#very different from using my intuos

[galaghiel]

Post doomsday runaway au idk

[genericpuff]

When it comes to a drawing tablet do you recommend a beginner get one with a screen or one without specifically for webcomics?

So what you use the tablet for ultimately doesn't matter. Webcomics, illustration, animation, they're just different expressions of the same overall skillset. I've gone from using desk tablets to screen tablets and then back to desk tablets again. My current setup is a Huion Inspiroy Giano which is a very large desk tablet (no screen) with a Huion Kamvas 22 Plus as my display (screen).

(hi jim lol)

Now this obviously seems INCREDIBLY redundant but the reason why it's like that is because I used to use the Huion Kamvas 22 Plus as my screen tablet... until the pen input stopped working :)""" But it still works perfectly fine as a display! When I was shopping around for new drawing tablets though, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the financial risk on another screen tablet. The Huions are a lot cheaper than the Wacom models which is great for people looking for inexpensive options, but if it meant I'd have to replace my screen tablets more often than my old Wacom Cintiq, then it wasn't gonna be worth it (but I didn't want to dump $2k on a tablet again LOL)

So I wound up getting a desk tablet instead! I had used Wacom desk tablets a lot prior to screens, and while it had been a few years, I re-adjusted in no time. The Huion Inspiroy Giano is, so far, a very reliable tablet. It just connects with a USB, no crazy 3-in-1 cables like the screen displays. It satisfies my need for a large tablet (seriously, if I can offer any piece of advice in regards to tablets, size does often matter because if a tablet is too small you'll be over-relying on your wrist for motions which isn't good for line integrity or your hand health!!!!) but it didn't break my budget like the Wacom tablets (and didn't feel as risky as buying another Kamvas 22 Plus after what happened the last time).

The only downside to it is that it has a bit of a rough surface to it which I find does a lot of initial wearing down on the nibs. I mean fr look at this thing-

And that will happen after only like, a few hours of use LOL that said, I've been using this nib for like 2 months now and it hasn't worn down more than that, so if you don't mind your nibs having a visible slant to them, it really doesn't cause any other issues.

That said, I've only had this tablet for about half a year now. I also used to sing praises for the Kamvas 22 Plus until it suddenly decided it wasn't going to work anymore without explanation, so... take my review of the Inspiroy Giano with grains of salt. At least though if this thing mysteriously stops working like the Kamvas did, I'll only have to pay $200-$300 to replace it vs. the Kamvas' $700+. It's still not a small amount of money, but it pays itself off quickly (and it's a lot cheaper compared to the equivalent Intuos Pro line from Wacom, which costs upwards of $500+ for a decently sized one).

Screen tablets are definitely helpful to have though, and I wouldn't object to returning to the screen displays once I can justify dropping money on one again. I still use a screen display on the go via my iPad Pro. But I don't think desk tablets should be taken for granted as a perfectly viable tool either, I think the initial learning curve tends to intimidate people a lot, but they're really quite comfortable to use once you adjust to the translation of desk tablet to monitor. You can also adjust the screen settings through the tablet driver anyways, which is what I did for my tablet because it was a little too big in spots where I had to reach really far to get to the color wheel tab on the right... so I just reduced the screen ratio to make up for it :)

I find once you learn how to use both - and learn your foundations in digital art - the desk tablet vs. screen tablet debate just boils down to personal preference rather than any real difference in what they can do for your art. I've drawn stuff like Rekindled on screen displays, desk tablets, iPads, etc. You might try a desk tablet and not like it after a while (though again, with the initial skill ceiling of adjusting to it, give it a few weeks of trying if you can, you will not immediately get used to it overnight!!!) and decide that screen tablets are more up your alley.

It really depends on what you're wanting to pay for a tablet. Though like with any new skillset that you're just getting into, I wouldn't recommend dropping money on the most expensive tool because ultimately the differences between expensive and cheap aren't going to be noticeable to you until you actually learn the skill itself, and it's not uncommon at all for people to pick up a new skill, shell out shitloads to learn it, and then get discouraged when it takes a while and makes the expense feel like a waste. Those higher end tablets are often more suited for professionals, not because they're "only meant for pros", but because pros will be able to fully utilize all their upper-skill features in a way a newbie who's still learning how to use a desk tablet won't.

Thankfully, it's easier than ever to get an affordable tablet that's easy to learn and Wacom is no longer the "only option", so I highly recommend looking into brands like Huion, XP-Pen, and Gaomon, as they offer very inexpensive tablets with a wide array of options from desk tablets to screen displays. Make sure you do your research on them, check out places like reddit for actual human reviews, note that every brand and tablet will come with their pros and cons, so it's really just about weighing out what you feel will work best for you and what you're trying to achieve!

And of course, if you're looking to draw comics specifically, look into Clip Studio Paint! It goes on sale at least twice a year, the PRO version is literally all you need to get started (EX comes with some helpful features like Teamwork, but like those fancy high end tablets, they won't necessarily be useful to someone who's just starting out). The PRO version comes with all the rulers, panel cutters, text tools, etc. that you need to get into making comics, it's a great piece of software !!!

I hope that helps!!! Best of luck!! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

[tsuyonpuu]

And another question - how long do you draw? What drawing programs do you use and how to achieve the same drawing skill as you do?

Hii!! Here too a big sorry for not answering this ask earlier I simply had no idea it existed haha I'll answer regardless!! I've been drawing more or less seriously since 2012! Which is when I got my very first drawing tablet too hehe ever since then I've been in love with digital art!! I used to draw most with my PC desk setup and Painttool SAI (the first version) with my Intuos Pro M that is also 10 years old by now and i never got a different tables for my desk setup hahaha For the past couple of 2-3 i switched to the Ipad with Procreate! I love how convenient it is and I really fell in love with procreate as a software!

Regarding skill or something like that, I personally don't consider myself a good artist because I lack technical skills tbh! I think i am like average at best lol I lack fundamentals and I never do real studies- I do like to think that I'm pretty good with picking colours!! I like to watch YT videos on other people doing studies or techniques and trying to keep an open mind and eye on other media or styles- I love graphic design, I love video editing, I love concept art, I love brand design and other layout stuff and i think looking outside your own field in art helps you to expand on style and visual understanding. Sometimes i make sketches, sometimes i do lineart, sometimes i skip all steps and just start painting, i think its important to not limit yourself in how you work or what you do! Art is just about having fun!! Which is probably always my main advice for drawing or art. If you have fun, if you love what you make and if you keep an open mind and are willing to expand your horizon, then everything else will just come from alone!! Like I genuinely love what im doing and I love my own art and i think that's more important to me than technical skill :) (and i just want to point out that this is my personal opinion and I do acknowledge that technical skill is not just important but also beautiful to look at and essential at many jobs in the art field, I just personally don't like studying hahahah)

[megamagimugi]

Hey there, my friend! I saw you reblogging an artist ask game, so please allow me to make you a few questions 🥰

How about 2, 12 (I'm interested if you're willing to share!), 15 and 25? 💖

Sure thing, my friend!

Based on this:

2. How long have you been drawing?

Short answer: for as long as I can remember.

Long answer: I drew a lot as a kid (fun fact: I used to make quick uncolored pencil drawings to tell stories, kinda like storyboards; I would do it for hours and use so much paper that my parents eventually told me to draw on both sides😅). The fact that my older sister was very good at drawing - and I was very competitive - also motivated me to work hard and try to get as good as her. Then I drew less often in high school and in my first college since I had less time and was focused on schoolwork, and then started doing it more often again as I now study graphic design and would like to maybe become an animator if possible - the dream job of my childhood that I gave up on too early. When it comes to digital art specifically... I got my tablet, the very same one I use to this day (Wacom Intuos 4), for Christmas when I was about 15 or 16. Because it was so hard for me to learn how to draw digitally, and like I said I soon started spending less time drawing in general, sometimes I didn't use my tablet for long periods of time. That, of course, eventually changed into using it nearly every day.

12. Is it okay for people to ask you about your process?

Yes, it's okie dokie to ask!

...Or did you mean you wanted to know right now?

In which case, well, it depends on the medium and the specific piece since I don't always do my art the same way. Generally in digital art, for the characters I like to do a rough sketch first, then either a cleaner sketch or lineart (I rarely bother to do both, even in animation - unless my initial rough animation is like... really rough and basic, just to get the feel of the motion). Then I do flat colors, often on separate layers, and then shade/render each part. Or I do the whole character minus the sketch on one layer, it really depends. For example, I did Mario and Luigi both on one layer in my Brothership repaint/wallpaper, other that the yellow glow on their hands. For backgrounds... it really depends, but I usually build them up layer after layer, from general shapes to details, like a normal painting. Of course, I use some sort of sketch for most of them too, unless I don't need it because the BG is very simple or abstract. If I don't want my sketch to be visible, I basically just remove it and refine the parts that look bad without it, sometimes adding some brush strokes imitating lineart in some places. Happens to both characters and backgrounds. I use different brushes to create different effects, but in the majority of my works I've been sharing on here, I only really use a hard round pressure opacity brush for both the final sketch and rendering.

15. How long does an average piece take you to complete?

This one is always tricky to answer (yes, I've been asked this before by some classmates). Uh, several hours? It's really hard to tell exactly simply because I rarely just sit down and complete a whole piece in one go. Unless it's just a simple sketch/doodle. So in reality my average pieces often take me a few days.

25. Do you like to draw in silence, or with music?

There's one piece of advice in Richard Williams' fantastic book The Animator's Survival Kit that I don't think I'll ever be able to heed. It's this one:

Sorry but no, I do almost everything with music. It makes things more enjoyable and ironically makes it easier to focus in the long run. So, definitely drawing with music💯😁

Thank you so much for the ask, @silenzahra!😊

[celerydays]

What program do you use to make your fanart? Is it on just an average ipad or is there special ones just for art? Your work looks so good! I’m wanting to try digital art but unsure where to start :)

I use the Procreate app for all of my digital art! ✨

It should be available on any iPad 💗 I personally invested for my birthday this past year and I have the 12.9" M2 iPad Pro, but I'll even occasionally use my fiancé's iPad Mini and the Procreate app on there in a pinch since it's so small and portable~

The only real difference is that performance might suffer a bit, the larger an art piece is or how many layers your work has, depending on the iPad. But if you're just starting out, I probably wouldn't find that to be much of an issue!

(More rambling about digital art origins under cut ✨)

There's definitely a learning curve, especially if you're more used to drawing traditionally! It can help to still sketch traditionally (if that's what you're used to) and then upload a photo of your drawing to your tablet to work over digitally (this is personally how I started out and I used to just make little digital doodles by tracing and coloring over my traditional sketches.)

A small doodle from my sketchbook that I traced and colored digitally, from around 2011-2012, I think? Uh, happy Doctor Who day today!

My very first digital art set up was actually a tiny Wacom Bamboo tablet where the drawing space probably wasn't even bigger than my hand, and a super old bootleg version of Photoshop CS2 which was already a version that was 7 years too old for the time (CS5/CS6 was the most updated version by the time I had started on digital art).

Everyone else in my class had the bigger/fancier/professional-grade Wacom Intuos and I remember my professor taking one look at my baby tablet and just going like "how tf are you drawing on that" lmao.

But still! Experimenting and doing little exercises can get you a long way – I would say to approach it with similar exercises you would do as if you were learning to draw traditionally for the first time.

Shade in circles/nail down basic lighting. Gesture drawings. Random scribbles. Just things that help you get used to the feel of digital art!

Test out different textures you can achieve with one brush, then expand it to see how other different types of brushes can behave and add to the experience.

For proof that even just one brush and not the best/most updated tools can work: these are two of my first more "serious" digital art projects I did in college (with my tiny tablet and mega outdated version of Photoshop) and 99% of the rendering was just done with the "soft airbrush" brush.

But even then, we were taught to create our base sketches traditionally and upload them to the program to work over.

Then one day I decided I wanted to just be able to also do all my sketches digitally and just worked on getting used to sketching straight on my digital program. It was then that besides the all-powerful undo-redo buttons, I started to really make use of the transform/canvas flip/liquify features which I don't think I can live without now lol. (Caveat: I'm now a little too dependent on those features so I keep a traditional sketchbook to do silly doodles in occasionally to exercise my hand because sketching traditionally without the buffer of those digital tools is pretty difficult for me now lol.)

That was a little long-winded, I'm so sorry hahaha. I hope something in this rambling could be taken as somewhat helpful for starting out on digital art!! 💗

[mieau]

Hello, I remember your tablet giving up around chrismas or so, did you replaced it with the same model or have you upgraded it to a recent one?

Hi! Yeah my old tablet died about a year ago. I dropped it and the second mini USB was ripped from where it was attached (I did the same with the first USB 10 years ago... so no usable port left). My husband opened it to try and repair it but it was too damaged, so I replaced it with a very similar model!

Truth is I knew my old tablet, bought in 2009, was probably gonna give up at a time or another so some years ago I snatched another Wacom Intuos (A model 5 I think) from Amazon's black friday sale lol; A pretty good deal, that was sitting in its box waiting for its turn.

So yeah, even though I changed my tablet, I only used that spare one and did not go through the whole "should I buy something different" process. I still very much prefer no-screen tablet!

[ebeedrawing]

How long have you been drawing and how long did it take for you to develop your art style into the way it is now? And if you use tablet, which one do you use and/or which one do you recommend for beginners? I'm trying to learn how to draw but my skills are so bad lol Should I start with pen and paper and then do digital? I want to do digital but I'm not sure if I should do the basics on paper first.

Hello ^^

I've been drawing all my life, really, but I did graduate from a fine arts school, so I'm traditionally taught. I only started drawing digitally after I graduated, which was 3 years ago, so I'm only self-taught digitally.

My art style was actually a huge struggle for me when growing up.. I remember literally crying because all I could do was only the "academic" type of drawings. But I will say this.. definitely look for inspiration from artists you like, and don't be hard on yourself. You'll get there so make sure you have fun with it and don't be afraid to try out new things. I'm sure you'll come up with something unique just for you 🩷. And remember that we change all the time so your art style changes a lot too. Artists shouldn't contain their creativity in a box, so whatever you wanna try - try it!

As for tablets.. I'm using a Wacom Intuos Pro M, but for beginners, I'm not too sure what to suggest if you're looking for something a bit even more budget friendly. I'd say anything really works if you want it enough. YouTube helped me make my decision ^^" I just wouldn't hurry and get something very pricey if you're just beginning because in the end, they kinda all do the same thing.

As for learning how to actually do the thing, I'd say go the traditional route first. I'm not stopping you from starting digitally, but I definitely suggest getting into it with the og pen and paper. I think it's more of a "learn the rules before you break them" kind of thing. Knowing the basics, as boring as they are, is so so important. So I definitely suggest you get a sketchbook and make sure you're sketching every day ^^ From anatomy to perspective studies. YouTube, again, is an amazing place for this. Also trying out different medias like watercolour, ink, charcoal and more, can be very fun and freeing as well ^^ who knows, you might discover a new love for one of them.

(If you want a list of YouTubers I'd suggest, let me know 👌)

Whew that was a lot, I'm not too sure if it helped, but good luck✨️

Oh and little tip: when sketching some studies, don't be precious with them. the freer you are about your art, the faster you will grow ^^

[seabashedz]

That's my boy, Ferri!

"After 7 years of development of this character. hopefully, it would have been worth the wait. Thanks and have fun."

Been drawing him for too long, and not a single ref sheet has been made since 2015! He's a fennec fox. Though initially, my first sketch was very different from before.

In the first iteration, he was in a cartoon style and evolved into a more anthropomorphic fox. In my mind, I tend to create an alien hybrid or just a fox/wolf but I stick to a fennec fox though I kept tossing idea of a red panda. Originally, it was inspired by Freddy Krueger with its striped shirt and point fingers. I did shift styles a bit in my early days of being an artist. Mainly influence of other media like Viziepop's Zoophobia or cartoon shows at the time

My first tablet was Wacom Intuos Manga (Small), the gray classic one and my program of choice is Paint Tool SAI. I kept experimenting with his style without a nose or a muzzle. I explored a bit in 3d too as well buy using Blender though I couldn't file my files before. This character was my fursona back then and now.

I refined on 2018 Sketchbook on his design to streamline his final look.

I redraw this character 2023 Nov:

[jccatstudios]

I am new to digital art and I am struggling to draw because it so different from drawing irl do you have any recommendations on how to draw digitally? Also happy pride month to my fellow aroace! I love you soc comic drawings they are soon amazinggg

Happy pride month!!! And thank you!

For digital art, I think the best thing to do is practice getting control over your pen. For me, the hardest part of starting digital art was getting used to the smooth surface of the tablet that doesn’t have as much resistance as real paper. I’d start with adjusting the pen pressure and brush stabilization. Once you’re comfortable with that, it’s just practicing making confident lines (and perhaps hitting the undo button a few times).

Hope that helps! I don’t know your tools, but I use a Wacom Intuos Pro M and Clip Studio Paint, so that’s where my advice is coming from. I did digital for a while during the pandemic and once I got back to traditional, my lines were so much more controlled! I couldn’t even use a nib pen back then. This is all to say getting better at one will make you better at the other! It’s very exciting to learn :D

[kaoarika]

In the meantime, week 3 of new laptop:

-I was sooo focused on the whole transfer data thing that I barely remember how the window/thumbnail things on the task bar act, lmao. I am not fan of how in Explorer, now in W11, you can open tabs in the same explorer page. WHICH might work on less stressing stuff... but when the thing is a heavy one (and I often move files and folders... see? this is why I miss having the Docs, Imgs, Pics, Video AND DL folders on the same section and not JUST "quick/fast access") I need windows... not tabs. So, I suppose since I am still using the mouse/trackpad, bugs can happen? I wrongly slided an Explorer tab as a new window, but Windows INSISTED I still had that Explorer window "with another tab", even thought there were two explorer windows :/ Awesome.

-Hence why I was slightly afraid... that thing also affected stuff like the internet browsers ie Firefox (and the tumblr notification of new activity "(x) Tumblr" CERTAINLY didn't help, lol). Hey, do you remember a time where Chrome actually opened a "new chrome" on the task bar when you opened the incognito window? I mean, I have sometimes used the private Firefox window before, but I am still not very used to it as two different entities. Like I said, Chrome did it AGES ago (and if I remember is because this happened in like 2015-ish) so... that.

-Oh, I'm just seeing that Firefox also does that... thumbnail thing with the tabs as well... is this new? I don't remember it having that days ago, :))))

-Still amazed at the speed the laptop turns on and off.

-Since it's also been ages since I took a laptop with wifi to another room of my house where the wifi doesn't reach... I forgot sometimes, VERY sometimes it still picks the wifi router from my room, although in a very weak signal (we have a booster with our Smart TV, but...). I know my phone KINDA does, but it picks immediately the booster most of the times, instead. So, I'm a bit... baffled, to say the least.

-I'm feeling the remorse of doing all that data transfer move now, lol. I say "I move" and I still need to do the check ups on the other in some of my folders (and I suppose, need to open everything I was using in Chrome on FF, as well, lol).

-Not prepared to install the programs I often use (GIMP, FireAlpaca) and heck, I'm not even prepared for CSP. Will my Intuos work, I wonder? I know W10 wasn't too friendly (way too buggy) in the compatibility stuff with Wacom (and all of their products, let's be real here)... so I have a hunch that might not change with W11. I will riot if the "I cannot find Wacom_Tablet.exe" error window manifests later on. BUt I want to draw and I need to edit... SURE, the other laptop STILL works, and all of that... but new laptop, you know... (that or I will wait until late October to do so? Doing the whole "pls, don't let me down in JUST a month because my luck is horrendous". Part of me says I should have done this FIRST before the transfer situation 🙃��

-Ah, yeah. There was this. When I was starting to move stuff, Windows Defender detected a "malware" coming from a program that, tbh, I forgot about because it was, well, old (I used it before 2021 for some stuff and that was it), but apparently, Microsoft detects it as "malicious" (although, I feel it's because it's a very old version of the program per se?). I didn't really moved it to the laptop, so all I did was deleting it from the USB folder... and Windows Defender ATTEMPTED to delete it, as well, and "WELP, I cannot delete it SOMEHOW" because, YES, I DELETED IT???? DIRECTLY FROM THE USB???? and now it is there, registered in the Windows Defender's history reminder that it "tried to delete it" BUT... and UGHGHGHFDDfllsds. I haven't had Windows Defender in years, so I barely remember of having this kind of "reminder" and now this is going to hunt me from now on in the "recommended actions" like... Great.

Curiously enough? That Microsoft detects this f*cking program as malware, and archives the mention of it online, makes me question how many ppl ACTUALLY may have used it in the past? Or if it really behaved as malware at some point. Like... I understand if it was a hack tool or whatever... but... ??????

[jacqthehermit-navigation]

ART RELATED

Do you take commissions/requests/art trades/collabs?

Only from my loved ones depending on my free time. But generally no.

Where did you learn to draw?

Even though I came from a family of artists, I am actually self-taught. I wasn't able to go to an art school like I've always wanted. I mostly learned from watching cartoons and animes.

When did you start drawing?

Ever since childhood.

I used to draw traditionally. When I started posting my art online back in 2008, I drew on paper, scanned it then colored it on Photoshop using my mouse.

I went full digital in 2013 after saving up and buying my first pen tablet (Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch 3rd Gen).

Who are your favorite artists?

Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, Masashi Kishimoto and Kubo Tite.

What do you use to draw?

Pen Tablet:

Wacom Intuos Pro Small

Software:

Paint Tool Sai for drawing

Photoshop for rendering

Kinemaster for video editing

Can you explain your brush settings?

Most of my brush settings are default. The others are from random artists that I watched and liked so I decided to use them too. I've been using these settings for a long time now and I can't remember the last time I added or changed something.

If you are looking for an artist to explain "what's this and that for" regarding brush settings then unfortunately it's not me. You can copy my settings if you liked them though.

Can I copy your art style?

You can use my art style as a guide but please don't copy it from A-Z. Add your own personal touch and twist as much as you can.

Can you give me art tips?

This is from my 2022 art ramblings:

Whenever artists wanna try something new to improve their art, we tend to make big drastic changes right away. This can be effective for others but not for everyone. As you can see, my art style is still the same as last year with minimal tweaks.

I decided that if I’m gonna make improvements, I’m gonna do it gradually instead of incorporating them all at once. This can be a big help in maintaining consistency. If the changes were small, we can easily remember and apply them on our next artwork.

I may now have more confidence with regards to my art compared to before but I am still not confident enough in giving/teaching art tips to people. Most of the time I am just winging my art and I personally feel like it's not right to impart that type of "knowledge" to others lmao. There are a lot of experienced artists on different platforms and you can easily search for their tutorials and advices.

Can I use your art for my profile pic?

As long as it's for personal use, you are free to use my art (icons, profile picture, wallpapers, etc). Please credit me if you can.

IMPORTANT: Do not edit, crop, trace or alter my art in any way, shape or form.

Can I share your artwork on other sites?

Artworks:

I am against reposting. I have an account in almost all platforms so you guys don't need to repost them. Just reblog/retweet/share them directly from the original post.

Note: If the artwork I made was from a very, very small fandom then I mostly allow reposting so it can reach more people. You just need to ask permission first and put proper credits.

Videos:

No. Do not repost/reupload my videos specially on Tiktok.

How long does it take you to finish an artwork?

Artworks:

I mostly do single cel shading nowadays to speed up my process. It takes me 1-3 days to finish depending on how many characters and how detailed the artwork is.

Videos:

I usually make 1 video a month but if I'm more energetic, I can make 2-3 videos.

How can I support you as an artist?

Youtube ➔ Like, comment, share and subscribe

Instagram ➔ Save, share, comment and like

Twitter ➔ Retweet, like and comment

Tumblr ➔ Reblog, like and comment

Kofi ➔ Any amount is appreciated

[mogamingthe1st]

If you wanna ask any questions my inbox is free :) I have drawn digitally in many different ways over the years and I have some tips for the process. Here I'm just gonna give some getting started tips :)

For a beginner on either phone or computer I recommend autodesk sketchbook (sometimes just "sketchbook") personally, I used that for years and there are good tutorials from professional artists online when you want to learn more.

It takes some getting used to, like it took me forever to get used to sketching digitally in particular, but it's fun. If you wanna ask about specific tips for drawing itself I am open to giving some tips I've learned.

If you're looking into getting a drawing tablet and don't have one yet, I'd recommend a Wacom Intuos S. It's cheap, compact, and from a really good brand. Please please register your device on their website as well if you get a Wacom tablet at any point. They'll have you fill out a survey about what you want to use your tablet for and then give you free trials (often, like, 12-24 months) of a couple programs and then offer a full license for a discount. I got Clip Studio Paint this way and I love it.

For mobile, I'd recommend investing in a stylus at some point. Could even be one of those cheap pen-stylus combos. Very helpful

Anyways sorry for info dumping, digital art is my special interest ✌️have fun creating!

Chat, got any tips for someone wanting to start drawing digitally?

I wish to draw my silly little obsessions >:)

[cherrypikkins]

For anyone who is curious, here was my process for doing the Felix vs Marianne swordfight illustrations!

Since I had to complete multiple images in sequence, I wanted to focus on lighting contrast and inked lines while making sure everything was done consistently while not spending an obscene amount of time.

The tools used were PaintToolSai 1.0 and Wacom Intuos 4S.

1) I start with the rough draft and composition. Since the poses are most important at this stage, characters are drawn from memory

2) I do the underdrawing. I check the official character art and make sure the designs and outfits. This step will ensure that I know where the rendered black lines should go. Transformations can be done at this stage to ensure proportions (such as head vs body size) are correct.

3) I render the lineart in black. This is the most time-consuming part. Because of all the double-checking I did in step 2, there is no need to keep looking at references. I may apply minor transformations to adjust proportions. I use different line weights to make the lineart more appealing - heavier for outer lines, thinner for details

4) Color placement - I choose similar colors as the official art, but adjust for higher contrast. I also do the eye detail.

5) I create a shadow layer using the Multiply mode, with clipping enabled. I used a color that complements with blue and provides a shadow tone for the skin. Since the illustrations feature two characters in combat, a single shadow layer keeps everything simple.

6) I decide on the directional lighting and use Sai's transparent brush at a solid setting to erase away at the shadow layer on one side. Then I use a soft airbrush on the other side. I decided not to blend shadows too much or do a separate layer for ambient occlusion so that the lighting is more dramatic.

7) I create a highlight layer at Luminosity setting, but all I did was use the airbrush very sparingly for a slightly backlit effect. If this were a more detailed illustration I would also add highlights using a more solid brush, but I skipped this step since the shadow layer provided a lot of contrast already

8) Here is what the image looks like with only the lineart and shadow layers. At this point, it is mostly touch up. The shadow layer is airbrushed with darker or lighter colors at the edges either to make it more intense or to soften the lighting. Color is added to the line art, but not too bright colors since it still needs to stand out.

9) Finally, a bit of background accent is added. The image is also cropped for better composition.

And that should be it! I'm always happy to share my process and will answer any questions to clarify things. :) I'm by no means an expert and am always learning. This process skips a lot of the usual steps that I would normally use for a full and more detailed illustration, but was effective for emphasizing action and form while keeping multiple images consistent. Why overdo it, ya know? XD

Hope that helps!

[startistdoodles]

Hello Miss

I was wondering if you had any tips and advice for new digital artists and animators.

Don't break the bank getting the highest-quality stuff right off the bat in the hopes it will make you a better artist. Start off with tools that are free/inexpensive and accessible to you. My first drawing tablet was a Wacom Intuos Draw ($60) and my software of choice was Gimp (free). You can upgrade later as you hone your skills and wish to invest more into doing what you enjoy.

Don't get so caught up in having a "unique" art style. Draw in whatever style comes naturally to you! But don't be afraid to try new things either. In fact, you should try new things as often as you can! Try a different coloring style, a new way of lineart, a new way of drawing hair or eyes or poses. Pushing your boundaries and experimenting is key to developing and growing as an artist and you may find new methods of the drawing process that you enjoy more!

References, references, references!!! Use them for everything: characters, environments, lighting, color, shadows, poses, textures!!! Trust me, I always think I know how to draw a good tree until I pull up images of actual trees and use them as refs and my art comes out looking much more natural. Don't trust your memory. Use a reference.

Consistency is key! You'd be surprised how much you can improve just by drawing every day. It doesn't have to be too complex or time consuming, but drawing something every day helps keep your skills sharp.

Take breaks, please I beg you take it easy on your hands pLEAse- Buy yourself a stress ball, stretch your hands after long periods of drawing, and don't forget to get up every couple hours and eat actual food and drink actual water. Go for a brisk walk, get some fresh air. Take care of your brain, it needs the enrichment and nourishment lest you suffer its wrath.

Open yourself up to criticism/advice from other artists. If you are looking for a way to improve your work, don't be afraid to watch tutorials! There are many of them out there for all sorts of topics. And if you are able to, having another artist who you can receive constructive feedback from is also super helpful. Don't take criticism too harshly though, artists are generally very supportive and like to help each other out when it comes to improving others' work. So it's never meant in a rude or condescending way (so long as you are familiar with the artist and they're not known to be a jerk).

That's about all I could think of for now, hopefully this helps you out! Happy creating ^^

[seventhmoonforreal]

EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS ⚠️

"You could be my baby

What's your star sign?

Won't you take a step

Into the lion's den?"

.

Okay aside from the lyrics from a silly song from my childhood (bonus if you guess it lmao), this is a kind of announcement i’m making.

It’s not like me to whine about my problems on social media, as I’m aware there are people who are suffering more than me — and I’m very ashamed rn — but this is something I had to say.

.

I’ll be on vacation next week, so i won’t probably be drawing/posting for three days (unless maybe some useless sketches).

But the point is that — once i’ll be back, I’ll open EMERGENCY commissions.

I’ve been drawing only in a traditional technique lately, even tho I think I am known for using a whole lot of different media.

All my collabs are suspended right now because well — I can’t draw digitally anymore.

My graphic tablet (a Wacom Intuos Pro II that has been my buddy since 2015) decided to say goodbye to me.

It is broken.

And I unfortunately don’t have the money for it.

I won’t ask my parents for a new device bc they’re already struggling with their jobs.

I have a job too but, as many youngsters are in Italy, I’m underpaid.

For now I can’t draw digitally, I can’t collab, I can’t take digital commissions or make those people who liked my digital art happy, i guess.

.

So, what I’m asking you, is that ONLY and ONLY if you want, is to give me a little hand.

I’ll work hard to get enough money for a new device (idk if its a tablet or an ipad or whatever), but in the meantime, if you want, you can buy a print from my already existent drawings, or commission me a traditional piece (i’d be willing to sell you originals.

I’m not forcing y’all to make anything of course.

Any share, any interaction will be helpful of course to spread the word.

I’m sorry again if I made you uncomfortable with this post.

I’m thanking in advance all of you.

Contact me here or on insta or check my redbubble if you want! It’s in my bio on insta

My insta: @_seventhmoon_

IM STARTING NEXT WEEK FROM THURSDAY

.

Also, I hope you’ll like this drawing too <3

What’s your star sign?

I’m a Sagittarius! My rising is Aquarius and my Moon is Virgo <3

[andatsea]

XP-Pen Artist Pro 24 Review

I drew this with an XP-Pen Artist Pro 24, which the team at XP-Pen kindly sent to me for review. I’ve had to opportunity to use this tablet on-and-off over the course of the past several weeks, and while there were a few issues my overall impression is positive.

Unboxing / Contents

Apart from the 24” display tablet itself, the package comes with the usual cabling peripherals, plus some bonus extras. If your machine supports a USB-C connection for display, you’ll only need the one cable (plus the power connection). Otherwise, there’s a HDMI and a USB-C to USB converter included as well.

The extras include: an additional stylus, a one-size-fits-all artist’s glove, and a microfiber cloth.

The container for the stylus twists open to reveal 8 extra stylus nibs. Its cap can also be removed to use as a stylus holder.

Driver (Installation & General Use)

There were a few issues with installation, mostly tied to interactions between the driver, Windows 10 and Windows Ink.

Initially, brush strokes were offset from the stylus’ point of contact with the screen by about 3-4 centimetres when attempting to draw in Photoshop CS6. Random straight strokes also occurred frequently. This same problem did not occur in MS Paint or Photoshop CC 2019. This was fixed by changing the UI scaling setting for the monitor in Windows settings from 125% (which was apparently the default) to 100%.

Initially, brush strokes had no pen pressure in Photoshop CC 2019. Photoshop CS6, on the other hand, did (but suffered from the previous offset problem). This was fixed by turning on the Windows Ink setting in the XP-Pen driver menu. So in other words: CC 2019 needs Windows Ink on to recognise pen pressure, while CS6 didn’t, but was affected by UI scaling.

Interestingly, if Windows Task Manager was in focus and Windows Ink was not enabled in driver settings, stylus input was not recognised at all. There may be other programs that have this issue, but this was the only one I encountered so far.

I will say that I’ve had many problems with Wacom drivers interacting badly with Windows Ink and other things in the past before, so these types of issues are not exclusive to the XP-Pen drivers.

I’m currently using driver version 3.0.5, a beta build that has a lovely UI; it’s clear and laid out well. I did also try version 1.6.4 initially, which was fine — the UI for that version was similar to the layout you find with Wacom drivers.

Apart from the issues during installation that required troubleshooting, I haven’t had many major complaints with the driver in day-to-day use, I do think that there are a few areas for improvement, however.

The driver stops working correctly each time the computer is set to sleep and woken up again. To fix this the driver must be exited from the system tray and then relaunched.

There also doesn’t seem to be a way to bind WIN+SHIFT+ARROW to any of the express keys. WIN+SHIFT+ARROW (left or right arrow) is the Windows shortcut to quickly move a focused window to another monitor, so it’s something I use a lot if I’m on a multi-monitor setup. Unfortunately, attempting to set this shortcut in the express keys menu will simply move the actual driver window over to the other monitor while the custom input is not properly recognised in the text field.

The driver does offer a “switch monitor” option for the express keys that when clicked will transfer your stylus input to another monitor, which is extremely useful.

Screen

At 24” with a 2560x1440p QHD resolution, images are sharp and crisp even when viewed from a close range while drawing. Genuinely, it feels great to paint on based off this aspect alone.

The colour temperature is set to 6500K by default in the the driver settings. I think initially it felt just a touch too saturated, but overall I’m fairly happy with the colour display.

The monitor has touch-sensitive inputs on the top right corner: a -/+ for quickly adjusting the brightness, a menu for further settings, and power. I found myself using these to adjust the brightness throughout the day frequently. The power input requires a few seconds of continued contact from your finger to react, which prevents you from accidentally brushing it and turning the monitor on/off.

The monitor comes with a built-in stand. I found it easy to adjust to different viewing angles and also incredibly sturdy. I had no problems leaning on the monitor while drawing.

The monitor also comes with a pre-applied anti-glare screen protector. I wasn’t bothered by it and it seems to be holding out well after several weeks of use. I think the screen itself definitely needs the additional anti-glare, as being a display tablet means that it’s significantly more reflective than my main display.

Stylus

My first impression of the stylus was that it’s lighter in comparison to the Wacom styluses that I’m used to — there is very little to no weighting on the back end of the stylus, which makes it feel noticeably different when gripped. To be honest, though, I forgot about it when I was actually painting. Still, I would prefer a bit more weighting because I do think it makes the stylus more comfortable to hold overall for long periods of time.

There’s also no eraser nib, but I’ve personally never used those on Wacom tablets (I always use shortcuts to switch between brush and eraser instead) so this was a non-issue for me.

The two shortcut buttons on the side of the stylus sit quite flat to the surface, so I think they would be less likely to bother people who don’t use them. I use them a lot, however, and found that they were still easy to click despite being quite flat.

Unfortunately however I ran into a curious issue with using one of the stylus buttons to activate the eyedropper tool. When the “alt” key is mapped to one of the triggers on the stylus, activation of the eyedropper function in Photoshop (tested in both CS6 and CC 2019) is somewhat unreliable. That is, when the “alt” key is held down, the expected result is that once you tap the stylus on the canvas, a “mouse-click” will be triggered and the eyedropper will activate. While this works perfectly fine if you hold down “alt” from the keyboard (or hold down an “alt” that’s bound to one of the 20 express keys), when you hold “alt” from a stylus trigger I found that tapping quickly with the stylus only seemed to activate the eyedropper about 50% of the time. In order to activate it more reliably, I had to press harder and longer with the stylus, which can become tiring and slowed down my painting process. I also found that frequently, pressing down longer would lock me into the eyedropping function until I clicked the trigger key again.

After submitting feedback about this XP-Pen’s R&D department, I was informed that this issue occurs because the stylus is only able to send one message to the tablet at a time. Pressing “alt” on the stylus and trying to “click” at the same time counts as two messages, which may interact with each other unexpectedly. This is why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

The buttons seem to otherwise work completely fine for any other functions that don’t require the stylus to send two simultaneous messages, so unless you’re like me and like to bind “alt” to a stylus trigger, this won’t affect you.

Pen Pressure & Activation Force

Most current-gen tablets flash a big number for the pen pressure levels as a selling point. Having used tablets with 512, 2k, 4k and 8k levels of pressure sensitivity, I’d say I noticed the biggest difference when switching from 512 to 2k, but in my opinion beyond 2k the change is minimal and has no real impact on the way I draw. The XP-Pen Artist Pro 24 comes with 8192 levels of sensitivty, which is a very big number, but in practical application all I can say is that it works the way I expect it to and I don’t have any complaints regarding the transition between pressure levels on the default linear pressure curve.

More importantly I did notice that the IAF (initial activation force) was not as low as I would have liked. Very light input is not recognised, or only partially recognised before dropping off and on again. In a practical sense this doesn’t actually impact me through most of (perhaps 97%) of the painting process, but it did give me pause once in a while when I wanted to make a really light stroke and had to adjust my method. The drivers for this tablet do come with a pressure curve you can adjust to your preferences, so this can help a little, although after some tests I preferred to leave mine on the default setting.

Summary of Drawing Experience (tl;dr)

I think the mark of a good tool or piece of hardware is that it does not draw attention to itself during the course of its use. An ideal drawing experience allows me to be fully immersed in the act of drawing without having my focus shifted to dealing with the tool. With this in mind the XP-Pen Artist Pro performed very well for the most part, but was held back by a couple of issues.

Pros:

The monitor resolution honestly feels great to look at; the pixel density means that I can basically forget about pixels even with my face positioned closer to the screen.

The parallax between the tip of the stylus and the actual position of input was very minimal and basically not noticeable for me, especially after the simple calibration process offered by the driver.

At normal room temperature (say up to about mid-20’s celsius) the monitor screen stays impressively cool to the touch and I was never bothered by resting my drawing hand on its surface even when painting for long sessions.

The 20 express keys and 2 roller rings are extremely helpful and I actually found myself using all of them, despite initially thinking that I’d only need half of them. The keys are also comfortable and responsive to click (which sounds like it should obviously be so, but having used some Intuos iterations in the past which had some very annoying-to-click express keys, I don’t take this feature for granted anymore).

Cons:

The driver needs to be restarted everytime the computer wakes from sleep in order to work.

Higher IAF was noticeable when very light strokes were desirable. Also, the input will on rare occasions glitch by performing a completely straight max opacity + max brush size stroke. This seemed to happen primarily when I was trying to get light strokes to register. (It didn’t happen often enough to bother me much since it’s just a quick undo, but it did happen enough times that I noticed it.)

The issue with eyedropping using “alt” mapped to a stylus trigger as detailed above. Quite unlucky for someone like me who has over a decade of muscle memory for this particular mapping.

Overall, as I said at the beginning, my impression of the tablet is positive. While I think it has room for improvement when it comes to driver performance and the initial activation force especially, it also has a lot to offer at a highly competitive price point ($900USD at retail), and it would’ve been amazing if something like this had been available to me back when I first started digital painting. As I do enjoy using it for the most part I’ll probably continue to use it on-and-off in future.