#But here we are! I'm really enjoying using this new brush for the lineart

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[toasterkoi]

I I I I how colour you brush program pretty what translates to "ARGHHHDUDGAIUS I LOVE YOUR ART ITA SO PRETTY TEACH ME YOUR WAYS OF RENDERING"

AAAAAAH I'm actually so flattered rn like, I don't think I have been asked this before??! I'm just going to take your ask literally, and attempt to explain how I render! Okay okay bear with me, I'm going to try my best to go over what happens behind the scenes🗣🗣Putting my teacher hat on, I hope this makes sense and is helpful!

Okay... we are gonna go ahead and spoil one of the art pieces I'm working on! The first part of it, at least!

First: My idea! This usually happens if I hear a really good song or have a scenario in my head that just needs to be drawn so I don't forget, and then I just throw up a sketch! Doesn't have to be perfect or pretty, just my ideas on where characters should be, or what pose, what facial expressions I'm going for, etc.!

(Facial expressions aside for this one because Sonic looks so goofy on the top left right there lololol)

Next would be finding out what color scheme I want to use for the drawing. So, I throw together some colors and decide if that's the feel I'm looking for! Color can convey alot about a certain mood/tone you're going for in an art piece, so I kinda go with what I think looks good and what will reach the vibe I felt when imagining it! I find myself using warmer colors more often because those colors give me that folk-like, forest fall tone I love! Once you have certain colors you like, just throw them together until it looks good to you and gets you closer to that vibe you want!

Like here, I'm going for a warm, yet tragic, "melancholy" feel? I heard the song "Little Pistol" by Mother Mother again recently, and the whole song felt tragic, yet powerful and meaningful (such a good song, check it out if you would like!). I wanted to convey sonadow like that too! A scenario where Sonic found Shadow instead of Eggman after he fell to earth, where Shadow is surrounded by old trees and long grass; the environment kind of grew around him and embraced him in a gentle kind of way. (I also just really like nature environments with big trees so I tend to project that in my art herherh☝️)

Usually, I do a sketch, then a cleaner lineart sketch above that layer, and then I color. But here, I switched it around and did color under the sketch layer before I cleaned it up. I wanted to make sure the colors were what I wanted them to be! It's really up to the beholder: what colors do you like? Where would they be good in your eyes? And the pen you use to color/draw definitely has a role to play in it too! I use very grainy brushes; brushes that are not too harsh on each other so they mesh nicely. Example! vv

I find it easier to draw when my pens are messier; I feel less restricted and can be more expressive! So, once you have pens you like and colors you enjoy adding, then it's time to start chipping away and molding the art to your vision! A lot of trial and error, that's for sure,,

When I render, it's done using either the brush I used for the grainy lineart, or it's another brush meant for color blending/texture. In this case, it was another brush that blends/creates color! For example, if I put red on orange, it makes brown (sometimes, lol) It doesn't make just one color when I use it, as I aim for all sorts of colors in my art! I go over the sketches and fix anything that looks weird and clean up using colors I already planned out on top of the sketch layer. Like here, I removed the guidelines for Shadow's big head and cleaned up his white fur! I also decided that the grass needed to be more defined, so I went to work there. I also added some blue to his muzzle to create a very faint greenish shading, deciding that it needed something more!

I also don't really have a structure for creating new layers. If I feel like starting a new layer to add more rendering, I do! Some drawings have 5 layers, some have 47!)

So really, it's all about what you like as an artist! More shading, go for it! Some blue here? Yes please! Not enough red here? Let's add some!

Here is the almost finished final product, I changed his ear tuft to make it look neater, added more blue to the orange grass to add depth, some small sketchy lineart for definition, and alot of other colors in different spots to give it that messy, painting-like vibe! I made Shadow's nose smaller, and colored over the Sonic scetch using both the lineart pen I use and color blending brushes!

And that's usually how I render! By going layer by layer on what I feel like I need to add to the drawing, and alot of it is trusting the process! Hopefully all that made some sense, and you can find really good Ibispaintx brush QR codes out there if you aren't vibing with the default pens! I also found drawing to be much more fun when I bought a stylus! Sometimes changing your method/approach makes it more fun and engaging, at least for me!

Here's one more example of what my process may look like:

And booyah!! My guide to rendering! A lot of it is messing around and finding out, so hopefully, there's a few takeaways from this essay that was able to show you how I render and do my thing! Thanks so much for the ask, I had tons of fun actually thinking about and writing down my process! 🥺

[ren-cerati]

Oh my goodness I am so sorry i just started rambling 😭

I'm doing this on the phone since I'm cooking rn, but you can tap on the brush and then find the filters, where you can find unsharp mask, posterize, etc etc. The filters are fun to play around with, so I'd suggest looking through a couple.

The assets can be found in the little picture in the corner, and there are bases, hands, etc just generally useful things.

Also! Just so you know, my overall art style and art process can tend to be a little bit inconsistent. I'll post some more speedpaints later, but it's kinda hard to generalize it, especially since I myself am learning to refine my art! I usually do my lineart and then color, but i was feeling silly with this piece

Also I forgot to mention earlier, but it's really touching that my art is a style you aspire to/enjoy.

This piece was relatively experimental (rendering is not my wife) so it deviated slightly from my general works.

Also, I do NYAT know how shadows/lighting work. I was fr just throwing colors and shi. But! I usually put my shadowing under the neck, under the eyes, and over the eyes for eyelids, also the nose+ finger knuckles.

Stray hair strands my beloved. Hair is one of my favorites ever to draw.

Also RAHSJDJDJF eating that WIP up. I adore the way you did the hair and how sharp and jagged the lines are, because that could be tweaked later on and implemented in a really cool style! Also I'm so honored that you used my doodle as a reference, kinda kicking my feet rn. It is really cool that we draw eyelashes the same way! Love that, honestly.

The only advice I have there is look at some references and think about the way hair wraps around the heads alongside proportions. Other than that you're doing great, and I'm excited to see what else you draw in the future! Also, don't feel pressured to have the most perfect art in the world right off the bat. I've actually been actively drawing for about five years, and my improvement is kind of insane, but it did take me a while to get here! Just keep drawing until you have a style you're happy with, and even then don't be afraid to branch out and try new things. <3

Fuckass speedpaint (Ibis paint did NYAT wanna export this) (I'm sorry it's so fast 😭 + SHIT quality)

@highbookwormofthecentury

@astro-nomaly (Thought you might wanna see the process of the swampy bog mf)

I'm sorry he had a twink waist at some point (we didn't know what we was doing 😔🙏)

Anyway some extra stuff not mentioned-

I used a free hand asset from Ibis paint since hands give me trouble sometimes

I use color balance, unsharp mask, and posterize in the Ibis paint filters. (Color balance for the more golden-y version of this piece) unsharp mask gives it this nice finish and makes the lines pop, and posterize sort of solidifies the colors.

[cqtlatte]

damn your art style is so pleasing to the eye :0

do you use any particular art software, brushes or technique? I'm a beginner at digital art, so I'll take all the advice I can. thank you for your time!

Hi anon!! Thank you so much, it really means the world to me <3

There’s so many tangents I can go on to give different advice for you, I think because we often think there’s a concrete formula to improve. I hope the advice I give here will help down the road, and that I don’t sound too all over the place here! (lol)

As for programs and such, I use Clip Studio Paint EX. I used to be a PRO user for quite some time but upgraded for the extra features (mostly for webtoon creators/animators), it isn’t a necessary switch at all if you only want to focus on illustration.

Paint tool SAI is also a good lightweight alternative! Before I got a better laptop, my old HP couldn’t really handle CSP; it lagged a whole bunch.

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I tend to jump around a LOT between brushes to toy around with effects and stuff, so it’s hard to give a specific set, however I use these the most:

https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1697201

https://graphixly.com/products/theonewithbear-sumi-brush-pack-for-clip-studio-paint

Along with the darker pencil (default brush in CSP)

and a few brushes from the DAUB brush pack.

I don’t use every single brush in every set all the time either though! Usually when it comes to picking brushes for yourself, it 100% relies on how comfortable you are with using them. You'll definitely know what feels good for you, and what doesn't when you try them out!

Some people (like me) enjoy more textured brushes, and others are comfy with clean brushes for lineart, and others like soft watercolor brushes or oil brushes.

Don’t be afraid to tweak brushes either! It takes some time to learn how to do this, but there are lots of tutorials out there.

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I think the most important thing is to first find something that you enjoy drawing/painting a lot, and experimenting a bunch on that. Don’t be afraid to try new things!! You don’t always have to follow the basic workflow of sketch > lineart > color > shading. Mix it up a bit! Include colors in your sketches, paint over your sketches if you don’t like doing lineart! If you do like making super clean lineart, work on different types of lines to make it more fun! Art is like a form of play and messing around, it shouldn’t feel stressful. Be willing to make lots of bad art (even though that can be hard sometimes), so that in the future there’ll be less bad art and tons of good art! Don’t worry too much on developing a style, since this will come naturally the more you draw.

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(also, a word to those who post art on social media!) -

Don’t ever forget to draw what YOU enjoy, rather than focusing on what you think others would like to see!

For a long time before this year I felt like I was constantly hitting a brick wall, and I didn’t know why I didn’t like drawing as much as I used to, and why my character art felt so boring to me. When the covid pandemic hit, I was forced to take a loooong look at my art, and decide ‘I still have a long way to go..’

Something clicked when I sat down to work on some acrylic paintings on canvas for my uni portfolio: I wasn’t allowed to include fanart, since the university didn’t accept that. I also didn’t want to only include digital art either, so that I could add some variety! So, I painted.

I was forced to think more about colors (something I was neglecting, since it’s much easier to color digitally and hit the undo button 10000000 times when I wasn’t happy with something)

During that time, I found that I really REALLY liked painting landscapes and working with bright colors, so I also started to incorporate that into my digital art. Turns out other people enjoyed that as much as I loved creating it, so from there on out, I’ve just been toying around and experimenting on new things ever since!

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Anyway I hope this doesn’t sound too abstract. This is my first time giving formal advice so my brain is going into overdrive mode.