#procreate why are your colors always so muted

[critterbitter]

HELLO HI ID LIKE TO ASK WHAT PROGRAM AND BRUSHES YOU USE CUZ IM LITTERALY EXPLODING EVERYTIME I SEE YOUR ART

actually actually... *pulls out whole stack of paper*...I have. a FEW,, a good few,, questions to ask. they are not many I swear 😇

OK SO FIRST OF ALL HOW DO YOU DRAW SO FAST???? everyday I log onto Tumblr I always see something new from you and I get very very happy. But then I start to question my own existence because not even I CAN SPEED RUN ART LIKE THAT. AND SO SPECTACULARLY TOO

Last question! how do you color and make it look so well?? just. How. I need to know. This is a CRY FOR HE-

anyway thank you for being one of my favorite artists that always feed my brain rot, pls keep making amazing art because like a little yamper I will follow behind and stay updated.

(Stands there)

Response and thoughts under cut!

First question! What art program I use!

Mostly procreate, along with a handful of brushes! (Specifically the Jing Set and some custom stuff, which is really just a circle brush with the shape changed to a square.)

Second question! How do i draw so much!

Okay so. I am. Ahhah. Unemployed,,,,? No, I do freelance illustration, but hmm. A studio job would be nice.

i graduated college last year and I’m very used to eight hour art shifts. The body sort of remembers to keep working, even though I no longer have storyboards or visdev homework to do.

Also. The hyperfixation is a deep vast tunnel I STILL have not seen the end of the light to, good golly. (I have dreams now about the kids committing shenanigan crimes. I wake up in cold sweat and write them down in a journal. It’s like being the mouthpiece to an angry god.)

So the overall gist is: I was trained to be a storyboard artist with a visdev background, and I’m using that higher education to draw funny muppets because my brain’s funny.

I also DO have a queue, and I’ve been treating this as a sort of inktober project. I am definitely going to slow down soon though! Maybe. Hopefully. Ah… (sheepishly drops my kofi here)

Third question! How do i color!

I. I, uh. I dont know man the coloring demons have a grip on my soul and i just go along for the ride. But also, if it helps, i prefer to limit my pallets to only a few colors at a time. Lighting is king, so if you can figure out if you want to focus on either on your lights or shadows, you’ll have a much easier time composing. That, and symbolic colors— idk, something hits different about art drenched in gold with a tiny hint of a man staring into the blinding horizon, or a green leafy environment with a single dot of artificial red. I also like using blue and purple for shadows, and I’m a big fan of muting colors with only one or two that pop��� one of the reasons why I was so attracted to submas in the first place is because from a design aesthetic, they’re both super funny muppet men AND really cool train guys that have a limited pallet and thematic apparel.

Overall response! THANK YOU SO MUCH. This goes out to a BUNCH of people who sent me inbox queries— sorry for not responding, it’s a tad overwhelming because some of them are story questions even I don’t really know will go yet, and others are words of praise and I’m selfish and like scrolling through the inbox to look at them when I feel down. I am more of an artist who sits in the corner and sprouts like a potato rather then a branching vine who socializes, but I really do see people’s responses and they make me go :)))))

Okay ramble over. Thanks for coming to the soapbox, and good luck on creating!

[feather-bone]

Excuse me? I was wondering if there is any way you could help me here, I hate my art style so recently I've been making a folder of styles I'd prefer and decided that i like nature-ish styles like drawing animals and using more mute colors! (Like your art and other artists like @mothsprout) so is it okay if i asked some questions? you don't have to answer them all,, but how do you pick your colors? Your colors are always very calming and pretty! How did you study anatomy, your anatomy in art is very good! and lastly, how did you find a style you enjoy drawing in? whenever i attempt to draw i always get sad because i can't draw how I'd like. thank you for taking your time to read this, have a blessed day!

For colors, I like a lot of different types of color palettes. I tend to work quickly and color intuitively if I'm not tryna be super accurate. I also like to test out variations on a color before committing and I know a little about color theory - but it's like seasoning food, ya measure from the heart.

This goes for your other questions as well, but for color especially - a good exercise to try is to look in the world around you and find colors that look good together. You can figure out why they look good together if you want, I feel like do a lot of looking at things in the world and making mental notes about colors to try haha. The sky is a good place to start, she's always up to something wonderful.

I actually find anatomy very challenging! My strategy is to balance practice and stylization... I like to do figure drawings as practice. If there's an animal I'm stuck on I'll import a bunch of photos to procreate and trace over them so I can see the shapes better before making a drawing. It takes time to learn how to see the shapes that make up objects and translate them from real life to 2D space. Sometimes it's good to say fuck it and draw silly cartoony for a while so you don't get too stiff. I have shelves of sketchbooks filled with straight up scribbles.

That's good for style issues as well, it took a long time for me to settle into a style I like - part of that was I had to let it be malleable, I didn't find A Style and stick to it, I continually find things that I like about other art or forms colors lines out in the world and try them out on paper. I need to stretch my style regularly, if that makes sense, like push it into different forms in new media and different schools of art. Use physical paints if I haven't in a while, or try a new folk art style, etc.

Good luck with the skills you are working on and remember to have fun drawing!!

[shroompocalyps]

my brother in christ how do you render

in all seriousness tho if ur ok w it, i would appreciate tips or anything like that cause i feel like im rendering wrong lol

ok this might be lengthy but heres everything i do;

so first of all I use my sketches as the lineart mostly because I will cover it up when I fully redner, I always clean it up and make sure the proportions are correct

after putting down the base colors i put on a multiply layer on top of them this one will be for shading (all these steps will still be under the sketch/lineart) so first of all establish where your light will be coming from and put down your shadows (on hair, skin, add blushing and stuff, clothes shading)

and then I add another multiply layer and put down a solid color, depending on how cool or warm you want your drawing to look in the end

so for a warm effect I mostly use: maroon, brown, sepia or like a very muted shade of orange (if you make the color too vibrant it might give you really saturated results) for cool effects I’d use: dark blue, lilac, pink (or if u want to experiment with any color, why not?)

and then make sure to lower the opacity of the solid multiply color layer so the base colors can still be recognizable

on top of the solid multiply layer add an overlay layer. This layer will be for light. This part might he tricky, if you do not choose the right color it might clash with everything you have so far. You must make sure where your light is coming from. If you want to see more of how lighting works, I suggest looking up 3 point lighting set up. (its mostly for film purposes but it will help you recognize how light works from observing these videos)

For the warm lighting again; I choose either a pastel yellow, or pastel orange. White makes the colors you laid out before lose value.

Cool lighting: If you want it to look natural: also yellow, sometimes a pastel orange. If you want the drawing to have a more sci-fi finishing look you should pick neon colors like pink, green, turquoise

and finally, you will put one last (or however many) layer/s on top of the lineart layer. For this step I usually use brushes that have a pencil/crayon texture just because I like how it looks. (In procreate I use the 6B pencil, its on procreate by default)

for this step, you should try to cover the flaws of your sketch by picking colors that you already have on the drawing.

For example when I want something to pop out more than the rest I will pick (with eyedrop tool) the brightest color I can see on the drawing and create lines that look natural, like if I draw clothes, I put small lines that make them look fuzzy sometimes, Or make strands of hair pop up from the rest to make it look more natural or casual.

this is a speedpaint process

if theres anything else lmk ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ