#but i was like this is basically rivaling do u like the colour fo the sky post length

[aibouart]

So I’ve had an anon in my drafts for like a year now asking how to get better at being fast at art since I can be a bit speedy (I used to be faster but I’ve slowed down in some areas to take my time BDBDS)

Anyways, I have been thinking abt it constantly since then and decided to just make a video about it, but Vegas cONSTANTLY crashes on me and when I was doing it, I couldn’t upload it anyways due to my terrible internet and the length

SO I’ve decided to just say a summary of it, cuz like, ultimately it’s a lot of things but the primary thing is:

Keyboard shortcuts (and tools)

Fr, you can get super fast at digital art just by navigating your program efficiently. You don’t even need to be fast at the art thing itself (that part is just practice unfortunately). If you learn and apply shortcuts in your program (sorry mobile users I can’t help u there rn) then you can easily become a LOT faster without even needing to get better at art itself.

For example:

We already know ctrl-Z, ctrl-Y (or ctrl-shift-z for some programs), ctl-X, ctrl-v, ctrl-c

But some other shortcuts I use (this is in Paint Tool SAI, so you can look up your program’s as it might overlap!) are:

Holding space: bro this shit works for like every single program i swear. hold space and click and drag to move the canvas around, a lot faster than going to the scroll bars or using the preview (unless you want a large movement)

Ctrl A: this will select everything on your canvas, it won’t select all layers though but in conjunction with ctrl-x, ctrl-c, or your fill shortcut (ctrl-f for me) it means you’re lightning fast to do what you’re doing without having to use magic wand tool or selection tool. ctrl-a + ctrl-c + ctrl-v is super fast to just, select it all, copy it, and paste it. 

ctrl-alt: idk abt other programs, but holding ctrl-alt on SAI brings up the brush size wherever your mouse is. you can adjust the size on the spot itself without going to brush tab 

ctrl f: i don’t even use the bucket tool i just use this. it’ll fill anything in your selection (or the entire screen if u don’t have anything selected)

alt: holding this down while using a selection tool will make it deselect. no need to use a deselection tool or anything if u just hold this down (really good in conjunction w magic wand tool). I use this to go even faster by being sloppy with my selection tool, going to my lineart, holding alt and deselecting the areas that go out of the lines. a lot faster for me than trying to get the perfect selection right away.

ctrl d: deselects

c: this auto selects the invisible/eraser setting for any tool you’re using, so I just use this when using a pen or something to erase instead of the actual eraser tool

v: this swaps between the primary colour selected and the secondary one

ctrl-e: merges selected layer w layer below it

ctrl-shift-e: merges all layers (can get funky w folders, but if you select the very top layer it should work) this is esp useful if you’re sharing art by pasting it into stuff like discord, ctrl-shift-e, ctrl-a, ctrl-c, all copied, no need to screenshot it at all.

right click: eyedropper tool, you can hold alt as well but i use right click

there’s even more than these (pretty sure there’s one u can hold to rotate the canvas for example but i never use it). honestly, half the battle w digital art is getting used to your program. if u have access to keyboard shortcuts, using them will allow u to just go ham once u have them memorised (note that these took years for me to figure them all out, i def didn’t memorise them all in one week or anything. over steady application to my habits i got them down)

here’s a fast tutorial on filling in lineart stupid quickly!: https://aibouart.tumblr.com/post/182793937136/using-the-magic-wand-tool-to-try-and-fill-every

filling in ur colour now becomes as easy as click, click, click, invert, ctrl-f. u may need to clean some corners but otherwise it’s basically instantly filled. if ur program has magic wand tool it’ll prolly do this

https://gyazo.com/a5efd8695e7e0bda6667063168612823 (really quick example of selection tool, magic wand tool, alt, ctrl-f)