#dani and laura if u read this mwah

[northern-passage]

Hi there! Idk if you've ever answered this but I just wanna know how you got into drawing, and how you found your art style! Your art is really beautiful and I tried to get into drawing, but whenever I sit down with pen and paper I just... stare and don't even know how and where to begin. Do you have a way to motivate yourself or do you just start without thinking about it?:0

hi :-) i've been drawing for a really long time, since i was a kid, though i did stop for quite a few years and only picked it back up again in 2019/2020.

i'm actually pretty insecure about my style hahaha i feel like it's really inconsistent and it never really looks how i want it... so thank you for saying that 💗 i also don't really draw that often, i typically draw in sprints where i'll suddenly draw a bunch in one week and then not touch my tablet again for 6 months lmfao so that doesn't help with my inconsistency.

something that helped me a lot was a period in 2019 where i didn't have my tablet and ended up drawing a lot of traditional stuff (literally just pencil and paper) that was just for me in a little journal. drawing from life - just random stuff, furniture, landscapes, bottles, people, etc - improved my art quite a bit, at least in my opinion. and since it was just for me i didn't feel pressured to make it perfect so it made me try more challenging pieces and if it didn't work out it wasn't a big deal.

usually i just get an idea out of the blue... lately i've been working on specific scenes with both Noel and Merry so that's what made me want to draw them. when i figure out what i want to draw i start hunting for references - i Always draw with a reference. adorkastock is my go-to especially with all the weapon references they have, since i tend to be drawing my fantasy characters. i actually used two different adorkastock images to come up with the sitting pose for Merry.

as for my style specifically i try to find a little spot between realistic and stylized - for a while i tried to emulate a more "animated" art style which is simplistic and distinct, but now i've started to move back into a more realistic/illustrative look. i also just... stopped trying to make myself do stuff i don't like - i hate doing lineart, so i don't really do it anymore! i like how my sketches look more so now my style is a bit rough and sketchy.

and there are a lot of artists i definitely take inspiration from, i follow quite a few here and i always like seeing how other people draw this or that - there are a lot of really good artists in the IF community. one of my favorite artists on tumblr is clickbaitcowboy, who also has a few tips and tutorials on his blog (i aspire to this one day figuring out how to draw body hair...) i also really like gacpars who makes really beautiful watercolor illustrations, and my friend dani crimsiswrites has a really nice style i admire, too.

if you struggle coming up with general ideas i definitely suggest checking out other artists (for me seeing other people's art is a direct inspiration), or even just scrolling through various references like on pinterest could give you some ideas!