#more of a sketchy piece then usual but i'm starting to draw digitally more like i would traditionally

[crow-eyed]

who he talkin to? u tell me

[ohno-the-sun]

Oh uh forgot to ask in the previous ask (the one with the digital piece of candy and scurrying and stuff)

How do you draw art so good

Like

Is there a method you use or is that just the style you've gotten over time?

you've activated my trap card

I'm just gonna preface that this tutorial is from someone who was not professionally trained and didn't have a lot of free time for art, so a lot of the tips I have is short cuts I use to get the best results quickly

If you genuinely want to get better at art then please look at references and practice that is always the best

However if you are like me and only really do art for fun but want to go faster then these are for you pfppt

Overall I'd say my style is influenced by speedpaints I would watch when I was younger, I like analyzing how people do things and what makes something look "good" to me

I always recommend watching them because they will often have techniques you've never seen before or do things a certain way that you can try out yourself

I consume good art, it feeds me

but seriously it can be super helpful when developing your own methodology, or just generally trying something new

Usually it starts with me pulling some references from artists I really admire and sort of sketching out how they do the things I like

For example 8um8le has like super good anatomy and poses so I focused on trying to replicate how they do that

venemous-qwille is super good at color and pulling focus so that's what I focused on in my study of them

In general I'd say my process is sketch -> silhouette -> color -> shading -> render

I really don't like doing lineart lol

I'd say for the sketch the most important part is using references and just kind of fudging it until it looks correct anatomically/physically

General rule of thumb is spend time on areas of interest, and keep non important areas light (like the stitching on his pants)

I don't do lineart because I think its unnecessary for most paintings I do

I naturally tend to put more time and focus on areas of interest (like hands and feet) and if you use a brush with opacity for the sketch, those areas are naturally going to be darker in the final sketch

Of course this is gonna be different for everyone but it's what works for me

Sometimes I do a really really sketchy layer underneath my sketch/lineart, just so I know where everything is going

Use thumbnails! They are great to help figure out the general layout of things and what pose I wanna do

Next is what I call the "silhouette" layer

This is super important for me cause it helps me refine the figure and make sure the pose/anatomy looks correct, also depending on what color I choose for the silhouette helps guide what colors I'm going to use on top

This piece is a good example of how it works. The silhouette shows me how the figure interacts with the background, how the pose looks and if its any good

The silhouette layer doesn't have to be super clean, as long as it follows the sketch decently well and shows where the figure is then its fine

I also sometimes make the silhouette layer multiple colors to help guide shading and vibe

Next is the coloring layer. I usually make this a clipping layer on top of the silhouette layer, or I change the silhouette layer to alpha lock, either way it saves me time on coloring everything in

Sometimes I am super rough with the coloring too, using like an airbrush or my fav watercolor brush just to generically block in color where I want it

Works out cause most objects have like a bounce light to them from surrounding objects, so this is sort of a cheat I use to get that effect without all the work lol

Also don't be afraid to have the lower silhouette layer shining through, having multiple colors sort of subtly shining through the piece helps lots

Next is the shading layer, this is usually another clipping layer, usually set to "multiply"

The colors I pick here is usually within this range, any color works, just depends on the piece and vibes.

Since this piece is set in a sunset forest I choose a more desaturated orange for the shading layer

I know there's a whole thing about multiply layer being a crutch (and it kind of it) but it is a useful tool when you just want some darker values across the piece but don't want to go through the process of color picking every single darker shade

Also in my opinion it looks better than picking a darker color and setting it to a lower opacity, idk I just think the color has more "depth"

Next is the hardest to explain, sort of the vibes layer

Usually its just a layer of more concentrated color on top of the normal color and I fudge with the settings and values until I get a result I like

Next is the longest step, is the "extra" or the render stage.

Usually I add a background before this step so that if I need to merge the figure better with the background I can

If I render with a white background but he's supposed to be in a dark forest, its going to mess with the lighting severely

Also this is when I add more "vibe" layers on top to get the figure to match the background better

Backgrounds in general I recommend checking out @/derekdomnicdsouza on instagram he's got lots of great tutorials for breaking down backgrounds simply

I'd say general rule for the rendering layer is to focus on the areas of interest and spend less time on areas you don't care about

I even blur stuff out on the edges I don't want people to see, partially to save time on fixing mistakes in areas I dont care about (oop), but mainly to help draw the eye to the areas I do want people to focus on

Theoretically parts of the background should like mesh with the characters, parrallel lines are a no no unless they are directing a viewer to look somewhere, things that are perpendicular help bring things together

tbh I'm still not the best at layout and probably need more practice, but overall this is what I like doing

Overall this is what my layer set up ends up being

Sort of a sandwich with the lineart/sketch as the "meat" lol

Color and basic shading below the sketch, clean-up and rendering on top

I like this method cause it's super flexible if I ever want to try something different or try to replicate someone's style

I can make each step less or more messy depending on the end result and can add a lineart layer if need be. Also if there's a part that is straight up not working or needs to be removed its super easy to do cause I can just paint over it on the "extras" layer, color picking from the surrounding area to get the same vibe

Generally rule of thumb for my style is: get the initial layout of colors, form and shading to look good, then the rendering should be smooth sailing

Really the best advice I can give to get better at art is to enjoy what you're doing and become very very obsessed with drawing a silly little guy

You'll eventually get very good at drawing them pfptpf

[fanaticalparadox]

Hiya! So I love your art and I was just wondering if you had any advice on how to draw more. Expressively I guess? Idk I just think you draw really fluidly and I'm super jealous because I tend to be a perfectionist and I always think things look too messy!!!

AHHH omg first of all thank you for liking my art like ahhhhh. It’s weird because I’ve always felt like my art wasn’t clean enough? It’s less that I try to draw expressively and more like I can’t make myself draw clean lines and stuff— i’m very fast or else i get bored. I think that what you need to do is think more in potential rather than actuality. Here’s two sketches I’m currently working on right now. 

I don’t really use guidelines or special tricks for anatomy— I literally just draw the basic composition and look. See, these sketches may have a basic “main” shape? But the lines and positions can be altered and shifted in many different ways once I start coloring and ‘lining.’ It’s hard to explain. It helps to draw/sketch traditionally— I do a lot of quick pen sketches— and since I can’t erase, I have tons of different movements and lines going on at the same time. 

FOR example

The anatomy and drawing itself is abhorrent, but that doesn’t matter since i was really trying to convey the idea of the spear and position, or for the bottom right corner, i wanted to conceptualize that character’s basic personality. I’m less about accuracy in shapes and lighting, and more about the movement being conveyed. 

With strict line art, movement is a lot harder to achieve, and this doesn’t have to mean movement in dynamic poses and fight scenes, but in expressions as well. Microexpressions and movement in people’s faces conveys more emotion than tears or smiles. Things are messier in motion, so since i draw things messily, it feels more like movement. 

ALSO don’t be afraid to bend the rules of anatomy to achieve movement! As you can see here, the strumming arm doesn’t seem to have any concrete shape— it looks like a piece of macaroni tbh, but it feels a lot less static. 

For my paintings, expression is achieved through brushstrokes and color. I take a lot of inspiration from impressionist and romantic painters. For example, John Turner and Monet are artists i really enjoy for their use of vague color and ambiguous shapes to achieve dynamism. As seen here

(Slave ship by John Turner)

(Woman with a parasol by Claude Monet)

A more recent artist that I take painting inspiration from is John Larriva. I LOVE his use of colors and messy brushstrokes to express emotion and movement. He makes speed paints too so you can see his process. I basically use that same process for making my digital paintings. 

(Sabine by John Larriva. Speedpaint found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wr6MTix-VY )

As you can see, I apply a lot of the same ideas of abstract color into my paintings, though I still have a lot more experimentation to do to achieve what i want. 

Just go with what feels right, rather than what is ACTUALLY right. It could end up being garbage, which happens to me a lot, but risks can lead to good things too. Something that helps with breaking out of that perfectionist mindset is sketching/doodling in margins or cheap notebook paper or something. Not committing to a finished/quality piece usually relieves a lot of stress, and lets you draw in a more relaxed state. I often pump out my best work when im doodling on tests after finishing early, and no one ever sees it since they get collected. Rip. But yeah I encourage you to take reference from artists you like and try to emulate their styles, you’ll often find a space in-between your own style and their process. If you do that with tons of different artists, you’ll end up with something new that you can develop on your own. idk where I was going with this

anyways yeah! Just think more in movement— where will this be going, where was it before? Think in potential rather than now, and you can get a lot more expression. 

Thank you so much for your question! For me it’s not a conscious process, it’s just something i’ve always done— really sketchy lines and stuff, so it’s hard to explain. I hope I helped!!