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No. 282904
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Some tips for beginners or those looking to improve their art:
>Don't shade with Black
>Draw what you don't want, it takes you out your comfort zone
>You can use more than 3 shades of the same primary color for skin, like blue or green
>Use references, always, it's not cheating, it does not make you a lesser artist
>Draw outside of fanart, anime, cartoons, etc.
>Always draw everything, don't hide the hands, don't be afraid to make a million mistakes or make it ugly
>Your drawings do not have to be pretty, especially if you are drawing women
>Perspective makes your art more interesting
No. 285403
>>285383What I usually do is try to mix "guilty pleasure" art and actual practice. For example, if I want to draw a certain character, I'd draw them doing different dynamic poses so I can improve my posing and anatomy skills. Idk if I explained it well
Also art promt generators are a great resource
No. 285416
>>285383Basically what
>>285403 said. If I want to practice backgrounds I'll reference a photo and draw a character I like in the environment. If I want to practice portraits I'll draw a person or model I admire/stan. I also try to figure study via croquis cafe before I start each drawing session, but my discipline is admittedly lacking there and I often only manage a couple times a week.
In terms of just getting the pencil/pen/stylus in your hand in the first place, try listening to new music or podcasts/youtube videos whenever you draw. I like listening to true crime the most for some reason.
Disclaimer: I'm not a pro at all, or even that good. I just draw every day for fun.
No. 285583
>>285440Maybe try out a new medium. I get really excited about traditional stuff; I still have to try out gouache but it looks so fun! So maybe buy a couple of inexpensive but pretty supplies that you really want to use.
I also found that following smaller art tubers who have a different day job and/or are really really passionate about art and their characters inspire me a shit ton. Also challenges - start small, work your way up. And don't beat yourself up if something looks like shit. Happens to the best of us. Good luck anon, I hope I could help a little.
No. 285992
>>285978super generic advice but draw a lot. Do exercises, like drawing s curves and c curves, varying the thickness of your line, form studies, relax your arm and draw from your elbow and shoulder.
And always focus on the overall construction of what you want to draw, add details last. big > small
You will improve your line quality with time.
No. 291550
>>291530This video may help. Basically, loosen up. When we write, we tend to hold pencils in a pretty rigid way. And when we translate to drawing, some people will try to draw the way they write. This can cause really short, stiff strokes of the pencil (also called "hairy lines"). Instead of just moving the wrist, try to steady yourself and move from the elbow, or arm. It'll probably feel weird at first, and in the case of the shoulder, it could even hurt at first if you draw for a long time. But keep with it, and it'll create better lines.
Most importantly, don't think you have to stick to one way to hold a pencil. Different drawing techniques and different sizes can allow you to switch up. Use shoulder/elbow stuff for larger drawings, gesture drawings, laying in anatomy, etc. Then when you get into detailing stuff, you can switch to a more typical writers like hold.
No. 297097
>>283065Hey does anyone know what this anon means by the magic 20%?
Also I realize that style is a personal thing and it develops over time, but I feel like my style isn't "smooth" enough and everything looks rigid, despite drawing dynamic poses and whatnot. It's like something is fundementally wrong and unprofessional looking with everything I draw. Has anyone else experienced this?
No. 298559
>>297097This anon here.
"The magic 20%" refers to the idea that 20% of your time spent on a project determine 80% of the outcome, while the other 80% of your effort only affect 20% of the final results. This idea implies that a good preparation is the key to creating something of quality.
Art related example: experimenting with sketches and the right references to find the best (and anatomically correct) pose with the best perspective does influence the finished piece much more than adding 409573457 kawaii-desu-ne light effects to the character's eyes.
No. 298714
>>285440Try looking at artists who make the kind of art you want to make. example: do you like the vibrant, textured paintings of van gogh, or do you prefer the intricate and smooth designs of mucha? Hit up pinterest, or even better- if you have a local library with books about art or art history, go there. people really underestimate how great libraries are. if your community has a local library, it's a massive resource and… it's FREE. FREE!!! Completely, totally, no money down, FREE. If you have money to spend, maybe go to a local art fest or visit a museum. If you want to get back into art, you can't just say "oh i want to draw realistic art". because that can literally be anything. That kind of choice cna be really intimidating because theres a huge variety of thing you can do with it. Narrowing it down to a particular influence, medium, or era can really help you discover what you like.
it is kind of tempting just to look at whatever fanart gets posted on tumblr, but tbh, I find that in order to see skilled artworks, pinterest and IG are actually a lot better. I'd skip youtube as a resource bc it seems like most art youtubers are like, anime and cartoon stuff and most of them aren't that skilled.
No. 350958
>>350930I recommend instagram if you draw/paint traditionally and are looking for a follower base. For whatever reason it's easy to quickly get noticed just by using a few art tags, probably because so many people use it. Its certainly easier to get noticed than on twitter/tumblr/deviantart. Image quality is garbage if you have crisp work though and you can't upload from desktop.
From there maybe go to Twitter once you have enough devoted followers and you want to post your thoughts and opinions.
Just my 2 cents.
No. 351635
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Is there any learning material (as in tutorials, tutoring artists to follow, books…) you guys are particularly thankful to, that helped you a lot when you were beginners?
Also: I'm a beginner and I've been watching lots of tutorials on Youtube but I still feel like I'm missing on many things. Sometimes I watch sped-up art progresses, sketch to lineart to color etc, and there are those small things that every artist seems to know but I can't find in those tutorials. For example, shortcuts. The artist using a huge brush on the eyebrows and only that lined up area getting colored, even though the strokes were ending up all over the place. The artist coloring the entire face blue and then clicking something and it becomes flesh colored? What did they click to make it change color, and why didn't they color it flesh pink in the first place? Stuff like that.
Also: I have Photoshop CS4 and Krita. I'm currently using Krita because it seems more noob-friendly but I think it conflicts a little bit with my tablet (the stylus sometimes disappears and it's not detected for some seconds), should I get a more updated PS or Paint Tool Sai or Clip Studio Paint?
No. 351658
>>351635The artist coloring the eyebrows was either using a transparency lock or a clipping mask. Transparency lock only lets you edit the color of the pixels that are already colored in. Clipping mask on a new layer (layer B) makes it so that the layer only shows up where the layer below has filled in pixels. I've attached a video that explains it. People use bright neon colors when filling in areas to make sure they filled the whole thing in. It's easy to miss a spot.
If you want help you can add me on discord at Temp#3474
No. 351795
>>351635photoshop is overrated as fuck for anyone who's not a pro/in the industry or something. it's overkill for a hobby artist. the fact that it is subscription based now is such a scam. get CPS when it goes on sale (which is often).
>>350937well, wacom just released a cintiq for only $650 that looks pretty good, but if you want something truly portable that you don't have to have attached to a computer, you'd need a surface or ipad. the 2018 ipad is pretty cheap and works pretty much as well as a pro, it's just smaller.
No. 352000
>>351635There could be two reasons for the face to be painted blue originally:
1. Sometimes skin color is hard to see against the background of the painting, to make it easier to see if it is going within the lineart they use blue first and then change the skin color afterwards.
2. Another likely reason is that they are using the selection tool to choose where they are going to fill skin color. In some programs, for example Paint Tool Sai, the selection tool is blue colored!
If you have any other questions I've been painting digitally for almost a decade and I have experience in quite a few programs so I should be able to answer a fair bit!
Good luck artists out there!
No. 352089
>>352072Yes! Good idea, I'd join.
>>351658>>351795>>352000Thank you for the help <3
Also later I'm going to add
>>351658 on discord!
No. 352162
>>352072>doing the 365What is that?
I'm also interested in a discord.
No. 352171
>>352072I'm interested too!
I don't even know what 365 is.
Would a complete total beginner like me be welcome?
No. 352261
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I've had a hard time with my life recently which made me drift away from drawing.
Now, however, I have a lot more free time on my hands I'd like to start again, but I'm obviously rusty and seeing that makes me not want to draw.
I also feel kind of bitter seeing other artist thrive on social media knowing I could have been as good if I had practiced more.
How do I get out of this rut? :(
No. 352818
>>352314I don't get it, is it a art help server or some other "stop wasting time" motivational thing?
>>352492We could create the group and post the invite link here
No. 353189
Link to the server
https://discord.gg/ZBBCcJ6I’m not too well versed in Discord, so bear with me. I’m open to suggestions for channels and the like, so don’t hesitate to throw ideas
Beginners and more advanced are all welcome, just thought it’d be nice to create an active community centred around helping each other get better or just whine about art woes
No. 355652
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Could anyone tell me what sort of brush/art style is pic related?
Is it gouache?
Another artist I bumped into while browsing the procreate site since it was mentioned in another art thread, is siobelee. I love her style but I wish there were tutorials on it.
https://procreate.art/siobelee No. 355685
>>355663>>355665>>355671Thank you! I started doing vector art myself, just in affinity designer. I wasn't sure how they achieve that effect but now thanks to anon, I'll be able to figure out.
>>355671Thank you once again! I'm going through some of his vids and now know what to do to achieve that effect of grain and noise texture. Hopefully, I'll be able to replicate it in affinity designer.
No. 360877
>>360840Nta but why would they have to sage? The question was in with the topic of the thread.
>>360837You can find tutorials on youtube and instagram (on art tutorial accounts), you can also google "how to draw + (clothing you want to draw)" for examples. Once you learn where to put the wrinkles when drawing, you will be able to do it without references.
No. 360908
>>360877they were the same anon 5 posts in a row within 10 minutes, i should've been more clear about that.
>>360834you can try adding weight to your lines. look up tutorials for weighting line art, super helpful
No. 386931
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Is this a good engagement rate for an art page on insta? Is there a way for me to boost it and gain a bit more traction?
No. 387008
>>386931More important than the engagement rate is the relation of users who already follow you to those who are completely new and the absolute number of actions taken of users from that post onwards (i.e. people liking, saving, clicking on your profile, clicking the website link, following you etc). The more actions you generate, the better your post performs. In addition to that, 100% engagement rate is pretty bad if all that came from already existing followers only.
You can gain exposure on Instagram by liking posts similar to the content you post - people who are into figurative drawing will most likely be interested in other posts like that as opposed to fashion. Find out what hashtags are most commonly used to describe the content you post and mass-like. This also has the benefit that you learn how to "correctly" tag our own content (i.e. #doodlesofinstagram is actually not often used to show art, but instead the dog breed with the same name; #artofinstagram contains a lot more traditional paintings than sculptures and digital works)
Last but not least: network and post until you bleed: Find people with similar interests and interact with them. Find so-called "boosting groups" consisting of similar content creators that like each other's posts to boost it a bit through the algorithm. Post constantly, like constantly and comment constantly. Try out different posting at different times. Try posting a story a week (people will get special notifications if you post a story after a week or so of not posting).