#though I guess at the end of the day CSP is still LOADS better than Photoshop

[haldenlith]

I use Clip Studio Paint, and I still lightly recommend it, though those recommendations now come with the caveat of what bugs me right now: the pay model they've switched to.

A lot of the shit they're marketing as featured "updates" you have to have an "update plan" to access. Granted, the subscription could be more egregiously priced (looking at you Adobe), so I'll give them it had fair pricing, but just the concept behind it bugs me. A lot of the tools/features are improvements on tools already in the program. Better mesh tool? Better text? Improved control of the 3D figures? These are all things that really should just be updated to customers who already bought the program.

I'd be more understanding if they didn't have other monetization options, like the Assets store and the subscription they require if you want to use CSP on mobile (or multiple devices). Also: they charge for upgrades to the most recent released version. We're on V2 right now, and they intend to release V3 in 2024. So if you're on V1, and don't want to have the subscription, you have to pay to upgrade... to V2. And then you have to pay again to upgrade to V3.

I don't know, it just feels like a slow, nickel-and-dime march. And that's, by the way, ignoring the stupid requirement of having an internet connection to use the program. I get that it needs to check if my copy of CSP is genuine and not pirated, or whatever, but shit, that really fucks over folks who don't have reliable internet (I'm one of those folks, but on the very mild side).

"Woops! Sorry! I can't check, for the 473rd time, that your program is genuine! Guess you can't use this program you paid for!"

It's so dumb.

[ask-aph-baltics]

(Apologies if you've answered this before) Sometimes I consider starting to learn how to draw, but I've been on the fence about it for a while now. Any tips for how one could get started in drawing based on your own experience? Your blog makes me smile have a lovely day/night :)

Aww, that’s so nice! Thank you! I am really passionate about the thoughts of mixing history and culture with characters and stuff. XD So I am having a blast, much more than I did trying to work with the loose canon of Osomatsu san.

So I started drawing when I was about 12 or 14 or something in that age range and it was because my friend and I had OCs that were wolves and lions and we just wanted to share our stories and character designs. At first I just did from memory. I really liked South Park too... so my first sketch book was just South Park.

Dragons and Wolves and stuff too cause yeah. I just did it from my head. Which worked, I got ideas out and even though I would be 12 with these I guess, uh. Yeah. I learned to draw South Park by watching it and drawing along. Back then in 00s we didn’t have Youtube. So now I would say, go and look up drawing tutorials for youtube and stuff. I later in about 06 or so got into anime (who doesn’t) and started to just try to emulate Detective Conan style shit...

I again, still, had NO technique or skills. I just watched Conan and looked at the manga and picked up and a lot of my first stuff was just reproductions...

I also didn’t have a computer, nor any drawing tools... so I didn’t know about layers and I didn’t even know about how to draw traditional besides just a pencil... so all of my stuff was just that.

I pretty much stuck with Pencil Renderings and MS-Paint with a mouse. -- Sorry this is long winded. My way I started and got into drawing is so different than what people these days can do... because you guys, everyone, almost, has a digital tablet at their disposal (you can use a smartphone to draw on!!!) youtube and a sea of references that load fast as fuck. Servers and forums with fast advice and people there who wanna help. Not slow forums or anything.

So the best tip is just draw what you want, regardless of if it’s ‘good or not’. - This is, if you want to just produce for the sake of putting your ideas out there. If learning actual technical ability is what you want to do instead... 

Start piece by piece, always use a reference, Look on youtube for beginner drawing tutorials and just kinda follow along like bob ross style. Watch how people IRL move. Think of everything as tubes and shapes.  You wont get good overnight. You wont get good in a few years. So much goes down to muscle memory too. Take your time. Especially with digital, you can constantly go back and make adjustments. Don’t be scared to do that with layers!! Resize, crop, adjust, fix,. Not all works need to be finished. Sketching is the best way to learn. Don’t spend too much time on something sometimes. Sometimes it’s best to just do lots of fast sketches!

the first part you should do is learn how to do simple shapes and burn that into your muscle memory. learn to make a pattern for how you draw things because it will help with consistency in the end.

the most fun time I have drawing is sketching... sorry, i hope this is at least motivational in that we all start from SOMETHING and get somewhere even if we don’t practice dilligently... my art quality began to falter around 2014 or so and has stagnated for the most part.... my stuff in 2009 was actually better than it is now in a lot of ways, especially the colouring and stuff.

(this is from 2008 before my passion was completely removed from my body by my teachers, obivously i know better about perspective and stuff) but I actually used to have fun trying new things. So experiment A LOT. Now I can’t really be arsed...

(this is one of the last pieces I actually put some effort into and it’s date 2015. There has been a few others here and there but this was a try at a very angled 1p perspective) Also I drew with a program that came out in 2002 until 2015 so!! (now I use CSP)

i doubt i helped. but just start. just start by putting your ideas somewhere out there.