#My first trial of animation in CSP

[grommyart]

We Don't Gatekeep Art Resources | A Comprehensive List

Here's a list of some of the tools/sites I currently use or have used previously for works/studies. I'll separate it into Software/Utility, Reference, and 'Other' which will be just general things that could help you map out things for your experience with art. **[Free highlighted in pink, paid highlighted in green. Blue is variable/both. Prices Listed in USD]**

Software/Utility:

2D

Krita Painting app (PC) (my main digital art software on PC for 5+ yrs)

Clip Studio Paint [PC] [CSP 2.0+ allows for 3d modelling within the painting app and a lot of other cool features] [apparently allows up to 6 months free trial]

Procreate (12.99) [iPad/iPad Pro] (the GOAT)

Artstudio Pro [iPad/iPad Pro] (An alternative to Procreate if you enjoy the more traditional art app layout) -- I find this app handy when Procreate is lacking a feature I need, or vice versa. (you can easily transfer files between the two, but keep in mind Procreate's layer limit)

2D "Collaborative Painting/Drawing apps"

Magma Studio

Drawpile

Discord Whiteboard

Gartic Phone (Pretty decent for 2d animation practice, but has a hard limit on frames)

3D

Blender [3D Modelling, Sculpting + Layout] (PC)

Sculptris [PC] (it's an old unsupported version of Zbrush, but can help to get ideas out, and functions better than browser sculpting apps

Nomad Sculpt [iPad/iPad Pro] ($20) Works pretty well if you prefer a mobile setup, but it is a bit intense on the battery life and takes some getting used to

References + Study

Magic Poser [ PC and Mobile ] Has both free and paid versions, I've made do with just the lite version before

Artpose ($9.99) [Iphone + Steam]

Head Model Studio [IPhone] A 3D head, with both a basic blockout version for angles, and a paid version with more detail

Cubebrush [simply search "[keyword] pose reference pack"], they usually have good results + they frequently have sales!

Line of Action [Good for Gesture practice + daily sketching], also has other resources built in.

Quickposes Similar to Line of action, more geared toward anatomy

Drawabox | Perspective Fundamentals Improvement modules (Suggested by @taffingspy )

Sketchfab, this skull in particular is useful, but there is other models that can help you study anatomy as well.

Pinterest can be good, you just have to be careful, usually you're better off just finding reference pack if you have the money, sometimes certain creators have freebies as well

Artstation Marketplace can be decent [make sure to turn on the Aye-Eye filter so it doesn't feed you trash], a colleague of mine recommended this head model for practicing facial blocking, there is also this free version without lighting.

Local Art Museums [Unironically good for studying old "master work" if you're into that, or even just getting some inspiration]

Brushes + Other Useful software:

I personally have used both of these brush packs before making my own

(I actually don't know how to share my daily brush set because I frequently switch between Krita, Procreate, and ASP, but once I figure that out I'll be sure to do that lol)

Marc Brunet's Starter brush pack [Technically free but supporting him for this if you like it is ideal, there's some good brushes]

Dave Greco Brush Pack [$3]

Gumroad in general is a good place to find brushes and art resources. *Note; for Krita specifically, brush packs are a bit weird, so it may require you to find different packs, or import them in a particular way

PureRef [PC] - Reference Compiler/Moodboarding

VizRef ($3.99) [iPad] - Moodboarding/Reference Compiler

Artist Youtubers/Creators that helped me improve/guide me along as a self-taught artist from when I first started digital art to where I am today:

Proko

Marco Bucci

Sinix Design

Sycra

Hardy Fowler

Lighting Mentor

Winged Canvas

Moderndayjames

Swatches

Chommang_drawing

Marc Brunet (YTartschool)

+ Observing a lot of speedpaint art by people whose work I enjoy on social media/youtube, trying to dissect their processes

If you've gotten this far, first of all, congrats, you can read a lot, and second of all, thank you for reading and I hope this helps! I'll continue to come back and update this if I find any new resources in the future, or if my processes change :)

Much Love,

-Remedy (aka "grommy_art")

#art #artwork #digital painting #painting #artists on tumblr #drawing #anime art #sketch #digital illustration #transfem #art tools #art resources #useful websites #small artist #illustration #digital art #artist on tumblr #procreate #my process #my art #krita #art tag #sharing is caring #learning #knowledge #useful stuff #links #reference

[linktoo-doodles]

You inspire me to escape sai. I'm just so scared to I've used it for years

I hav a lot of thoughts about this! It took a long time for me to switch too. I struggled with clip studio paint for a bit, actually before I finally warmed up to it. Theres a bit of a learning curve but luckily you can always learn at your own pace, not all features need to be used immediately. Here's a few things to keep in mind:

I absolutely encourage finding joy in trying new programs, art or otherwise! do not limit yourself to one out of fear or stubborn pride.

SAI is a very light program, it doesn't really lag. That's definitely a strength it has

try to find free ways to try out different programs before committing. csp has a free trial for a month if I remember correctly! keep in mind you can't save any files on it

paint tool sai is a very good program. In fact, I know there are employees who use it for official genshin art. But, it's severely limited. I remember the final reason to purchase CSP was because of its incredibly diverse options for brush properties! SAI's brushes tend to lean more towards more rounded tips and it gets frustrating to work with.

some of my first csp doodles! you always start somewhere [x] [x]

Good luck with your own art journey!! There's a lot of good resources online on how to use them. I highly recommend trying to escape SAI tbh :3 take it from me I literally used to animate by exporting every frame individually from SAI to make animations in movie maker (really stupidly time consuming for NO reason

#keep in mind I have paint tool sai 2.0 too! #I use it still sometimes. but yeah its so limited #plus sharing brushes is way faster bc you just have to download them rather than having to replicate them yourself #asks #anonymous #art tips

[unclefathersantateddy]

The year wrapped questions.

1. 5. 10. 13. 16. 17. 23.

don’t worry about getting stuff wrong that’s normal.

also merry christmas eve!!

1. How many works of art have you made this year?

Oh wow! I have no idea, I'm gonna go count. Okay so there was approx 160 drawings in the burger book! And approx 70 in my digital art folder from this year! And approx 30 posca pieces! So approximately 260!!! (Not including any study doodles, sticky-note doodles, phonecall doodles, etc). Not too shabby I'd say!😄

5. [Answered in prev. ask!]

10. What inspired/motivated you this year?

Oh boy, this is a BIG question for me this year!Honestly this time last year I was pinnacle depression. Was half a year away from a degree but was DEEP down the spiral. Couldn't do any work, but also couldn't allow myself to enjoy anything. Came to the realisation that something had to change, otherwise nothing would change. It started out as forcing myself to drawing something, anything, make a mark on the paper, any old mark. And with that, it got easier. Bit by bit. Day by day. Having a set activity at some point during the day, then got everything else wanting to shift and move into place. I started to find myself wanting to work, so I could, play? If that makes sense? My reward system started healing. I went from wanting to feel anything to wanting to feel accomplishment. Not necessarily from uni work, because that was a Bigger Task™, so drawing gave me a smaller sense of it, a small feeling of accomplishment everyday! And that is when I started to feel drive/motivation again. It's been a year and now all my uni work is done! It's gonna be marked in the spring and hopefully I graduate in the summer! I'm no longer stuck between not being able to work OR play. And it all started by forcing myself to draw a silly lil scribble every day!😄

13. [Answered in prev. ask!]

16. What piece was the quickest to create?

Hmm, I don't really look at my timelapses to know how long each (digital) drawing takes. I did a Jimmy Pesto At/Jr sketch a few days ago I did in a few minutes that I was really shook about lmao. But other than that the only thing I can think that might count is this load of 10-sec exercises I did when I first started drawing regularly!

17. What piece took the longest to create?

Hahah you know it actually might be a Fresh Meat!au piece. I'm gonna say the FM!restaurant gif as it was my first time drawing the restaurant exterior and my first time animating on CSP, so lots of trial and error on that piece!

23. What WIP(s) are you taking into next year with you?

Ideally none! I'm hoping to get them done as I'd rather go into the new year with fresh ideas ready to be created! I have a list compiled of drawings that vaguely spark joy so I'm excited to see what I can do with them! :D

#bobs burgers #bob's burgers #bobs burgers artists #bobs burgers fanart #bobs burgers art #bob belcher #louise belcher #linda belcher #gene belcher #tina belcher #asks

[sirins-void]

Guess who returned from the Dead, this time with Kokomi in tow.

I think that’s the first time I actually painted/drew a Genshin Impact character here since I usually draw Honkai characters. But oh well, I suppose it isn’t all that bad to also go Genshin for awhile haha.

Aside from that, I am back to the anime artstyle baby! Manhwa-based was amazing, but anime truly conquered my heart in the end 🤌🏻

Made on ibisPaint X (my csp trial is gone 😭 but hey ibis is my og babe) with the brushes: Pen (Fade), Sketch and rendering <3333, soft airbrush, and that one cloud brush of which I forgot the name :D

As always, have a great day folks~

#digital art #my art #genshin #genshin impact #genshin kokomi #kokomi #genshin sangonomiya #sagonomiya kokomi #Kokomi sangonomiya #kokofish #genshin impact fanart #kokomi fanart #ibispaintx

[lunaryhues]

Big Art Dump part three.

The rest is under the read more. Be warned: there's a lot.

^^^ Unfinished drawing of my inkling from Splatoon 2, dated May 24 2021.

Some recent BotW / TotK Links. First one is Dec 14 2023. Second one is much older, Jan 20 2022. thought it was interesting to compare the two. I was trying vastly different things.

unfinished Kasane Teto, heavily based on KIRA's song, "i DO what i WANT." I remember wanting to cover that song with Teto once I got ahold of her SynthV voicebank.

dated April 11 2023

Oh yeah. I drew Wapeach.

dated December 2 2023

My personal redesign of Betilla with her beautiful perfect son.

Dated November 11 2023

We never see Rayman use his hood, other than Laserhawk.

dated November 7 2023

A Barbara I ended up not liking enough to finish. I ended up drawing her with a different style.

More Barbara. I was trying to figure out how I wanted to draw her.

I completely forgot about drawing this. It was saved as a .clip (as well as .psd), so I think I was testing out a trial for CSP. What the hell.

I guess I wanted to see if I could draw in a stereotypical anime style???

Marx doodles

Magolor doodles

I don't ship a lot of things. I don't even know if I ship this specifically. I just thought of this and thought it was funny.

Ramon. Dated Oct 19 2023. I thought he was more funny, if anything. So over-the-top edgy, like a parody.

I reeeaaally didn't wanna draw the guns.

I had this idea for a pumpkin-themed girl that I would come back to every once in a while. 2nd one is Oct 27 2020.

More pumpkin girl. First one is Feb 13 2021.

Cyclops cyborg character named "Illumina" who I've mentioned briefly before. They're kind of like a derivative of a different character, lovingly named Hell Miku.

Ninomae Ina'nis as Agent 4. She streamed Splatoon 2 at some point. Dated January 25 2021

Inugami Korone drawn in two different styles, dated January 29 2022.

Some old OCs who were very precious to me growing up.

I redrew them for fun. Left sword guy is Kris. Right Ponytail girl is Veronica. Girl in the distance is Arrow. Big goddess lady is Soleil.

dated April 23 2022

Another Kris. Dated September 1 2020

Okay, fine. I made two versions of the "I think we're gonna have to kill this guy" meme. This was a combination I thought would be funnier, but decided to post the other one instead. but i still also like this one.

And finally...

I have a Splatoon OC named Ray. This has nothing to do with my current hyperfixation on Rayman. It's a coincidence, I swear.

(I'm not changing his name. I just thought of the idea for this comic and thought it was funny.)

#artists on tumblr #long post #part three of three

[meme-sauce]

“dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something”

I got a Wacom Cintiq for my birthday/graduation! I love it, and the free trial of Clip Studio that came with it. So many brush options! 3D models! Comic formatting! Animation!!!

Right now I’m just playing around with everything. Despite knowing nothing about how to animate, here’s my first go for posterities sake. I’m only a day in and I know I will be getting a subscription for CS/CSP eventually! So much to learn, so much to create!

#my art #everyone say thank you wacom #animation #art stuff #I got kinda Picasso towards the end I really wanted to see how it played out #I had to fuck with the frame rate though. #I might actually create something tomorrow instead of just be amazed at the features lol

[thunderboltfire]

WIP of small looped animation I made partially as a joke - someone’s going to jump a rope!

#WIP animation #WIP gif #My first trial of animation in CSP #I haven't used it for this purpose so far #jumping rope #thunderboltfire's art #my art

[kingkilometart]

Stone Ocean amirite?

#jolyne my beloved #I cannot express to you how excited I am for december first #aaaaa i cannot wait #to celebrate i just made a nice lil sketch of everyone's favorite gal #made with the free trial of csp to see if i like it lmao #jolyne #jolyne cujoh #jolyne kujo #jojo's bizzare adventure stone ocean #stone ocean anime #jojo part 6 #jojo #jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #stone ocean #digital art #kilo art #kilo content

[hideoutpastel]

Hey! I've really been trying to get into digital art (which I found to be...harder then traditional) because I've finally became confident of my traditional works, so now I'm starting from rock bottom T-T .

Point is, I REALLY REALLY adore and love your art, and I was wondering if you could give some pointers/ systems to use ?

You, among other artists really inspire me so I really wanna give it a shot.

Thanks for your time!

Hyello Anon!  Sorry it took me so long to get back to ya, but I am not as active on here as I used to be. 😬😬 I still remember when I first made the jump from traditional to digital and honestly I haven’t looked back since! I still dabble in traditional and am an avid alcohol marker collector however personally, I prefer digital.  So... I have started off on Photoshop, and honestly it was ALL trial and error. You have to remember that you will not start off with creating masterpieces (I mean, you might be the next Da Vinci) but the point is, do not get discouraged if at first you cannot seem to get the look to your art that you want! Developing your own techniques and looks in digital art take time, just like it does in traditional. youTube tutorials are honestly a god send, so I would probably venture into there. It really does depend what kind of art you want to create for me to be able to give you specific YT’ers.  So when it comes to systems I personally use a mix of CSP (Clip Studio Paint) and Photoshop CC.  In the long run, CSP is more worth it IN MY OPINION because, of my style and because of the kind of art that I create which is mostly anime/manga and the program has many manga/comic tools that I use on the daily.  With Photoshop however, that program is just an all rounder really. When it comes to concept art or just general illustration I feel like Photoshop does that job really well.  Oh! I have also had a bout with Paint Tool SAI However, not my cup of tea. Could not make friends with the UI and just overall the program felt a bit clunky to me.  There are also many, free alternatives such as Krita, Ibis Paint, Medibang, Fire Alpaca and that’s just to name a few - which are all good programs that have the similar tools to their paid alternatives.  All in all, like with everything - you must test things out in order to see what works best for you and to not get discouraged if something does not work from the get go.  I hope that helped a lil and keep creating! 

[warriors-rebound]

let me gush about how I LOVE your flower language poster and your Frostfur design. First off, the flowers. I love that flowers have meaning, especially when they’re in a piece of art and the flower symbolizes their meaning, if that makes sense. And Frostfur. I love how first of all, every design blog has agreed that she’s like one of the prettiest cats to ever exist in the series. But of course making her just white is genetically inaccurate and boring to look at, no offense ppl who make her ⚪️

omg thank you so much ;w; this ask warmed my heart this morning I hope you know!! such a sweet thing to wake up to! Flower language is such a fascinating thing! I’m definitely not an expert or very proficient in it but if I can add symbolism to a drawing you KNOW I’m gonna be all over it! plus! if you don’t get the meaning then it’s just a rad aesthetic!  And yes! Frostfur is actually described as “Pretty” in the allegiances so of course she is going to be a goddess U-U as for making her just white, it’s kinda a style based thing for me! I tend to go ham on tabby’s adding stripes and multiple colours to the point that if there's was just a solid cat standing in the background it would look odd and out of place, so adding a bit of colour to the tail or ears makes fit in! (I also personally dislike animating solid coloured cats so it’s for my own mental well being, but that’s definitely personal preference) - Mod “I wish I could work more on my portraits but my trial for CSP has run out so I have to wait until I think I can afford that :(” Dawn

[tecochet]

Hey! I love your art it is so soft and expressive!! I was wondering how you felt about using CSP vs SAI, I want to get an art programme that's windows friendly, but I don't really want to buy anything and not like it. Could you maybe say what the pros/cons of each are (that you've noticed so far)? Hope you have a nice day, hope this isn't too much of a bother :)

hey thanks!!1 OKAY OKAY, here i go

CSP

Pros- so so so many features (auto-colour, auto clean up of dusts, etc.)- SO many assets (3D figure to reference, ready-made backgrounds, etc.)- a life saver for comic artists

Cons- a bit of a learning curve- a little too much when first starting- really weird animation feature?? (but at least u can still animate)

SAI

Pros- simple- good for beginners to digital art- good for just drawing, doodlingCons- very behind on the software standard- lacking a LOT of features (like i don’t think there’s even rulers in sai)- can’t animate at all- can’t save as cmyk- there’s a limit for layers

So overall, though it was very hard for me to transition from SAI to CSP (that’s coming from a person who started digital art using Ps...), I’m very happy with CSP now, very comfortable with it. It’s just overall superior BUT SAI is just overall easier.

BUT HEY, if you search SAI on my blog, i’m pretty sure I still have the crack version I used since I was 13 linked somewhere. It’s very safe, and you can use it as a test run. And then maybe get CSP’s trial and compare the 2! c:

#GOOD LUCK ANON #it was no bother at all!! #i hope u have a splendid day tooooo #teco chats #Anonymous

[coe-lilium]

Hey Lilium! I love your Servant redesigns! I'm starting to learn to draw digitally so that I can design Servants myself, like Kriemhild. Would you have any advice you could give me on this?

Hi! Thank you so much for your words!

I’m a bit unsure if you’re asking for tips on digital art itself or on chara design?  

In doubt, I’m going to go with “digital art” in this post, if you meant chara des hit me up with an ask and I’ll happily provide for that :) 

*necessary intro*: please consider that my art education ended 10 years ago and never prepared me for more stylized/cartoon styles, so I’m self taught for almost all intents (100% regarding digital art).

Long wall of text under the cut:

First suggestion is to get a good, reliable art program. 

Plenty of artists use Paint Tool SAI and Clip Studio Paint (currently using CSP myself and don’t plan to ever abandon it). Neither of them is free but both are less pricey than Adobe bundles and both were created more for illustrating than “photoshopping” purposes. There’s plenty more but those are two I used and can recommend. Many art programs usually offer a 30 days trial so my suggestion would be to try them out and see which is more to your liking and offers the best quality/price wise.  

By personal experience, it’s much better to pay and have support than to find a free unofficial version and then get fucked and lose all your works when you update your operating system and discover the bootleg program doesn’t work anymore. Learn from me, don’t risk it.     

Next suggestion, get a drawing tablet or a tablet. Nothing too pricey as a beginner, when paired with a good program any decent tablet will do its job. What you really need is pen pressure, everything else is optional. People draw on their iPads with great results but never having tried I can’t give suggestions here, if not to look for artist who do and see how they work (YT surely has tutorials ‘bout it).   

With hardware and software out of the way, let’s get down to proper drawing business:  

First of all, forget that “but you’re not a real artist if you use references/copy poses” noise: use references, use all the references you want. 

If you want to paint a starry sky and don’t know how to rend the effect, maybe the glowing of a nebula? Look up Youtube and Deviantart tutorials, tumblr tutorials, look up on how all the artist you like paint and their tips, all the IRL photos in google. 

Something I personally find very helpful are tutorials comparing realistic and stylized styles and showing how to go from one to another, how to simplify shapes etc.    

Renaissance artist invented the darkroom/camera oscura to help them drawing perspective and then traced over that shit. If Caravaggio traced to save time, then so can we. 

And there’s so many different ways to reach a similar result that maybe your first attempts will look like copycats of that tutorial you saw or that really inspiring artist. It’s fine. But the more attempts and the more you play with your program of choice, brushes you like/find more comfortable, the more you look up different sources and integrate bits of them all in a singular piece, the more your work will be distinct.

Now, onto one of the big elephants in the room: do you know how to correctly sketch a human body from scratch? If yes, amazing! (all my respect). 

If not, there’s plenty of solutions without having to learn how to (which is the way I currently work bc drawing is a 100% hobby and I’d rather spend my time elsewhere than in re-learning human anatomy) and working digitally makes these solutions way easier. 

After you find a “how to draw anatomy” book or blog or tutorials and safely store it somewhere safe to go back and reference, then you can 

1. find stock photos, either from google (be careful not to use copyrighted stuff) or in bundles specifically created for artists to use as bases or references. On Deviantart for example there’s SenshiStock, incredible project with hundreds of photos free to use. The anatomy book/blog here will be useful if you want a certain body shape and your reference doesn’t match with your idea. 

2. chose a program like CSP or similar that comes with 3D stock poses which you can then alter as much as you like in size, weight, rotation, light direction, position of every body part down to each finger (in CSP’s case, you can also download plenty more free to use poses, brushes, 3d objects, patterns etc created by the userbase and shared in the library bundled with the program).  

3. if your main art program doesn’t come with human poses? no problem at all, get one just for this specific purpose, like Design Doll (both free/pay ver, imo free ver is more than enough), Posemaniacs (free, online, uses flash), MagicPoser (free with option of in-app purchases, it’s an app, good reviews, just tried it a little and seems quite good). 

4. less conventional but imo still useful, especially if you want to draw in “anime” style and proportions for Servants designs: go to My figure collections and use figmas. 

They’re highly posable plastic figures from the most different jp (and not) characters, each one with a photo gallery and as long as you modify the final piece and -important!- don’t sell it if you base it on a specific user photo? I’d say go for it. Or mix body parts of different figmas, or use the “archetype” products, naked bodies made precisely for drawing bases, there’s options with both more “anime” and more realistic proportion. 

I collect them for both owning Fate/other characters without spending a fortune and for drawing references and I find them quite well suited for this purpose. Why on earth despair if I’d ever want to draw Arturia in armor when I can just grab my figma of her, pose it, take a photo and then draw on it? :P

Now, hardware and software check, way to find poses check, what else? 

Layers are your best friends. For example, Bradamante? A good 50+ layers, some of them stored in folders so I could just select and deselect them to remove or put on mantle, lance, shield, sword etc. Just... remember to name them to save yourself a lot of time.  

And changing a layer’s opacity too, especially to draw the definitive lineart over the first rough sketch or for shading or highlights.    

The more I write the more I find things to write about so I’ll call it for now, this post is already a WoT as it is. Hopefully I was of use, but if you need more, ask right away and I’ll do my best! :)               

#answer #umh... #drawing tips #? #digital art #paragon-arthur

[v0idlessart]

Hey, love your art so much! So if I’m just starting out and want to eventually do digital art, do you recommend using CSP EX? Or should I start with something more basic? Idk I’m just starting out.

Hey thanks :)!Hmm i would look around and try different programs first to see which ones are to my taste!I tried Photoshop, Sai, MediBang, CSP and probably more hahaI love using medibang or ProCreate on my tablet, while I wouldn’t change to another program then CSP on my Computer :)! It’s just a personal preference and I loved drawing in it the first time i touched it haha (animation was added later so that was a heckin nice plus point XD)Just look around and download some trials and see which one you like the most and feels comfortable ^^!

#marcosketchesbadly #i answer to stuff

[spiffyworks]

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching

SSSo recently, after finishing (an admittedly long-overdue) a piece, I decided to download a trial of the new Corel Painter 2019. I hadn’t used Painter since my old DeviantArt days (circa 2005) and wanted to see how it felt with more digital art-veteran hands. Loaded it up, started sketching my default doodle-muse and wow, that “Real 2B” pencil feels great. I loved it so much, and wondered why. 

That’s the story that is spawning this weird personal series of Software Surfing. I wanted to write little notes to future-me on how it felt using my favorite sketching tools in each program I have, and after the sixth one I thought it might be a good idea to check out inking, colouring, painting, etc. and writing those down as well.

So I’m writing this series for myself, but making it available in case anyone else can benefit as well. Thanks for sticking with the intro, let’s get into it.

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching Artist’s Software Surfing P2 - Inking Artist’s Software Surfing P3 - Colouring Artist’s Software Surfing P4 - Painting

There are many ways to sketch, but this is specifically the classic “pencil” or “drawing” form using the tools with the program’s default settings.

As an introduction, this is my doodle-muse, Cloey. She was my first original character, and though I don’t usually share my anthro art on here (I know that’s not everyone’s thing) I do have a separate blog for that stuff that you can find here if you’re so inclined. If you’re familiar with Artgerm (and you should be), she’s basically my Pepper.

Corel Painter’s “Real 2B”:

The one that started it all. The pencil just GLIDES, and I’ve always loved when you can tilt a pencil tool and it will shade just like tilting a real-life pencil. The only thing I want from a program now is to be able to bind touch to blenders so I can use my finger to smudge-blend the scribbling. (I tried drawing that fist so many times /fume)

Likes: Tilt functionality, line width variance, stroke speed, eraser Dislikes: Rebinding Rotate Canvas tool was a pain. I like Shift+Space, and that key combo is reflected in the shortcut panel, but it just continued to pan. Never worked for me, and rotating or flipping the page quickly is crucial for my sketching process. Also sometimes if I quickly resize the eraser and mash it down to use, it won’t detect any input.

Photoshop, Kyle Webster’s “2B” & “Animator Pencil”: 

**Disclaimer** Firstly, I’ve used Photoshop for over 15 years now, and it’s a great digital art tool, but for drawing and painting I find it’s sorely lacking. It’s slow, expensive, and unintuitive. That being said, there are some things this program does exclusive to others so I’m still clinging to it (desperately) and while I would definitely recommend something else for budding digital artists, I have to supplement my misgivings by purchasing additional plugins and tools, such as the famed Kyle T Webster’s Ultimate Megapack for Photoshop (

which is now complementary with Photoshop CC, damnit

). Unless otherwise noted, all the brushes I use in Photoshop will be from that pack. **End Disclaimer**

Following off the heels of Corel, I remembered messing around with another “2B” (which btw is my personal favorite traditional pencil to sketch with) in Kyle Webster’s Drawing Box in Photoshop. It felt a bit similar, but with no tilt functionality and it really lacked the chunky-thickness (a scientific term) I enjoyed with Painter’s pencil. I switched to my favorite (and the favorite of MANY digital artists btw) his “Animator’s Pencil”. So chunky, but the ability to shade lightly... It’s really a fun brush to use for sketching digitally. Still one of my absolute favorites.

Animator Pencil Likes: Line width variance, texture fills in and scales perfectly Dislikes: It’s a photoshop exclusive, a program that for some reason you can’t bind shortcuts to whatever you please, takes forever to load, and WAY too often suffers input lag while drawing. Also no tilt shading, :’( aw

Paintstorm’s “Textured Pencil” & “Pencil Tilt”

As a bit of an aside, I love Paintstorm, Paintstorm is what got me back into digital drawing and painting after doing 3D and game design for 7 years. I bought it for the very low price of entry (2 licenses for $30) and was impressed by its ability to customize literally anything in the program. You can create your own tool/brush boxes, bind any shortcut to any key combination, and every single brush tool adjustment comes with the most customization control of any program I’ve come across since Photoshop set the bar way back in the day. Out of the box a lot of the basic brushes have that old OpenCanvas or PaintTool Sai feel, but more recently they’ve added some very textured default brushes you can play around with. It’s also hands-down the FASTEST program I’ve ever worked in. I highly recommend giving it a try, it’s great for learning and experimentation. I grew a lot working in Paintstorm.

The Textured Pencil is a fun sketching brush, you can get as think or thick as you’d want and it keeps a clean outline. The Pencil Tilt really blew my mind the first time I used it. YOU CAN SHADE! It was the first time I had ever seen a program do that. The tilt has a great texture, fantastic control, and gets just as dark as you’d need. I’d recommend using them both, the Textured Pencil for a cleaner sketch, and the Pencil Tilt for something more expressive or loose.

Krita’s Ink-Tilt & “Sketch”:

I’ll be honest, I have almost no experience in Krita despite having downloaded and given it a try back in 2014. It was a hell of a time to figure out how to rebind my usual shortcuts (flip horz, rotate canvas). I couldn’t even rebind colour grab/eyedropper. Yikes. I opened up the “Sketching” brush box and there were only two options, made worse as one was a sketch pen... That lacked the flexibility of ballpoint. 

First I grabbed the pencil dubbed “Sketch” and was bewildered why the size of the circle was so large compared to the mark it made. Very confusing. Feeling intimidated, I abandoned it immediately to try out the “ink_tilt” (which by the way there’s no tilt functionality??) and hated it. I reluctantly went back to the pencil and just started trying to make marks. Wow. It’s weird, but surprisingly fun. You have to be willing to relinquish a LOT of control, but the shapes the brush makes while moving and tilting during a stroke can yield some really interesting and suggestive shapes. I would say great for early concepting or making something really loose and expressive. Fun to play with, but not really practical.

Clip Studio Paint’s Real Pencil & Rough Pencil

I’ve been wholly immersed in CSP since I purchased the program back in late 2016. It goes on sale often, so you can pick up a nice fully featured program for ~$35. I’d had my eye on it for a while and still really want to get into self-publishing comics, so I picked it up, bought a couple of brush packs for it (it’s pretty lacking in default painting tools) and I’ve been illustrating in it ever since. The brush creation isn’t as fun as Paintstorm, but brushes are quite customizable. I usually like to use the “Rough Pencil” if I want just a little texture and line variance, or the “Darker Pencil” for something cleaner. Trying to be different, I just jotted out a couple heads in ones I don’t normally use, the Real Pencil and Design Pencil. The Real Pencil has a lot of texture, but for some reason in CSP the textures don’t seem to scale with the brush, so I tend to avoid using it in most cases. I hate the design pencil, I just could never get dark enough. I guess that’s probably the point, though.

Well, that definitely wraps this digest up. I feel refreshed after trying out a lot of new digital sketching brushes. I was really reminded of how much I enjoyed drawing in Paintstorm. I hope someone other than me found this useful or otherwise inspiring! Sometimes, especially if you’re stuck in some art blockage, it’s a good idea to try something new, and for me digitally that’s hopping programs and trying new brushes.

I’m thinking about doing inks, colours, and painting at some point. Let me know if anyone’s interested in those! I’m planning on doing some for myself eventually, but I might expedite a post if anyone is interested. o/ Take it easy,  y’all.

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching Artist’s Software Surfing P2 - Inking Artist’s Software Surfing P3 - Colouring Artist’s Software Surfing P4 - Painting

#process #sketching #software #guide

[uminhoes]

guayaba

#scribbles #THIS IS. just a sketch i know the facial transitions look weird 😭 #trying to animate for the first time using csp!! it's been. a journey #i was losing my mind for like 2 hrs wondering why i couldn’t animate past 24 frames despite getting the trial for ex #and then realized it was just bc i needed to close the program for it to update my license 😑