#lineless art is really fun. and time consuming

[sainotthepro]

@vld-wlw-month day 2: first date! 

[pixeldotgamer]

chapter 4 of itt is out; chille tid!! i did 23 pages of comic for this one and had a BLAST doing them - here’s a few of my faves ;w;

[link to chapter]

[ink-the-artist]

hey Ink! not here to ask you about art you didn't make this time, lol.

I finally did some experimenting with my colored pencils using some of your tips & tricks, and what I did looks pretty cool but HOO BOY did I underestimate how long it would take lmao. I only did like 2 little drawings, no backgrounds, and I started getting frustrated at it taking so long despite having fun doing it.

doing stuff like this will obviously take more time than what I usually do and I feel a bit silly for not realizing that lol. anyway, I was wondering if you had any tips for not getting frustrated, bored, or burned out? there's probably some basic stuff like "take breaks" but I figured I'd ask just in case you had other advice, lol. and maybe I'll be able to build up some drawing stamina too since I don't usually work on the same thing for long.

thanks for making those tutorials/guides btw! the thing about going over your sketch in a color and then erasing the graphite is really neat! fun to try and do more of a lineless style. :)

Oh man yeah, the time it takes to finish something was pretty much the reason I used to not like colored pencil at all for a while and part of what got me past that was just, starting to use less space on a paper. which sounds pretty obvious but my previous experience with colored pencil was having to use it on these big sheets of paper in my art classes and that was TEDIOUS (Ik this is also the reason so many people hate cross-hatching, because they only ever did it on big surfaces when taught it in an art class and they dont realize its not nearly so tedious if you shrink the surface down a bunch) Ik you mentioned that your drawings are little but you could try something even smaller and see if it helps, colored pencil is v good for detailed art so even a smaller drawing can look nice

also what I find most tedious in using colored pencil now is not how long it takes but whenever there's a lot of really boring coloring to do, like if there's a big space thats just one solid color that feels way more tedious to fill in than a space full of detail with different colors and shading etc, even though the second one takes longer. for me at least when the coloring isn't boring I actually enjoy taking the time and getting lost in the details

Try see if whatever you're drawing is actually best to do in colored pencil. if you're doing something with lots of flat color it might not look very different from if you used marker or colored it digitally, and you end up spending more time on it without getting any of the benefits of colored pencil in the end result. and similarly you could see if what you're drawing is best to do ONLY in colored pencil! you can color something with marker or watercolor first and then add all the texture and detail later in colored pencil. this usually really speeds things up and can be especially helpful if you're already comfortable with a different medium that you can just add colored pencil on top of

ok last thing is there's a LOT of different styles and ways of using colored pencil out there and some take much more or much less time than others. most of my colored pencil works posted here are done in a realism style that's more time consuming but some like the more colorful creature art (like Creature Activities or Leaving Milk Out For The Neighbors) have a style that take way less time. I def recommend looking at other artists who use colored pencil and seeing how they go about it because there's lots of different ways to do it! I don't know too many other artists that use a lot of colored pencil but one I really like is @hannahlockillustration ! if anyone else has any recommendations pls comment them

[inotanzen]

hiii! i really admire your art skills. and the fact that you improved so much in just 6 months is inspiring! do you have any tips on how to improve? i'm 26 and i want to improve but i feel like ive neglected my art for so long and now it's too late. :(

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH OMG ?? oh man i’m so bad with feeling and gratitude but this seriously means more than i can express so i worked really, really hard on narrowing down my best tips! so here’s

Eli’s Top 5 Rules To Be a Totally Cool Awesome Badass Artist In As Long As It’s Going To Take (In Order) :

Most important rule of all is it should be FUN. be disgustingly self indulgent, draw what you want and LOVE, not what you think you should or what everyone else is, or how everyone else is! don’t vibe with doing sketches first? hate lining? despise complicated painting styles? find shortcuts, don’t do them!!! if you’re doing digital maybe draw your sketches traditionally first and scan them/take a photo to draw over, try a lineless style, cel shading, or mixing mediums, the options are endless! this is where your “style” will come from. all “style” is, is an artists shorthand.

You are your only competition. never compare your progress to anyone but your past self, it’s not a race in terms of how good you are at X age after X amount of time spent practicing. i saw it illustrated in this comic a few years ago (that made me cry at the time, because i hadn’t started drawing yet) as seeing your skills as a beautiful potted plant- just because some people are walking around with theirs fully grown and thriving, doesn’t mean your little sprout will stay small forever. just be patient, keep watering it, and eventually, it’ll be a beautiful flower all your own. ❀

Use references Obsessively. this includes tracing! (ethically) there’s a ton of resources out there, redraws of frames from movie or shows are great too! play around with it, try using the perspective but change the style or turn it into a character au for a fandom you love. (this is part of that first tip!) mashing together images past the point of original intelligibility is acceptable as well. the goal isn’t to obsess over accuracy or stop using references altogether though, just to use them differently over time.

Inspiration/motivation won’t be gone forever. don’t force yourself to practice drawing, or you’ll end up resenting it altogether. i’ve had my tablet and pencil since january but i say 6 months bc there were two (almost three) entire months where i had no inspiration and just did Nothing. take time to consume new media for ideas or look at what inspires you instead! keep folders of the things you find most appealing to pull up when you need them. art can be a freeing escape if you allow it to be!

Look at art you admire and think about Why you admire it. why does it look good, what catches your eye most? is it the colors? the lighting? the shapes and perspective? the varied line thicknesses or the overall layout composition? everything can be broken down into components, hone in on the ones you like most and try to emulate them. we’re all just flowing down the stream of shared inspiration together. :)

bonus digital art tip: you will always need more layers than you think you do. give each element its own layer like it’s the most introverted mf you’ve ever met, i swear on everything good in this cursed world you will thank me later. layer/item selection and transform are your best goddamn friends for life.

there’s also a lot of art related posts in this tag and on my art twitter ♡ thank you endlessly again and good luck on your journey!!

[pocket-gems]

we all saw your su style but how is your actual art style

Ayyyy I'm glad to see this and I'll be happy to deliver! ^^

Sometimes I go for a more soft, dreamy style. Perfect for a kid's book I like to think. It's honestly super fun 💫

Sometimes when I feel inspired I go for a pixel one. They are more rough, limited and time consuming but they end up looking cool anyway 👀

And sometimes I feel like torturing myself via making a render. Dreamy and softy (wich is fairly new actually) ⭐

Pixelated and detailed, wich I really like but are also time consuming 😔

And lineless, funnily enough the one that less time takes me because 🥚

[maareyas]

Art trade/gift piece for BellaTreble on deviantart! featuring our jackal ocs Bel(hers, left) and Lavenza(mine, right)

I tried emulating Yui Karasuno’s (artist of the sonic social media arts) style for this, and i had a lot of fun and really like how it turned out! this style was pretty time-consuming to do but also relaxing, since it was similar to how i do lineless stuff in general

[lutrain2020]

Meet the Creator!

Introducing: Mochi!

Commissions:  I do have commissions which are currently open right now--I've done them in the past.

Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_mochibun/ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochibun/pseuds/mochibun

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Some hobbies I have are gardening, gaming, and writing. I also sew in my free time--anything creative makes me happy.

What got you into creating? what inspires you to keep creating?

What got me into creating was just reading a lot of books and consuming a lot of media. I wanted to try my hand at it from a young age, but it wasn’t until a rough time in my life did I begin to pursue it seriously to distract myself. Now I stick with it because I love creating and making people happy, and creating constantly allows me to see how far I have come in terms of both creativity but also as a person.

What's your creative process like?

It’s all over the place, honestly! But usually I sketch, and depending on my mood and style, I’ll either line it or go straight to coloring for lineless. I try to make the flats as nice as possible, but even still, I’ll usually have to add a lot of layers that have overlay/multiply/etc. effects on them to really create the sort of atmosphere and aesthetic I’m going for.

What kind of mediums do you like to use?

I definitely do use my computer and then your traditional paper and pencils. However, I also really like doing photography as well--especially as a gardener; I like taking pictures in my backyard of the garden to get my inspiration going.

Is there a specific scene wrote that you are particularly proud of?

“No, it’s not,” Link said. Her bottom lip trembled, and there was something ugly and vicious twisting within her, demanding to be let out. Link had not learned yet that silence is damning, but every inch of her was screaming. “I will not let you be painted into something you are not. I don’t want a princess, I don’t—I don’t *need a princess!* Outset, Windfall, the ocean, it doesn’t need a ruler!” “The sea takes what it wants,” the princess said, and for a moment she looked like a pirate captain. “But—“ “We don’t need a princess! *I* don’t need a princess! I need *you!”* 

Is there someone who inspires you and your writing or art?

Everyone I meet, honestly. Sometimes it’s their own art, but other times it’s the words they say, or just how incredible everyone’s very own existence is. Like, you’re here on earth, and you’re thriving in this terrible time--or at least trying your damnedest to. And that’s pretty incredible to me.

Is there something that you struggled with that made you grow as a creator?

There was a pretty rough period of time in my life where I had to move schools and make new friends. It made me seriously consider what I wanted to do in life and how I needed to approach things, which ultimately led me to my creative career now--additionally, the ample time quarantine gives me means I am finally able to declutter my space.

What got you into writing or art?

My parents and every single fantasy series I read. I used to have these little picture books about old fairy tales, and I guess that love for fantasy--for a different world that can still be just like our own--has stuck with me to this day.

What's your favorite part of the creative process?

The freedom it gives. You can go anywhere, do anything, and if it’s awful--you can always reshape it, or redo it, or let it sit for a bit and then come back.

What's your least favorite part of the creative process?

The freedom it gives--it’s a double edged sword. You can do anything, yes, but it makes you feel kind of bad when you’re like, “Well if it can be anything it wants to be, why can’t it be better?!”

What's your favorite type of scene to write?

The aftermath of a hurt scene--I live for scenes dealing with daily life, with healing, with not being okay but accepting that it’s okay. To me, these are reflective of daily life and issues that are often unrepresented in the media. And also worldbuilding. Love me some worldbuilding.

What's the hardest for you to create?

Pacing, pacing, pacing. I hate pacing so much, because it’s this awful grab bag of It Could Go Great or It Will Be Awful.

What's your favorite genre to write?

Hurt/comfort. The best of both worlds.

What fandoms do you enjoy creating for?

Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer)--The relationships between each wonderfully written character is just so real and raw that I cry. And also some epic visuals. Legend of Zelda--it’s just such a classic tale with characters that represent the core tropes we see in stories like this. We have Link, the classic hero who is just so good that he doesn’t mind helping anyone out despite who they are. And then we have Ganon, who is the opposite of that in every possible sense of the word. Zelda stands as the medium between the two, and it’s just this very incredible and delicious dynamic that makes me so happy. Linked Universe--Jojo’s writing and art is just some of the best I’ve seen.

What's the work you are most proud of?

Art: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_EWO-JFNSw/? Fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23744245

Do you have any fics inspired by real life stories?

I do! Sometimes I write fics focused on issues often not seen. I wrote one about Twilight from Linked Universe struggling with his cultural and ethnic identity.

Where do you post your finished works?

Ao3 is my go to spot!  https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochibun/pseuds/mochibun

If you have any fun stories about the pieces you made, please do share!

If you have any fun stories about the pieces you made, please do share! God himself laughed at me when I ended up doing the line art on the sketch layer and also did not save my art so it all deleted itself.

[shayesanimation-collaboration]

Week 24 Summary - (2nd - 23rd April) Easter

Several weeks have gone by for this update and I have been able to make a fairly large amount of progress. One large change that has happened however is that Lewis will no longer be completing this year with us, therefore I will not be working on his film for him. This is both good and bad news as I feel terrible that his illness has put a stop to his creation, but at the same time this gives me more time to focus on animating as that is what I am trying to showcase more over background design.

I was finally able to complete the advertising segment which is a huge weight off my back. Looking at the amount of time we have left until submission it is fairly unlikely that I will be able to work on fears, though I am happy I got at least one of the films completed. The lineless art style proved to be a very time consuming way of animating, though I am fairly happy with the outcome and am proud to submit it.

During this time I was also able to block out, colour and complete transformations. I had a lot of fun putting this animation together as I chose to try and push myself by incorporating a camera angle that experimented with perspective and a moving camera, something I have not done before. I was actually really happy with how this turned out as it gives a genuine feel of travel and speed, exactly what I was aiming for. The group seemed happy with this animation as well so I put it down as a large success and something I will be super happy to submit.

During this Easter Katherine also contacted the group and said that, if it were okay with all of us, she would not be working on the final two animations due to her having an internship that would be running along the same time. Katie will also not be taking part on my film as she will be creating intro assets for all of the films. Due to there only being four of us within the group who would be working on my film, I decided that my original theme growing up may be slightly too ambitious as the concept worked by all six of us taking a segment. I have also realised around this point just how much strain this multiple projects is taking on the group in terms of being able to create animations within the appropriate time scale. All this taken into account, I decided to do a last minute change to my theme. Being a director was never really a high priority on my list of skills so I was more than happy to redesign a concept that would be quick and simple and act more as showreel filler for us all then an actual film. After some fresh research and concepting, I decided on the theme ‘My Abstract Mind’, the idea of which the group were able to animate whatever they felt like within their imaginations, as simple or complex as they want. The only criteria would be sticking to the colour pallet I chose next week. Everyone seemed super happy with this change and I was more than willing to step back and work on other people's projects as opposed to directing my own one.

Along the same time that I set my new theme, Katie also set her theme Farmer Drama. After receiving this I began doing some research and concept sketches alongside keying out Kings and Queens. Next week I aim to have the keyframes for kings and queens completed and start some more concept sketches for farmer drama and my abstract mind.