]

How do you get inspired? I'm asking you because you seem like an inspired artist

Inspiration is an illusion

Real answer, at no point in my day do I feel inspired, and yet here i am making art. The more you progress with your art the more you realise that feeling really inspired to create something specific is very rare, and it doesn’t necessarily lead to better artwork. In short the trick is to create without feeling “inspired”, but it’s not a very good answer so I’m going to elaborate ahead. This is super long, but I feel like you deserve a serious answer.

1. Step one: get a sketchbook

You’re going to want a place to generate ideas in. Get a sketchbook, it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive (and for what I’m about to suggest I think it’s actually better to get a cheaper one), ditch the loose sheets flying around your room, keep them for finished illustrations (but we’re not there yet). Aside from keeping all your drawings organized together (thus preventing you from losing your drawings), a sketchbook is fun to flip through.

I’ve had these two for this purpose and was very pleased with both (yeah, they’ve got scribbles all over them. don’t worry about it) the good thing about them is that they’re relatively cheap, but the paper is still of a decent quality.  They have lots of pages,so you’re not as afraid to “waste” them.

2. Step two: Scribble in it, a TON

Keep doodling and scribbling all over it, keep throwing ideas at the paper to see what sticks, even if it’s a shitty idea. Don’t be afraid of “wasting paper”, that’s why you bought a cheaper sketchbook. It doesn’t need to look pretty, a sketchbook is for learning and brainstorming. Looking and my art blog (and most artists’ honestly) you see mostly finished illustrations, so it’s easy to think that I just come up with an idea and then finish it. But in reality what I upload is a fraction of what I draw. My sketchbook is FULL of sketches that nothing came out of. Fill an entire page with doodles of hamsters, or landscapes, or even instagram models. It doesn’t matter, keep drawing.

Here are some examples of pages I did not upload.

3. Step three: don’t worry about it

About six months ago I was looking to get into art school, and of course to pass the exams I needed to present a portfolio. At the time I’ve been drawing in sketchbooks nearly exclusively for over two years, so I had very few illustrations to show. So I had about a month to build a stronger portfolio, and naturally I decided to make more, and more “inspired” ones. Let me tell you I have never produced more artworks I hated than I did then. Not even a single one was included in my portfolio. And of course after I had already presented and the pressure to create good artwork was off I finally was able to create more things I liked (I did get in to art school, so no need to worry). Point of the story is that you’re a better artist when you don’t put yourself under the pressure of constantly being good, so don’t worry about it (specially if you’re not a professional).

4. Step four: keep throwing shit at the wall and eventually something will stick

Ideas are like an avalanche. They can just stand there for ages if you’re not doing anything with them until they eventually melt and disappear. But it also means that it takes just a small push to bring all of them down. What you initially thought was a bad idea might lead you to a different better idea, and that one might lead you to another idea, and it would lead you to two more. Keep the momentum going until sometime in the future when you find and idea you’d like to turn to a finished painting. I am not the best example (because I don’t draw as much as I should), but even then there are times when I can seat for days and not draw a single thing, and then all of a sudden one sketch leads me to burn through 5 pages of my sketchbook in an hour. It took me 7 sketchbook pages from initial concept to final design when I was coming up with Major Tom, all done on the same day. And I drew even more characters that day that I haven’t uploaded.

5. Not exactly a step five: don’t neglect your technique

That’s a piece of advice I wish teenage me hadn’t ignored. Your technical skills are the tools you use to create. The better you skill are the more ideas you can execute. that means drawing the boring shit, like hands, perspective, still life etc. I started out like a lot of artists, drawing mainly anime, avoiding drawing hands, or any perspective to speak of. My art today suffers because of it. I’m 22 and still struggle with drawing proper hands, my perspective is off at best. Learn from my mistakes, it’s ok to draw the fun stuff, but also draw the important boring stuff.(Disclaimer: this is a lesson I haven’t quite finished learning myself)

6. Step six: don’t limit yourself to one style

Beware the trap of “that’s my style”, beside limiting you in skill, committing to a style when you’re still young will limit you in what you can draw. Again, when I was younger I drew nearly exclusively anime. That meant I was very limited in what I could draw, and worse - I was getting sick of it. By the time I graduated highschool I couldn’t stand the idea of making another single anime drawing. i was going through a small art crisis, since all of a sudden I didn’t have a set style anymore. At that time I tried a bunch of different styles from realism, to american cartoon, and for a short time even french catoon. Today I draw in a fairly realistic style, leaning towards more or less cartoon depending on the specific subject. The best style is having no style. Your art will always have your touch to it, it’s something you can’t escape. Make the style work for you, not the other way. When in doubt look to Picasso. This guy exchanged styles like socks and he’s one of the greatest artists of our time, and even though his artworks are sometimes completely different from each other they are all still undoubtedly Picasso.

This answer ended up being super long because most artists online would reply to this question with something along the lines of “look for things that inspire you!” which I think is a cop out answer and it completely misses the point (sorry basically every youtube artist), it’s an important question that deserves better. You’re asking for advice to get inspired because things don’t inspire you, thats the whole problem. I also think this isn’t a very good advice in general, I feel really inspired maybe four times a year, and yet I created more than four artworks. Don’t sit around looking for inspiration because it won’t come. Draw without “inspiration”, you don’t need her anyway.

[hol-eage]

hi holly! i was going to message you but then I got too shy, do you have any tips for someone who wants to start painting? i know you're an artist and thought you might be able to help, I really have no idea how to start, I'm just a clueless newborn fawn :( if not thank you anyway for reading this!

hello lil fawn! im sorry that u got 2 shy! i would love to talk to u if u ever want to, oh pupper i have so much to say and its all fuckin shit but maybe it could be helpful! im not a teacher idk remember this is all my perspective and u should do what u feel u should do!firstly i think you need to look at making art in two separate ways that should inform one another and sometimes work together, but while youre first figuring out how u draw/paint i would suggest working more with the 'honest kind' though i know a thousand tutors who say the opposite!!!! the honest kind~~~the im sitting with some paper and idk fuckin know what media, i just found this chewed up crayon on the floor and im going to run it across the paper,the i feel like drawing a dog and im just going to draw it like fuck proportion just draw it and have fun fun fun draw so many dogs that you start laughing because this one has the longest snout and you're imaging he would make a knughling noise, but this one! has the roundest belly with the smallest legs and would plod around wowthe i am hurting or so happy or so obsessed with this one thing and i am just going to put it on the paperthe technical kind~~~~i dont know what resources you have access to but life drawing is invaluable, if u arent on a course that offers it then i'd highly suggest looking for sessions in your community that u can go to! im gonna assume ur alone in this and not on a course, i'd say research proportion, medias, other artists and how they work, i really dont know what to say for this but try to learn how to really look? and how to accurately draw an object or figure or whateverum go to public places and try to just draw people, practice practice practice im not really the right person to ask idk idkthe thing is~~~i know alot of people who have, and i did for years, not separate the two, sometimes not even engage in the 'honest kind' which is so sad because then everything is empty!!! its so fuckin flat!!! like i used to work on hyper real drawings and they were pretty but they were nothing? they werent excited, they wouldnt get anyone excited except for people to be in awe which is useless??? and im all for pretty, like if u want to design things like patterns for use that is no lesser than fine art (i mean im a designer so?) u just have to love ur craft or learn to love it and it might take forever but pal go go go! honestly you need to learn your process, its kinda very personal and very fun to work on,say mine is~~~for my bowl ladies (my really crumby art blog is @hgjosephine u can find examples there) : process lead, where i spend days and days in the ceramics room and teach myself how to throw pots but then learn how the clay moves and how it can be manipulated into non-traditional shapes, then from making shape i look for patterns across my work, analyse it and see how the shape feels feminine and that when i hold the they feel like wobbly stomachs, then also see how it reminds me of all of the many traditional paintings depicting women dancing naked in a circle, so figure out how to show this with illustration bla bla bla in other process lead projects i have sat for a week just fuckin drawing, using paint, mixing paints, seeing how they layer! how they can be translucent! what colours work! and my project will go on from thereOR often its research lead, where i spend weeks over sketchbooks filling them with thoughts, conversations with myself, article clippings, artist works that make me go wow!fuckin!what! and from there i get a thousand ideas and experiment with them and then just search out the good, the things that excite you and make you run home to tell everyone how EXCITED you are TIPS~~gouache is the king of layering and translucency and clean work? its my favourite paintone good paint brush is ur main man, if u can afford to then a £10+ brush (art is expensive, however it doesnt have to be this is just helpful, but tbh u could use a kitchen spoon to paint with and make the best thing ever!) also tiger sells some real cheap soft brushes dont leave ur brushes in the water 4 too long (lol @me) also dont let paint dry on ur brushes (particularly arylic the most evil dried paint) good paper is worth it!!!! when ur painting with water based paint u need a high gsm paper, i dont really paint with acrylic much but i think thats chill on most paper oil is an arsehole (v beautiful tho) and wants all sorts of paper prepping bc otherwise it will make the paper go weird and oily like chip shop paper however oil pastels r my fave pals!!!! and indian ink!!!!!! ink ink ink ink (play with water and ink, like putting water on the paper and then painting on ink in the wet its FUN) idk i just started talkin and didnt stop but good luck, have fun!!!!