#me trying to experiment with different way of painting digitally and figure it out

[loopyarts]

A quick rough digital doddle of my octoling sona, that I did in hour and half. I recently bought splatoon 3 a mouth ago and I been enjoying my first ever splatfest, I’m team Nessie because duh me British/ from the uk I’m kidding, my reason I just find Nessie a really cool myth and fascinating story behind the lake.

 Also i’m not very good at the game, all do is take a roller and ink as much as can and get into the emery turf and try to ink as much as possible, plus the camera of this game is my emery still trying to figure how it works. >.<’ 

[epiicaricacy-arts]

without the sour the sweet wouldn’t taste

why are you as a man eating another man’s ear after you failed to make him eat his ex girlfriend. 🤨🏳️‍🌈⁉️

im allowed a bit of toxic yaoi. as a treat

process discussion utc ⬇️

for those familiar with my work you’ll know that i like trying a lot of new styles and experimenting in order to achieve a certain vibe. usually those are heavy painterly styles such as the sunday art inspired by Yuming Li, which is what i’m familiar and comfortable with, both traditionally and digitally

what im NOT familiar with is watercolour. i’ve never had a good time with it 🥲 i just cant seem to wrap my head around the process since its requires me to work backwards (light to dark vs dark to light)

for this piece i just couldn’t imagine myself rendering it in my usual style. i needed to do something new so that i’d stay invested enough in the piece considering that it has two people, meaning double the work. for some reason i thought it’d be fun to do double the work with a style i am completely uncomfortable with but oh well!! i managed to do it 🤷‍♀️ i was specifically looking at the works of Ko Byung Jun, an artist i’ve seen all over my pinterest feed

while i didn’t end up really following the style super closely i still learned quite a lot just by looking at it while i drew. i tried my best to stick to watercolour brushes and an ink pen but as i was nearing the end i needed to make some alterations that i wasn’t bothered to try fixing with the watercolour brushes so i just went over it with my digital ones 🫡 i did my best that’s what matters!!!

i had to repaint rody a few times cause i just couldn’t get it right and the colours never ended up matching vincent. i painted them separately and i think i got possessed while painting vincent cause it happened in like. 40 minutes. and i couldn’t get it to happen again 😔 it didn’t really matter cause i ended up going ham with the curves tool as always but you know 🤷‍♀️

here’s the image without all the effects:

i find lately it’s been more and more common for me to be sketching several iterations of a concept for days, even weeks before i land on something i like. i have an entire separate canvas that i’ve spent 5 hours just doing thumbnails trying to figure out how i wanted to pose these two in a way that would showcase the characteristics that mattered in the story of this piece.

that’s my process for coming up with drawings: i find inspiration somewhere, i figure out the key concepts/characteristics/symbols etc i want highlighted, and i work around those. sometimes i have a composition in mind or just a general vibe i want to portray. for this one i wanted to make sure the towel, rody’s injured finger and vincent’s face could all be clearly seen, while also portraying the fight scene and the vibe i get from the reference song. almost all of my work revolves around a specific lyric from the song which drives the story of the piece. here i interpreted the line “without the sour the sweet wouldn’t taste” as a connection to all the little actions vince takes with rody that can be seen as “sweet.” drying rody’s hair, bandaging rody’s cut. i then asked myself how i could take those actions and make them “sour” or show them in a different light, in which vince is biting the finger he bandaged and pulling rody closer, preventing his escape with the towel he used to dry his hair. what im trying to communicate in this illustration is the idea of “if it weren’t for how i’m treating you now, you wouldn’t understand how kind i was to you then” in an attempt to illustrate the complexities of the way vincent acts towards rody.

i’m truly in love with the story telling of this game. it’s hard to really say anything about how the characters acted during the story because it’s so complex in how it’s done. it’s very hard to summarize their relationship because there’s so much about it i can’t explain without just quoting the game directly. i think it’s such a beautiful portrayal of obsession and just being fucking weird about someone. i wanted to ensure the elements i mentioned in the above paragraph because i didn’t want to be portraying vincent as solely a villain and rody as a victim. i wanted the storytelling of this one illustration to live up to my impression of this beautiful game and i hope i did it justice.

thank you for reading this if you’ve made it this far. i love rambling on all my art posts cause i think it’s so valuable for artists to expand on their work outside of the result alone. i hope what im saying is at most helpful to someone and at the very least a good read. i’m probably gonna take a bit of an art break after this since it took a lot out of me, plus im on the last days of my trip. thank you again for reading!

here’s my dog

[remidiy]

We Don't Gatekeep Art Resources | A Comprehensive List

Here's a list of some of the tools/sites I currently use or have used previously for works/studies. I'll separate it into Software/Utility, Reference, and 'Other' which will be just general things that could help you map out things for your experience with art. **[Free highlighted in pink, paid highlighted in green. Blue is variable/both. Prices Listed in USD]**

Software/Utility:

2D

Krita Painting app (PC) (my main digital art software on PC for 5+ yrs)

Clip Studio Paint [PC] [CSP 2.0+ allows for 3d modelling within the painting app and a lot of other cool features] [apparently allows up to 6 months free trial]

Procreate (12.99) [iPad/iPad Pro] (the GOAT)

Artstudio Pro [iPad/iPad Pro] (An alternative to Procreate if you enjoy the more traditional art app layout) -- I find this app handy when Procreate is lacking a feature I need, or vice versa. (you can easily transfer files between the two, but keep in mind Procreate's layer limit)

2D "Collaborative Painting/Drawing apps"

Magma Studio

Drawpile

Discord Whiteboard

Gartic Phone (Pretty decent for 2d animation practice, but has a hard limit on frames)

3D

Blender [3D Modelling, Sculpting + Layout] (PC)

Sculptris [PC] (it's an old unsupported version of Zbrush, but can help to get ideas out, and functions better than browser sculpting apps

Nomad Sculpt [iPad/iPad Pro] ($20) Works pretty well if you prefer a mobile setup, but it is a bit intense on the battery life and takes some getting used to

References + Study

Magic Poser [ PC and Mobile ] Has both free and paid versions, I've made do with just the lite version before

Artpose ($9.99) [Iphone + Steam]

Head Model Studio [IPhone] A 3D head, with both a basic blockout version for angles, and a paid version with more detail

Cubebrush [simply search "[keyword] pose reference pack"], they usually have good results + they frequently have sales!

Line of Action [Good for Gesture practice + daily sketching], also has other resources built in.

Quickposes Similar to Line of action, more geared toward anatomy

Drawabox | Perspective Fundamentals Improvement modules (Suggested by @taffingspy )

Sketchfab, this skull in particular is useful, but there is other models that can help you study anatomy as well.

Pinterest can be good, you just have to be careful, usually you're better off just finding reference pack if you have the money, sometimes certain creators have freebies as well

Artstation Marketplace can be decent [make sure to turn on the Aye-Eye filter so it doesn't feed you trash], a colleague of mine recommended this head model for practicing facial blocking, there is also this free version without lighting.

Local Art Museums [Unironically good for studying old "master work" if you're into that, or even just getting some inspiration]

Brushes + Other Useful software:

I personally have used both of these brush packs before making my own

(I actually don't know how to share my daily brush set because I frequently switch between Krita, Procreate, and ASP, but once I figure that out I'll be sure to do that lol)

Marc Brunet's Starter brush pack [Technically free but supporting him for this if you like it is ideal, there's some good brushes]

Dave Greco Brush Pack [$3]

Gumroad in general is a good place to find brushes and art resources. *Note; for Krita specifically, brush packs are a bit weird, so it may require you to find different packs, or import them in a particular way

PureRef [PC] - Reference Compiler/Moodboarding

VizRef ($3.99) [iPad] - Moodboarding/Reference Compiler

Artist Youtubers/Creators that helped me improve/guide me along as a self-taught artist from when I first started digital art to where I am today:

Proko

Marco Bucci

Sinix Design

Sycra

Hardy Fowler

Lighting Mentor

Winged Canvas

Moderndayjames

Swatches

Chommang_drawing

Marc Brunet (YTartschool)

+ Observing a lot of speedpaint art by people whose work I enjoy on social media/youtube, trying to dissect their processes

If you've gotten this far, first of all, congrats, you can read a lot, and second of all, thank you for reading and I hope this helps! I'll continue to come back and update this if I find any new resources in the future, or if my processes change :)

Much Love,

-Remidiy

[fobnsfwdoodlesbackup]

Hi y'all, I just wanted to talk a little about the behind the scenes of what I've been up to, to give y'all a little transparency and to open myself up for any tips or input! 🙏 Thank you for your continued support and for taking the time to look at my art 🫶

First and foremost I wanted to give some transparency about my art capacity.

As og followers may remember, I started this blog when I was doing art full time. Eventually my living expenses grew and I had to go back to work. I find myself in a cycle of "I'll make more art soon, once I get a job!" And "I'll make more art soon, once I am done with this job!" I lost my most recent job suddenly, having had an extension waved over my head until the last day(October 7th). Now I'm excited to have more time for art, but I am also feeling a rush to get a new job ASAP as I've been living paycheck to paycheck. I dream of doing this work full time, I'm just scared it's not quite there yet and I worry that I come off as scammy or dishonest when I anticipate more stability around the corner.

Second, I've been struggling with the Patreon. It's taken me a while to come to terms with this, but from what I've seen Patreon is not intuitive at all from the creator end. It doesn't do a good job of organizing addresses, emails, showing who or who isn't subscribed to me, or organizing and displaying the work I put on there. I've been really shocked by this experience, since lots of big names use Patreon. It's been a great way to streamline support, but it's been unhelpful in every other regard. I would like to continue using it, but I will most likely post more wips or process videos there in the future.

Which brings me to my third point, zines. I love making zines so much, it feels personal and fulfilling and fun! However the Patreon issues make it harder to keep information in order about where to send zines, or even where to message folks about them. In addition to this, the post office has been a big barrier to me, oftentimes only being open at the same time as my dayjob. Making zines can take days, then sending them out is a whole other monster.

This work is so important to me. Drawing peoples fantasies, representing body types, creating work around sexuality and the human experience feels like what I'm meant to do. I've made comics since I was a kid. This is the dream to me. The friends I've been able to make through this work are so important to me, and the conversations have been invaluable. Not to mention fun! I wanna doodle, I wanna draw hot stuff, I wanna thirst over these dudes! I want to play!

But I also just want to be transparent about the barriers I'm working around to share that experience. I'm completely self taught, both in art AND in running shops, building websites, running 8 accounts, etc. I take a lot of time to learn the logistics of these things, and try to make them make sense for my relationship with y'all (I do not want to paywall my art!! I don't want to!!!). This year my desktop broke down (the main one I use for all paintings and digital art). I've paused my Etsy shops and my Patreon to try to catch up with things. Trying to learn to paint in a completely different program. Then lost my job with no savings.

At the end of the day I don't want anything to come between me sharing my art with you. I wish I could doodle a thing, take a picture, and post it here. No third party site, no shop, no subscription. Just sharing my art with you. I promise I'm trying to figure out how to stay as close to that as possible, and I want to thank y'all for sticking with me as I untangle all of that.

So, what can you expect in the near future?

I'm working on a couple of painting commissions right now, which you should be able to see in the next couple of days! I want to catch up on kinktober and get those posted as well. There's a comic commission in progress which I'm very eager to work on, and which I think y'all will be excited for! To ease the weight of the Patreon I think I may do less zines/polls there and more wips and process videos! If possible, I want to do more full colored work too.

Thank you again for enjoying my work, and if you have any input or tips my inbox is always open 🙏🫶💕

[ssalballoon]

i wanna get better at art but dont know how to start ^^' whats a good way to get into studying anatomy and improving as an artist? tysm 💗 love your art soso much

more art converts 😼 yay!!

i think these asks were sent by different people but they're pretty related + a lot of my advice is the same! so i'll answer these together under the cut (it's so long oh gosh)

ok first of all i'm very flattered that people are asking me for art advice but i'm really not the most equipped person to ask TTOTT I've never been deliberately studious with my art so I feel bad offering advice when I've mostly gotten by with just drawing fanart and ocs a lot... my rate of improvement has therefore been slow, but I've still had an enjoyable learning experience so perhaps from that angle my input may help! i'll mainly refer you to external resources that have helped me

For anatomy + drawing humans:

1) I know I'm not diligent enough to sit down and study muscles, so instead I make it more enjoyable by drawing my favorite characters in a pose that targets the muscles I want to practice! (i default to drawing ppl naked because of this lol) This isn't the most efficient, but it serves as good motivation to get practice in. (honestly a lot of my general art advice has the undercurrent of becoming so obsessed with characters to drive your motivation to draw even when artblocked/ struggling with doubts!)

2) I want to refer you to Sinix's Anatomy playlist! Although Sinix focuses more on digital painting, he gives simplified anatomy breakdowns that include how muscles change shape under different movements/poses, which is crucial for natural human posing. the static anatomy diagrams from Google don't really help for that

3) What's just as important as anatomy is gestures! (especially important if you're used to drawing non-human objects I think!) Making figures look like they have flow to them will sell the "naturalness"(?) to your anatomy. If you have in person life drawing sessions accessible near you I'd recommend trying those out, or if you prefer trying it digitally there's this website!

This helps you not only get a sense of human proportions, but also natural posing! I'd limit the time taken to draw the poses from like 10 seconds to 1 minute(?) for quick gestures, and maybe 1 minute to 5mins(for now!! typically they go much longer) to study human proportions. I'd say don't spend a lot of time on them, repetition is more important!

4) I've also picked up on useful anatomy tidbits from artists online! Looking at how practiced/ professional artists stylize a body helps me focus on what the essential details are to convey a particular form (looking up "human muscles" and being hit with anatomy diagrams full of all the smallest details can be overwhelming! what do you even focus on?! so these educated simplifications really help me) Like Emilio Dekure's work! Look how simplified these figures are, and yet contain all the essential information to convey the sense of accurate form (even though it's highly exaggerated!)

(shamefully admits I've never studied from actual anatomy books so I can't recommend anything in that sense TTOTT)

For general improvement:

1) I highly recommend Sinix's Design Theory playlist and Paintover Pals! (+ his channel in general) You don't have to put them immediately into practice, but I think these are good fundamental lessons to just listen to and have them in the back of your mind to revisit another day. Plus these videos are just fun and very approachable! Design theory fundamentals are essential to creating appeal and directing a viewer's attention, and critiquing others' work/ seeing his suggestions are a good way to practice noticing areas of improvement+ solutions yourself!

2) If you prefer a more formal teaching resource, the Drawabox YouTube course covers all the basic fundamentals of drawing in short lessons. But honestly if I were starting out, this would be a little intimidating for me (and even now it still is! I haven't done all of them) But even if you don't watch them, the titles should give you an idea of the basic concepts that are valuable to pick up. I think it would be nice to keep in mind and revisit once in a while as you learn!

(One lesson I do encourage you to watch is the line control one! A confident continuous line conveys motion and flow much better compared to discontinuous frayed lines which I think is good to practice early by drawing from the wrist and shoulder)

3) As a universal piece of advice: Please please please use references! Use a reference for literally everything, observing is how we learn! You'll find that a lot of things you thought you knew what they looked like are inaccurate by memory alone. Also, trace! This is solely for your practice, tracing then freehanding has helped me grasp proportions when I was struggling! (of course don't post these online if you traced from art)

I've found that being able to compile references into easy to access boards has been very helpful in encouraging me to use references more. For PC, I think they use PureRef (free/pay what you want), and for iPad I use VizRef. VizRef is a one time purchase (which was definitely worth the $3.99 USD price imo)

4) On that note, try building up the habit to observe from media + real life and make purposeful comments about what you see! Like hey, when I bend my knee, the muscles/fat in my thighs and calves bulge outwards, I should draw that next time. Purposeful observation carries over to your overall visual library, and it's a little thing that adds up over time

5) For motivation, get into media you really enjoy, or make your own characters! The way I started art more seriously was by drawing fanart + OCs from anime that I liked ^^ For OCs it really encourages you to draw more because you're the primary creator of their art! Also you gotta see a lot of good art to make good art! Watching visually appealing media (like animation with appealing stylization/simplification) can passively help you learn just by observation.

ok wow I could go on but this is already a lot of information TTOTT my main aim for this reply is basically: don't let anything discourage you from learning to draw!! drawing is so fun and brings me a lot of joy ^^ practicing often will of course help you improve, and the way to incentivize that is by having fun with it! i hope this could help!💞

[sociavoidance]

A Tribute to Cho Gi Seok

Having used Cho Gi Seok in numerous presentations and assignments, I believe it is a crime not to have written a blog post about him. So here's my appreciation to my favorite photographer and muse:

Admiration at First Sight

Nostalgia #2, Cho Gi Seok, 2020

While browsing Pinterest, I came across a photo of a girl in a school uniform. She was adorned with a series of small fish or shark figurines that seemed to flow over her head, across her face, and towards her shoulder. It was one of those photographs that gave me a "aha" moment as I stared at it for hours, amazed by the idea of combining a human figure with unconventional prop, unlike the typical table or still life objects seen in other photographs and paintings. I found myself wondering whether these fish were computer-generated, hand-drawn or crafted. Another intriguing aspect was how the girl was framed, with her face seemingly divided or "sliced" into two by the diagonal flow of the fish, revealing only one of her eyes and her mouth. Despite its simplicity, with a plain white background, the photo exuded a sense of movement and life. This was my initial encounter with Cho Gi Seok's work, and it sparked a deep sense of inspiration and admiration within me.

Cho Gi Seok: Biography

Cho Gi Seok, Photographer

"I think flowers are the easiest thing to find that anyone around us can think of as beautiful, It’s like taking a portrait for me. By transforming and recombining them, I try to express my own thoughts through them.” 

Born in 1992, the South Korean photographer aspired to be an art director from a young age. Before pursuing photography, he had experience with graphic and set design, which he incorporates into his work and techniques. His photographs depict abstract themes, combining human figures with unusual props. He grew up in an internet generation, so he draws inspiration from technology and its advancements, which sets his work apart from the rest. 

Gi Seok's Visual Archive: My Favorite Collections

The following are my interpretations of some of my favorite collections and photographs. These are not entirely accurate to the photographers' intentions, but rather my own.

Not Alone, Cho Gi Seok, 2021

This collection of images portrays the sensation of feeling trapped or targeted by judgment or bullying during high school. The subject, positioned centrally, is accentuated by accusatory fingers or phones aimed at the subject. The close-ups and portrait-style shots echo the traditional yearbook photos, and the attire reminiscent of school uniforms adds to the overall theme. The flower prop serves as a symbol of innocence or vulnerability.

The title of the collection therefore imply a dark meaning, indicating that the subject is "not alone" but rather accompanied by dominating forces, accusations, and intimidation. It depicts the isolation experienced when one deviates from societal norms or stands out as different from others.

Alone, Cho Gi Seok, 2022

In contrast to the previous photographs titled "Not Alone", these photographs depict the relationship within a society. Cho utilizes technology as props to symbolize our connection to our phones or digital devices. Despite being closely positioned within the composition, each subject gazes in different directions, mirroring the way individuals search for cellular signals or internet. In instances where Cho omits props, he maintains consistency with his concept and theme through lighting techniques. For instance, in the second photograph, where the heads of the individuals are framed diagonally, a vibrant blue light illuminates them, resembling the glow of phone screens or theater displays that illuminates our faces.

These photographs not only convey their message visually but also capture the sensation of being without a smartphone in a sea of people who possess one.

Both of these collections, in my view, are not only semiotically rich but also visually engaging as photographs. Before I conclude my interpretation, I want to express my appreciation for my favorite collection:

Different, Cho Gi Seok, 2023

These series of photographs hold a special place for me; I find myself revisiting them time and again on Cho's Instagram. The way Cho utilizes props, framing, composition, and colors never fails to captivate me and serves as a source of inspiration. Cho skillfully conveys the notion of being different, drawing parallels with Franz Kafka's depiction of dehumanization and alienation through the symbolism of the bug in "The Metamorphosis." This connection underscores the theme of feeling looked down upon and met with disgust. The muted grays and greens evoke feelings associated with anxiety or dysmorphia, further enhanced by the use of paper-cut eyes that portray the sense of being judged and scrutinized. I've added it to my to-do list to capture a series of photos resembling Cho's "Different" collection, using his ideas and techniques.

Final Thoughts:

Cho Gi Seok truly stands out in a sea of photographers by skillfully capturing complex emotions and exploring unconventional, abstract themes. His work contributes to building a valuable visual library for both amateurs and beginners. While his style may not resonate with everyone, there's much to learn and appreciate from his captivating images.

[dggmsk]

hi! i love your art and what really sticks out to me is your grasp of form (like how you can depict a person with just a few lines) and how you arrange shapes and colors

is there a way you studied that, if at all? i'm looking to improve both things i listed as i think my art looks pretty flat lol again i love your art and you're a major source of inspo :)!!

aww omg first of all thank you so much! second, seeing this message made me really excited because this is something i'm very mindful of and really enjoy about other peoples art so i feel really honored to fit into that description! to answer your question directly: i used to paint abstract and i think i have learned a lot about shapes and color from that experience as well as studying other abstract artists.

while painting i found it liberating to use difficult and/or hard to maneuver brushes. there is a lack of control that comes with attempting to paint with a cloth or the rough end of a broken crayon that can make the creative process feel less restrictive. this is absolutely possible to do with figurative art as well. the key for me was to let the brush strokes dictate the shapes and not put too much focus on making a silhouette look 'realistic'. another thing i really love to do is to paint with 'negative space'. back when i was painting with oils i would often paint several layers of solid color and 'carve' shapes into the canvas with something like a palette knife. this is a basic layering technique that i use for digital art as well. u can see a sort of example of that with these drawings that i have posted:

it is essentially two layers, a solid color background with another solid color on top of it that i erased parts of to make a silhouette. i find this method not only to be a lot of fun, but the contrast between void and life makes you take the form a lot into consideration. another thing i like to do is to use a big, hard to maneuver brush and create the silhouette by painting the shaded, darker parts first. while that works really well with solid colors and flats, it can definitely be used for any sort of talent and style. using these two very different illustrations i have done as an example:

of course this is a matter of taste and style (like no need to use these strong contrasts and overwhelming shadows, that's just what i like to do lol) but these methods where sort of my gateway to getting a better understanding of shape and form. as for colors, i can only recommend to try and mess around with it but from experience i think some sort practice with figuring out how to balance different shades of black really helps.

my tip! if you are into character drawings, try illustrating a character as if they were only one solid color, build out their shape without sketching beforehand, let your hands go wild, then try to fill in the solids with details. or do the reverse, fill a paper with nothing but color (even graphite works great!) and try to make the silhouette by erasing. let the materials you use decide the outcome of shapes then consider what works and what doesn't, then do it again! and keep an open mind! what didn't use to make any sense eventually will (-:

[tamelee]

hi tamelee!

I'm here to ask for a little bit of advice if that's okay (: about a month ago I bought a Wacom drawing pad so I could start experimenting with digital art. artists like you here on tumblr have really inspired me to start making art. but I feel kinda.. lost. I've been mostly drawing naruto manga caps and I'm getting better but I guess I don't know where to go from here. coloring and shading scares me lol. I'm using clip studio paint and it's just a little.. intimidating. I feel discouraged, like I won't be able to do it. how did you do it tamelee? did you watch a lot of tutorials, or did you experiment until you figured things out? any advice you'd have for a beginner artist I'd really appreciate.

thank you veryvery much for your time ^^

Hi Nonee! 🧡 Sure!

Oh I think that’s a very good place to start. As well as drawing subjects you like ^^! Hmm, tbh I’ve just experimented a lot, but I don’t think my way of having done things was the most efficient. You might want to follow tutorials step by step? You can try coloring only with flat colors until you feel a bit more confident with that as well as cell-shading (toon-shading/non-realistic, like in anime) instead of rendering further as that can all be confusing at first. I personally never truly understood shading until I studied cell-shading and made my art a lot more readable. A lot of Anime uses this; 

You see how there is a base color, a darker color for shadows and highlights? (Sometimes not even highlights.) 

When you start to study it from existing work you’ll start to notice things like color always being in the same area of saturation and when you suddenly have a color that is way more saturated than the other it can look off. (See example.) But this is a guideline, not a rule. In your own art you can especially use saturation and brightness to help aid you to direct a viewer's focus and even tell a story.

I LOVE ‘How to train you dragon’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ for this because their coloring is so inspiring and if you truly want to learn from professionals... well those are the type of media to look for of course! I have an entire folder to inspire me just based on those.

Do you see how calculated those color combo’s are?!?! Here you see both analogous and complementary schemes and it is actually through looking at the things I like that I learned it >< The orangey colors stand out and are bright which helps you to focus on that area whereas the complimentary scheme is used to bring characters together.

If drawing Manga-caps is something you love to do, then maybe for coloring you can study screen-caps from Anime or even other animated films. I’d recommend to take it step by step, though I haven’t really applied it myself, from the video’s I’ve seen and artists I’ve followed it is always advised to have an art-goal that you can work toward. Maybe you first want to focus on lineart and then laying down a base color where the colors are harmonious and next would be cell-shading maybe and then you can start adding another light-source etc- eventually you can decide to create more depth or practice with monochromatic coloring, maybe even greyscale to learn values. But right away that can all sound a bit intimidating doesn't it? Find things that you like and then maybe you can open them in your program and just study. Find a brush you like, put on some music or a show on the background and for a moment play around with it without needing to create a finished piece. This is also how I learned how things like adjustment layers work or what all the different kinds of tools do. I have to agree with you, CSP is intimidating for me as well >< so this is kinda how I approach it as there are so many add-ons and additions within it but I try to only learn what I need for that moment so I don't overwhelm myself.  I definitely try to find video’s that can help me with creating Manga though! ^^ There are plenty!  It'll get easier eventually, you'll learn the program and you start to recognize placements for shadows and you will get a feel for the coloring- no worries 💪 Learning something new will always stay intimidating, every time I open up a new document I feel it too. It's not easy at all, but you kinda have to allow yourself to experiment and even make mistakes because practice is never perfect. I have some beginner tips written here- I hope any of this is somewhat helpful 🌷🫶

[returnofahsoka]

I don't know what you want to do with digital art so this is just broad advice, but here are my tips!

Most drawing softwares or websites give you a white background. Change that to a muted, softer, color so that your eyes don't work as much. It doesn't need to be a dark color or even a grey, even just something around this area will do wonder for your eyes:

You can always put it back in white to check that your colors look good when you're finished, just don't hurt your eyes with your screen.

2. Speaking of screen, remember all those tips about how to work at a computer without hurting your back or your neck? Use them here too. One of the perks of drawing digitally is being able to just zoom in instead of getting the face closer to the drawing, I know that's not easy to get used to but trust me good posture is important.

3. You don't need any paying software or subscription, except if you absolutely need a very specific one, which most people never do. Digital art is one of the areas where the open source community works the most, there's tons of free software and material (and tutorials! there's tutorials for everything!) everywhere! My favorite is Krita because I like its options and tools (although I keep using the same handful ^^), but even something as basic as Paint can work well, depending on what tools you expect your software to give you. If you need Photoshop, you probably heard of Photopea already, I can confirm it also works really well.

4. Drawing time! If you have a tablet that has buttons, I really recommend spending a few minutes looking through a tutorial to attach your software's keyboard shortcuts to the buttons. Personally I have buttons for: switching between pen and eraser, zooming in, zooming out, rotating the image to the left, rotating the image to the right, and grabbing the image to move it. Also the basic Ctrl+Z. I'm planning to add the fill tool on the last button soon.

5. More tablet tips: your hand will probably not glide well on the surface of it. People usually buy a drawing glove for that, I still haven't taken the time to do that so I use a bit of fabric instead. Even just the end of your sleeve will result in smoother lines on the screen.

6. Many pens are pressure-sensitive! If yours is too, you can always begin by using one of the most basic pencils in the software that don't have pressure sensitivity, and work your way up to other pencils once your hand learned how to draw this new way. There can be other settings like angle of the pencil tip or speed, but those also take time to get used to and most people find them less intuitive. But do experiment with what you've got! You should be able to change the size of the pencils, and every other setting too, so if you like some aspect of a pencil but not another, you can just disable that other one xd

7. If you're not drawing with a tablet but with a mouse... Well I take my hat off to you.

8. This one's not specific to digital art, but I find that taking a few minutes to just draw lines and circles and waves works really well to get the hand and arm used to working in a new position. I do that every time I draw for warmup, but whenever I'm at another desk I really notice how much my hand needs it to get used to the new angle. You already know how to draw, your limb(s) just need to work on the neural pathways to become familiar with the new position(s). Thankfully cerebral plasticity works fast!

thank you!!

this is all such useful advice! i'm planning on getting into digital art again (my previous forays have been historically... not too successful) bc my laptop has a touch screen, i got a digital pen and krita is free xdd. it took a bit of fiddling around to find the settings and the brushes i wanted and i still haven't figured out where the ctrl+z is but eh, we're getting there. it's so different to traditional art though omg. but it does give very satisfying results i'll have to give that. thank you again, i will keep trying!!!!!!

[mooestriovermind]

I followed you before because your art was awesome. I follow still because it's still awesome.

Honestly love your use of shadows and sheen.

I'm glad you like my art! :>

I will now take this opportunity to describe why I think my art is good!

I learned most of the techniques from watching tutorial videos.

There's no tutorial that can, like, tell you how to accurately portray form with shading (which is partially why my art is so stylized), you just kind of have to feel out the shape of an object if you're not using references (which is part of why references are SO important)

but there are tutorials that can tell you the basics of shading (digitally, in this case)! this is the process I usually follow, with some variations depending on context- it uses a lot of terminology that I am assuming you know the meaning of, but if you don't, google is your friend

this is NOT a step by step tutorial to shading, I am just explaining the process that I follow in a manner similar to a tutorial

(long post warning)

Things to keep in mind before reading:

I do NOT use airbrush for shading unless explicitly stated. Airbrush makes ONLY soft shadows, where you usually want a mixture of soft AND hard shadows to create an interesting composition. I personally usually cel shade, which is ONLY hard shading.

This assumes you have basic things down like the position of your light source and how to shade, like, where exactly to put your shadows and what shapes to make them. If you're unsure, try to figure out the shape(s) you're trying to create (everything is made of shapes, break an object down into the most basic forms possible and go from there) or just, like, use a reference lol.

This isn't me telling you to always use this method- I vary the method a lot myself while using it, based on context, so please experiment with different layers and techniques to find what works best for you and your style!

If you're not confident in your line art, shading the piece is not going to make it look too much "better" than what you're seeing. Shading uses value to create volume and describe form, but if the form being described isn't quite right, it probably won't come out the way you want it to (I have learned this the hard way).

Seriously, use references. Multiple.

Use the magic wand tool to select the area around your lineart, then invert selected area and grow your selected area by 1 or 2 px. On a separate layer from your lineart, use the fill / paint bucket tool to fill the selected area with exactly 50% value grey.

This creates a base which you place underneath your line art, which is very useful, because you can then clip layers between it and your lineart directly to the base layer, making it impossible to color outside the lines

(but why don't you just use the fill tool to make a color layer?)

This can be a useful shortcut if you're in a rush, but the fill tool can often miss pixels or have unintended side effects if you forget to turn off anti-aliasing or something else. I also don't 100% understand how to properly use the fill tool sometimes, so avoid using it unless the context calls for it

use a multiply layer + greyscale value to convey shades that are darker than your base color

Even if you put a white that is, like, 90% value, a multiply layer will darken any layer underneath it very sharply. You can use this to put various greys and create volume with darker values. While it can be tempting to make an overlay layer or a soft light layer and put all of your shadows and highlights on it (I used to do that) you can get a greater range of value if you use separate layers for your lighter values and your darker values.

create an overlay layer to enhance darker shadows and begin forming lighter values

Overlay, being the cross between multiply and screen, is a perfect way to start exploring lighter colors in your piece without pushing the lever all the way to bright bright highlights while also making some parts of your shadows even darker

put a screen layer on top of the overlay layer to convey shades that are lighter than your base color and create white highlights

Screen can and will lighten your color to a very aggressive degree. I recommend using darker shades of grey in the 10-40% value range to convey "normal" lighting, and going over 50 up to 100 depending on how close you want the visible color to be to white.

create a soft light layer, set your color palette to 10% and 90% value "grey" and break out the airbrush, set the brush size so the cursor circle covers roughly 1/8th - 1/6th of the drawing

Using the airbrush on top of your other layers and also in a soft light layer is like a cheat code for rounding out your shading where your shading may be a little weaker in some places. As long as you don't overdo it, you can create a very convincing composition by combining the airbrush and soft light layer with your harder shading that has more value range.

use a normal layer to add marks of solid color on top of your drawing, like white lines reflecting on glasses or straight up 0% value black in some of the darkest parts of your drawing. this can also be useful for adding additional details and contour / cross contour lines that may be missing from your line art

This step is not always necessary. It is nice to add a little bit of final rendering, but it can be superfluous, especially if you were particularly thorough in your previous steps.

I also use it sometimes to add things like glasses that just appear as the frame without any rendering regarding the lenses.

---

Feel free to repeat any of these layers to get even darker or even lighter values, or add more definition or multiple light sources. Like I have said, the decision to do so is purely contextual, and may vary from piece to piece.

If you have any specific art questions, or any holes I may have left in my process, my ask inbox is always open :>

If you are a digital artist and you see any flaws / room for improvement please feel free to leave criticism on this post or anywhere else like my asks or DMs! I'm always looking to get better.

Thank you for reading my long ass post, or at least scrolling through it all the way.

Either way, have a gold star!

⭐

[lepierr0t]

Me: I’ll try to be more active on tumblr

Also me: *disappears for 4 months*

Anyway, keeping up in social media has always been a challenge for me so, I1l give myself a break.

Ive been precticind quite a lot with oils recently. It was already something I wanted to do, but I was figuring out how to for a while.

the thing is, painting always scared me, when I was trying digital painting, It was always so overwhelming. I didn't really knew what to do, and I could do anything, there were no rules, no limitations and no easy process, at least not in my head.

But since I started oil painting, everything seems rigth, everything is starting to make sense. why the blocking, and why we aint the way we do, and how color works. Oh GOD! color is finally starting to make some sense to me!

I need paint, I need the need to mix it and pay attention to the saturation, and the pigments and the contrasts, I need to touch it, and to smell it and to feel the texture when it is dry. It is a whole different experience that the digital world can't provide. And a whole understandment that the digital can only replicate very poorly.

Recently I've realized how much of a megalomaniac I am and How my personal projects are always too complex for someone with no experience at anything and that's probably oneof the reasons it's so hard for me to finish anything. so I wanted to start this slowly. I wanted to paint one small object that I liked, so I picked Candles.

I also have bookbinding as a hobbie of mine, so I also bind a book just for studiyng painting. I used my very first painting of a candle I did during the pandemic when I was first trying out oils as a detail for the cover.

after that I started practicing painting just candles. Simple. with some notes to each just so I can orient myself

"paint the glowing around the candle before doing the flame"

"try blocking the whole candle in one color only"

but recently I got a commission from a friend, and I wanted to try and do it on oils. At first I tried doing it by observation alone. But I had many structural problems I should have solved in the drawing phase and the colours would not save it..

So I started over and decided to actually break the portrait apart and... you know... do things correctly...

I separated her face in more simple shapes and tried working out on a composition that would work better. after some editing on ClipStudio, I used Adobe color wheel to produce a pallete, which I used to guide me

This is the result so far... Although this is still the "ugly stage" I'm already pretty happy with it.

I just wanted to share my experience with painting so far. I don't know if other artists can relate, but painting seems less scary now that it is physical. I can touch it and bend it and it is actually pretty fun!

[proadhog]

Struggling with Art: Proadhog's POV

I'm not good with titles

I've been struggling with changing from traditional art to digital for a long time. First I tried with a screenless tablet, which was a terrible experience. Look, I'm a gamer, I have a good eye-hand coordination but dear god it was so bad.

Then I got one with a screen but it still wasn't really working for me. I just couldn't do what I imagined and I got demotivated. Sometimes I tried but failed again so I put it away, pouting. Watched countless videos, tips and tricks, tried some of them but still the results were far from expected.

Then I came across 2 yt channels, which I really recommend:

Jeremy from Light Ponderings and Sam from SamDoesArt

Jeremy awakened my interest in lighting and offered useful and fun excercises where I could start without pressure. (I've figured that my problem is expecting perfection every time I try something, but that is another story). Sam is hilarious with good advices, fun to watch.

So I started with a simple excercise: draw and egg. BUT. it wasn't really about to get the shape right, but to find the colors and the lights without cheating with the eyedropper tool. It is harder than you think! Well, it was for me at least. But it was fun! I was motivated again! And I did some more studies!

Yeah, the colors are muted, the edges aren't so crisp, but I did something and I enjoyed. And it looked far better than my previous tries.

Life got busy and I stopped. I still collected images for later use, but every time I scrolled through them I felt they are all too complex and challanging. I had to figure out something. "Draw what you love" is an advice I heard a lot, but e.g. drawing characters is a big big no for me (at least for now).

Then I came across Blade Runner 2049, for about the 100th time, but this time I looked at it differently. I loved it already (one of my fav, that's why the 100th time), but this time I saw the mastery behind lighting and cinematography, and I thought... that's what I want to draw.

It really gave the push I needed:

- I can rewatch again for screencaps

- I can/try to draw the screencaps

- I can listen to the soundtrack while doing it

I already have a lot of images to draw but I only rewatched 20 minutes maybe? Anyway, I wanted to start with really easy things, so I don't get overwhelmed, but...

...way harder than expected. I suffered for an hour or so, I even cheated with the color of the tree (eyedropper) and I was still soooo far that I left it. BUT, this time, I had so much more to work with, the failure didn't hurt my soul that much.

Then these came:

Now I see many problems with them, but I was quite happy when I finished each one. I started using hard edged brushes got a bit braver, but forgot to use sketches and it shows 😀 but the aesthetics are quite similar so it's a win for me!

Anyway, my post is about encouraging other begginers to keep working, even though it is hard sometimes and you feel you've failed with a piece. It is all about learning and having fun. Draw/paint what you really like, challange yourself but take baby steps, set achievable goals.

I don't have any technical advice other than check the yt channels above. And do sketches before you get lost in a piece :D

I wish your next piece of art to be fun and an improvement to your prevoius works! ❤️

[eye-of-enigmatic-thought]

I can't sit around, watching you destroy yourself like that.

[ID: Digital painting of a distressed blue ghostly figure with a white screaming expression, a black bleeding hole in its chest, and three pairs of arms stylised as if moving together all frantically against a dark backdrop and on a grey floor. The entire scene is covered with dark greyish purple mushrooms surrounding the figure. One pair of hands of the figure is around the face in a expression of disbelief, one pair is around the chest as if slowly lowering the hands, and the last pair is at the floor surrounding and trying to help a bleeding white snake with a black tail and mushrooms growing out of it biting itself, with visible bite marks on the figure’s hands too. End ID.]

I had debated on showing this art for a while, one cuz I didn’t think it was very good, and two because of its personal nature with some old traumas and things that terrify me most.

I’ve known many loved ones throughout my life, mostly family, where I see them just... slowly destroy themselves, whether its through substance abuse or a full on breakdown as they do horrible things to everyone around them, isolating themselves and everyone around them more and more. When I see them slowly fall off the deep end, I so want to reach out, so want to help, but I can’t due to being a as equally unstable person myself and when they are very likely to hurt me in whatever nasty way, I probably wouldn’t have made a difference with how things generally just seem to rot anyway around me, but its such a horrible thing to experience. I don’t want to go into detail of specific incidents but there’s many examples of it happening in my life from when I was even a child.

This art reflects that.

[elstreem]

Aroace colors Inkling I made in Procreate for practice!

I've been trying to figure it out so I'm not making any good art to upload yet. This is the first thing I made that looks ok, and it's still pretty rough compared to what I usually do.

My experience working with an ipad below because wow that got long.

My dad got me an Ipad to replace my 2014 Samsung Galaxy because it's getting some battery issues but uh...I haven't used an Apple product in forever. It's been two weeks and using an ipad still feels like someone sawed off my hand and stapled it back on :') I think it's a combination of having to learn to use new hardware and software, but it's been so tough trying to make digital art on this thing.

I wish I could use Medibang since it's what I'm most used to, but for some reason the pen I'm using won't register pressure with Medibang, so I have to use Procreate. I changed the pressure settings to work with Procreate, but it's still weird and hardly works the way I want it to, so I'm not sure if it's something with the 3rd party pen I'm using, or something else. We did order a paperlike screen so hopefully that fixes some issues for me. I never had to use one for my Galaxy even though it had a glossy screen cover, but its stylus and the pen for Ipads have different tips and it's not easy using the pen to draw.

I had an easier time working with my wacom and CSP, but then again CSP and Medibang have similar layouts so it's not too difficult to adjust. Procreate is nice, but it's so different from what I'm used to that it feels like I'm arguing with someone just using its basic functions lol. I found the default brushes so difficult to use, too. My dumb monkey brain isn't flexible enough for this thing.

Kind of a rant, but it's just me complaining and it's a matter of my getting used to it. I did manage to make this, so hopefully I can consider Procreate as my next tool, But in the meantime, I still have my Galaxy and Medibang on it, so that's still where I'm mainly working. I reserve CSP for really big digital works or more complicated paintings since...it's a hassle setting up my pc and wacom tablet lol.

[daisy-dooodles]

About me :D

hi, hello! to start this blog off I think it would be nice to introduce myself a little, so here go a couple of basic questions about me...

What's your name? I go by Daisy in English (cause it's way cuter and easier than my original name in Polish lol and I really like flowers). But let's say my initials are MP, that's why I sign my artwork with it :D

What are your pronouns? She/Her

How old are you? I'm 22 years old, living that early 20s crisis lol

Do you have a degree in art? Nope, I went to uni for Romance Philology, cause I really enjoy languages, literature and different cultures too. But I've always liked art too as a side project!

So why this blog? Well, I don't really know what I want to do in life, so I decided to make this to start taking it more seriously as a possible actual job or just a way of having a place less chaotic than my insta to show the art I'm proud of sort of like a portfolio (and maybe even some behind the scenes I never shared...)

And what would you like to work in? I feel like a creative space would be cool. Maybe like editorial work, maybe designing stuff for books... idk, but I like the idea of being able to work on many different things instead of doing the same for years on end...

Do you do original art or fanart? Both. I have many ideas, sometimes I get obsessed with a show or something and want to try making fanart for it, but I have many original ideas too!

Is it traditional or digital art? Well, I enjoy both immensely. Because I sort of moved to Poland from Spain I don't have many of my supplies, so I'm resorting to digital more. I use the XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 tablet to draw. The program I use is Medibang Paint (and I am thinking of buying Clip Studio in the future when I have more resources at hand, cause I heard it's really good!) Unfortunately, my laptop is not great at colours, so I really like Medibang for letting me upload to the cloud and letting me deal with the colours on my phone :D (none of this is sponsored btw, I'm just sharing my experience)

How would you describe your art style? "I'm just trying" lol. I don't have one, I just try new and different things and supplies and programs as I feel like it. Many times it depends on what feeling I want the piece to have, so that makes me try and learn new techniques and I really enjoy doing that :D

Do you do commissions? Maybe a store? No, I don't. I'm not ready for something like that yet. Maybe down the line uploading stuff to pages like redbubble could be an option, I don't know much about how any of this works, I'll be figuring it out slowly

Can I message you? Please do, for anything! You wanna be mutuals and share with me silly posts or about a fandom we share? Go ahead! Do you need advice or vent to someone? DMs are open :D

What fandoms are you in? Well, I was in Sanders Sides for a long time, but I don't really go there anymore, maybe when we get more content I might just jump back in, though I still follow Thomas and check his content when I can cause I still enjoy it! I do enjoy figure skating and follow a bit on Yuzuru Hanyu, mostly Then we have my most recent fandoms I am kinda obsessed with: MDZS and BTS. Yeah, wild stuff. Have I drawn anything about them? Not yet really, I do have one MDZS sketch I'm working on, and a couple based on BTS songs, so maybe soon I'll share those here cause I feel quite proud of them so far :D I do enjoy many other series and films, but I don't think I'd be able to just list them cause it's so random. You can always ask if you need a friend to whom you get to be weird to, no judgement, we all be like that! I ranted about BTS to my bestie who knows basically nothing about them for almost a year now and they still love me nonetheless hahahah

(...yeah, so let's leave it at that for now, will update when new things pop in my head)

see you around 💜

[baladric]

4, 10, 14!! heehee!

ouuuu thank you!!!!

4. How many different styles/medium (e.g., digital art, traditional art, comics, sculpture, paper craft, etc.) did you try this year?

on the diversity of media front, i feel like i stagnated a little! i used to have a lot more breadth, but this year like 98% of my work was done with procreate, and the other 2% were very occasional pencil/pen doodles that i then spruced up in procreate ahaha!! but honestly i'm not too arsed about this, like the sheer volume of art i made this year is so much higher than usual, entirely bc messing around w procreate and the specific hyperfixations i've had this year really inspired me to keep throwing myself at drawings again and again until i got it right—which has translated into a lot of skill growth, which i honestly could not be happier about!!!!!

10. What inspired/motivated you this year?

content-wise, the goblin emperor was my main artistic motivator (specifically my own goddamn au s;alkdfjaow;if), but i'm also really learning how to create my own original works as expressions of various emotional experiences i'm shufflin my way through lately.

also (and i've said this already recently but it bears saying again) literally i looked at @littleowlbub 's concept art for their new comic, prism, and i fell deeply and madly in love with how they draw hands—they're like... so expressive and lovely, but what really sets them apart for me is this sense that there's joy in the simple act of drawing them. their hands are, for me, the visual equivalent of taking that first full breath of fresh air at the start of a hike in the blue ridge mountains ;lakjdfaef like, god, i look at a few of the drawings of spectrum specifically and just feel love and peace in my own existence as a tactile being, idk!!!! this is all a lot of weight to put on the way someone draws hands, but it's WHERE I'M AT and honestly it has really inspired me to find my own ways of creating that feeling with the hands i draw, and i have a long road ahead still but the results are so visible to me, and i'm so so excited about that progress!!!

14. What's one pairing/character/subject/body part/object you want to explore next year?

pairing(s): hrmm honestly i've been eyeballing my internal visualization of evemer and kadou from @ariaste 's A Taste Of Iron and Gold, like i am itchin to draw them a whole whole bunch

characters: it's become a pathological need to figure out how to simplify eddie entertainment munson's dumb face down to a few brush strokes, like i've done so much noodling to try to figure out what it is exactly that makes his face his face—is it the full lips? the angle of his eyes? the sparse eyebrows? the laugh lines? nose, the particular contours of his 3/4 profile?? who the fuck knows!!! but i will figure it out or i will die trying!!!!!!!!

subject: really digging my vent pieces so i fully intend to keep honing that style and the sort of. idk creative muscles that go into funneling big emotions into little eyestrain-y guys

body part: see my tender screeching about hands above. also really working on understanding legs. why are they like that. whose idea was that.

object: man i need to draw more objects. engineered shapes in general suck SO BAD. i wanna get better at musical instruments especially, but one of my broadest goals is to get better at dramatic lighting (light is a huge part of my creative world, which is really apparent in my writing and poetry, but much less so in my art bc i Don't Know How To Do It Yet), and i'm annoyingly aware that the best way to work at that is to, in fact, do a lot of still lives, and probably like. paint more. pls pls, 2023 me, let yourself fuck up with gouache. you love gouache. it's so good for light.

artist wrapped ask meme!