#i got the way it looks from sinix design on youtube

[small-spark-of-light]

day 20 was to make a character based on an object in my room!!!

this is andromeda!! shes a figure skater based on one of my galaxy flowers

[bobbybutterfly]

Oh my goodness! This took me almost 7 hours. I ended up having to re work the perspective. At one point he looked like he was going to fall off the building! I’m satisfied though. Just don’t think about the anatomy much. I’m putting more effort into my composition and colours. I mainly do it by stealing, I mean studying, composition and poses from League of Legends splash art I find on Pinterest

I watched Arcane and my brother played it when I was small all the time. A. K. A. I don’t know much about the video game other than the art (look my relationship to modern digital illustrations is complicated because my art teachers really hate it and I can see why) implements certain art techniques quite well. That was a long sentence! Anyway back to my painting? Drawing of Mulmangcho?

The improving in composition and colour go hand in hand. Different colours got different values. Meaning that if you switch the image to black and white certain colours are going to be darker or lighter. Your job as an artist is to make the piece be readable even if it was switched to black and white. With readability helps out composition! Composition is placing objects and colours in a certain way to guide your eye through the image.

As you can see the image still looks good in black and white. I made the parts I wanted the viewer to focus on the lightest. Like mainly the face, the gun and sort of the rest of the figure. I made the background darker so the lighter parts would stand out even more.

Now this is a piece I done a day or two ago. Um. Ignore the shadow not making much sense. I drew it like that so it goes in the same direction as the hand. I still did the thing of making the parts that are in the front the lightest. But the contrast isn’t… contrasting that much.

Here I added some screen tone. Much better no?

Hope you didn’t mind my monologue about art. I wanted to show off a bit to non artists just how much goes into making art. And trust me. There’s way more you got to keep in mind when doing an art work. If you get a lot of practice in, or just have talent (most people have a mix of both) it comes naturally to you. Kind of how you don’t need to think about how to take a step when walking.

If you’re an artist and I peaked your interest in art fundamentals I would recommend the YouTube channels Sinix Design and Proko. Bet ya they will explain everything far better than I can. Lastly it helps me out to recap what I’m doing. It gets stored in the head better. I never would have realised, just how much I know about the anatomy of an ear, if I didn’t explain it to a kid in a language I’m slowly forgetting all my vocabulary for. Sorry Slovak teachers, you tried your best.

Originally I wanted to talk about how I’m rewatching Squirrel and Hedgehog. It’s far better on a rewatch. The plot is very complicated. I still feel like I have to open up a word document and take notes. But at least I have an idea what is going on. I think I will talk about that more in another post.

[ex-textura]

Hiya, Sebastian! ♥ I'm just passing by to say I really admire your art and your talent, and one day I hope to have enough money to share with you and support your beautiful work. :( ♥ I'd like to know a little bit about how you first came into contact with drawing and if you have any cheap/free tools and tutorials you'd recommend to someone who wants to start taking drawing more seriously (and knows 0% about it lmao), if you don't mind. Much love always! - tiefling enthusiast anon

Anon!! I’m so sorry it took me so long to get to this! This is such a kind ask omg thank you 🥺🥺

Don’t ever worry about not being able to buy anything from me, your kind words are honestly enough (and I know what it’s like not to be able to afford to support artists. It’s hard but I promise you messages like this mean so, so much more than money. I’m giddy rn lol)

As for getting into art, tbh I started drawing very young. I used to draw Pokémon and digimon on my desk in elementary school, and then going into junior high I started to branch out a little more though I stopped around high school and didn’t pick up drawing again until more than 10 years later lol….but it’s always been something I loved to do, and coming back to it has really filled a hole in my life I didn’t realize was there for a long time.

For a lot of my early drawings, it was just printer paper and ballpoint pens or plain old pencils until I got my first graphics tablet years later. So if you’re just starting out you don’t really need anything but the will to draw and something to scribble on. If you’re looking to start with digital art though there’s a couple of routes you can take. If you have access to an iPad, or can get one cheap (think used, past model… you don’t need much) there are a number of apps you can get such as ibis paint (which I think may be free or have a free version though I don’t use it myself) or procreate (it’s what I use on my iPad, but it has a one-time fee of I believe $13.99CAD). Or, if you have a computer I got started on a simple graphics tablet and you can get them for fairly cheap these days used (mine was like $80CAD) and I used a free version of Paint Tool SAI which works great.

Still though, if you’re okay not starting with digital art I would recommend just getting a small sketch book for under $10, a mechanical pencil and a gum eraser (those brownish ones). That’s all you really need to get started.

As for tutorials, I mostly watch YouTubers for art advice. I’d recommend Sam Does Arts, Drawfee, and Sinix Design

Sam does a lot of “rating art advice” videos, critiquing his followers pieces, and some goofy things but he has a lot of great tips and he explains things in a very easy to understand way. He also calls out his own flaws easily and teaches you to learn from his own mistakes which I find very encouraging.

Drawfee is four artists with different styles that mostly do art challenges among themselves but they also host art classes for their patrons and those videos get posted to their channel for the general public so you can still follow along for free. I like that they have different styles and different methods, and when they post their speed draws they talk through their process which is very informative.

Sinix is an incredible artist and while some of his videos are definitely more advanced he has beginner videos too that teach the very basics and I still spend a lot of time watching those ones to really drill them into my brain. He’s more informative than entertaining like the other two are, but his stuff is so good.

Other than YouTube videos, I also spend a lot of time on Line of Action which is a great site for practicing form and anatomy.

I’d also recommend the morpho drawing books if you can find a free pdf online (there are definitely sources for them I just can’t seem to find any right now…).

Im sorry this got so long winded xD I don’t even know if it makes any sense anymore lol. But basically…. Get yourself some paper and a mechanical pencil, a decent eraser and start with the basics. There are so many free resources online to get you there. After that… just get yourself a blorbo that you’re just so obsessed with and draw them over and over again until you can do it from memory. Then keep drawing them some more. It takes time and persistence and you might even feel frustrated when you start out, but remember that everyone starts somewhere and even the greatest artists are still learning.

And, please if you do start drawing feel free to share your art with me! I’d love to see it, and hopefully we can grow together ❤️❤️

[pandemique]

I love your style, do you have any tips for anything, like proportions, shading, etc. for digital art?

thank u :> i have tips in the #art advice tag, and a coloring tutorial here if u haven’t seen it. i’ll try to offer more about those other aspects below the cut!

i’m a total noob too especially for digital so i do believe other people will have much better tips! here are some who make very high quality art explanations: (these are all on youtube!)

Sinix (especially his anatomy quick tips series, soo goodd)

Marco Bucci (10 minutes to better painting series)

Sycra (more in-depth stuff)

Sara Tepes (slightly more stylized)

LavenderTowne (very stylized, comic artist)

lemoncholy (art-video-design, in love with her character design)

Kim Jung Gi (The god of anatomy & perspective)

i watched a lot of these when starting out; now if i have time i love finding individual artists i just love and try to break down their art to see what i love so much about it :)

i’ll try my best to explain my own style and methods!!

💙 Stylized

Faces: my style is very anime / chibi inspired, so that means regular proportions but cutesified, so more exaggerated childlike proportions -> big eyes, big heads, small (dot) noses. its lowkey a cheat to draw faster but still expressively hehe,,,

Bodies: mine are so basic 😅 i often use references and just simplify them into more basic shapes

i don’t do this enough but i really suggest pushing the shape language and also having clear silhouettes of who and what ur character is doing at all times

a sense of movement makes your art more dynamic and interesting and life-like. i try to keep my characters doing something in every panel, and even when staying still i think having a clear line of action is preferable (shoutout to @alkalinefrog and @li-wri for the best dynamics in their sketches imo 😌🙏)

For shading, i explain in much more depth in the coloring tutorial! I personally only cell-shade in one block the general area that i think would be covered from light on a multiply layer, and then add different colors for transitions (between shadows and light) and for secondary/reflected light (within shadows)

💚 Realism

for the most part, i agree that u prolly wanna learn to draw realistically in tandem with stylistically if u wanna develop ur art

to study proportion, i personally think there’s no way around referencing real people. i highly suggest quick figure drawings, gesture drawings and also breaking down figures into shapes!

shading is also something u learn through practice and develop intuition for, BUT i think if u look up tutorials on shading basic shapes like spheres and blocks, u can quickly apply it to more complicated shapes. u just need to know several concepts such as these:

i did this while trying to figure out a george design lol (i’m still getting there, that’s why he looks like a shapeshifter in my comics T_T)

and when drawing real people’s face proportions, it tends to have to be pretty exact, so i often use grids!!

i also saved some digital-specific art tips for someone who migrated from tradi:

know u feel hella rich with literally any color now at ur disposal, but limit ur color scheme!! not as in the amount of colors, but more so be more purposeful about the color set u choose (personally i find it good to mix both saturated and desaturated colors :>)

take the time to learn about the functions of the magic buttons for the program you’re using, i swear it will save time in the future

editing colors and proportions after you’re already done is a thing now and its amazing

there’s gLOW ✨✨✨✨ (play around with blending modes!!)

that’s all i got for now, i hope any of this was useful!! good luck, we’ll be learning and improving together for sure!!

[milkyybuns]

Loved!!! Those hands!! Any advice on practicing anatomy? I feel like admiring from afar bc im too scared to begin but also ill never k ow if i dont get out of the comfort

asdfshsk (/ω＼) thank uuuu ur so sweet and tbh idk if I’m the best person to give advice bc ive still got sm to learn ;-;

I highly recommend Sinix Designs’ tutorials on YouTube. He explains it in a really fun and easy to understand way.

But in case u cbf, here’s some of his advice I found very helpful:

- Use a BIG, HARD EDGED brush, don’t blend

- Confident lines instead of sketchy furry lines

- Use reference images!!

- Skin should have low contrast bc it’s not a very reflective material like metal

Idk if this is motivating but here’s what the hands looked like at the start of the study vs the end (even tho it took me ages and many revisions sobs):

Don't be scared to start! I have countless pages of very janky sketches that led up to this piece. Just pick a body part u enjoy drawing and practice heaps. I’d love to see anything you draw!! <3

[artandhuddle]

Artist Interview with Daphne Hutcheson

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Daphne Hutcheson, an artist I’ve admired for quite some time. Her work and knowledge in the arts has helped me, along with many other artists in the online community.

Daphne Hutcheson, also known as @paperwick on social media, has been creating artwork from a very young age, with works in both traditional and digital media. Her work covers a broad range of fandoms, original content, and client based works along with some very useful and resourceful tutorials. 

K: I wanted to first ask about your experience attending SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design)?

D: My experience at SCAD was tepid at best. The teachers were good, but I mean very specifically the professors who were teaching in my major, which was sequential art. SCAD is really not a great institute for anyone who isn't rich enough for their parents' to cover the cost. That's my biggest issue with it, they will cripple you with debt, so if anyone is lower-income, I would highly suggest learning via some of great online courses or using a state college's art program to sort of direct you if you need direction and deadlines. I know I need them. SCAD's loans are no joke. The college itself was very good my first year, they do a lot to make sure incoming students feel heard and welcomed, and then after that they really don't try for you. As soon as you're a sophomore, they could care less about how you feel to be there. Their class attendance requirements are grueling and there's no room for accidents--you miss four class sessions and you fail the course. It's wild, and even if you're in the hospital, those absences will not be forgiven. If you're late, it counts as an absence.I don't recommend it. At all. All the learning I garnered there is online accessible these days, one just has to hunker down, find it, and put it to practice. My professors were great, but no education is worth that price tag. Depending on your major there, you will be treated differently by the school. For example, their fashion and fibers majors are doted on, whereas a major like animation is ground hard into the dirt. There were unrealisitc deadlines to meet for class projects and kids would be in the school buildings overnight trying to meet them. Some fell asleep in their chairs and Paula Wallace (the owner) saw that one day and had them replace the chairs with far less comfortable chairs. Some kids had heart attacks from staying up to meet deadlines. Such a bad work culture of "all-nighters". In part the students' fault, but none of the faculty really stopped it or discouraged it, save one teacher in a different major, and that being said, that teacher still gave ridiculous deadlines so we'd "be prepared for the industry". That's not at all what the industry is like (discluding the game industry right now). It is truly a hard place to thrive and everyone I've known who has graduated had months to years of burnout after finishing, including myself. I'd hazard real caution when choosing to go to a private art college, art institutes included.No education is worth that amount of debt.

K: Wow, that’s unfortunate to hear. I wonder if students are having similar experiences at colleges such as CAD or RISD?

D: I have heard very similar things about places like RISD and CAD where it’s all about the money, but I can’t point you towards any of the specifics. I really just want people to go into it with a clear head and know it’s going to be hard exiting. They really don’t prepare you for business.

K: What would you have done differently? Would you have signed up for online courses?

D: If I was to do it over, I would have liked to dive straight into developing personal projects, just making the work. Watching and reading free youtube videos and blog posts by artists. That would not have flown with my parents, they’re very by the book “go to college or get a job” type people. With than in mind, I would’ve gone to the local college I was within biking distance of as a sort of clean, and done fairly half assed studies by full assed my artwork.

K: That sounds like what a lot of artists, particularly those interested in digital art are doing. But, have you ever considered going back to school, or enrolling in a program or an atelier that you think would be beneficial to your art career?

D: Not genuinely. If I had time, I wouldn't mind enrolling in something that would teach me puppet animation, but between freelance and my day job, it's hard to find time to produce personal work and then also learn. I am pro-learning, always learning because that keeps your work fresh, keeps your mind sharp and ready to switch up on a dime. But course work is something I'm not super fond of, to be honest.

K: I understand. So, you've graduated and are currently doing freelance work along with your other day job. In your freelance work, what kind of work are you taking from clients?

D: Mostly I do storyboard animatics for a few advertising agencies, but I do some card art for games here and there, like Companion's Tale. I just signed on to do some tarot card artwork for a company called Legacy: Fables. I'll take anything that sounds interesting and that I have time for. It's all digital; traditional art is way more personal for me so I almost exclusively make traditional artwork as gifts for friends.

K: Are there any particular fandoms or genres that you tend to work more in?

D: As far as fandom work and commissions, it's Dragon Age all the way BABY! It's a good community and I owe a lot to them. I'm planning on reopening my tarot commissions here soon once I finish up a few of my freelance projects. I am an old hat with fantasy stuff and most comfortable there, but I really want to start working on robots and mechanics and cities. All that sci-fi goodness.

K: Wow, that's great to hear you've got very steady work, and they’re with industries and agencies! I hope you'll get to share that work once it's gone down the production pipeline. Have you ever considered applying for work with a company like EA/Bioware?

D: Yeah! I've lucked out a lot, it feels like all of this sort of dumped itself in my lap. My biggest resistance to applying to Bioware or any gaming industry position right is rooted in how they treat their workers. Bioware, specifically back when Anthem was released, had a nasty report come out on how management had run their workers to the point of many having mental breakdowns, and several just leaving and never coming back. They refer to those who have breakdowns while working during their months and months of crunch as "stress casualties", and I'm honestly quite disgusted by what I hear. I think once the gaming industry unionizes I'll consider applying, but the things I hear, not just about Bioware and EA... It's horrifying. Riot, Blizzard, Activision, Treyarch, Rockstar... the list could go on. Not to like tank the conversation into a dark place, I just have such strong feelings about it.

K: That's ok! It's good to hear different perspectives, especially when talking about the industry. Alright, on to the next question. Looking at your work, from sequential narrative to tarot artwork, I’m really impressed by your storytelling. When you’re creating stories and characters, do you pull a lot from your own experiences and emotions, or more from other sources such as music, film, or literature?

D: Ahh that's a hard one. I think I pull far more from outside of me than inside of me.The way things are shaped comes from my own experience, but I think a lot of my content comes from outside influences, like movies, books, music, and art.Howls Moving Castle, the book not the film, had a huge affect on me and how light I want the stories I tell to be, but I think I have a long way to go when putting stories together.I am super empathetic so it's easy to take outside influences and really feel them, but also it's hard to tell where I start and those influences ends.

K: Very well said, and the comment about the novel, I can really feel that in your personal work, especially your recent animated landscape piece.

D: Thanks!

K: The first time I came across your work was one of your Dragon Age tarot works, but also the tutorial on how you created them. It was incredibly helpful to me and I know to lots more artists. Your tutorials and words of advice have proven very successful, but have you ever received any advice or tutorials that really switched gears or level upped your techniques?

D: The answer is yes, absolutely. Let me see, I don't seek out tutorials anymore, but there was something I saw recently that was good. Sinix's head from any angle is a great approach to drawing faces at crazy angles. Also, check out Bunabi on Tumblr. Bunabi is so fast and her work is beautiful, and has great tutorials also, just incredible. 

I unfortunately can’t link to any specifics, but tutorials like this one do me a lot of good.  

People can just screenshot process stuff that reminds me that there are a million ways to approach art, like sketch up, grids, freehanding. I think I benefit from understanding that there are a million approaches more than following the tutorials super hard.

K: Great,thank you! I wanted to ask a few more questions, one about your Patreon. It seems like the next big wave for digital artists. How has it been creating one and keeping on top of the awards, and is there anything you would want to do differently with yours?

D: So Patreon is kind of a basket you can fill with prizes, maybe some of the prizes for money (probably prizes for money), and that works for a lot of people. I have a more of a "here's content I don't put elsewhere if you'd like it" approach to it cause I'm inconsistent with patron pay-outs. Patreon for artists with chronic mental illness is a struggle. Hands down. I started one hoping it would iron out my discipline issues a year or two back, and it didn't. It made me feel hella guilty cause I could not keep up with what I said I'd keep up with, and then I felt worse. It was disastrous. I refunded most of the pledges I got during the three months I had it open. Then I closed it for a year and brought it back online recently. Now all my content is free, it's still inconsistent, but if people want to support me I welcome it. I think Patreon is a good platform, but I will never be able to use it is intended. I respect the people who can keep up with it all, that kind of discipline takes a crazy amount of strength of character, but I don't motivate with money very well. In the end, I motivate through helping others as best I can, so it'll always be free content. I have very few plans for it, other than I want to put together a brush pack and share it there with brushes I made. I just need a moment to sit down and make that happen. I've got a tutorial for using photos to make quick painted backgrounds too, and I just have to organize that sucker.

K: Thank you for being so open about it. I think what you're doing is so insightful and helpful in what you're offering to your followers, especially those who may also be struggling with anxiety and depression.

K: Can you share what your process is like from a sketch to a finished piece? Do you thumbnail a lot before, use references to build from, and so on?

D: I like to do throw away thumbnails on notepaper.

And then I take those thumbnails and do a more thought out version digitally.

K: Wow, these are both beautiful. If you don't share these with patrons already, I would! I also like that you've given each one their own color, a good way to organize!

D: Thank you! I'll make sure to share these, I forget about them genuinely. I'll diverge in two directions from here depending on need. If what I'm working on is simple, I hop straight into color. If it's going to be complicated, ie crazy armor, specific architecture, I will do a line pass first and then launch into color. Either way, this is where most of my references come into play. Once that is solid I add detail work.

K: Reference can be so important in art; it really can bring work to a new level if used properly!

D: Yeah reference is king. I use it constantly, even when doing the most stylized thing, cause there's always stuff you forget. The waves I did for my last card, I had reference of barrel waves up constantly, and it helps a ton.

K: My last question is where do you see yourself in five years? I know this can be a challenging question, but if you had any goals or plans you’d like to see come into fruition, what would they be?

D: Five years? These questions are always a struggle for me. I try not to look past a week at a time because it's all so BIG. And my life has undergone so many huge changes in such a short period of time SO MANY times that it's hard to make long term plans. Especially when dealing with mental illness. So I try to think less about where I'll be in any amount of time, and more about what I want to progress towards achieving, it's a little easier and sets up less expectation. So this is not necessarily a five year plan, and more an eventual future plan. I want to have enough tutorial work to put together an art resources book/pdf online. I want to develop my freelance work further and create my own studio, ideally for illustrative style work, smaller animations, and maybe some classes for people interested in color and storytelling. I want to put together a small guide of sorts also for artists and people who need healing, since there's so many of us. That one is harder because it's an amorphous subject, but I think there's a lot of room for commentary there and a lot of people wanting to hear it, and I think it'll have to come from all those hurting. It's just a matter of how we'll organize that.I am a huge sap. That's my way. So in 5 years I'm hoping I'll be a better and more helpful sap.

K: Well, I hope you're able to make a lot of this happen, we need more empathy and help in the world. Thank you again Daphne for your time, this was really informative and an honest interview which I know others will appreciate.

D: Thank you, Kallie!

You can find more of Daphne’s beautiful works (and tutorials) here:

Patreon

Twitter

Tumblr

[sangoundercover]

Sango how can I learn to draw human anatomy? Your art is amazing

thank you!

Proko on youtube is a pretty good place to learn proper anatomy. In short videos he explains the individual muscles of different body parts extremely well!

But before you jump right into that. I’d say it depends a bit on how experienced you are with drawing already. If you are not familiar with the bean shape and have never busied yourself with it, that’s definitely where you should start! Proko has videos on it and other youtube channels such as “drawing tutorials online” do as well! ( sycra and sinix design are also channels I really like)

So yeah I know it’s tempting to go right for those nice arm muscles etc to draw all the buff ladies BUT stuff like the bean shape, gesture, figure drawing and proportions are where you should start! I think the hardest part for some people in the beginning is really finding the right place to start learning and WHAT exactly to learn. I remember when I found tutorials of the bean shape for the first time and how much it helped me improve!

If you study all those nice muscles/bones and draw them, that’s great and all but what use is it if you’re only able to draw a nice biceps when you can’t even draw a simple figure you can attach that muscle to? Getting more into muscles and bones is really the detail you should add AFTER you feel more comfortable with drawing simple figures etc!  A lot of muslces and bones will be completely uninteresting for you in the beginning because you can’t even see them on a person.

Gesture is really important, just being able to make your lines look dynamic and flow into each other. It makes for a great drawing! I don’t know crazy much about anatomy, (I’m trying to get back into it some more again because I got unhappy with how I let it slide.) but getting those gesture lines down for a drawing already does a lot! My latest art post for example has plenty of anatomical nonsense in it for sure! But nice Gesture makes up for that.

If you look at this one for example. There’s not much anatomy going on in Lena’s arm. it’s more about the whole movement itself and how the arm curves and twists when she reaches back. same with Kara’s left arm, they way it’s curved because she’s bracing herself on the bed. Also “C” or “S” curves is something you will probably come across. Also pretty important. You can kinda see that here in karas arm and Lena’s body. How it’s made out of loose C curves opposite from each other.

Hope this helped a bit!

[le-wendigogo]

so I recently got into digital art and I was wondering if there are any tips you'd recommend or any good (free) programs you would recommend. Thanks!

As far as art programs go, the free ones I know of are: 

Krita

Firealpaca (Supposed paint tool sai alternative)

Photoshop CS2 (It is free, but you need to sign up with Adobe. It’s also heavy on the computer depending on your computer’s limitations.)

I’m not sure exactly what tips to give, but I’m assuming you have a tablet by now if you’re looking into programs? Whether you have one or not, don’t be intimidated by how vastly different tablet use is from traditional means. You’ll get used to it in time.

Drawing and practicing every day IS fundamental, but just aimlessly drawing will only get you so far. You gotta be dedicated to learning, comprehending, and constantly thinking about variables as you draw. Learn the basics, learn anatomy, learn color/design theory, and problem solving techniques. Even if you don’t plan on doing super realistic artwork or plan on going pro, it’s good to know those things. *I’ve been drawing for roughly 24 years and it took an anatomy course in college to learn to draw everything below the neck. It took me most of this year to learn to draw Mads and Hugh, but only a few months to go from dissatisfaction to improvement. I went about it obsessively though.

Don’t expect results over night. Whether you’re new to art or just new to digital art, there’s gonna be hurdles. Don’t let them discourage you. It’s very important to keep yourself pumped and motivated. Also, do not think you’re a bad artist because you can’t do this or do that. If there’s something you wish you knew how to do, then hit up that google search engine with “how do I do ___”. I compare myself to artists all the time, but i do not compare to be competitive. I compare for the sake of self improvement.

Working digital requires a level of understanding of your program and how the tools work. Be willing to spend time toying around and if need be then there’s a YouTube vid for almost everything.

And lastly, create a folder of photos and other artwork from your muse. The things that inspire you. The things you want to draw like. However, don’t just focus on one thing. Taking tidbits of visual information from various arts is one thing, but to just flat out copy one artist is an entirely different thing. Look at the trends in the various arts: how they color, the way someone does lineart, the way someone shades, the way a person approaches anatomy compared to actual anatomy. Study them. Taking little pieces of what other artists do will eventually help you establish your own style.

These Youtube channels have really helped me over a short period of time:

Sinix Design

Ahmed Adori

Marco Bucci

This is barely close to all the proper tips to give, but this is what  has come to mind. I hope that these programs and tips work out for you.

[kieranstegglesfmpyr2]

Sinix Design - Drawing faces from any angle

Sinix is another YouTube I looked at and I found this video that got me interested about the way he draws faces. I’m not gonna do another worksheet about this because I don’t want to spend too much time experimenting as I want to move onto character making as soon as possible.

This video shows another way of making faces other than the usual circle method and uses squares instead for the overall face as he creates it as a mask than he then shapes more or cuts it into a face at different angles and then draws the rest of the head so the mask fits as a completed head.

Personally I like this idea because you an really do a lot with the facial features here without worrying about the overall shape of the head and play with certain features such as the chin and cheeks.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBv5z0Y2odE>

[former-cannibal-3]

Tell us about how you got into art.

WOW this got super long, I’m so sorry!

I was given a metric assload of coloring books, glitter crayons and stuff by my grandma when I was a kid. I don’t remember ever starting, it’s just always been like that. Also I really liked Pokemon, like REALLY liked it, like any other small child in the 90s. So I had some established characters to draw, like pikachu and eevee! Those were my fave to draw. Any I just never really stopped.

Luckily my elementary school still had an “art class” back then. For one whole year it had an actual room, but then it was just a little cart pushed around. Nothing really groundbreaking, but since it was fun and I liked it (and was proud of being “better” than everyone else there) it just kept going.  it was really just a bunch of kids scribbling stuff with very little direction.

My art tteacher gave me a book about drawing things realistically. I really read that book and took it all to heart. Except for the grid thing, I thought the grid thing was stupid because all it let you do was COPY a photo, and I didn’t WANT to COPY! I wanted to make my OWN stuff!

I dont remember, but I think it was in first grade, maybe before that? Maybe after idk but it was really early on. I wrote stories about a wolf who’s name was Fear, and she was a pup when the forest she lived in burned down, and she got separated from her pack. So she ended up having to traverse the desert and run into other packs who wanted to use her in different ways (usually as a disposable labor or to watch the pack’s pups while their mothers went to have fun and stuff like that) and she would have to fight them to keep going. And so on. It was pretty in depth but I never actually got them on paper except for some shitty doodles.

Here’s a quick rendition of her from memory I made just now, using some free lineart. It’s probably missing some aspects of her design, but the main thing was that she is orange, had the dark stripe, and a white tail-tip. I know, looks like a fox. Of course my actually drawings of her were crude and done in crayon.

I really liked wolves. A Lot. So Much. I guess that’s probs why I’m a furry?

Similar to that time, like at the same time as Fear, I was makign my own TCG based on my own pet-sim website (heavily inspired by neopets and one gem-creature that i think was on a yugioh card). I made a “functioning” website in front page, it really just made me happy to click through on the previews and do pointless stuff that didn’t actually DO anything because it wasn’t a live website. But it was cool and fun. I made a lot of websites on front page lol. A LOT.

I made custom buttons and graphics in Paint and just came up with all this shit to “do” and ran with it. I also made some sites that were like, just really bad personal homepages. But I was also like somewhere between the ages of 7-11, I don’t remember what age specifically? BUT anyway frontpage is really fun to work with and I basically know all of my HTML and CSS from that and neopets.

What’s really funny is… I never had a home computer! I didn’t have computer until like 2009, and we still didn’t have internet at home until like 2013-ish. I might be off on those dates a bit but you can’t expect me to remember specifics when I struggle to remember things that happened yesterday lol.

Oh yeah I found Jay Naylor art and a comic called Good Cheese and accidentally got into furries bc of it, and yeah some of it was porn and my POOR LITTLE CHILD BRAIN COULDNT HANDLE bahahahahaa im fucking kidding, it WAS porn but it’s cool and I don’t think it really damaged me. I thought it was ~wrong~ but I still printed that shit out in black and white after school to take home with me oops.

Like RIGHT after that I got into Redwall and Serenity Rose. Redwall has this huge roleplay community online, it was really cool. i never had the guts to RP tho, so I just looked at pretty art and tried to emulate it. I made my own OCs and stuff. With Sera Rose I entered my first foray into online forums, the Bubblegum Noir. Where I posted doodles I did. I was also a really fucking obnoxious teenager lol. This was middle school bee tee dubbs.

Sometime in middle school I think my focus shifted a bit from my self-driven and pokemon fuel’d vigor for creating things. I certainly still drew fanart, I got really into anime (kinda, i read loveless and then was smitten by cat eared boys forever after that lol) and started drawing Neopets related stuff by then. (Yes I still plaid neopets in middle school, hush.) I think I scanned some art in to enter into the beauty contest.

Uhm in middle school I was introduced to all sorts of New Cool Tools like BRUSH PENS and stuff! WOAH! But yeah I actually tried to do shit for realsies. I did stain glass cutting and silk screen printing after school. Neato!

In middle school I also had a “running” comic I called My Life Unlimited, and it was like the bizzare megatokyo-esque thing where I drew me and my friends having everyday normal lives. Except my cat was Literally Satan. No I mean like actually, Satan was on vacation in the Real World disguised as a cat, but OFC I found him and was like oh no a poor lost kitty, let me put a collar on him and take him home n feed him. Which, as we all know collars = ownership and eating the food of the land etc etc. Which lead to me owning Satan, literally, who could shift inbetween cat form and human-ish-looking form. Also he couldn’t open the peanut butter once and it became a running joke.

There was this whole plot with angels and demons or whatever and the demons were the good guys and angels were generally manipulative assholes and uhhhh yeah. It was dorky but I liked it. Still kinda do. I dated a “fox demon” in the comic, he had a scythe, it was cool. B3

And uh, I just drew a lot of fanart, fancharacters. My own comic stuff. 

And then I dropped all of it in high school, where I only drew furries and school assigned artwork. It was neato, the only thing I learned was about negitive space, lineart quality and VAGUELY hue and value (but not terribly in detail, and it was muddy and mucky). I made an FA account, found artists like CorrieZodori and ForcesWerwolf, and joined the Hungry Pokemon Forums (as a minor and completely ignoring ALL the rules about being 18 or over.) WHOOPS guess I was into vore. No wait, I joined HPF in… middle school I think? IDEK.

Anyway I started drawing MORE furries and more maws. And back then I was like “only oral vore, mawshots or pre-vore, no stomach internals and NO DIGESTION” but look at me now mom, if it aint Dying I ain’t Buying.

Lots of highschool is a blue of bad decisions and general fuckery. I had a cool AP art history class tho. I don’t remember jack fucking shit, sorry.

And uh… that’s where I am now???

Now I’m actually taking art seriously, and with internet access I can look for tutorials and references no problem. I’ve got a few good art books, but mainly I reccomend one by James Gurney called Light and Color for the Realist Painter. Or whatever, I cannot be assed to google it rn I’ve been typing for like an hour. Maybe two… idek. Also some good youtube chanels, sinix design, sycra, istabrak, bobby chiu and ahmed aldoori, really recommend those for learning!

Anyway I’m more aware of my shortcomings, and working hard to fix them, all while still ejoying doing what I do. Although lately I feel like I’ve gone backwards in quality and launched myself into more stress and difficulty. And I certainly do much less, and finish things less also. I wonder why… :T

UHM I’m not even sure if I answered your question i just kinda went on a tangent oops. Hopefully this is an entertaining read if nothing else?

[jockbots]

So I saw your art of Air Raid and Fireflight, and they looked so adorable, so then I looked to see what other art you had of the Aerialbots, and your art style is so cute! I loved the expressions especially. :D Do you happen to have any advice for making a drawing style or for drawing funny characters? I'm what you'd call a beginner artist, I just started drawing Transformers this school year, and I'm barely a teenager, so I don't have much experience. :)

First of all THANK YOU I am deeply flattered that you like my jet children. Second of all wow I am seriously sorry that it has taken me this long to reply to your question. But I wanted to really sit down and give some sold (if maybe armature) advice and references. 

So I’m gonna start with expressions and funny characters: 

I get my inspiration for mostly from cartoons 

The Amazing World of Gumball

Steven Universe

Game Grumps animated

Gumball especially because they make some hilarious faces in a this clean and simple style that is so much fun to try recreate. Steven Universe again clean and simple but with so much diversity and shaping. And watching game grumps animated (not only is ridiculously funny) but there are a lot of animated art styles that use all extremes of expressing emotions e.g egorapter’s million chin look of rage. 

As for style, it’s not really something I considered myself having, it’s something that has developed from years of drawing what I wanted to see. My standpoint is how can i make this thing more appealing to me? What do I Iike? Well, that’s dramatic lighting and shine, all the shine and pastels. And Robots. 

I watch a lot of youtube when I want to improve something: 

For accuracy and realism I go Prokopenko, he teaches classes on bone structures, muscles, expression, lighting, everything, and the vast majority of that is free: https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

Then I watch one of my favorites, Minnie Small for style and creativity. She makes beautiful and delicately detailed drawing an gives brilliant advise: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLcxo0ysMP27XTiRKqrdASg

But a good artists that works between the too ends of realism and style is Sinix Design. And the video I’m going to link is his approach to drawing faces, he knocks the method of using a circle when drawing heads in different perspectives and vouches for rectangles, and honestly my art has been better for it ever since: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBv5z0Y2odE&index=15&list=PL3BE843C2DE5DC6AC

But as you say your a beginner so you might at the minute might want to just be able to put your ideas out there and enjoy it before getting too serious (which isn’t a bad thing I only recently started taking it seriously only because before It was only escapism but I digress!!!) So here is a new dude i found, Xabio Arts, massive memer, funny, and has some nice little cheats it’s great if you’re like I dot want to study the anatomy of hands i want to be a god and draw them immediately!!!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7uTTvYKpjsDGRO_bcaMf7A

And finally, Robots. My style for robots is a mishmash of all of the above plus three main influences: 

J-Decker Brave Police (and Transformers (Prime/Animated/ mtmte comics but mostly bp). Brave police is a anime from ‘94 about these police…robots…: Its adorable and i love the way they are drawn okay???: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfS8VQ7SmkM&list=PLD42AF03E7468DE0B

Also I am yet to cave and buy this book even though it has really good reviews but i did read an extract when it first came out (that makes me sound so fancy i google how u draw robits or something of that effect and got this): Sketch workshop: Robots & Spaceship, which of what I read suggested that when you draw robots try sticking to a sort of 1/3 rule where you have large sections of plain armor then small areas of great detail with gears, wires, etc, and immediate after I produced my favourate spread of robot doodles. 

Studying planes and mechanics is my academic goal as a full time aviation student so cheating???maybe???

Listen my word is not law, and I only recently started really making time to draw, i take anything from 5 minutes to 3 hours to practice, or do whatever. sO What I’m trying to say is that style, in my opinion,  is your opinion of good art coagulated and smooshed on a page. ALso Quantity over Quality. Bye.