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alinasartsandthings · 8 months

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Tips and Tricks For Beginner Artists

I want to preface this by saying two things. Or maybe couple more.

One: This is my first ever blog post that I have written. There will be mistakes. I am still figuring out Tumblr Blogs. Deal with me. Thank you <3

Two: I am by no means a professional artist. I am still a student. I have been doing art for little over three years now and I am writing these to share my experiences as an artist that is self-taught. Also because I struggle with the mental aspect of art. I want to share and help people that are where I once was. I wish I had found somebody to give more personal, down to the bits advice to get me into the world of digital art. I am writing about what worked for me and how I did certain things. Enjoy.

(I am largely a digital artist. This is centered around digital mediums and methods. )

This blog post will be more helpful for people that are self-teaching and just starting art.

Regardless of why you want to do art, you need adequate tools to do it.

My first and current graphic tablet is One By Wacom in Small (ought to be replaced soon). I still use it and it serves just fine. It has no buttons on it, plain design. Wacom has excellent support and works smoothly. It was also a good budget decision. If you have a tablet that comes with a pen, work on that. Keep in mind, if you are intently buying a graphic pad or a tablet for purpose of art, buy something that you won't regret too much if art doesn't work out for you and it ends up collecting dust. It is easy to upgrade once your needs require it. Research what graphic tablets are out there and what would work best for you. There is a wild variety to choose from.

Now to the art program. Finding an art program to start on is not at all hard now. There are so many, each with its own quirk. I used Krita since forever. It is very professional, much like Photoshop but also easy for a beginner to grasp. And entirely free. Find an art program that you are comfortable in. Procreate, MediBang, Clip Studio Paint, Paint Tool SAI, Photoshop are only some of the choices.

Possibly in another post I will get more into Krita and how I use it as I am very fond of it.

Set Up Your Canvas

Here I am not going to go way too much into depth on this as it can vary greatly depending on what tools you use and what program but I want to stress the importance of having a workspace that works with you, not against you. Some of the best tips I have gotten for this are:

Set your canvas to a a medium gray color, somewhere in the middle of the gray value scale. Looking at a plain white canvas is daunting and quite inconvenient when you're starting off.

Pick your resolution. Usual choice is 300 dot per inch (DPI). Size of your canvas depends on your screen/machine/program. I usually go between 2000-2500 as my PC is past its prime and doesn't handle things well without sounding like a rocket about to take off. Research what your machine can do without lag.

I will give more advice on using brushes in another post but just going to say, using plain black color is usually bad idea. At least it was for me. It amplifies mistakes and leaves little room for fixing. Instead, try using a gray color somewhere between black and your canvas color. Medium value blue and red also work fine as sketch colors.

Start Comfortably

There is no point looking at all the masterpieces that ArtStation and Instagram has to offer and setting it as your short-term goal. A biggest downfall you can have is from starting too big.

Instead, focus of doing small things. Sketch a lot. Sketch basic shapes. And draw what you love. Art is a craft of heart, at least for me. Detaching yourself from that will make art will like a chore, a cold labor that you do not enjoy.

Ahem. Anyway.

One of the best exercises I have found is to just draw lines. This you can do on paper too as it is an excellent way to warm up. Try to make a straight line. Go not too fast nor slow. Make as many as you need until you get it straight. Do the same for circles. Make them as round as you can. Your hand is the biggest trickster. It does not cooperate with your mind as well as you want it to.

Sketch, sketch sketch, get yourself comfortable with it. Everyone does sketches, one way or another. Of course, you are free to try an entire piece but it can be very discouraging when it turns out nothing like you expected it to be.

I will make a post just on the ways you can practice as a beginner.

Find Inspiration

The biggest foe of artists is lack of inspiration and an artists block. I know it was mine. Finding inspiration is way easier when you are starting off as you often want to draw everything. There are plenty of places where you can get inspiration on what to draw. Pinterest in my all time favourite. You can also look at Instagram, ArtStation, your favourite shows, camera roll, world outside. Jot down what you want to draw when you get an idea and save it for later.

Find Artists You Love

This goes for everyone, but especially if you want to get into business of art. Having artists that inspire you and whose art you enjoy seeing is a must. It feeds your creativity and helps you develop your art style in the long run.

Don't compare yourself to other artists

Often, artists you see that get most views and likes have been in it for years. Do not go into art expecting that it will look perfect right away. Art takes time. A lot of it, often. Those artists whose works seem perfect have spent countless hours on sketches, studies, classes, lessons. Stressing over why your art is not good at the very start will not allow you to move on and better. Instead, appreciate and enjoy little what you created. Everyone's art journey is different and what matters is the road, not the destination

You don't have to be a natural

I never was exceptionally good at art growing up I did have an affinity for all things creative—I had passion for it, but my skills weren't out there. Majority of artists aren't naturals. In my opinion, passion and will is more important than natural skill set. Skills can be taught but without passion and will to learn, you won't get anywhere in art.

Your journey is unique

Everyone learns things at a different pace. What works for somebody, might not work for you. We all have different minds.. That is why everyone's art journey is so unique and interesting. When I started off, I was doing things exactly as I saw others do them and it resulted in frustrations because it wasn't turning out the way I imagined it would. Beginners are inclined towards this and that's alright. But it is important to realize that there is no law out there on how you have to learn the craft. Do it in a way that is most comfortable.

For example, I have quite an attention deficit. I cannot focus on a subject for longer than 15 minutes tops. So watching hour long lessons on Youtube or reading books on the subject didn't cut it for me. I either broke it up into smaller bits and only took what I needed in the moment or looked for compact, one-slide lessons, usually with examples, to tackle a subject. Rather than being told what to do, I needed to be shown how to do it. This might not be a good way for somebody, it really depends and comes down to you. You know yourself the best.

Now for the more practical tips

Outlining

This might be a controversial one out there, but I was never a strong believer in outlining. While it can be fun and it is helpful in beginning stages, it eventually stunts your growth. Instead of simply just outlining, look at how the things work and why does it look the way it does. Break down shapes and study them. Of course, there are instances where it does help to do it and I am not saying that you shouldn't do it, I just never did it. In my opinion, training your hand and mind to follow references is much better way to study and improve.

Use References

Do it. The best of artists use them or have used them for a large portion of their art journey. Do not see reference images as a cheat for artists. Drawing from mind is difficult and not something I would suggest to somebody starting off. Instead, find several references—for poses, shapes, color palette. The more references you have, more you will learn. I use Pinterest for this mostly. As I get can very easily distracted, I usually prepare them couple of hours in advance or a whole day before and store them so I can use them in the future whenever I need.

Don't just look at at the image and completely try to mirror it. Improvise. That's how you learn. Study it. Draw over the reference and then draw next to it. Do it as many times as you want and do it on several references. Sometimes it is enough to do reference thumbnails to effectively improve your art for the day.

Learn from Other Artists

I will make a special post on what artists I watched and learned from and how the self-teaching process looks for me. Regardless of how you study art (art school or not), it is important to find as many resources and sources as you can. Do not focus too much on narrowing it down to a specific thing. Look for lectures on basics that will prepare you for any course you might want to take, especially if you are self-taught.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

This advice I got from listening to my favourite art podcast from Adam Duff LUCIDPIXUL and it gives you this comparison.

If you spend a year reading fitness magazines but never go to the gym, are you going to get fit? No.

Try to make a routine and set the time when you are free to draw. More you do it, faster you will progress and develop your skill. No matter how bad it looks to you, just draw. You don't even have to complete it. Just sit down and put something on the canvas or paper. If it doesn't work, store it and move on. You learned something and will be better next time. It only looks bad if you didn't draw anything.

I hope this tips got to you and that you find them as helpful as I did. Happy drawing!

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I am a self-taught digital artist from Serbia. I hope to help people by sharing my art, process and advice that has and still is helping me.

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iliansarigo · 1 year

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It’s okay to make things just for yourself Art is not ‘meaningless’ if it stays in the author’s head. Experiences are not ‘meaningless’ if they can’t be shared. It’s not a pity if nobody sees something you made or thought of that meant a lot to you- because somebody did see it.You. And it meant a lot to you.

#hottake #lifeadvice #venting #artist #artadvice

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kolajmag · 2 years

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CALL TO ARTISTS

Collage & Illustration – The Awakening

A four-week, virtual/online residency with Kolaj Institute in October 2022

Deadline to apply: Sunday, August 28, 2022

During this project-driven residency, artists will collectively produce a series of collages that illustrate Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel, The Awakening. Working digitally will be integral to the collaborative process but will not be a prerequisite for acceptance into the residency. We will speak about strategies for adapting your analog process to working digitally as well as what free and available resources exist. During the residency, Heather Ryan Kelley will speak about “The Midden Heap Project” in which she made a collage response to each page of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. MORE

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Kolaj Magazine, a full color, print magazine, exists to show how the world of collage is rich, layered, and thick with complexity. By remixing history and culture, collage artists forge new thinking. To understand collage is to reshape one's thinking of art history and redefine the canon of visual culture that informs the present.

SUBSCRIBE | CURRENT ISSUE | GET A COPY

#collage #collageart #collage artist #art #artist #illustration #artresidency #artistresidency #arteducation #artadvice #collage illustration #artist residency #book art #art books

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melodygordon · 6 months

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My 100 Day Project and 5 Tips To Do Your Own

Last week, I finished my 100 Day Project - one new digital drawing everyday for 100 days straight.

I learned a lot and wrote a bit about that here:

This post is more about how I did it and if someone else is interested, how they can do it and be successful at it.

So! My 5 best tips if you want to complete a 100 Day art challenge:

Identify Your Goals: Why do you want to draw (or paint or sketch or whatever) for 100 days? For me, I had A LOT of goals. But the main goal was to develop my style and create a large body of work I could use for marketing, my portfolio, and social media. I think having that very specific goal - and being passionate about my goal - helped tremendously.

Know Your Parameters And Stick To Them: I chose to work with a limited color palette, a very specific subject, and only a handful of design elements or "special effects" within Photoshop to make every picture. It forced me to be more creative since I had to work within these borders. Let the challenge of your 'rules' push you to think more creatively.

Find Accountability: I posted each new picture to Instagram every evening before midnight. I told my boyfriend, my parents, and my therapist. The more people know, the more they can encourage you, check in on you, and provide feedback and words of support. It felt like I really had to follow through and keep my word. Also - don't do this in complete isolation. Working in secret makes your artwork feel like a secret. Give others the chance to be proud of you.

Make The Time: In the beginning, I had no idea how much time I would need to commit to this project for it to be successful. I underestimated the amount of energy needed each day to complete a picture. I was surprised by how many hours I would spend on a piece, how difficult it was to do two pictures in one day, and how exhausted I was by the end. Whatever amount of time you think you will need, double it. Maybe even triple it if you're a procrastinator or a perfectionist, like me.

Accept Your Limitations: There were some days I simply couldn't produce the kind of art I wanted to make, no matter how hard I tried. You will have off days, sick days, and low energy days. This is essentially a three month long project. I wasn't always satisfied by what I made. Some days the picture was ugly. Some days I wanted to start over but didn't have the time. Shit happens. You don't have to love every piece. The better you are at accepting things the way they are, the more successful you'll be in the end.

In short, every picture wasn't a masterpiece. Every day wasn't perfect. But I finished it. And a week later I'm still riding the high of accomplishing such a challenging and ambitious goal for a 'new' artist.

I already have the next 2-3 projects planned out in my head. That's the best thing of all when completing a project like this: I have this abundance of energy and confidence. It's like, if I could do 100 drawings in 100 days, then why can't I do _?

This blog will be getting a facelift soon and I'm going to try to post more art quotes this month. I have the time now! Until next time.

#arttips #100days #100dayproject #100daysofart #blackartist #smallartist #artblog #artadvice

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phil8man-blog · 1 year

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Title: Fadeproof - Ink on paper H124 x W160 cm.#abstractart #abstractartwork #philipwittmann #language #artinstagram #abstractartist #artmagazines #contemporaryartist #artadvisor #artist #artadvisor #artadvice #painting #contemporaryart #contemporaryartcurators #artcurators #artonpaper https://www.instagram.com/p/CqLTLUKtJpD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#abstractart #abstractartwork #philipwittmann #language #artinstagram #abstractartist #artmagazines #contemporaryartist #artadvisor #artist #artadvice #painting #contemporaryart #contemporaryartcurators #artcurators #artonpaper

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leafanight · 1 year

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I need some advice. I’m trying to do this pose but I’m not sure which basic sketch looks better. I know each still needs work but which one should I focuse more on. I’m trying to get it to look like my character is in anime.

the one on left is more flat and more my style. So it’ll be easy to make the picture look weird. But I’m more familiar with and can work from there.

the one on right looks more curved but bulky. So I feel it’ll look too big next to the other character. It’s more what I’m going for but no matter how much I work on it it feels still off.

should I just redo another basic sketch? Please if anyone has tips it really help,

also sneak peek on upcoming post.

#arttips #arthelp #artadvice #ochelp #ocdrawinghelp

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ink-flavoured-tea · 2 years

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Art-Block Advice

Having a chill day drawing after recently getting out of a major art block and thought I’d share some tips and tricks that I used to help me get out of it

Experiment freely

Spend an hour a day just experimenting and having fun with it. It can be anything from doodling, mark making, playing around with paints and inks or making some rough sketches. This way you're re-associating art with positivity and testing out ideas to help with future work.

Try to recreate some of your older work

Your skills are constantly evolving so recreating one of your older pieces and comparing the two can really help with confidence, as you can see where you were and where you are now with physical evidence. Also, it’s very common for artists to fall into the trap of “my work was better X amount of time ago” but this isn’t true, it was different back then and that was probably a point in your life where you noticed your skills drastically improved instead of slowly improving, so this is a good exercise for getting out of that mindset.

Analyse your older work

If you still think your work looked better in the past, then go back and analyse it. Was there something you did back then that you're not doing right now? If there is then great! You’ve found the problem.

Art prompt lists

If you’re really stuck about what to draw, look into current or older art challenges and work your way through the list. You’ll be researching and drawing a lot of different subject matter or using ideas you hadn’t used before, so it will give you a kick start as well as expanding the range of your work and developing your skills.

Online tools

There’s a ton of tools out there like figures to help with reference drawings for poses. Colour palette generators, spin the wheel where people can continue to add onto it giving more and more prompts. There’s even youtube and twitch to help with tutorials and other suggestions for overcoming art block.

Change your media

Have you been using pens non-stop for a solid year? Maybe switch it up to using paints. Changing your media can present yourself with new challenges and give yourself a break from using the same tools over and over again, so you can return to them feeling more refreshed. I usually rotate between drawing, painting and digital art to keep myself engaged and interested in my work.

Observational drawings & Requests

Sometimes just drawing your desk, a cup or some fruit really can help. It takes your mind off of creating ideas and just drawing what’s in front of you. Taking requests also helps because it helps motivate you and your creativity because you’re making something for someone else.

Just do it

Sounds cliche but it really does work. Sometimes we get stuck in our own heads too much and that causes stress, anxiety and setting impossible expectations for ourselves. Just make something, don’t think about it, just do your best. Do this at least once a day and you’ll train yourself to get back into the habit of creating.

Hope this helps, if anyone has any other advice for what worked for you, feel free to add onto this 😊

#art #artblock #art-block #artadvice #arttips

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