#learning to animate in csp is really hard actually

[lalalaurieart]

A silly Stobotnik storyboard!

I'm learning a new animation program and I'm shaking some rust off. I wanna get into this more and make a lot of silly videos ahaha

"Look at you, you are JUST A BOTTOM!"

[wolfythewitch]

have you ever used procreate and even if you haven’t, would you say it’s worth trying to switch to a different art platform? i was gifted procreate on an ipad before I really started digital art and i don’t hate it but I don’t love it either, also I’m still learning art in general so it’s hard to say really. Was wondering if you had any tips when it came to choosing a drawing/maybe animating software, especially when it comes to money or even considering buying an actual drawing tablet??

Uhhh I mean if you got it for free, yeah! I haven't used it a lot but I remember really liking their brushes and how user friendly it is haha. For buying programs, honestly Ive been using CSP for like 4ish years now so you kinda just have to experiment around with what works for you. My friend uses krita, another uses Photoshop, another uses procreate. We all like different features each provides haha. For tablets, honestly I have no idea I've had the same one for years. I'd say stick with the iPad you got and try it out first, it's pretty similar to a screen tablet and you can decide if you like the feel of it. If you want you can buy a small/cheaper drawing tablet and test if that works for you

[bvannn]

Weekly Update May 3, 2024

Tomorrow I graduate and get my degree. I know most of what I post is art and music so it might be a bit of a surprise to some of you to learn my degree is actually in chemistry! I worked really hard for it but got all A’s and B’s this semester. Really sad my internship is over but I’m hoping I’ll get a permanent job like it soon. I’ll be returning to my lab job from last summer pretty soon, but I think I might have next week off, at least for the most part, so I can make up for all the art work I didn’t do this week.

The main thing I did was work on the comic. I can probably finish the page I’m on in one more sitting. I’d guess I’m still only around 11 or 12% done, but that’s fine, I’ll have much more time to work next week so I hope progress will be faster. If anything having more time will bore me, and when I’m bored I have to work on something. Last night I stayed up real late for an anime campaign game (worth it) and whenever it wasn’t my turn, I’d draw.

I also did a bunch of songwriting stuff this week, trying to work more with lyrics. BATB lyrics are probably 50% done, also threw together lyrics that maybe I’ll turn into another smaller song, or maybe I won’t. If I get that one done I won’t need to prepare anything elaborate for visuals like the others, but also it’s so half baked that I’m not sure if I’m going to invest more time into it. I haven’t touched any other music projects this week.

I didn’t do anything with animation this week. Not even writing. I’m planning to invest more in that next week, too. I’ll try to get back to actually making the puppet rigs next week, since having three things to alternate between should keep me from getting too bored. Also because the new FNF update has real fun animations and make me want to flash animate again. Again I’m not sure how much I’ll need to animate in flash vs CSP, but I think getting faster at rigs will be a good skill to have. Plus I’m getting attached to the Kyo design, I might pull a nem or neru and rename him and split him off into his own character. If I do I’ll post a little character sheet for him, since he’ll probably be relegated to music related projects.

Last thing: TTRPG stuff: playing in the campaign last night helped me finally get unstuck on the campaign I’m writing, for real this time. Plus, for the next session we have to make new characters and happened to roll one of my favorite words (three guesses what word), so I expect to get very attached to that character. At night and in the car ride back home on Sunday I’ll try to write more, although good chance I’ll just be getting that character sheet ready and then take a big nap.

Next week I’m going to rest first and foremost, but then I’ll inevitably get bored and put in a rotation of projects to do, and hopefully have more to show. I’ve done a fair amount of smaller doodles that I’ll try to trickle out this weekend, and next week I’ll try to throw together a flash puppet, get more storyboards done, and more comic progress. Not necessarily in that order of priority. And then for smaller writing projects will be more epithet work or more song lyrics if I’m ambitious. I’ll try to get a schedule together on Monday, maybe I’ll post it if it’s good enough. Bottom line is I’m going to try to get back to doing art projects right as soon as my health is back to normal. I’ll also be in an area where I can get access to produce as well, so I’ll try to eat healthier to boot.

[sapphybandit]

CW vent on creative pursuits & mental health

Lately, I'm feeling so overwhelmed and yet also like I'm not doing enough at the same time. I've got like 4 personal projects I'm trying to work on but I don't really feel like I'm doing enough?

Or more like, I don't really know what I'm doing, but, I know no one ever really does.

But all of those projects were pursued with the intent to enable me to have a creative form of expression. To fight against this deeply rooted notion that my place is in the background and I deserve to be quiet, and silent.

I have worlds I want to build, stories to tell, I have people I want to help with my own learned experience and resources. I want to act, I want to exist, and not just be some name on a list. I feel compelled to make something because I *feel* it inside wanting to come out, I just, don't know how.

And fuck, I know with a bit of honing of my skills there's *something* there that's gonna really have an impact. The problem is just figuring out....what that is. I do a lot of things pretty decently that have made a difference in a few folks, but I can't seem to...focus on anything enough to refine it further.

Live streaming is going well enough, I think? People seem to love my voice and my charm, and it introduces folks to new games while raising money for charity. Not a lot of money, but some. But I only seem to have time to stream once a week, and it takes a lot of energy to be "On" for so long.

There's voice acting for a NSFW animation because I know I have "that voice" and it might be fun to see people's reactions when its all done. But at the same time that kinda feeds into the whole "meat market" mentality that im not super fond of. I already have been pursued, used, and abused because of my looks, and I'm afraid of my voice contributing to people not seeing *me*, but just the hot girl they wanna fuck.

There's indie game work for a beautiful queer story, and I want so desperately to see it ship, but I've never had so much responsibility before. I keep finding myself paralyzed when I think about how much work will have to go into this "small" game, over years. I worry about letting the other devs down, even though they have told me its okay if i never contribute to the game. I just wish I had more time, or energy to really write some awesome code, but its so hard after spending 8 hours during the day juggling meetings and design docs and obtuse code bases. Its hard to code more after coding all day, even if the mind is willing, the body ain't moving.

And then it all goes back to personal art. It seems simple, self reliant, no pressures. But there's so much emotional baggage I still push thru left from folks no longer in my life, like it took me hours for me to soothe myself enough to just open CSP for the first time this year. Trying not to trauma dump, but, fuck I've just been through a lot, I've been treated terribly before, and unfortunately the pursuit of art was tied closely to those events and those traumas.

The issue now, though, is more of what I had before the incident, where I have the vision of the art piece in my head, but my hands and my technical knowledge aren't far enough to actually make the piece. Its like seeing a finished game, wanting to make your own, but not knowing how to navigate a game engine. I know I have things to learn, but I struggle with identifying the what.

And I just get overwhelmed. Then my attention swaps to another venture, makes a few steps, and I get overwhelmed again. It doesn't feel like I'm going anywhere or accomplishing anything.

I think I'm seeing a lot of paths I can take but I see the length of each path on the grand scale, and it makes it hard for me to just stick to one and identify first, little steps.

Worst part is I know so much of this is a problem of my own creation lol. No one is making me do this! I can totally just, work and vibe and play games and kiss girls and be fine. But fuck, I want more, and I wanna make something. I don't even really care if it has a big or small impact, I just can't let life pass by constantly being a....small silent pushover. Im not that type of fuckin person. Im no ones arm candy, or wallet, or fuck toy. Im not gonna let anyone control me like that ever again.

My beauty, my worth, is my mind and its words. And I'll find a way to let it speak, and thrive, and blossom. To fully claim my identity, my personality, and let it be seen and heard.

I don't know how, but I'll figure out something. I'll figure out my forward.

[namelessmewmew]

Old Art Archive Part 5.

Original captions under the cut.

1 - 3. Title: Petals, Sparkles and Unicorns [+ bonus of the other two pieces I have of her, that also happen to be old, left being newest of said two]. More csp testing stuff. Went a bit ham with its built in decoration brushes, Petal Brush, Grass Brush, Sparkle Brush [There's even a glitter brush, which I'm sure I will use at least a few times] ……. Happy enough with how this came out. Def need to draw her more.

4. Title: The Heart of My Eye. Uni stuff has been getting more hectic so haven't been able to draw as much [and what I have been drawing has been stuff that won't see the light of day until late this year probably]. Had the idea of a loveletter head character so just made this in csp, don't really like how this came out but oh well. Also probably going to redesign them a bit whenever I draw them again.

5. Title: The Imp Stick. Redesigned Nameless because I wanted to make him more self indulgent [I like horns, imp tails and faceshadows alot]. Used my usual method of exporting each frame as a image and then throwing them into ezgif, I think I should learn how to use clips built in animation abilities.

6. Title: Don't cry over spilt glitter. Uni work busy and hard, and been making a bunch of stuff I don't to post yet so dipped into my favourite thing, aka redesigning "old" characters [like it as much as designing new ones].

7. Title: Kitty Kitty Cat. Just a little cat, shes actually a pretty old character of mine, just redesigned her recently. I really need to draw and post more often.... Sort of like how the shading came out by I'm still kinda shit at it Might draw some more cause I have alot of old animal characters to redesign.

8. Title: Old Gay Cat named Juliet. Another cat laby, this time Sarah's mom, Juliet! Shes also been redesigned but not as much as Sarah. Going to do Sarah's other mom next [which until recently didn't have a design at all but still working on it a bit] Really like how the pose of this came out [still iffy on the shading though..]

9. Title: 2022 Pride Icon. New Icon/Pride Icon [might use this after pride month and just swap out the bg, or might a new one later].  and yes I used a very similar pose to my last upload, I just liked how it looked so used it again. Happy Pride Everyone!

10. Title: Filters and Fingerguns. I have been trying to draw more stuff lately :], liking the stuff I have been making, especially like how the hair and eyes of this came out of this came out :3. The character here is Eve, Juliet's wife and Sarah's second mom.

11. Title: Smiles and Glitter. I know I should be drawing the characters I have already more hut I really like designing new characters..... k? and felt like  I needed another sparklecat....[I need more sparkle anything really] Also tried to emulate the look of those old blingee? gifs and it looks okay enough. Going to try to figure out how to do it better.

12. Title: Metamorphosis. Yeah another bright sparkly cat.....a character I have actually been thinking about designing for month's,  A trans flag coloured lynx with a lil golden bell that shines like a rainbow in the light. A mascot-y character that's meant to idk be anti-thesis to how big corps pretend to like us during pride months by just changing their logos to rainbow and selling overpriced pride merch, then just change their logos back and don't do anything more about it for the rest of the year, I guess? Like a mascot thats undeniably queer in colours and otherwise I guess. My brain feels a bit slow and foggy right now right now so I might not be articulating well.

13. Title:  Splat. Haven't posted here for a month and lost steam for artfight not long into it [will post attacks I did once month is over], but I did make my first game, a rpgmaker game that is about 10 to 15 minute rpgmaker game for a mini jam. Thought maybe I should post about here at least once, https://namelessmewmew.itch.io They technically can be named whatever by the player but I wanted to give me a 'true' name as well, so here is Splat./colour-less

14. Title: 'Fuck you! Catboys your Demon'. I can't just not put my sona/main character though multiple redesigns/design updates, I wouldn't be NamelessMewMew, if I didn't! Going the opposite route in terms of adding things to his design lol compared to my old sona [casanova, a cat like creature that I added demon features to, I need to redesign them again at some point.] I need to learn how to draw stubble properly... and also maybe change the eyes a bit, you looks kinda uh high rather than just tired.

15. Title: Aging. Just feels weird, so a little doodle thing.

16 - 17. Title:   Prancing in the night. Wanted to start another art practice dump to practice shading, decided to do my personal characters to motivate me more but then got really into it and added more  and more shading/lighting, then thought this would look very stupid without a bg, then added lighting to that bg and then wanted the stars to sparkle.... [which I hope loads as its not loading in the preview I'm seeing now] yeah I guess I can make this its own deviation. The bg is a bit mid quality but I'm glad I did because I don't do proper bgs much, but I do really love how the Plushie came out in this, especially the pose [and shading]. Though the gif site I use makes transparency kinda uh line-y? Basically the lighting and shading looks smoother than this originally, though I don't mind how it looks

Anime Girl Art Dump:

Title:  Art Practice: 1. Ramble-y stuff: Been in a hating my art phrase because there's lots of parts of art I'm not great with, shading, anatomy, perspective, backgrounds..... so forth But can't get myself practice without also posting it but also it has to be good enough to post [when I feel my art is bad then I feel like I can't waste the time spent on it by not posting it but I also feel like I'm somehow a bad person for being bad at art]..... so going try to do dumps like this where I try to focus on certain things. Hopefully I can improve at least a bit this year. About the art: This is mostly Hair Shading + Faces + Eyes Practice, but also tried to draw various different hairstyles. Want to do more experimenting with how I draw eyes and hair...

Hands and Eyes Art Dump:

Title:  Art Practice: 2. More art practice, this time hands [done mostly by memory and a bit by using my hands as ref] + eyes [more just the irises and pupils rather than eyes as a whole]. Like where I am getting with eyes but really need to work on hands alot more.... Can't think of anything else to say really cause tired... other than its 4 days till I'm 20 which is wild.

[pinkprettycure]

tangentally about your art, do you have any tips for drawing hands and faces?

for faces im not really sure how i can explain it since faces tend to be like the first things people learn to draw, so ive been drawing htem for yrs yk? In real life though, faces arent symmetrical. but in anime and cartoons we tend to prefer them to be perfectly even, for front facing images its easy to just flip the canvas or even flip the lineart i youre working digital. if youre on paper using a mirror or taking a photo can help.

eyes GENERALLY should be one eye apart from eachother but they dont have to be in all art styles. to keep the eyes looking focused you should be a little more in the middle, not too much because theyll look cross eyed, but slightly in the middle

right here, in the first pic is what im talking about, her eyes are closer to her nose. then i took dianas eyes and moved the irises to be centered in the eyelids, she looks like her eyes are looking in diferent directions lmao.

for noses it really depends on your style but it is 100% possible to translate different nose shapes into even anime styles, the best advice i can give is to just practice drawing different faces and trying to translate them into your style, you'll figure out what looks cutest to you.

and then after i said this i actually remember making a specifically regarding black people that had a section on noses hold on

for hands it again you gotta do a lot of referencing. unfortunately for me, i have chunky fat baby hands, so when i reference myself the hands tend to all be fat baby hands too lmao. but it does help at least in figuring out the composition of a hand and where all the joints go

for my projects ill be honest and say i heavily rely on a lot of assets and stocks, these are all made for artists to use freely and are even okay to trace. Adorka stock has literally been carrying a lot of my art lmao I also use Hato Kings hand references and CSP 3d models for really hard poses. speaking of Hato king they have a book for kindle that has even more hand references and lots of information on how to draw them, in both english and japanese so if you like their references please buy the book

Although when it comes to tracing stocks its very important imo that you adjust it to suit your style, use it as a tool but also a reference for learning. if your art isnt going for realism you dont want to have a perfectly realistic hand and then a toony body lol

[crowkip]

hi there!! i came across your art recently and love how you simplify forms for your style!! Do you have any tips on what you did to learn art and develop your current style? Did you take figure drawing lessons or just hyperfixate on an anime?? Any materials/exercises that were particularly helpful for learning how to draw humans? Thanks for your time!

thank u so much!!! i do have some handy info but im gonna put it under the cut so it doesnt clog up ppl's feeds bc it's gonna get a little long, hope this helps out!! ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)

ok so!! my top tip is to try out some life drawing classes! you'll often be expected to capture a full body gesture in 5-15 minutes which really helps you learn break the body down into its simplest forms since you wont have time to work on all the details. i only ever did a few sessions since they were part of a design course i was taking but even that alone definitely helped me streamline my process when it comes to planning out poses and making sure things arent looking too stiff

as for developing a style i honestly dont have a super clear answer bc i still find that i feel like my art is vERY very inconsistent, but even with that being said i do still have a few things that've helped personally!! easiest place to start is finding the tools you enjoy working with, for me i have a handful of brushes in csp that i tend to default to which helps form a little bit of consistency across my drawings (ofc dont be scared to branch out!! it's just handy to know what brushes work best for you). the other thing that's influenced my style is reading lots of comics and spending a lot of time looking at other artists' sketches, if you see a specific feature you like in their work try giving it a go yourself!! i remember noticing the contrast of soft and hard shadows in old oil paintings a few years ago n thinking 'ooh ive gotta try that' and ive been using it on my own art ever since. in the end your own style is greatly just a reflection of little things you've loved seeing in other peoples art and once you combine all those you end up with smth uniquely yours which i just think is awesome tbh

and as for shows n stuff that got me drawing, i dont have the coolest answer but as a kid i got super into drawing my friends as my little pony characters lmao i would spend every minute between classes drawing these stupid little rainbow horses and it actually really got me into picking out colour palettes and helped me build up that muscle memory which was what led into me drawing things that were a little more challenging. even if whatever motivates you to draw is considered kind childish or 'cringy' or whatever, dont stop drawing what you enjoy!! i wouldnt be drawing now without the years of pony doodles on homework as a kid and im glad i embraced it. i hope this can be helpful to you, so sorry for the long read but thanks for getting through it all!! good luck as dont be scared to dm me if you ever have any questions, i'll always do my best to help out :D

[sleezeboss]

2022 Art Summary and Thoughts

stealing this from a mutual- just wanted to reflect on the art I’ve made this year, what I’ve learned, and where I’d like to see myself go from here.

The end of the year is weird for me, artistically. I always slow down with art and get really immersed in family, holidays, and my life outside of art. And because I’m not cranking out art 7 days a week, it skews my view of my output and self worth, and it makes me end the year feeling like I’ve quit art, like I haven’t made anything, like it’s time to hang up my hat and move on or something.

But! When I stop being dramatic for like 5 seconds, I can see that that’s not true at ALL, and in actuality, in the last year, I’ve made some incredibly profound strides with my art that I am so excited to carry into the next year.

I’m hoping that sitting down and contemplating these strides will help solidify them and make them more tangible to me.

So let’s dive in!

At the beginning of 2022, I had a LOT of fun reacquainting myself with Ren and Stimpy. I started rewatching it on a whim while working out one day, having not watched the show since I was.... 6? and was instantly transported to a world of inspiration and love for my art and art-making that I hadn’t experienced for some time. The expressions, dynamism, and sheer energy of that show reminded me a lot about what I love most about my art. I felt encouraged to pursue my strengths, rather than constantly focusing on what I need to improve or need to change about my art. And I felt it blossom. I made some pieces I really loved in 2022, and I hope to continue with that energy and love for my own work that keeps art-making enjoyable and meditative for me.

These were all expression studies of screencaps from Ren and Stimpy episodes. I got ADDICTED to seeing my boys with these big, bold expressions.

This is the screenshot that kicked it all off lmao. This unlocked something so crazy in me.

This was me taking a stab at pulling expressions from my head, no reference.

After that, during the summer, I took a 6 week animation course through Animation Mentor, an online school. I loved it so much, that as soon as it finished, I immediately signed up for a second course that started not even 2 weeks after. Not to be dramatic, but no joke? For the first time in my artistic journey, I felt capable and confident about animating. It was the first time in my life that 2D animation was actually presented to me in an accessible (and achievable!!) manner. I have ALWAYS struggled with animating. I love it so much! I am a cartoon fanatic and Disney animation enthusiast at heart, and to love something so deeply and to only be mediocre at it at best can really be hurtful and demoralizing, but! These two animation courses really helped rewrite that narrative for me.

This was my second-to-last assignment, the floursack test.

This was my final assignment for my first course, 2D animation for beginners. A head-turn.

Moving into the new year, I would really like to see myself animate more. Making several small, 2-3 second animations and getting the practice in, building up a personal portfolio of animation is something I really want to see for myself. I want to see my characters live and breath, god damnit!!

Animating inspired me to make some style guides for my boys, rather than ref-sheets. I think ref sheets can become outdated quickly as your style adapts and changes, but a style guide, one typically used by animators, is a great guideline for keeping characters consistent. I thought that would be very useful for me, so I made one for Rex and Bub, naturally.

In the fall, I finally finished a mini comic I had started earlier in the year, Belphi’s New Pussy.

(cropped for NSFW material)

Comic-making was admittedly hard for me last year. I think graduating from my iPad to a new tablet set-up and learning CSP from scratch really shook my artistic confidence and motivation for comic making. All last year, I was beating myself up about not working on chapter 5 of Badbeat, so I am amazed and proud that I was able to get BNP out. Not only did I get it out, but it ended up being one of the most successful posts of my twitter career lmao. I’m really happy with how it looks, but I think it’s becoming clear to me that that level of comic polish is not sustainable for more than 1 chapter a year. If I want to finish Badbeat in my life time, I’m gonna need to simplify my process. Maybe even keep it to my iPad. Something about drawing and sketching is easier on my iPad, whereas the actual comic formatting can be done in CSP. I’m obviously still trying to learn my optimal workflow for efficiency, speed, and sanity haha.

In the comic year, I really would like to get chapter 5 out. That is my comic goal for the new year.

All and all, it has been a really productive year artistically. I feel like quantity-wise I have produced less than maybe the year prior, but I think the things I DID produce have been profound. Pushing Bub and Rex’s designs and expressions has been profound. Taking the steps to learn animation has been profound. Making a comic entirely in a new program that I have owned for less than a year is profound.

I am very proud of myself and can’t wait to see what the new year has in store!

[allbeendonebefore]

I was tagged ages ago by the amazing @judiejodia​ and i forgot until just now because i’ve been so busy and caught up in my own head so I’m going to sneakily work on this before zoom hell this morning >>

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favourite  works that you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc) and link  them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world  in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original)  so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works. 

1. I wrote and completed another chapter of my silly comic about cities which you can find @battle-of-alberta​: 

I worked on this set of panels during my first synchronous online class back in March when schools started to shut down (it was presentations so doodling helped me pay attention, don’t worry I wasn’t taking notes haha).

2. Related to that, I also completed a lot of asks for that blog and learned how to animate in CSP, which was pretty fun (and I Will get back to this at some point I just have a Lot going on rn)

3. I’ve been bullet journalling for most of my time in grad school and while it was difficult to adapt to the pandemic and being trapped at home, I did really like having it with me and being able to share some of it with people back when I was still out and about in the world. I’m switching to a different brand this year but I archived my three “Toronto Chronicle” journals before I started the next one.

4. I spent a LOT of the pandemic cooking and baking. I’ve always had a uh, less than healthy relationship with food and so it was nice to just have the space and the ingredients to try things I wouldn’t normally try just to see if I could. I made macarons, I made the ualberta tuck shop cinnamon buns, I made my grandma’s pierogies from scratch (although I haven’t officially gotten her approval seeing as we can’t see each other :c ), tons of cakes and cookies and bread, cornish-ish pasties, I made a whole ton of things so it’s hard to choose one.

I guess the thing I think of as best summarizing my culinary journey is karepan. My family LOVED it and it was actually easier to make than I thought it would be, it’s just a multi step process so it’s one of those things that kind of takes two days if you’re also doing the curry from scratch. (I baked mine rather than deep frying because frying is scary)

5. And I guess one more thing I liked was working on OCtober, it was like a fun combo of research and art that was pretty exhausting but also kind of pushed me through on Finally releasing some commission info, so that’s something. a lot of creative energy has just gone straight to my ocs this year and that is Fine :3

thank you thank you i will now Rest except i can’t because i have to run to zoom ToT

[worldbuildguild]

Hey guys! Can y’all give me some tips on which art program works best? My current program crashes every 20 minutes or so and I’m ready for a change 😂

Programs to talk about: 

Firealpaca

Free

Excellent animation tool

Onionskin mode for animating

lightweight program

Basic how to use link

Animating in firealpaca link

Krita

Free

Did not work well on my machine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB6ig9dM4Uw

Medibang

Free

PC and app versions

Basically Firealpaca’s twin without animation

Designed more for Manga/Comics - has options for preset comic panels, action lines, etc which you can directly use

Has gaussian blur

Able to punch zoom on touch screen devices

More features, options, and ability to customise than Sketchbook. Suitable for a mid-level digital artist as its wide range of features will be overwhelming and hard to grasp for someone new to digital art

Photoshop

Paid (subscription based)

has gaussian blur

animation option

custom brushes / brush sets

highly versatile layer mask tool

small 3D engine on newer versions ( photoshop CC )

rudimentary perspective transformation tool

No brush stabilisation built-in pre-CC

Sai

Paid 

does not have gaussian blur

no animation options

Has Brush Stabilisation built-in

Good painting brushes

No pinch zoom/rotate :/

Sai Basics link

Clip Studio Paint (sometimes known as Manga Studio 5)

Paid but goes on sale for 20USD every few months

Has gaussian blur; good blend between Sai and Photoshop

Able to animate (Limited in Pro to 24 frames, not in EX)

Good brush engine + pen pressure, especially for painting. Also has adjustable stabilizer

High availability for custom brushes

CSP Basics tutorial

Autodesk Sketchbook

Free

Pc and app versions

Simplified interface 

Pro: really good for the beginner digital artist. Simplified interface means that it’s easy and intuitive to pick it up and start creating art. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but nothing nearly as steep as a medibang/photoshop curve. They have a large, free bank of brushes available from their official website, so you won’t need to mess around with brush creation.

Con: missing a lot of vital things an intermediate/advanced digital artist would want. Mod Seraph uses a surface pro and can’t flip the canvas on the app store version, which is very annoying because she can’t check how her faces/poses look as she draws them). The big bank of brushes is nice but nothing life-changing. You can get a lot done with just a basic round brush, and art programs typically let you create your own brushes anyway

Smooth pinch zoom and rotate 

Sketchbook Pro beginners guide

I recommend starting off with Sketchbook if you’re new to digital art or unsure of where you stand in terms of your familiarity with different digital art programs. Once you get familiar with Sketchbook and start running into issues where you’d like changes or optimisation with regard to your digital art software (ex: you get frustrated at certain roundabout ways which you have to do things and you think “there’s got to be something else I can do”), then move into the Sai/Photoshop/Clip Studio Paint/Medibang/Firealpaca family. These programs have a large base of users which use them. So, if you get stuck, you can reach out to other users or google for help and actually get solutions to your problems. After you get familiarised with one or more of those programs, you can start playing around with Krita/Gimp/etc, as they have smaller followings and so cannot provide as much help if you’re new to digital art software and thus have no experience with troubleshooting its problems. However, they can still be good software and may be better suited to you as an artist so I’d advise giving them a shot because you might click with one of them very well

-  Mod Seraphtonin (ko-fi)

if you’re more experienced in art or are trying to focus on Digital Paintings or Comics I absolutely recommend paying the $20 for Clip Studio Paint when its on sale. It’s an extremely versatile program comparable to phtoshop but with better ease of use and works fine on less powerful computers. If how ever you want to try animating, firealpaca is my recommendation, the tool is well built for animating in and its free!

- Mod Pixielart (Ko-fi)

[grimvestige]

Oh there are new artist asks in town!

You know the drill, numbers 2 and 5 if you please?

There are indeed!

2. 5 favourites of your own work?

I cannot believe you'd do this to me. Make me choose favorites? MY GOSH AAAAA. I will try my best!

This one's the first and most obvious one! It's one of the largest pieces I've done in a while, and took me like, at least 18hrs. (Also I linked it's post in the source bc like...it just didn't get a lot of love which makes me sad adfkjdhkjh)

I think for my second piece, I'll actually choose a piece of writing I did! I'm still learning how to write, and it took me ages to finish this, but I'm really proud of a one-shot I wrote about Tiarnan and his partner going to explore a forgotten archive as one of their dates. I'll put a teensy excerpt here, and link to the whole thing here.

“You’re not going out to explore alone, are you?” a low voice rings out from behind Tiarnán.

“I…uhm, well,” the librarian stammers for a moment, before straightening up and turning to face the source. Leaning in the door frame behind him is a grinning crimson summer sidhe, donning cranberry and charcoal colored robes and crystalline ruby pauldrons. Strapped on their back is a large great sword, its jagged hilt glittering with magenta crystals. “I didn’t want to be a burden Móirín, you have your duties and all,” Tiarnán quickly ripostes, tucking his hands behind his back and smiling expectantly.

Móirín rolls their eyes before standing up and walking over to join Tiarnán. “Your silver tongue won’t keep the wisps from you, and I much prefer you alive than an empty husk.”

Oh god I've only picked two pieces! #3 is a commission I did for @eldritch-goth! I finally felt like I was getting a good grasp of all the tools I had available in CSP for this one!

BECAUSE I HAVE A REALLY HARD TIME PICKING (its mostly being chronically bad at enjoying my own art, not just loving all of it) I'M JUST GONNA GO WITH SOME RECENTS I LIKE!

#4 is a reinterpretation of some dialogue from Hellboy in Hell, but for one of my NPC's in my D&D campaign, Hanzou!

AAAAAND #5 will be a piece I finished like literally this week of a scene from some Hadreon rp! This was fun to put the background together for ^^

OKAY I HOPE THAT WORKS?????? AAAA;;;; it's very hard to pick favorites because I draw so much and just don't get super attached to a lot of my work ^^;

5. Anything you haven’t drawn yet but want to?

I don't think there's a lot, but I definitely want to try more pixel art! I always enjoy it when I do it, but never remember it's an option.

Also I suppose if it counts for drawing, I'd love to do a proper action shot animation at least to relatively clean lines, something along the lines of Castlevania!

[grumpycakes]

1 through 5 for the ask an artist prompt!

1. Actually hard to answer. My parents conciously made the decision to supply us with paper, crayons, markers and shitty kids watercolors since like I was born??? So technically day one???

If we’re asking when did you “get into” comics and start striving for a dedicated style I’d say 5th grade when I started trying out those “draw like archie!” bits in the digests and more concretely in 6th grade when I got the sailor moon comic books and tried to draw like those. I’d seen a drawing my sister’s friend did of her (in the sailor moon anime style V DIFFERENT STYLES FRANSS) and wanted to draw JUST LIKE THAT. Later tho it was because I wanted to tell stories that way.

2. I’ve recently enjoyed doing digital more? I’m always a huge advocate of being able to draw traditionally and digitally. But idk, for a bit there I felt like I couldn’t get the same flowing, rough, alive lines in traditional as I could in digital. It’s also a huge pressure off cause I can fuck around with color and be able to wipe it if I need a different palette or made a mistake. Inktober this year is reminding me that I still love my lines in traditional too tho. So yay!

trad: mechanical pencil, micron pens, copics

digital: photoshop, CSP/manga studio

3. I’ve made my own zine/booklet of sketches that I sell at conventions but I have not been invited/found a zine that I wanted to participate in. I always find out there was a zine that I’d kill to be in AFTER they’re announcing it’s publish date. I was invited to one about female artists at a convention but missed the deadline.

4. Yes! I have a storenvy where I sell all the merch I make for conventions. Honestly getting to see my artwork on literally ANYTHING is always so ... thrilling?? But since the only one’s I “make” myself without getting printshops to do it are the buttons. But I do enjoy button making

5. Like... every artist I follow ever????!!?! And my friends and life. That’s so hard LOL. I guess if you want SPECIFICS I can give you a list of styles I’ve tried to copy over the years (6th-11th grade basically) that really informed my art style? Cause otherwise there’s too much to even BEGIN

- Sailor moon manga/Naoko Takeuchi (I wanted to draw like the anime but had little access to images of how that would look)

- Saint Tail/Megumi Tachikawa

-DNAngel/Yukiru sugisaki (the style they found after book 3/4 of DNAngel and then did for Lagoon engine/erstatz is STILL one of my favorite styles)

-Kittenchan(DA)/Kaciart (everywhere else) I found them on deviantart at the age of like 13 and learned a LOT from some basic tutorials on how to draw body parts/clothes (ONE friend when seeing their art was like OHHHH I see where you get your style now) @kaciart if you wanna check them out. They’re still really active and gr9

- D.Gray Man/Katsura Hoshino I love... I LOVE the matured style in this series (again a few books in) from 15-17 I was obsessed and tried to copy this

- 10K Commotion/Yukon I found this sometime in the summer of a year of HS and LOST MY DAMN MIND. I think I mistook the thrill of the story for an admiration of the artwork and then tried to copy it. There’s a beautiful simplicity to it but it’s not a style I strive for anymore

after that point it was a mix of friends/acquaintances/strangers on Tegaki E that I found for the rest of highschool age. And it became more of attempting to draw the way they did to learn how to make a color change like that, to learn how to draw an eye taht way, to get stronger on anatomy. The biggest influences probably being @cookiehanasjunk and Haisi who hides and I can no longer find him (I mean a lot more than those two but again this is getting LONG)

ppl i didn’t know personally but fell into around that time @hamletmachine​ @bigbigtruck @creaturexlll come to mind as huge influences on art and story telling

But rest assured if they inspire me and I follow them now I’m reblogging like EVERYTHING THEY MAKE. These are just the things I can remember from my formative years trying to art before I went to college

oh my god this is so long. sorry. Also sorry for all the notifs these artists are gonna get. I’m a little embarrassed but also they deserve the credit? And I’d rather give you a working link to their shit -shakes fist at haisi wherever he is in the universe-