#traditional art tips

[dracl-dragon]

Genuine art advice from someone still learning

Im in no way, shape, or form a professional, but these are some tips i think every artist might be able to use.

Go outside your comfort zone. You might not like how it turns out, but thats ok! It's completely normal. You aren't going to be perfect immediately. You'll probably never be perfect. You're human, that's normal.

Don't be afraid to make messy doodles as practice. If you're a traditional artist and worried about wasting your supplies, go get a box of cheap colored pencils or some cheap paint! Its ok, its just practice doodles.

When drawing a subject, whether it be a person, animal, or even a complex plant or landform, break it down into its most basic shapes. Just simple circles and lines to figure out where each joint is, each big piece.

You're always learning! Your art style may shift and change over time, and thats ok! Everything about you is changing, so why wouldn't your art style?

[indolentjellyfish]

Squid glass dip pens!

I didn't get much torch time this summer so instead of trying to churn out a bunch of the same old I decided to learn a new skill. I haven't perfected it yet but I'm getting there.

[frenchonionsoop]

some hoshikawa BEAST studies!!

[gtzel]

YOOO I finally drew something! Trying out a new style based off of @ipilokko ‘s art!

[izel-scribbles]

how do you draw cuddles so well please I am begging I must know your secret

buckle up chucklefucks, you’re gonna learn how to draw cuddles and snuggles :3

step 1.

wallow in touch-starvation and loneliness

step 2. Find a good reference. pinterest has a ton, just look up “couples photoshoot”

step 3. isolate shapes + where features are. might have to make adjustments for body type based on who you’re drawing. this part of the fun :D

step 3: define clothes, features, etc (its important to remember that bodies are 3-dimensional and will overlap + sag over each other)

Step 4, if you wish: shade/color!

another example:

hopefully this is helpful 👍

[i-am-a-living-god]

I just discovered the ultimate hand drawing technique during class today. I call it, the FOOT METHOD observe,

So first we draw the sole of a foot like this:

Than we add three circles (like toes)

Now we add a "flap"

And a little oval

And the thumb

the rest of the fingers:

the best part of this technique is that it works almost always, like so

Now I'm leaving a more in depth explanation for this under the cut

alright so the hand is actually two separate pieces, the palm and the thumb.

The palm is kind of foot shaped and the thumb is a triangle

So I figured it would be easier to draw if I were to simplify it into two shapes instead of one it'd be easier to foreshorten.

And I was right!

The "foot" doesn't really move at all so if you want to foreshorten it all you got to do is change the size depending on the pose.

Where as the "flap" often changes completely, but at it's core it's mostly triangle shaped, So keep that in mind.

If you're doing a side view, then if we're looking at it from the thumb side it's usually a triangle and if we're looking at it from the pinky it's usually a rectangle.

Fingers are a whole other ordeal, but the main thing I noticed is that they start out thick, are thinnest in the middle and thick at the tip.

Thumbs are two joints connected to the "flap" opposed to the three joints of the rest of the fingers.

Aaand that all I got! I hope this helps somebody :D

[ellierenae]

TRADITIONAL ARTISTS! i wanted to make sure you guys know about erasable pens- not because pencils dont exist but because they ERASE WITH HEAT! so if you do a sketch in purple and ink it over in nice contrasting black so you're sure you got every line, you can hit that puppy with a heat gun for like 10 seconds and the sketch instantly vanishes

rebog to save a life etc 🙏

[arttsuka]

augustus: *making a painting using a brush in his mouth* "is it weird i'm a work of art making a work of art"

octavius: *hugging his plinth* "i'm so proud of you, my boy"

[liseauxlethal]

[sylenth-l]

Deeper

[scarymonsters-andsupercreeps]

Roy!!

[sacredsapling]

How to transfer sketches to watercolor paper

Ever created a drawing you really love, then decided that you wanted to paint it in watercolor (or transfer it to another type of paper)? Or maybe you just want to avoid smudges on your good paper? Or transfer a digital sketch onto paper?

This tutorial will help!

Start with a sketch on plain cheap copy or sketch paper (print if you need to, or photocopy your original sketch if you don't want to ruin it).

Next, flip the paper over (so you're looking at the blank side) and put it on a lightbox. Don't have one? No worries! Hold it up to a window, or put it on your iPad screen at max brightness.

Now, take an (ideally HB non-mechanical) graphite pencil and scribble all over the lines shining through, until it looks like a messy copy of your original sketch.

(First image is of just the graphite back, second is of the corner flipped so you can see the original sketch too)

Now, attach it to your nice paper graphite side down. Use tape on two corners (so it stays in place, but you can peel up the other corners to check it). 

Tips for easily released tape: Cut the tape to your desired length and put it on fabric, like your pants, and pull it off. Repeat a few times. The oils from your fingers plus the fibers will make it less sticky!

Now, trace the original side of your sketch with a ball point pen! You need a very sharp tip and to be able to see where you’ve drawn, so definitely use a ball point pen for this. Use firm pressure!! (Your hand will probably be sore if you do this all at once). Make sure you’re on a hard surface, too.

Tip: start in a corner you can flip to check, and make sure it's transferring properly. If not, add more/a softer graphite to the back and/or press harder.

When you're done, you'll have a light but visible pencil guide to paint right over!

Want other tips? Send in an ask or check out my tutorial tag!

[kaixv]

Struggling with finding unique or fluid poses?

Look at photos of Florence Welch or (ballet) dancers!! Both have very elegant and fluid poses that are dramatic and eye-catching which makes them great to reference or use for practice!

[valensolo12]

Been playing Pillars of Eternity all week and decided to try to keep a journal of interesting moments, since it turned out to be pretty fun when i did it with fallout 1. It's a much longer game so this is gonna take a while but here are my favorite pages!

also a family photo of the party so far :) Durance is the weird uncle

[gtzel]

Handheld

[nocturneblight]

“Improving the line art with black shadows!”

Trying to hand out tutorials for the first time, just drawing tips and tricks, it’s no pro stuff but I’m just freelancer sooooo.

It’ll basically be stuff to show how I do my art, Little things I do to stylize my things. Maybe someone else will be able to take something out of it. Forgive me if this tutorial is basic, I’m not experienced in making em so give me time.