Ray Frenden Reviews The Too-cheap-to-be-true Monoprice Graphics Tablets. How Do They Stack Up To Industry

Ray Frenden reviews the too-cheap-to-be-true Monoprice graphics tablets. How do they stack up to industry standard Wacoms?

After spending a week with the 6.25“x10” Monoprice, my Yiynova and Cintiq remain unplugged and I gave my Intuos away to a friend. The Monoprice tracks subtle pressure variances and small movements with less lag and more crisp fidelity than any of the others. It is, put crudely, fucking awesome, in both OSX Lion and Windows 7 x64.

Disney + movie shots

WIFW AW 2014: Tarun Tahiliani

Hi! I love your art. In particular your edges are really sharp, but still lineless (if that makes sense?). If it's not too much to ask, would you be willing to share some tips for achieving those edges on digital? Thank you, and have a nice day! :)

Here’s a few tips^

Also, not included in the pic: Make sure you’re not working on a small canvas.  For instance, 1000x1000 pixels will probably result in some unintentionally soft edges, because you won’t be able to zoom in to refine the painting.  I usually use 4000x4000, for reference.

-Please click on these images to see them in better quality!-

This is a tutorial I did for @retro-sci-fi-songbird​ on how to draw faces in ¾ view.

Something that I didn’t get much into in the image is the importance of form (i.e. three-dimensionality) when drawing a face, especially at this angle. After all, a person’s face exists in three dimensions, so think about the forms of the face, not just its shapes and lines. For example, you can think of the bridge of the nose as a rectangular prism, and the tip of the nose and nostrils as spheres. If you’re confident with drawing rectangular prisms and spheres, then suddenly drawing a nose becomes easy! This is useful even if you’re drawing in a very flat/stylized manner (e.g. manga, art nouveau, pop art), because having that knowledge of realistic form will give you the ability to render things convincingly, even if you choose not to draw in the style of realism.

Love your art! Have any tips for other artists?

Thank you love!The most important thing I can tell you, is ……

DRAW. WHAT. YOU. WANT.

Draw what makes you happy, draw the way you want. There is no wrong way, no wrong style, no expectations. Go at your own pace. And take any criticism with a fistful of salt. Bypass the grain and just… salt your fries. haha.

And find the difference between constructive criticism, and someone just hating on art because it’s not their cup of tea.

REFERENCESUse References. They help tremendously, Google images is your friend. NOW, it has been stained that TRACING is frowned upon. But quite honestly? That’s how I learned. I didn’t have a teacher or guide, my art classes in school only really touched on superficial basics. Don’t claim the work as your own if you do trace, let it be known that you’re learning. There’s a term for this, MUSCLE MEMORY. You are creating muscle memory in your hand, arm, fingers and your mind, to remember how to draw that line, what way this or that curve, how long, short, slow, quick, etc.

That’s why people say to draw in Pen so you have to force yourself to be more precise. And draw at least ONE thing a day, even if it’s a doodle of like.. a flower or something. Muscle Memory is key.

InspirationYou can take inspiration from anywhere! Blend styles, take elements of one thing and combine it with others if you so wish!

 If someone starts claiming your art looks like “so and so’s”, just.. matter of factually state, they’re an inspiration. Because lets be honest, when we take inspiration, we’re experimenting. And if you really want to draw like them, there is nothing wrong with that, LOTS of artists do it, you’d be surprised how similar art styles can be.  Every artist sees a style they like and take from that. (the only REAL issue is if you outright copy work line for line and claim it as original, but most know better)And… Before you know it, you’ll notice you’re developing your own style and work flow. It happens Naturally. Styles shift all the time subconsciously. (mine keeps changing, and quite honestly it can get a little annoying haha. One day i’ll find a style I’ll like permanently.) 

SHAPES. Find out what shapes your drawing is made out of, or GOING to be made out of, it helps in the long run to make your illustration more presentable. This is including space, dimension, and perspective. ie: Where is your character. how are they filling up the area. (this is something I’m still having trouble with because I’m a dweeb and just draw front faced stuff, like character sheets haha. Branch out)

Something else you can do.REVISIT OLD WORKS. This means. Keep everything. Even if you’re not proud of a piece, Date it. Sign it. Keep it.

You can look back, See how much you’ve improved. What you learned.How you are finding your own style.

Even if you can’t seem to see you’ve made much progress, it’s there! I promise!

This is my first Digital drawing on the left. Done with a mouse, so you know you don’t NEED a tablet.. (they’re just hella nice), I’m still struggling immensely with digital, but I am getting there, more now than in the last ten years since I’m actually letting myself work on it to improve. 

Be Patient with Yourselfif you’re not improving as quickly as someone else, that’s OK. Don’t fret.Maybe you do something better than they do, and vice versa.  Having a friend who does bodies really well, and say, like me, you’re good at faces, you can teach each other. haha. (or combine your efforts to makes something beautiful… or hideous if you decide to be a troll like me)

And last of all. Love your work, and hold onto the reason you love to create.

Sorry for the Loooooong reply….and hopefully it was … a little helpful. I wanted to try and take a slightly different approach to this answer than what I have seen. (and sorry it took so long to get back to ya, I’ve been both busy, and thinking about how I wanted to put this together)