#was gonna be a full rendered piece but I cant get right colors for them :'D

[kasylq]

Nom nom

[studioboner]

Hi! I actually am wondering about trying watercolors for the first time but feel a little anxious haha.. how you go about drawing on the paper with confidence? Like, watercolor paper isn’t exactly cheap. I think I got the cheapest one avaible from Canson but still the anxiety is real… do you pick very light pencils like 2B so you can sketch veryyy lightly, or before sketching on the paper itself you do a planning sketch in another paper?

Im asking this cos I really love your art and it’s so cool that it’s mostly traditional! And the way you draw Tails is too adorable and consistent while being in your style, it always feels like you have confidence when you draw him.

oh i think this is gonna be a long one

all in all?i have the same anxiety as you. but i've confidense that i can make something good sometimes, but not that i will get it right every time. So i keep trying, but heres some stuff that helped

a warning though, i keep going on and on in this reply and can get pretty negative at times

my watercolor paper i use costs 2 dollars and has 20 sheets so that's 10 cents per sheet. which i feel helps with my anxiety... it's the canson multimedia block too, 140 msg .....

watercolor sketchbooks i'd find online were around 80 or more BRL, and then 20 BRL shipping.... that's 20 USD in total...

but a block of this plus getting it binded costs me 4 USD.....so i think that one [price] helps alot lol.....

as for the confidence.....

i've had enough time to do quite a bit of trad art, specifically ink and watercolors so im USED to the material and now quite as scared to "mess up" as when i first started it.... [hint, i still am] this is one example of a sketch page, they vary in size, and how "done" they are... i dont really worry too much about maintaining a rule of "everything in this sketchbook must be fully rendered " bc it ended up stunting my creativity

i did try the "sketch it onto a sketchbook and then pass it to watercolor paper" approach and tbh...? not really my thing... i've found that to me the first sketch always end up being looser than when i pass it on... i'm always more focused on getting the flow, composition and pose there than i am getting the right details or right lines or colors etc....

like this one, im more happy with the sketch, it's mroe dynamic, mroe fun

i DO sketch stuff on cheaper paper first when it's for trad art commissions though, just bc there i HAVE to make sure the client is getting what they asked

and i do use 2b pencils AND a "soft lead" mechanical pencil, btu tbh it's mroe bc of the feeling of it on paper than for the look of it...

here for example you can see the circle i used to have a basis on where tails would be.. i didnt erase it as i continued painting bc tbh it was just the sketch. i ended up liking it tho

i actually got quite MAD and angry at myself recently bc i noticed how much my sketches were looser in the sketchbooks when i did try the passing onto watercolors thing and i had a full on discussion with a fellow artist about daring myself to be bolder in the future, it has been working well

I sadly have to say though, that figuring out how to build confidense is more of a personal journey, and i cant claim that what worked for me [trusting my first sketch] would work for you.....

It's time, practice, trial and error....

OH, one thing though that DID help me. is:

-There's no art wasted, even if it doesnt turn out how you wanted it, you still learned something.

-Makins these personal art/fanarts isn't some school paper you have to hand it to be graded and then not get it back. You can re-do a piece as many times as you want until you get it right! I have quite a queue of pieces i plan on re-doing in the future bc i didnt like the first ones i did. im not perfect on confidence and i get scared of fully committing to drawings alot, many of them are pale not for choice bc bc i got scared of making my art too saturated and overworking it

i am about to get negative now so stop reading if you dont want to see that.

HERE NOW i's a alot of pieces i made that im unsatisfied with and plan on re-doing one day: too dull, simply way too watered

which led me to make THIS piece and do better colors

i hATE the way i did the lineart here. it's boring, the anatomies are wonky. it's a good concept but i didnt excecuted it as well as i wanted. but this piece has made me just go and try inking MORE so i could make up for it

which lead to this piece here eventually

This one here.... the colors look so muddy it just makes me SAD, bc i had been so scared to use high saturation that i went with the muddier colors by choice, if i had allowed myself to experiment i wonder how happier i'd be about it

which led me to make THIS piece with softer in value and more saturated colors

The colors and blending of this one are too soft and not bold enough for what i had envisioned it, i made it as fanart of a friends fic and it made me feel like i failed my friend and insulted her fic when i finished this. I dont think the piece looks bAD, mind you. i know it looks cute. and good even. But i had such high hopes for it.

which led me to make this one

THIS ONE OH MY GOD HOW I HATE IT. sonics expression is SO creepy hes like a horror movie weirdo , honestly not my best work when it comes to anatomy

so i've been doodlin sonic now and then as practice so that i could make this one eventually

The perspective on knuckles could be better and the characters look out of place on this scene, the background is ok

but in this piece here i was able to get a better harmony between colors, background and whatever sparse linework i threw in

Theres so many more haha but i'll stop for now....

Dont get me wrong i dont ACTUALLY think those pieces are HORRIBLE horrible,,,, i see the flaws in them yes, but theres always something i like too, and i know people like them, and that people wont throw away a whole piece over one small detail that in the end doesnt even affect the overall thing....

i've just been getting into the headspace of "ok. at least this one is done, onto the next"

plus the whole thing i told you of realising my first sketches are looser....

sorry im not too good at talking about this and my points arent very clear, i dont think this is going to be quite the help you expected it to be because the truth is that the struggle with your art is soemthign that doesnt go away no matter what skill you have...

at times to me it feels more like a mentality practice than skill, reasurring myself that it's ok to get it wrong and try again, etc etc....

i used to go to therapy and one of the things we talked about was my perfectionism, how i used to be so scared to mess up a piece. that i wouldnt even start, and wouldnt draw for months. this has been going for years now and hey i've gotten better.

but..... yeah im in the same boat as you.... except mine is no longer just about the paper quality!

Sorry this got so personal now, i hope that this hasnt killed your hopes on getting better at the anxiety. it does get way better haha... trying to force your brain to not judge yourself so harshly is half the battle in my opinion, the practice of drawing is the other half....

good luck i hope you have fun painting, i know i do, i love the process even when i dont like the result, good night and thank you for the question

[freebooter4ever]

Hey, I need some help and I hope you can help me with my (actual) despair..

I adore your art and I got inspired to try out drawing digitally. If I‘m not mistaken you use a tablet for digital drawing, right?

Anyways, I want to buy one and I have no clue what to search for. I tried looking up online what to watch out for, but I guess I thought it‘d be good to get some advice from another person on this. So: What do you think is important about such a tablet ? What works for you? (I know -of course- that what works for you might not work for others, however getting an opinion by someone experienced regarding this sounded like a good idea)

Thank you in advance, maybe you can help me :) and I’m so sorry if this sounds like I’m all over the place, which I think I am (as usually).. {:

This ask is very dramatic, haha! But digital drawing supplies is expensive as hell so I understand ^_^ ! I've actually tried quite a few of the tablets out there over the years so yeah, there's definitely differences to them.

Currently I use a Wacom 2017 Mobilestudio Pro with the highest specs money could buy at the time. I also have an ipad and an ipad pencil. Here’s a convenient photo of all of them from my print shop posts that i used to compare the colors:

Previously I have used a 2014 Wacom Cintiq and a 2011 Wacom Intuous Tablet and a 2007 Wacom Intuous Tablet. My favorite is absolutely my mobile studio. You can see in the photo how small it is. It’s heavy (but hey, free weight lifting!) but holding it feels like a sketchbook. I adore it! It runs some huge photoshop files. And it has 3D capability. I did the entirety of my 2018 portfolio piece INCLUDING RENDER all on this beast. And yes it runs slow if you are taxing its processing power and yes there are some things it just cant do, but for its small size its pretty mind blowing. Basically the Mobilestudio is a laptop replacement for artists, and I low key worship it.

(thats a full 3D scene with 160k poly character, lighting, AND fog all rendered real time on this baby)(in marmoset which sure it got to the point where marmoset was at 99.8% and i had to juggle the lights like crazy but i kept it running!)

I used to use my ipad more because jumping into digital color on that was easier than understanding photoshop. I’m much more comfortable with photoshop now, so I prefer that. But for quick color studies that feel like actually painting the Ipad and procreate definitely wins! The nice thing about the apple pencil thing is that all the functions are completely hidden. Unlike Wacom which is very customizable and particular, the apple pencil is just connect and go. It feels as natural as it can, and I think it would be the best option for a beginner or someone who doesn’t want to invest in something like the mobile studio. @ramilicious was trying out procreate so gonna tag her to see if she has any insight.

The cintiq is the most intense option lol! I loved my cintiq but the only reason we had one was because we were an educational research group at a university and got a discount haha. The small cintiqs are not worth it in my opinion. It’s just annoying having such a small screen and it means you almost have to have a second screen set up for reference. It’s also basically just a smart monitor so you will still have to have a good tower PC (actually wait are PC’s still towers? I haven’t been PC shopping in a minute) to hook it up to that can run all the programs you want to use. I’m biased here but I prefer the mobile studio. The screen is bigger on the largest cintiqs - so more room to draw, which is nice, but it also means you usually need two people to lift the darn thing. (my mobile studio on the other hand fits neatly into my fancy hipster backpack and travels with me everywhere - I used to work in museums and libraries and cafes and boba tea shops. it also serves as a conversation starter. and a way to wow curious kids bc im sitting here casually sculpting an entire 3D person on a screen! wow!)

The cheapest options are obviously the tablets. These are great! You can’t go wrong with wacom - and the Intuous med/large size is the ideal size in my opinion. Depending on your age hand/wrist pain can be a thing. And if you get the tiny tablets and have a big monitor connected to it, the tiny movements in your wrist can cause problems later on. However, my bff in college had a tiny wacom tablet and used it all four years! The only thing to know about the Intuous and other types of tablets with no screen is that the disconnect between hand/eye is something you are going to have to learn. It does not come naturally! I wish someone had told me that when I got my first one in high school. I was so discouraged by how hard it was to draw with my hand on the the table and looking at a cursor on the screen that I didn’t use it a lot. Now of course, decades later (ouch, old age), it’s as easy as breathing haha. It just takes practice. The other nice thing about the tablet is that if you already have like a laptop and a backpack, its really easy just to slip the tablet into the backpack with everything else. My 2007 Intuous got me through all of college, and is still in such good condition that I was able to give it to a friend’s daughter last year who just started high school and wanted something to get started in digital art on. Prior to getting the cintiq in 2014 I used the 2011 Intuous at my education research job - so basically I spent all day sculpting on it for 3 years, and honestly those were the years that really drilled in that hand/eye coordination for me.

I’m actually planning on buying a new mobileStudio pro sometime this year to replace my current one. There are a few drawbacks on this option: the technology is still new, so expect troubleshooting. Sometimes updates to the OS screw with my tablet settings and I have to fight with windows to get it to work at full functionality. It also overheats a LOT - I’m hoping the newest models don’t run as hot. Legit this computer would love me to remain in a 60 degree room at all times. :/ Tragically, I live in Southern California so this is impossible. (The heat was less of an issue in Pittsburgh and Seattle). Over the years my mobilestudio has overheated so many times that the screen actually has color damage in spots. I still find it perfectly usable though, and the computer’s benefits far outweigh the heating issue. But I am also someone who hates the idea of being “tied down” to a place, and the thought of investing in a full computer/cintiq/monitor setup scares the crap out of me when I want to be able to pack up and move wherever my job takes me. \o/

This was probably more information than you wanted, but I wish someone had helped me out with all this stuff when I was starting out <3 ^_^ Feel free to ask any other questions you might think of! Though if you have computer spec questions ironically I am not the person for that LOL I have my go to guy who tells me what’s what in the graphics card / monitor world and I just buy what Han suggests bc he’s obsessed with always knowing the new thing.

Also my dream PC set up is....

UNF. that is a thing of beauty. logo and lights and all. so extra. and so so unnecessary. 

TLDR; If you already have an ipad, get yourself a pencil and procreate and try it out to start. If you want to use an existing laptop or computer to draw, get a nice Intuous tablet and draw draw draw till that hand-table to screen feels natural. OR if you want to go crazy like me get that expensive mobilestudio, take it out in public and bask in the oogling stares of everyone around you like you’re Shuri or Tony Stark and using some Unknowable Magic Technology. (one time my car’s tire popped during the days I was working on my hyper real Gas Pump for my portfolio and I had a whole room full of car guys looking over my shoulder in awe as I sat in the waiting room with my studio pro on my lap and poly modeled the base mesh while my baby fire demon was being fixed haha)

[uniformbravo]

ramblin abt my ocs (a lot)

i think im starting to care abt my ocs again, which is good bc it seems like every time i go hard in a fandom for a while i get extremely apathetic abt my own characters (bc the ones im obsessed w/ at the time seem to outshine them in every conceivable way and make them look painfully boring in comparison), so im glad the current wave of those feelings is finally starting to wear off bc god

anyway i’ve been thinking about some old ocs lately (like from when i was 13/14) and i wanted to look into them some more so i pulled out the notebook that had their story, which was coincidentally the one that silan & sythra are originally from and wow it turns out there was actually a legit explanation for their alternate eye colors?? 

i know i’ve gone back to find this story before too (quite recently actually) so idk why i didn’t already know this, i think i literally just keep forgetting every time fkdfksjd

tbh it’s probably because it doesn’t apply anymore because ok their original story had a whole cast of characters with super powers (i’ve talked abt it a little before), and originally their Thing was that they could read each other’s minds, which is kind of still how they work now but the other thing they could do was share their literal sight? here’s the actual description from the story

If they are apart, they can do something called sight division, where they can choose to see what the other is seeing. It’s like because their eyes are opposite colors, they can match their missing eye with the other’s and share the sight.

like it makes sense and it’s a pretty cool idea tbh? and idk how i forgot about it but somewhere down the line their psychic relationship developed past the point of something like sight division even being necessary, like

in may 16th, the story i transferred them to after this, the link’s concept changed from simply being able to read each other’s minds to being a constant connection between them- it’s not a conscious decision they make to “read” what the other is thinking, they’re just always there in each other’s heads, aware of what is happening with the other person at all times 

but even then the story would often have them mentally speaking full sentences to each other as a means of communication, whereas now it’s evolved even further past that; the current idea is that they are two separate entities that share the same mind space, constantly influencing and being influenced by each other’s thoughts, feelings, natures and personalities to the point that the line between the two of them distinguishing who’s who would be more accurately described as a gradient

so the concept of “sight division” has been rendered completely obsolete at this point because why would they need to share their sight when they literally know exactly what is happening with the other person at every waking moment of their connected lives

the reason for their eye colors became merely symbolic at some point between the original story and may 16th (i probably just forgot about the sight division & didn’t ever go back to check tbh) and the idea i’ve had ever since was that it was just a physical manifestation of their mental link; sythra’s eyes are originally blue and silan’s are originally brown, but because of the connection it’s like they have a little piece of each other within them, ergo the switching of their left eyes

that’s the explanation i’ve been using this whole time & i thought that’s how it always was, so reading the original concept kind of blew my mind & made me a little sad that i can’t use it anymore bc honestly??? good post op

anyway i rly want to do more with silan & sythra bc i feel like they have a lot of potential and i’ve had some cool ideas for them in the past, so maybe i’ll develop those more hmmm

i think i’d have to migrate them into another story separate from may 16th to really explore them, though. which is kind of a scary thought because may 16th is my baby, but. i think that time in my life has passed and it’s time to do something Bigger with these characters, because at this point they deserve so much more than Shitty High School Romance In Which Sythra Is Pretty Much Shoved To The Side To Make Room For The Main Relationship Plotline Where The Most Mediocre Dude Ever Shows Up & Steals Silan’s Heart By Being A Complete Dick To Him Wow (But Like, A Handsome Dick)

and ok that’s being a little harsh because that’s only the original draft- i’ve been salvaging it & rearranging it to make it leagues better, but the thing is, in the process i’ve only come to realize that it needs to become something bigger; my ideas are evolving it past that original high school romance setting, and while that setting will always hold a special place in my heart, i want to let this story and these characters breathe and grow to their full potential instead of caging them with nostalgia, you know? i think i’ll remember may 16th as the high school romance au, that is how it will live on in my heart

god i dont even know what i would do with chris in a new story though?? he is Truly the most mediocre and the only reason he was a prominent character in may 16th was because of his relationship with silan; if we’re gonna take that relationship away though then what is he even here for. his motivations include 1. Playing Sport and 2. Ignoring Every Emotion Especially The Gay Ones like god what an uninspired character what am i supposed to do with him. i mean i have been working on him lately but deep down i really do think he’s a boring character and i probably care about him the least out of all my main ocs hgjdgkdjksdg I FEEL BAD BUT

literally the only thing that has ever made him interesting to me is his relationship with silan like he has a fun dynamic with him and pretty decent development as a result of his interaction with him but as soon as he’s on his own he’s just sUch a boring character im snoring i need to fix chris somebody save him (read: me)

that’s the big problem here, i think. if im going to transfer these characters into a new story that’ll focus primarily on silan and sythra (or at least a lot more than may 16th did), chris would just be a huge distraction like he was in may 16th; if silan is what makes him interesting then he’ll just end up immediately latching onto silan and stealing the focus away from sythra bc chris only exists to be with silan, right. so the options im looking at here are 

omit chris completely because he’d just be an unnecessary dead weight on the story or

find another purpose for him, give him new depth that doesn’t conform to a romance, reinvent him as a compelling standalone character who could fit right into any given setting- discover what defines him and build on it until he feels like he could be his own protagonist

....obviously one of these requires a lot more energy & dedication but. i cant just abandon my boy. my dumbass mediocre af shit boy

aaaaaanyway i’ve definitely gone on for way too long Oops i didnt mean to shit on chris for so many paragraphs hghdghsdgdj but im kinda glad i did bc that was smth i really needed to admit & come to that conclusion so That’s Cool. if anything u at least got to see a bit of what my brainstorming documents usually look like (theyre a mess)

but uhh ya Cool Glad We Could Have This Talk