Art Advice - Tumblr Posts
Art dump!
I’ve been drawing in different styles for four years, I think— because, a). It’s a good exercise. And b). The art world keeps on forgetting a very important detail about art. Heck, even I forget at times. But it’s something very vital.
The detail was well said by this art history nun from an art documentary that I use to watch when I was little. I think her name was Sister Wendy or something. But she was pretty chill, I think. It’s been a while.
But she said this:
“Art changes, it never gets better.”
So, draw whatever style brings you joy. As long as your respectful, and learn the fundamentals, it doesn’t matter to anyone how you draw, but you. That’s all that should matter at the end of the day.
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Well—
Common sense is common sense. I just use my hand and instinct and go from there.
this is to this day my favorite art advice i've ever seen. who is out here like damn figuring out where shadows go is just too hard. guess i've got to simply redraw this pose perfectly at a completely different angle and FOV
Gonna make a PSA. For any of you new artists out there, STICK WITH IT. I know a lot of people who have quit art because they don’t believe they could do it or it was too hard. Remember..
IT CAN ALL BE BROKEN DOWN.
Art is amazing, really. The most complex drawings can be broken down into circles, squares, and other simple geometry. Study anatomy as well! Go piece by piece, studying the head, then torso, etc, and then put it all together at the end.
Everyone has talent and I believe in all of you! I’ve managed to come very far in drawing since 2014, and I know you can, too. Doesn’t matter the age, disability, or anything else. You all have awesome talent.
If this post is somehow found, let me know your drawing journey below! I want to hear from all of you guys about what got you into drawing, how long you’ve been drawing, and some good advice for anyone starting out.
Love you all! Stay safe!
today is my birthday! i’m 33 today and i have done an ungodly amount of stupid shit in my life that honestly probably should have gotten me killed. so here are 33 hard-won things i’ve learned that i wish someone had told me sooner.
whenever you buy an object, you are going to own that object for your entire life unless you make the conscious decision to throw it away or give it a new home. maybe other people don’t struggle with this as much as i do, but i’ve grown to become a little exhausted by finding a thing and realizing i don’t want it anymore, but i don’t have the energy or motivation to do anything with it. signed, a woman with a packed 10x10 storage unit who is now extremely hesitant to buy new things.
food, and by that i mean good food (and by that i don’t necessarily mean healthy food, but food of good quality that you love), is necessary to live, and buying it, preparing it, and eating it is not a chore. the sooner you accept this and make food a priority in your life, the healthier you’ll be.
speaking of food, not everything you buy should be the cheapest version of it. personally i’ve found it’s always worth it to splurge on good olive oil, butter, and canned tomatoes. for years i thought i was an awful cook because i was cooking with cheap, disgusting olive oil that made my food taste like shit.
speaking of food part 2, i can’t BELIEVE how long this took me to figure out, but mise en place is the real real. get your shit out and organized and prepped *before* you start cooking, even if it makes things take longer. and yes, it is always worth it to do the dishes as you go, which pisses me off.
when i was teaching myself how to cook and feeling daunted about it, the best advice i ever got was to aim to learn 15 recipes and then put them in rotation.
this is the most horrific and awful truth i have forced myself to accept: there may come a day you can no longer digest your favorite foods, and you will either have to stop eating them, or remain very close to a toilet. i’m sorry.
other people are always going to misperceive you and misunderstand you, sometimes willfully. other people’s opinions of you don’t actually have anything to do with you. they’re not your business, and you don’t have to worry about it or change yourself.
when innocuous or neutral things make you irrationally angry or upset, step back, realize you’re having a big reaction, and then when you’re ready, pay very close attention to the thing that upset you, because you’re about to learn something important about yourself.
a pill sorter can save your life. i don’t know how i managed my meds without one.
sometimes college is about learning stuff, and not about becoming something.
no matter how many perfectionist tendencies you have, it’s worth it to remind yourself that no matter how much of a mess you actually are, you deserve to be loved.
if you’re always forgetting to do important but tedious things, set an alarm and set aside one hour of each week, not to do the important tedious things, but to assess what needs to be done, and *schedule* the important tedious things for the following week. this literally changed my life.
during that hour, make a meal plan too. the point of doing this is condense the time in which you’re making decisions (what to do, what to eat, etc) so you don’t have to burden yourself with them throughout the week. decision fatigue is real. any way you can alleviate that is a good thing.
learn the difference between aggressive, passive, passive-aggressive, and assertive behavior. recognize when you’re being one of the first three, re-assess and aim for being assertive, even if it’s hard.
you can tell you’ve processed trauma, not when the traumatic thing stops upsetting you to think about, but when the traumatic thing takes up the same size in your brain as all your other memories.
if you’re one of those people who never seems to finish projects or follow through with things, there’s a chance you may just grow out of it naturally. until then, follow your interests and don’t feel bad about putting down a hobby to pick up another.
if you love stickers but have sticker anxiety, buy vinyl stickers. you can re-stick them.
there are only a few careers i can think of that you have to commit to early in life because getting the undergraduate credentials is a pain in the ass (teachers, doctors, and engineers, from my research). nearly everything else you can switch to later, which takes a LOT of pressure off having to figure out what you want to do with your life.
people say there’s no money in becoming an artist, writer, musician, etc. actually there’s a ton of money in all of those things, it’s just in the stuff other people want you to make and never what you want to make. it’s still worth it to develop the creative skill and not force yourself into business school because it’s more “practical” or whatever.
sleep when you’re tired. SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE TIRED. don’t beat yourself up about it, don’t tell yourself you shouldn’t be tired or that you’ve already slept too much, just take a fucking nap. you would never say “hm i’ve already had enough water today, therefore i should not be thirsty” so don’t treat sleep the same way.
when you build a piece of furniture from target or ikea or whatever, the first thing you should do is count all the little screws and things to make sure everything’s there that should be. it sucks to get halfway into putting something together only to find there’s a piece missing and you have to go buy it.
learn to travel by yourself, go out to eat by yourself, see a movie by yourself. in my early 20s i was scared to do these things, but i do them so often now i don’t even think about it. it’s the most fulfilling skill i’ve ever learned.
adding to the above, if you’re a people-pleaser, being alone is especially important, because you’ve probably developed the habit of making the people you’re with more comfortable and happy than yourself, and you’re missing a lot of the beautiful and interesting things around you. when you’re by yourself, you can focus on what *you* want without guilt.
sometimes you’ll want to break things off with a friend for reasons that are no one’s fault, and you don’t want it to be volatile or make a big thing of it, in which case the goal is to simply fade out of their life. it is okay to let people go.
shame is useless. get rid of it.
no matter how much of yourself you put into your art (or writing, or music, or whatever), when people criticize it, they are not criticizing you. they are having a reaction colored by their own tastes and perspectives. their opinion of your work has nothing to do with you. you don’t have to take everyone’s feedback. in fact you don’t have to take anyone’s feedback. the other side to this coin unfortunately is that compliments don’t have anything to do with you either. it’s good to accept this because it means you’ll stop seeking validation from other people and won’t let anyone else’s perspectives impact your work. anything nice anyone says about your work is merely a bonus to an already good thing.
if you’re an artist of any kind, take one day a year to look up opportunities like grants, funding, residencies, workshops, whatever. put the due dates of all of them on a calendar for the year following and get into the habit of applying for stuff. getting rejected sucks, application fees suck, but in all the years i’ve been doing this, it has always, always been worth it. these things give you a chance not only to help fund and support what you’re passionate about, but they force you to take your own work seriously, and that is something that’s absolutely necessary in order to be successful.
you must become your own greatest advocate. in all respects–in health, in love, in happiness, in freedom, you must. no one will ever fight as hard for you as you will. this in turn will give you the strength and motivation to help others fight for themselves too. the only way the world will ever get better is if every person on this planet learns to see themselves as equals to everyone around them.
brag about yourself as often as you can. for one, people develop their perceptions of you based on how you treat yourself and speak about yourself. but for two, it’s the fastest way to figure out which people to keep in your life, because they’re the ones who are going “oh hell yeah, you’re awesome.”
be the person other people want to brag to.
at some point in your life, someone is going to hurt you, and it’s going to be willful and intentional. it is not worth it to waste brain space figuring out why they did it or why you think you deserved it. all you have to do is let yourself feel that pain, acknowledge it, and try to move on.
no matter how bad off you think you are, recovery is possible. the first and hardest step is to learn you’re worth the time and effort it takes to recover from the awful things that have happened to you.
developing an expertise does not mean you’re getting objectively better at something. becoming an expert is only the process of seeing your mistakes and having the patience to sit in the discomfort of not knowing how to fix them.
Quick art tip - child proportions
Ok this is a real quick one but let me show you how to get more-or-less accurate sizes for child characters. Kids are tricky to draw, they are - from toddler up to about teens people change radically almost every year so pinpointing character’s size during those years is pure hell.
What you need to do to make everything super easy for yourself is to check their Head Proportion. What makes kids look like - well, kids, is that their heads are proportionally large in comparison to their body.
Average adult is about 7,5 heads tall in comparison to their own body, however with children under 10 that number is just under 6 heads with about 1 head shorter the younger you go down to 3 heads as an infant.
Easiest way to figure the so-so head-height of a certain age is to find images of said age group and do a quick count on them
at which after you can replicate it in your own works - don’t mind if it’s not 1:1 with reference, finding images that are actually of the age you need is tricky and kids in general vary a lot so someone might be a lot taller than others. You have a bout 0,5 -1 heads of wiggle room before it starts to look way older.
Proportions are super important in art and i lovingly recommend everyone to figure out basics of them - it’s the easiest way to get notifically better with art. I could go on about proportions but let’s wrap this up. Need to note however that head proportion is not same as character height - a character can be 15 feet tall but still have head-height of 6, HH is simply a way to scale out the body.
how do the centaurs sleep? and how do they stretch after a good sleep?
Ok this is one I’ve been wanting to cover for a while and my cooldown sketches got out of hand, so buckle up and enjoy the picturebook!
The easiest options is exactly what you think, the flop. In a home, thick carpets or tatami-like mats would provide at least some sort of cushion for the horse-half and various sized cushions and pillows to lift and support the top half. And they CAN sleep standing up, like horses, but it does require both a special harness/corset and practice. And it’s not very comfortable for anything deeper than a doze or catnap for most, so it’s mostly reserved for bad situations, naps, or guard duty.
Most common are recliners, or ‘hammocks’. Easy to fold and carry for cultures on the move, or make fancy for the city-folk they are probably the most ubiquitous of centaur furniture. A simple adjustable A-frame supporting some sort of flexible fabric-ish sheet for the top half to lean against and sleep. Usually paired with some sort of large blanket or padding on the ground to lay the horse-half on!
When you don’t have no fancy recliners, your herd will do! The preferred sleeping method of closely bonded herds is to simply rest on your buddies cushy backside! Roaming bands can often form long chains of sleeping centaurs with the unlucky first taur either on guard duty, sleeping sprawled, or with the group’s only hammock.
Mix and match to your character and herd’s personal preference!
Also stretchies!
your art is amazing. it makes me want to learn how to draw
This made my day, thank you! 🥹
From a self-taught artist to another: Pick up the pen, and get started!
It doesn't matter how good it looks, scribble, scribble, scribble! Then, when you feel confident, draw inspiration from your favorite artists and learn step by step!
Best of luck with your drawing journey! It's extremely fulfilling and it's such a wonderful hobby. 💚
replying as a reblog in cas anyone else needs it !!!
Hello! If you're still looking, I've been a Krita user for a while now so I'll answer as best as i can.
First off, Krita has at least three charcoals in its basic brush bundle (the one that comes when you install it) so I'd advise trying those first. If they don't match what you want exactly, try fiddling with the brush engine to get a similar feel.
I don't think it has a ' stucco' brush per say, but by what i could see online of the procreate brushes I think the basic-1 or basic-1 opacity brushes come close to what you're looking for? Again these are in the basic bundle that comes with the software.
Another option would be to look for krita bundles or brushes you can get online. Since Krita allows the import of .abr files (so photoshop brushes basically), you're also not limited to brushes specifically made for Krita only and can thus broaden your search to look for similar brushes through the photoshop brushes available online.
A good place to find krita brushes (that are also free!) is this website that also serves as forum for Krita users. Give it a glance if you need anything. There are also several articles listing brushpacks and free brushes available on the internet (and on tumblr!) with some of my favorites being gdquest's and deevad's brushpacks.
Hope this helps~
Hi guys! I’m learning Krita and I was wondering if I could get any tips (as up until now ive mostly used simpler apps like Procreate)
Are there any brushes similar to the Chalk, shale, and stucco brushes from procreate as well? Any tips would help as well as redirecting me!
My growth as an artist was heavily stifled by the dogmatism in the online art community I was subjected to as a teen (aka by rhetoric implying or straight up saying art has to be made a certain way to be valuable, which discouraged me from experimenting and developing for my own methods, customising my artistic process felt illegal) and i will forever be mad about it
Anyways if any young artist follows me : the only good art advice is get weird about it and fuck around a lot. Also be honest
really helpful technique ^ once you know how to divide by halves and thirds it makes drawing evenly spaced things in perspective waaay easier:
Know what I’m salty about?
In all my art classes, I was never taught HOW to use the various tools of art.
Like yes, form, and shape and space and color theory and figure drawing is important, but so is KNOWING what different tools do.
I’m 29 and I JUST learned this past month that India Ink is fucking waterproof when it dries. Why is this important? Because I can line something in India Ink and then go over it with watercolors. And that has CHANGED the ENTIRE way I art and the ease I can create with.
tldr: Art Teachers: teach your students what different tools do. PLEASE.
SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME HOW I CAN COLOR MY ART LIKE THIS PLEASE
I love how the colors really impact how you feel without any duologue, it can make you feel sad comforted etc etc. But please someone give my tips on how I can make my art look and feel this way!!!
Shows in order!! :adventure time, Fiona and cake, bee and puppycat, Steven universe
Hey, everyone! Have this translated Studio Ghibli guide to watercolours that a classmate sent me.
The inspiration is striking
Hey, I'm trying to progress on a project I have but Mitch isn't making it any easier. Do you think you could do like a mini-tutorial on how to draw him? He always looks like he's been hit by a hammer when I draw him.
Love your comics, btw. Too bad no one I know know them too 😭
I actually made a tutorial for him many years ago....
Hope this helps!!
really helpful technique ^ once you know how to divide by halves and thirds it makes drawing evenly spaced things in perspective waaay easier:
What’s your motivation to Draw like what keeps you active to keep going and gettin done?
I’m just looking for Advice because I’m struggling with getting one piece done
If you don’t mind
Hmmm- well for me 3 things. One- seeing other people’s artwork and listening/ watching YouTube videos about art. From tutorials, to historical videos, and “my life as a so-and-so artist”. Seeing another’s person’s art helps me feel creative. Even old paintings inspire me.
Second- the learning process. I enjoy learning new skills, and with art you’re constantly learning new things. How a certain lighting interacts with different colors, how this composition works, or by doing “this and this” it makes “this”.
One thing I found encouraging was how many really professional artists, to this day, have their own personal sketch books with scribbles and nonsense in them. Ones that they’re too embarrassed to show others cuz “oh I drew this wrong” or it’s them experimenting with different styles. Even if they’re considered “masters”.
The third is storytelling. I love stories and I enjoy creating stories even if just little short scenes with my drawings. I’m still learning and experimenting but I love it.
If you’re stuck on an art piece I do recommend taking a break and setting it aside. Take the time to engage with something you really enjoy, or inspires you. Yeah yeah I know- everyone says this but it’s true!
how do you consistently draw the same character without it looking weird or off every different time?? also how do i coordinate faces, i always make the eyes too far apart or too big or too small or make the mouth too close to the nose or chin edge. If you have any advice I'd really appreciate it since it looks like you have your art shit figured out 🙏
Oh man SO so much of it is just practice, and you're not alone! I honestly think everyone struggles with a sort of "generification" of their characters' features the more they draw them, even seasoned professionals. There's a tendency to just sort of average everything out into an unrecognizable mush over time, and it takes a lot of conscious effort to push back against that.
Here are a couple tips and tricks that I've found to be helpful over the years:
Make turnarounds and model sheets. There's a reason animation/game studios do this, and it is because we are all still bad at drawing a consistent face. Despite being gainfully employed. What are we, graphic novelists?? We wish. Anyway it's a great way to familiarize yourself with your character's face from multiple angles, and it gives you a single source of truth to return to anytime you need a refresher:
Gather real-life reference. Anytime I'm designing a character I'm pulling together a ton of reference of actual people who look, to some degree, like the character in my head. It's always a collection of analogues, never just a single person, but it can be a great cheat sheet for understanding how your character might move, emote, etc:
Make a 3D model. I know it seems daunting, but with the advent of programs like Blender and Nomad Sculpt it's becoming remarkably more accessible. Heck, even James Gurney was sculpting maquettes out of clay for Dinotopia back in the day! It doesn't have to be particularly detailed—just a sort of proportionate lump will do—but it's another great way to have dynamic reference that you can rotate and light accordingly:
Practice, practice, practice. Make expression sheets for your character! Either right there on the spot, just start drawin' expressions, or you can slowly collect drawings of your character that you like, as you draw them, and compile them all in one place for your own reference. Need to draw your character's head from a weird angle? Maybe you've already drawn it before and you can copy your own homework! Doesn't count as stealing when the call's coming from inside the house 😎
I'd love to pretend there's a magical point where you can just immediately rotate your character's head in your brain like some sort of photorealistic apple in a twitter meme, but a lot of the time it's reference, hard work, and whole lotta repetition. 😐👍🏼
How I Approach Figure Drawing
Got asked about tips for figure drawing and…I have a lot to say! I thought to just catalogue what I’ve been doing to build up my figure drawing knowledge and habit, so hopefully this is a useful reference for anyone interested in figure drawing :)
Keep reading
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU DRAW WOMEN???
I LITERALLY CAN DRAW ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN WOMEN! WHY?? LIKE, IF I TRY TO DRAW A MALE CHARACTER WITH FEMALE PARTS I CAN! IF I WANNA DRAW A FEMBOY I CAN! IF I WANNA DRAW ANY KIND OF WOMAN MY BRAIN TURNS OFF! IS THIRSTYNESS REALLY THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS ME DRAWING???
WOW I CAN ASK MYSELF STUFF
SO.
tell me abt ART
GOOD QUESTION ME.
ART REQUIRES PRACTICE. JUST DRAW ON A PAPER EVERY FREE SECOND YOU HAVE, THATS WHAT I DID
REALLY STREAMLINED THE PROCESS OF GETTING OKAY AT DRAWING
no but really anyone seeing this- practice, that’s the best way to get good. Look at people and things in the real world. Observe. Notice how anatomy works so u can draw it.
Maybe read a comic or webtoon, that helped me out