#People asking me for art tips
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I absolutely love your Rimworld saga, I've always wanted to do something like it for one of my colonies but I'm a better writer than I am an artist. Any tips for someone not used to drawing people?
Thank you for the great stories and adorable artwork 💕
Ah, thank you so much!! I'm glad you like the Rimworld stuff, I really love making it, and I'm happy it seems to have found an audience that enjoys it.
As for art tips, here are three things I always try to remember when I'm drawing:
1. It's okay to use references!
I see a lot of people worried about art theft, tracing, and stealing, which are important issues to keep in mind. No artist wants their work stolen, and nobody wants to be accused of tracing or things like that. Certainly valid concerns for all parties.
However, I've noticed that a lot of people avoid using references because of those concerns. It's alright to use references for your artwork! You can and should look for references to practice with. It's not easy to make up every single pose from nothing, but I've seen a lot of artists give up because they can't figure poses out without looking up references, and they feel like that means they're not real artists.
I'm partial to stock photos personally. There are stock photos for every conceivable situation. Behold, one I used just yesterday:
References are good and definitely okay to use. Use them a lot! They're a wonderful way to practice, and it's much easier to make up your own poses and draw people once you're used to drawing the human form from your references.
2. Don't be afraid to be silly!
Not every piece of art needs to be a serious and carefully thought-out commentary on the nature of humanity or society or things like that. Not every piece of art needs to be beautiful, or perfect, or even comprehendible. When I first started drawing art for a Rimworld colony, I was sitting beside my little brother and watching him play. I was doodling pictures of his colonists, and do you know what I ended up with? Nothing deep and meaningful, that's for sure.
I ended up with memes. Memes that are still blu-tacked up where everybody who comes into my house can see them.
I love them. I had so much fun drawing them. That's the important bit! They're ridiculous, silly, stupid memes, and I love them so much because I loved drawing them. Have fun with your art. Don't make it a chore. Be silly. Let yourself enjoy the act of creating, even if you end up with something dumb. That's the best kind of art.
3. Do so much art! So much of it!
The old saying says practice makes perfect, and it's not entirely wrong. I don't think I have ever met someone who has ever created something and decided it was perfect, no matter how much they practised.
However, the more you practice, the better you will be. I would post pictures of my older art to demonstrate the improvement, but I still haven't quite managed to choke back the gag reflex that comes with seeing the old drawings I have tucked away.
Maybe one day, when I'm braver, I'll show you the wonky caricatures of people I used to draw, and you can see for yourself that the more you make, the better you'll get. For now, though, I shall leave you with a tiny sampling of my sketchbook collection and one (1) spooky boi:
I don't know if any of that was helpful. I'm not much of a teacher, I'm afraid, but I do wish you the best with your artistic endeavours! For what it's worth, I'd read a written story about a Rimworld game just as eagerly as I would absorb pictures of it.
Thank you for your lovely compliments, and I wish you the loveliest of days! 💕
#asks#rimworld#gracie plays#art#my art#traditional art#rimworld art#unpolished art#cat#probably unhelpful art advice#I feel like a proper artist now#People asking me for art tips#Must mean I've done something right XD#I love you so much and I hope you can get something out of this nonsense I've written#If not then I hope you like the cat#He's a good boy and is very soft#have the most beautiful day!! xoxo
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[image id: a four-page comic. it is titled "immortality” after the poem by clare harner (more popularly known as “do not stand at my grave and weep”). the first page shows paleontologists digging up fossils at a dig. it reads, “do not stand at my grave and weep. i am not there. i do not sleep.” page two features several prehistoric creatures living in the wild. not featured but notable, each have modern descendants: horses, cetaceans, horsetail plants, and crocodilians. it reads, “i am a thousand winds that blow. i am the diamond glints on snow. i am the sunlight on ripened grain. i am the gentle autumn rain.” the third page shows archaeopteryx in the treetops and the skies, then a modern museum-goer reading the placard on a fossil display. it reads, “when you awaken in the morning’s hush, i am the swift uplifting rush, of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. do not stand at my grave and cry.” the fourth page shows a chicken in a field. it reads, “i am not there. i did not die” / end id]
a comic i made in about 15 hours for my school’s comic anthology. the theme was “evolution”
#dinosaur#evolution#comic#prehistoric#animal#wildlife#paleontology#biology#poetry#comics#original#my art#archaeopteryx has no direct living descendants i know#but i wanted something aerial and the dinosaur to bird connection is classic and well known anyway#also the chicken over any other bird is very on purpose#its the mix of truth and comedy and genuineness and the fantastic in the mundane#its me asking you to see something so wonderful in something taken so un-seriously#and to love it both ways#also the jurassic park thing#where someone saw the reconstructed gait of a dino#and said. hey hang on. i know that walk.#and pulled up footage of a chicken walking#which jumpstarted the entire study into the link between dinosaurs and birds#in the end take whatever you want from it i just thought id provide some insight#i always like it when other artists do#the point is that i enjoy when people laugh at the end and when they dont#and i like it when they cry. i like it best when they both laugh and cry. eeaao intent#anyway mourn your losses but to live is to change#also hi guys i finally figured out tipping after 5 months so no more annoying ko-fi link#the antidote to despair is awe
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Apparently much-needed reminder that reposting artists' art (by saving the images or screenshotting them and reuploading them yourself) on other platforms without the artists' expressed permission and without credit is theft and an insult to their passion and craft. You are profiting (in views, in attention, in feedback) from someone else's work and ideas, who do not get that feedback for sharing their creation.
If you are an art reposter, you are a thief and I have no respect for you.
#learn basic internet etiquette i am begging but also holding a knife. yes i'm mad. more about others than myself.#do you know how many artists i have seen leave social media because their art started being reposted all over?#tip: way too fucking many#i've had many people tell me about people reposting my art on tiktok#no one ever asked to repost my art on tiktok. ever. they just save super fried bad crunchy jpegs of my art and repost them#they get 20k likes and don't even bother naming me#also a reason i started signing my name more legibly and why my blog web address is always there but apparently no one can even read that#a few people got an ok for translations on other platforms though#i'm going to be annoying with this post and reblog it a few times to try to catch the people who apparently need to be told#tiny skk adventures#nawy's comics#nawy's doodles#apparently those are reposters' favourites so here look at this
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SOMEONE ASKED ME FOR COLOURING TIPS AND I DELETED MY ANSWER DRAFT BY ACCIDENT IM SORYYYY
But i still wanna try to give some tips that i use (i hope you'll see this post, anon!!!!). Im not really good at explaining things and im not a professional artist but ill try ma best💥
Before I start a new painting, I make a few sketches of exactly what I want to draw. This helps me to find the right composition and color scheme
The environment an object or character is in has a great effect on its color. In the first pic, Spammy looks ok, but if we warm up the colors a bit, it looks like he's really standing in that room. You can also experiment with layer modes to achieve the color u need. Sometimes I crop the main background color over the character and poke layer modes until Im like "this shit looks good, lets go". But ofс you'd better find the colors yourself, it's useful for learning color theory
I also swept the main background color into the reflexes and shadows on the object. Like on this pipis
Buuut you can also use bright contrasting colors. This gives a funky, stylized look to the artwork
And about white color in my arts. I think that there is no pure white color in nature . White color and close to it will always have its unique shade depending on the lighting. So, I prefer to mute the white color in my works.
You can also try filling the area with some color and over paint it with light color, mixing colors together. This is a new technique for me, I usually put colors on the bare sketch, but I like it<)
And also coloring on the sketch layer. I'm not trying to lighten it or anything. It gives a kind of dirty look to the work and a kind of unfinished feeling. I don't like to lick my drawings to a shine. Plus bc of the brush I use, it gives me extra shadows. I prefer to use the standard marker brushes and some brushes I found on clip studio paint assets. These are mostly brushes that mix colors so i use them to add different strokes to my work
I guess that's all, hope it would help someone!!
Remember, you can do whatever you want to your art, the main thing is that it makes you hapi💋
#ask#deltarune#spamton#artists on tumblr#digital art#art tips#i hope i explained okay#i mean mmm uhh uhmhmnmm#I get confused when people ask me for advice on drawing#bc most of the time I don't know what the hell I'm doing.:3
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Hi, how did you learn to draw Steve's physique?
Ohh what a complicated thing to answer...
When it comes to how I learned to draw anything, it's hard to say anything too specific since it's always a culmination of many years of assorted study and practice... but I can try to do my best to explain some of the biggest things that helped me learn, some tips I keep in mind, and maybe at least some places to start/delve further.
(just a little disclaimer it's not like my drawings here are going to be 100% medically accurate.. they're just to illustrate concepts!)
The main thing about learning various physiques is understanding anatomy. Which feels obvious, but I don't mean proportions; these are important, but perhaps more important is understanding the skeleton and how it moves and learning where muscles connect to bones and where fat grows on the body. When you understand how these function on a more mechanical level, depicting form and movement in a way that feels natural comes in tow.
For instance, understanding things like the pronation and supination of the radius and ulna, as well as the fact that muscles can ONLY contract or relax, will help you understand a bit better which muscles will be flexed and which will not while someone moves. It's inherent to the positioning based on the structural makeup of the body... It's not like you NEED to memorize all the muscles and bones, of course, but understanding and gaining at least a passive familiarity with the concepts really helps.
In tandem with this concept is the way parts of the body flow into eachother. Muscles ALWAYS come in groups because they can only contract. Whatever muscle is there to lift something, there is a muscle on the other side to pull that bone back down. What this results in is a series of straight edges next to curves, which gives us a lot of really lovely "s curves" and dents and folds and so on and so forth just naturally occurring.
I would suggest at least learning the "bony landmarks", which are bones (usually) visible on the surface of the body. things like the iliac crest, the great trochanter, the 7th vertabrae, the acromion process... These can be used to help you understand the parts of the body as angles and relationships, rather than trying to remember lengths and sizes, which vary immensely... (since you asked about steve, he can be our model... also study these on your own don't just take my word for it haha, these are the ones I personally keep in mind)
I've done the same thing with body hair... learning where it grows and in which directions... It helps me make up variations without needing reference, because I have a set of rules I can follow.
The biggest thing that helped me understand all this on a much deeper level was my ecorche course. I sculpted this guy. We started by sculpting the entire skeleton to understand the bones, and then we added muscles on top. Not every single muscle, of course, but the "artistic muscles" AKA the ones which directly affect the surface of the body. Doing this let us see where muscles connect, because we would make a shape, put it on the bone where it actually goes, and then you get to see how other muscles overlap that.
This helped me, perhaps, more than anything else. But I also didn't just start with this course, I had been drawing for years before I even took it. I had been in school for years before I took it. Not that I think it wouldn't be helpful to someone just starting out, but I do think that the more you know going in, the better an in-depth course like this will help you and stick with you. Classes are also expensive, though so I'm not really like... recommending you pay potentially thousands of dollars to take one... But it did help me a lot, personally.
I also, of course, have done many figure, gesture, and master studies...
These just help you quickly gain a stronger understanding of generalized anatomy, and gives you real life examples of and practice with of how people move and balance.
What all this does when combined, is gives me a very solid ability to depict movement and form in a way that feels relatively natural from my subconscious without the need for reference.
The rest of how I've learned to draw his physique is honestly mostly just stylization. I understand the body, and this is how I am depicting it for his level of musculature.
And as I move into depicting him in other ways, either moving in comics or in animation, realistically rendered, or extra stylized, these concepts inform every step of that process for me! When he keeps the same/similar relationships between parts, he gets to still look like himself.
It ALSO really helps when putting clothes on, because the way cloth falls and bunches and lifts is all directly related to the form it is on... So the more you understand that form, the more you can depict clothing and movement in a way that feels natural.
This is all, of course, true when I draw anyone, you asked about Steve so I'm trying to mostly show with him! But because I'm just drawing from raw information of general anatomy rather than trying to study one body type at a time, it allows a lot more "give," I think!
Like, here's most of the cast from TTA so far... actually, they're not as varied as I thought they were nevermind LMAO ignore this part
But, it also makes monster and alien design much easier! It's a lot easier to come up with non-human anatomy when I understand human anatomy, because I can manipulate the knowledge I have...
There is infinite more to study in the world of anatomy... The complexity of the human body goes extremely deep. For our purposes as artists, we need only depict a fraction of it, but more information rarely hurts the process.
I'm sure there's something in here that's wrong on a technical level, I'm mostly going off of memory. But that's kind of my point - I understand enough generally and conceptually that when I am missing something and need to find reference for it, I understand what I'm looking at. It's much easier than trying to learn AND draw at the same time.
I hope even one thing in here helped you! Sorry it's so long.
#asks#somewhereinasgard#anatomy#art tips#anatomy tips#don't like... take my word as gospel OF COURSE#I am sure there's like one thing or more in here that's like. genuinely wrong#but whatever#anyways. I love steve LMFAO#I was thinking about zagan a lot too in this one tbh LMAOOOO cause he's got a similar body type#and when I just did that action animation of him#and people were like how the fuck did you do this so fast#I sort of have been realizing all this knowledge I have about anatomy#and how much easier it makes my life pretty much every single step of the way.#those action poses did not need reference.#I almost never need reference for drawing people#unless its like... realism. but I mean in my comics or animations#when the arm is coming towards the camera I know what's going on in the arm and what the form of it ACTUALLY is so I can properly draw it#there's no guesswork. I know what I'm doing.#which makes it so that when I'm depicting someone like flipping all around or whatever#I just know what the body looks like. how it moves. how it balances. etc.#I would say it comes naturally to me but it doesnt.#it is subconscious at this point#but it is very extremely studied#not a damn bit of this came out of nowhere LOL#ok anyways this was a really fun ask#I got extremely carried away I am so sorry#this is like my biggest artistic passion I LOVE anatomy SO much#I love drawing muscles#I love the technical feelings that happens in my brain when I draw an arm moving and figure out how the muscles are engaged
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I have a patreon now! Come say hi.
Going to be posting comic wips and some more of my spicier content.
Come say hi!
#my art#ghostsoap#Ghoap#patreon#since a few people asked I made one#if is a MDNI one because I will be posting stuff on there that are not for younger eyes#18+ mdni#come say hi#drop me a tip maybe
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hello iz ik it's such a cliche question and idk if you've already answered that but- how do you learnt drawing humans??? like everyone says practice but i don't know how and i struggle so much :( thanks already for answering!! i really really love your art
hi!
the very regulated, academic, objectively correct bs answer: learn the fundamentals, study and practice!
the unhinged, off-the-counter, cool uncle from your dad's side of the family answer:
Imo, the best way to learn how to draw on your own is to reference and study other people's art. There is no need for you to reinvent the wheel, and if you are a beginner and have no idea what you're doing, tackling multiple fundamentals at once can overwhelm and demotivate you quite a lot. So, for your morale and motivation, I think it is totally okay to just observe multiple artworks from multiple artists and engage with them critically ( * N.B. : artistS - plural; by referencing multiple works, you lower the risk of accidentally becoming a copycat or locking yourself into an art style that will never be as good as the original because it was not yours)
What I mean by critically engaging with an artwork is to analyze how they're tackling difficult body parts that you struggle with. For example, let's say you can't/don't know how to draw legs. Look at a picture of a real human leg, observe how someone else has simplified that leg form and anatomy, and then try to recreate it. Don't just copy their linework 1 to 1. That is not the point. Do it your own way, incorporate aspects of others' art that you like, and make them yours. You should have 5++ references of that leg from 5++ different artists. There are maany people out there who post their studies online, raw sketches or structural drawings (TB Choi comes to mind for example). Look for people like them, and if you can't find someone, then Pinterest is your bff. When learning how to draw, hunting the internet for how people sketch >>> rendered art. If speedpaints are more your thing, then youtube has you covered. Personally, I've learned more from a 20 min speedpaint with nightcore bgm and zero annotations from some guy that doesnt even speak english that has 300 views than I've learned from 10 min long art tutorials from fluent english speakers with 1 mil views. At the end of the day, we can yap and theorise as much as we want, but it's the act of drawing that brings results and seeing how other people draw is sometimes worth a thousand words.
> References in general also help a lot. I can't tell you how many times I was too lazy to look something up and spent 14235 hours trying to draw it off the top of my head only to have it done in 10 minutes once I finally gave in and pulled up a reference. So yeah, always use references. Don't be like me this is actually a bad habit
Okay, but how to /use/ that reference if you're a beginner? Very simple: draw on top of it ( *Do Not trace the outlines, that's pointless if you actually want to learn something). Draw guidelines over the body parts, deconstruct and simplify the ref into just boxes and lines ( always think in 3D ). This will help a lot with keeping the proportions in check. You can start by drawing those guidelines first and then get into details. Kinda like in sculpture: you start with a big block of a rock, and then you slowly carve and build form and then detail. The more you draw, the less you will need those guidelines as you get a feeling for the proportions yourself and will no longer need this step.
Once you become more confident in your skills or have a "sense" for drawing and you are in too deep to just give up after hitting your first wall, then you can tackle the scary intimidating stuff that is art fundamentals ( or you can do them simultaneously, all I'm trying to say is to never forget that you are not the only drawer in the world; looking in your neighbor's yard is totally okay within the reasons of common sense ). You don't have to raise and milk a cow it to make butter, you can just buy it from the store. If you want to bake a cake, a beginner chef will use store-bought cake mix because they have no idea how to cook. Once they learn the science behind baking (because it really is a science) they will buy their own ingredients and then improve or personalize the cake with better, well-researched ingredients, they will add their own twist, flavours, adjust the macros, perfect the technique and so on.
This is how I've personally learned how to draw by myself bc I'm self-taught and didn't care for formalities as it's just a hobby of mine that I do for fun. If you want proper advice you should probably listen to more qualified people but I can only preach what I practice.. Anywayssss hope it helped!!
#Believe it or not I've initially written out this super long answer but I realized it was too much and went off tangent#so this is a condensed version#i should tag art-related asks so you can find them better....#ok new art tips slash disscussion tag#ask iztea: art talk#ask iztea#i don't know why you'd ask me of all people for tips but#here are my two cents#i'm always hesitant with these things#i mainly focus on vibes and concept not accuracy
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PANCAKE !!! gosh I am so late sorry 😭😭😭
Happy belated birthday !! 🎉🎉🎉
IM GONNA SCREAM?!
oH MY GOSH THATS SO CUUUUTE!! Thank you, gaaah <3
#yay late birthday gift!!#man star's rays are so big fjensns. fun fact the bottom ones go below the back of his head. to his neck and shoulders#in case people wanna tip for drawing him#but HAAAGGHJAAA THANK YOOUUUU#cake asks#starcake#art for me#i freaking LOVE Pancake's wings#man
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Do you take commissions? If so, do you have a commission sheet? I’m sorry if this is an annoying ask I just really love your work lol
not annoying at all! i really really appreciate this a lot, thank you!
i have done commissions in the past on other platforms, but for now i am not taking them here. i'm not saying that i never will, because sometimes life is.. you know. Like That™️. but for now i'm steering clear of it to try and keep my passion up! 👍
#i also frankly think- and i don't say this to be rude- but i think that most folks in fandom would think my work is overpriced#because i charge somewhat more professional rates. still not a living wage. still not what you could get as a non-freelancer#(deleted a lot of rambling about prices here but if anyone does want to hear it i can go into it sometime)#kirby characters are generally far more simplistic so it would be a whole different pricing bracket#but i think expectations in fandom seem different to an original content community where people are doing this for a living#the one person i've commissioned in fandom i was so shocked at the rate i paid like... 500% what they asked me.#(that is not hyperbole. i 'tipped' 400% and it still felt like the bare minimum. you *must* tip undercharging artists.)#anyway. i have a lot of thoughts about monetising my art but at the moment this is still a no. i'm sorry!#i do really genuinely appreciate it though! if i ever open them i'll be sure to post here about it!#i'd also like to do art trades a little more regularly in the future (not rn) ; so there's that too? but we'll see. again i'll post about i#starflungs personal tag
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Can you give some tips on drawing?
I'm sorry, I don't really feel comfortable enough to give any tips or advice on how to draw anything.
I'm a self-taught hobbyist artist, so I literally learned by concept 'i see, then I recreate to the best of my ability'. It's been my modus operati ever since I started to draw when I was 8 and I've been drawing for a long, long time, but really, I've gotten to the point where I don't want to claw my eyes out in embarassment over my art only in the recent 5 or so years, and that's just because I do it for fun! So, unfortunately, the most I could tell you is the same advice you probably seen a 100 times - just draw, no matter how good or bad! Get really into something, use references and etc, and draw!
I mean I'm really flattered that you think I can give any tips, but honestly there are so many freely provided tutorials and incredible advice posts all over the internet, from people who actually know what they are doing, or at least can give much more helpful and informative tips, than anything I could ever think of.
#que?#listen i understand the desire for tips from an artist you like... but im literally drawing outta my ass and making shit up while using ref#i have no useful knowhows to share??? i myself learned to draw by mimicing stuff i liked??? and its not even succesfull half the time#and btw principle of mimicing is not to replicate it perfectly - but to understand just a little. in your own skills how it was drawn#so I would really appreciate if people like... chilled out about sending me ask for art tips#there is a reason why i dont answer those - i literally have no good advice to give bros. I dont have a faintest idea where to start even#so this is the only general art tip ask ill ever answer. sorry! but good luck with drawing tho
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I am begging artists to charge more for their commissions. Pleading. If you are charging anything less than $20/hour you are undercutting the market and making it harder for working artists to earn a livable wage. (And really, truly, you should be aiming at something like $50/hour). Why would anyone want to pay artists what they're worth when there are artists out there asking for pennies for the same thing?
I understand that it's difficult finding commissioners willing to pay higher prices (because they've seen artists charging nothing for art, that's why), but that's something we can fix together if we normalize charging what our work is actually worth!
#i just saw an artist doing emergency commissions trying to get $200#and their prices maxed out at $50 for fully rendered paintings#and their art is incredible!!#they should be charging at least $200 for something like that!#and then they could do one single commission and not (at least) four#it makes me lose my mind#i get that it's an incredibly tough market#i get wanting to make art affordable#but low prices are so damaging to the community as a whole#every working artist I know is just barely scraping by#and until we can convince people that unique custom-made art is worth more than a cup of coffee#this will always be a problem#please charge more for your commissions please please please#if youre a commissioner:#please tip your artist a lot#pay them way more than theyre asking for#nickel for my thoughts
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my apologies if this is too simple or juvenile or personal a question but HOW did you become such a proficient writer? and do you have any tips or pointers to keep in mind? i know you must do a lot of reading and a lot of writing, but your skill is just incredible to me. your prose!! your cadence!! when we get around to talking about it is genuinely one of the best things i've ever read and i'd eat it if i could!!!
this ask was so sweet thank you!! rly made my day when i needed a boost. Hope you don’t mind i took a couple days to think about it cause no one’s ever asked me for writing advice before
idk how i became a “proficient” writer bc I really don’t write that much. something about my fic gave me brainworms and i went into overdrive but that’s…not my usual MO. which is why it’s weird for me too. admittedly i am studying english/creative writing as my second major at uni, but i haven’t learned anything in any of my classes you couldn’t learn by just reading and writing on your own. honestly i should’ve stuck with my IR major instead, i find structured cw classes a complete waste of time. but here are some little tips i thought of that would’ve helped ME:
This is more a “do as I say not as I do” because I’m really bad at habits like this, but keep a diary. You can write about the big events (went to the store, did homework, got laid etc.) but that’s boring—focus on the details (watched someone at west side market throw a glass bottle of olives at a rat, broke a pen and permanently stained my dorm desk and won’t get my deposit back which pissed me off because I move out in a week, this guy’s breath smelled like lemon pledge and it made me wonder if he drank window cleaner before kissing me etc.). Real life is really interesting! How can you write about interesting real life in an interesting way? It’s a good way to practice. You don’t have to do a big reflection at the end of the day or anything. It’s okay to jot down something you saw & then immediately forget about it. It’s the act of figuring out how to translate life into words that’s important
If you type, learn how to type FAST. This is just my experience, but I think typing faster makes your cadence, clause length, dialogue, IDEAS flow better/more naturally. We think in words/sentences, not letters.
This is a super lame tip that’ll make you roll your eyes, but read poetry. Poetry is all about how words/ideas/images sound and interact with each other. Don’t get hung up on one poet—im not really recommending any for precisely this reason—read poetry you love (for me, Ada Limón, Jack Kerouac, Frank O’Hara, ghazals etc) AND read poetry you hate (for me, Rupi Kaur, Emily Dickinson, Whitman, etc)! Read all genres you can get your hands on. (I think there are like “great poetry anthologies” you can find for free online if u don’t know where to start. Also you can’t go wrong with subscribing to/reading a variety magazine like the NYer. It’s pretentious but it exposes you to all kinds of weird topics, ways of writing about them, etc.) Figure out how certain combinations of words and punctuations make you FEEL, and why, and why the writer chose (or not) to make you feel that way. Figure out which literary sounds you like and which ones you don’t. For me, i figured out that I REALLY like alliteration, comma splices, zeugmas, the rule of three, and
“he’s [verb]ing again… yeah compacflt’s characters are [verb]ing again… big shocker”
If you have an idea for a piece, figure out what it is you really want to get out of it—to say something? to experiment with a different style? to see your fav characters do something? to have fun?—and then figure out how, on a technical level, you should write to match that goal (this is where the poetry training comes in handy). If you’re just writing to have fun, don’t listen to any writing advice (incl. mine), because most of it is bullshit and over-generalized and will make you feel bad about yourself. Just take the advice that you think will work for what YOURE trying to write.
But if you’re writing to explore some political idea, then you should think about HOW to best write about that idea. What would be a convincing story/allegory/scene to engage with this idea vs. not convincing. I talk on this blog all the time about how disappointed I am that my very-adult-grown-up attempt to deal with the dynamic of “immovable internalized homophobia vs unstoppable falling in love anyway” is rendered a little childish/immature by some pretty unconvincing plot points like the characters buying a house together—I really should have considered how that plot point would interact with the characterizations I’d built already (hint: poorly). You can think of writing as kind of a military structure if that helps—you have strategy on the overarching campaign (plot/character growth/allegory/theme) level, the battle (scene that advances the above) level, and the tactical (sentence-level construction/syntax/wording) level. They all have to work together. If a scene is failing to properly engage with the idea you’re trying to convey, you’re losing a battle that will weaken the overarching campaign. Same thing if you choose a weird word in a sentence/write in a style or tone that’s weirdly out of place with your idea—it makes your engagement with the theme/idea less convincing. just try to be purposeful and consider your strategy on all levels of your work as you’re writing it!! At the very least it’ll make editing easier lol.
But then again when I read my own writing from just a couple months ago I cringe out of my skin, so like—just also accept that it’s a process and we’re all just making it up as we go along. Be proud of being embarrassed of your old work, because it means you’re growing. Own that shit. When I finished writing WWGATTAI i thought it was the best thing I’d ever written, and maybe it was. But since the day I finished working on it, it’s the worst thing I’ve written since then. That’s a great feeling. Not to be like writing grindset obviously bc it’s supposed to be fun—but if what you want is to get better at writing, the strategy is to WRITE a whole bunch of shit, and then own your embarrassment about how much you’ve grown since you started. And know you’re still always growing and learning. there should never be any “goals” where skills are concerned 👍🏽
#fake it till u make it#the good part about fiction is all you’re really doing is makin shit up#no rules!!!#fiction is just trying to sell a lie right#so it’s all on a sliding scale of convincability (at least that’s how i judge fiction)#and figuring out how to convince people of your lie is where the art is#anyway.#not top gun#asks#writing tips#idk how to tag this#also i love ao3 because trying to get published traditionally genuinely made me hate writing/MY writing#i have indeed had the cliche 100+ form rejection letters experience#unfortunately writing is also one of those things where you can see it as a competition so easily#(admittedly a small part of why i don’t read other TG fics—i don’t wanna read people doing it better than me😭)#BUT you tailor your experience to have a healthy life. it’s not a competition if you don’t make it one. put yourself first
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DUDE I would give anything to be super rich and house cool artists like they did way back when in the renaissance. I struggle with the art and creation my brain simply isn’t made for it (not that I don’t try) but I LOVE commissioning I LOVE giving people money!!!!! I would have so much fun just giving a funky little artist a pool house and unlimited art supplies and let them do whatever they want. Sure make a painting of my ocs while your at it but I love your sexy landscape scene go crazy
#if I was rich in this modern century I’d buy myself a nice house in the countryside and go ham#but then I’d start commissioning people like crazy#I’d find someone I really like and just ask them to be my personal oc maker#I’d have a different artist for different ocs#and then I’d put them all in a little group chat and maybe switch it up a bit#I’d ask someone to paint my house or my dogs#I’d ask someone to craft me a dope chair#or an awesome sculpture#and I’d love it#it’s so much fun#in my opinion my favorite thing about commissions is tipping after I get the art#bc the artist is always so happy I love it#I love the art people make me and I love their art AHTHKFKFFN it’s awesome#I want to be rich so so bad
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Hey!
I'm looking for tips on improving my art. I'm currently a broke-beginner but really want to improve. Any advice or drawing tips?
Oof beginner art tip ? Uhm 🤔 My Too Long Didn't Read take is : Fill your head with lots of references from real life photographies, movies, comics or any other artists that inspire you and analyse how they work and why you like them As well as practice practice practice ! Explore and experiment ! There's a LOT of free art ressources on the internet and specific tutorials for what you may be interested in Some of my personal favorites are ARVEN92's My rambling answer is :
Personally, I know that my art level stayed stuck for a very long time because I kept drawing the same things over and over again. I used to never get out of my confort zone.
Exploring new horizons is hard and frustrating and sometimes it takes a dozen of failed attempts before you finally make something look just like how you want it to (I sure did) But I can't recommend practicing and experimenting enough !
Look up artists' who inspire you and study their pieces in order to understand what you like in them (watch their speedpaints if they have any to check out their process)
Google photography of people and analyse how the lighting works. Find painting of landscapes and try to understand why such cluster of pixels looks like a bush from afar, how can you replicate that with your own hand ?
Take/Print multiple pictures of the same animal and TRACE IT, that's right don't be scared to do so ! It's a taboo topic in art communities but it shouldn't be ! As long it's not from a fellow artist and as long as you don't claim it as yours then it's perfectly fine ! So trace over it and try to get a grip of how the anatomy work and where the bones are and how the muscles wrap around all that mess. Then try to replicate that same drawing but without the model. Compare the result to the image again… See what might be off Then do it again, this time try to stylize it and shape it however you like !
Photography source
Also, don't hesitate to take a step back. You won't notice your improvement right away because, just like your own face : you see it everyday and thus may not notice the slow changes as you grow, yet they are still there ! If you feel exhausted from practicing, take a break for a couple of days and come back with a fresh eye and mindset I used to think I never changed my way of drawing horses, but once you look back how far you've come you only realize that is simply not true
#people asking M E ?? for art tips ?#me giving advices about getting out of Le Confort Zone™ when I'm the laziest person in existence ??#I'm a yapper sorry xd dont give me the opportunity to talk because i suck at being concise#ask#I also mostly talk about character art because that's what I do the most and I assume you would ask me out of all the artists on Tumblr-#-because of that ?
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i have tragically uncovered a new Pet Peeve and it's when someone shares a helpful art resource and calls it "not gatekeeping." it makes me so annoyed that it keeps me from reblogging the post with the resource. guess that makes me the true gatekeeper
#i heard this was a thing on the clock app but now ive run into it twice on tumblr TODAY#first of all this isn't what gatekeeping means!!!!!!#second of all lots of artists are so happy to share tips and tricks and resources and their entire process#third of all giving good art advice is genuinely a lot of work! it's labour!#whenever i get an art advice ask it may easily take me an hour to fully write it out#fourth of all ive seen like... enamel pin designers not share their manufacturers because doing so would overwhelm that particular manu#people usually have reasons not to share info and it rarely keeps you from making your art!!!!!!#the fact that art tools cost money is normal!!!!!#god im sorry i sound like the monthly art discourse on twitter
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how did u learn to paint?? like i just cant wrap my head around it
<3 I love answering asks like this!
You will have to bare with me, I don't save many of my studies, and my files aren't that organized so I don't have as many images as I would like.
The studies I've found most helpful for myself personally with painting are various master studies. (This is also, as always, alongside study of fundamentals.) And always follow a study with self-critique (and, if you can get it, outside critique!)
"Master" in this sense means anyone who you want to learn something from.
One way you can do this is by copying an artist's work directly. This is to try and understand some of their stylistic techniques. Leyendecker, Andrew Loomis, and John Singer Sargent are personal favorites of mine! I try to keep these quick, I'm not trying to get an exact copy.
I also get a lot out of copying photos. In this case, I'm not trying to glean some technique, rather, I'm trying to interpret the photo and explore my own stylizations.
(photo credit mountain men of alaska )
I also really enjoy taking a painting or piece that already exists, and making it "mine" by putting my characters in it haha, which is sort of a combination of master studies and photo studies!
(William Bruce Ellis - Covent Garden (1930)) (Barberini Faun)
And then, in my work that's not a study at all, I'm informed by all of these!
What master studies do is help me refine my style and practice my technique, but also I'm communicating with artists of the past through my art! They're teaching me! And I have so much to learn.
And of course... most importantly... I paint.
a lot.
I don't do as much study anymore, not because I feel I've learned all I need to, but because for work I draw 50+ drawings a week. 'Drawing for work' and 'study' occupy the same space in my brain and I need some fun drawing time!
So to sum up, draw a lot, reference constantly, and copy the people you want to draw more like!
(and, of course, when doing a study off of someone else's work, always give them credit. If it's your photos there's no need.)
#I really tried to pare this one down cause it got LONG#as always I am more than happy to delve deeper into any of these particular points!#I'm always always always happy to explain as much of my process as possible#and I'd love to pass off some of my knowledge to others!#I love to see people creating art and want to do anything I can to help empower people to do so more#I love you mwa mwa mwa#asks#edsheerankinnie#art tips#painting tips#I pretty much wear my influences on my sleeve#like I don't care#I honestly get so so so excited about art I'm like shaking a little#like oh my god#we get to MAKE Things#we get to sit down and through the power of our own hands we get to CREATE#and I get to access the knowledge of humanity. throughout history#I get to reach my hand out and have people who are long gone pass their knowledge on to me.#like come on. that's unreal...#at some point you will unlock this feeling if you let yourself#the feeling of connection over centuries#when you hear michelangelo was so shocked by the lifelike nature of his own sculpture he threw his chisel at it to see if it would move#when you see rockwell's love for simple moments between normal people#when you see cave paintings of a woman and you know she was loved.#you get to fucking connect#and feel human#and it's really special#and it's why I think everyone should draw. everyone should draw a LITTLE#music too#augh I'm emotional
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