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same-side · 5 years

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hiiii! i just wanna say, i adore your art. second, im teaching myself to draw and while i can draw simple basics (mouths and sometimes eyes if im lucky), im still a beginner. ive watched many art videos and im still a bit confused on wtf im doing. so i just came here to ask if you had any words of wisdom for beginners? could be anything from what tablets to buy to simple mistakes to avoid. ive read some of the other posts here and have found it all extremely helpful so far! Thx for all you do!!

Hey there! Thank you so much!

I would put a read more but tumblr is broken. I’m trying to cover a lot of varied thoughts in little points, so if there’s anything you would like me to elaborate on or otherwise have questions on, feel free to shoot me an ask or dm me!

General

I think the biggest thing to remember is not to compare yourself extensively to others. A little bit of comparison is healthy... But too much will destroy your confidence, motivation, and take the fun out of art. Particularly if you are comparing yourself to someone older than you (life experience and coordination come into play here) or that has been drawing much longer (practice).

Additionally... If you’re not having fun (and you’re not getting paid to do it), don’t force yourself. If you find yourself being frustrated or bored with art, don’t force yourself to do it. That’s how you burn out and get art block! This applies to parts of a peice, too! If you don’t feel like drawing a face or a hand today? don’t force yourself to finish it. Come back to it later when you aren’t as frustrated or are getting better results. Even if its a week or a month from now. Honestly, at any given time I have probably ten headless bodies in my drafts. That’s okay! I just come back to them when I’m ready to do the face. And don’t be afraid to abandon something if it doesn’t feel right!

Something that also doesn’t get said enough.... take care of your body! I never knew when I started art, but artists are supposed to do warmup sketches and stretches and muscle exercises! I didn’t do any of this, and i went through a period of a few months where I was drawing for 5ish hours every single day. I developed carpal tunnel from it! So remember to take care of yourself. Take breaks, stretch, remember to eat.

Practice

Practice!!!! Even if its just for fifteen minutes every day. Or twice a week. But if art is something you really want to get good at, you have to put in the time and effort!! You can’t expect to draw an hour per month and be on the same level as someone who draws an hour a day!

I know I say this a lot but I think the biggest thing is just reference! If you don’t know what something looks like, look at a picture of it when you draw it! To go hand in hand with that, though, don’t just copy what you see! Learn from it and apply it! So take, for example, a shoe! pay attention to the way the heel is shaped, the location of the eyelets for the laces... how large the toe is, how steep the top! While you’re at it, look at other styles of shoes as well, and compare them! See what makes it look like a boot versus a trainer! And then the next time you draw it, hopefully you’ll remember all the things you learned the first time around!

I do lots of studies that serve no purpose other than to teach me things! I use referencing/studies to learn about color theory, shapes, and anatomy in a real environment. For example, hands or fabric folds! Oftentimes I’ll do them timed (20 or 45 minutes) so that I don’t fixate on perfecting things, just on the process itself and what I can learn from it. This also helps with getting better acclimated to your software and more coordinated with what you’re doing. Repetitive learning, like with playing sports.

I’ve realized a lot of people don’t quite understand what a study is? Basically you just look at a photo and try to replicate it so that you can learn about lighting or color theory or textures or anatomy or whatnot. So here’s an example of a timed study.

Additionally, don’t avoid!! We, as humans, have a tendency to avoid things that make us uncomfortable or are difficult. But it will make you a better artist in then end. When I first started, I absolutely hated doing fabric. I felt like I wasn’t good at it. So instead of avoiding drawing clothing, I sat down and did studies and sketches of different kinds of fabric. By the end of this learning period, I became comfortable with it and grew to enjoy it. These days, I adore sketching clothes, and it’s why my pants and shirts and things tend to be detailed instead of stylized in line art. If you don’t like drawing hands because you feel like you aren’t good at it? Sit down, look at a bunch of pictures of different hands, and practice it. By the end, you’ll be more comfortable, you’ll have learned something. Even if you feel like the drawings you ended up with aren’t good, you’ll still have learned, and that’s what matters!

Style

I worked on basics before I tried to develop a style. I made sure to start with a very realistic method at first, so that I could be sure I understood how fabric folds, anatomy, and realistic expressions worked before I tried to stylize them. I think in the long run this approach really paid off for me. It also allowed me to be conscientious of what elements I was absorbing into my artwork. I hear from so many artists that they started drawing when they were younger and into anime or cartoons or things like that, and tried to emulate it. Because those styles became so ingrained into their artistic skillset, it becomes near impossible to iron out those influences and get rid of them later. So starting with realism is a way to ingrain proper anatomy and other good practice into your artwork.

One way to develop style is to take a look at the artwork of someone you admire, and try to list out the things you like form their style - perhaps the thickness of their lines, or the way they do eyes. Do this with several artists, take all those little details you like and try them out! See if you enjoy using them in your own drawing process! Think of it like a grab bag or a pick-n-mix, sprinkling in the elements you like here and there to create something new and your own - not just copying another artists style word for word.

Don’t worry too much about it though; don’t allow yourself to become anxious or fixated on “achieving a style”. Its a natural ever evolving process that comes with time and practice. I know a lot of people get hung up on style, but just take it one day at a time!

Also try to keep in mind what style you’re going for as you begin drawing. And I don’t mean that like sailor moon vs. ghibli. I mean that as in, is this piece going to be a painting, a lineart, a lined painting, cell shading...? It will help you in the longrun if you narrow down the broad kind of style you use, and refine from there.

Workflow

My workflow for paintings is very different from my workflow for lineart and cell shading. A full tutorial on how I do paintings can be found here! A process video for how I cell shade can be found here!

Everyone is going to have a different method that works for them! You just have to experiment and find out how you like to draw! For me, personally, I use color blocking for painting (see the tutorial above) and a spine method for lineart. How the spine method works is that I will draw lines that represent the legs, arms, back, etc. so that I can determine the placement, length, and composition. From there, I’ll add a dark outline that actually shows the shapes of the body. Then, I’ll use thinner lines to add details. This is the method I’ve found that works for me. Another commonly used method that I’m sure you’ve seen is representing body parts with cylinders and cubes. There are lots of good tutorials out there on breaking down bodies into shapes like this!

Something that I do is if I’m not quite happy with a part of a drawing, I don’t just erase it. I duplicate the layer so that I always have the original copy, and then I make changes from there. Sometimes I can end up with five or six different versions of the same arm or face that i’ve made minor changes to. And then I compare and pick the one I like best, or condense all the parts I like from each version to make a “best” version.

Tools

Currently I use Procreate and the standard Ipad with Apple Pencil. Prior to March I was using a Wacom Bamboo Touch and Photoshop Elements 2008. I find its harder for me to do full paintings in procreate, but its made my life a million times easier for lineart and cell shading. The pen pressure is phenomenal, and I also adore that its wireless / active screen instead of plug in like the wacom. The programme itself is intuitive and easy to get the hang of; it simply lacks a lot of the neat tricks that photoshop has, like rendering (lens flares, for example), gradients, and gradient maps. Try testing out different trials of programmes... firealpaca, photoshop, autodesk, whatever it may be! What works for me may not work for you!

#thegodbucky #asks for ts #t talks #long post #art reference

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ourimpavidheroine · 6 years

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OC Kiss Week 2018 - Day Four

Note: This follows directly after chapters 63 and 64 and three weeks before chapter 65.

Sayuri and Zu

It was one of Sayuri’s cousins - one of the President of Zaofu’s daughters, the youngest one, he believed, called Poppy? There were several of them, all named for flowers - who had casually walked past them and had said, under her breath, “I’ll distract them, you go,” and a few moments later had dropped a champagne flute on the floor, making a fuss as Prince Hou-Ting reassured her and called for a maid to come and clean it. Sayuri had grabbed his hand and yanked him behind a pillar, stifling a laugh, dashing through a door to the back garden that was held discreetly open by the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, of all people.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Button,” he said with a grin, and closed the door behind them.

She pulled him along behind her, stopping next to a stone bench under a plum tree to kick off her shoes, a stray curl sliding down her cheek as she laughed. “Come with me, I want to show you something,” she said, and drew him further in, taking him on a footbridge over a lovely pond and through an elegant pavilion, around a wealth of peonies and roses and red elm trees, the garden quiet in the moonlight but for the chirping of a few grasshopper crickets.

“How big is this?” he asked, marveling. He could smell jasmine mingled with cedar. “It must take up an entire block.”

“Yes, it’s pretty big for a city house. It belonged to my GrandLin’s mother, back in the day.” Another curl burst out, spiraling down the back of her neck. She had a long, tapering neck, graceful like her expressive hands. “It’s my favorite place in the world.” She stopped and pointed up. “You can see the spirit portal from here as well.”

“And the stars,” he said softly.

“Yes. That’s what I want to show you, come on.” Another tug and he followed her, laughing. “My father hated the palace in Ba Sing Se, for the most part, but he loved the gardens. When he first bought the house, oh, I don’t know, it’s been, what, thirty-five, thirty-six years now…” she stopped suddenly in the path and he collided with her. She didn’t seem to mind, just regained her footing and tucked her arm in his. “My gracious, I suppose it has been that long.” She shook her head and then pulled him along again. “Anyhow, he and the gardeners have been working on it all these years. Not that he does any of the actual work himself, my father is opposed to dirt.” Another laugh. “And then he got me, poor old dear. Ah! Here we are.” She gestured to a building set very close to the back wall of the garden itself.

“What’s this?” He watched, fascinated, as another curl slithered its way out.

“This, my sumptuficent Zu, is my workshop. It was my birthday present when I was ten years old.” She lifted up a rather squat ornamental frog squirrel set next to the door and plucked up a key. “Daddy put that there, I was always misplacing my key.” She unlocked the door and put the key back in place before bowing extravagantly. “Please come in.”

The room was awash with equipment of one kind or another; what he thought might be engines, tools hung up for the most part on the walls, bits of metal scattered across worktables, sketches of mechanical things - rendered precisely, unlike the chaos of the room itself - pinned to the walls, a stove and a quantity of glass jars and beakers, and, incongruously, a large pot of brightly colored sunflowers.

“Er...it’s...er…” he waved helplessly.

“Yes, I know. The maids aren’t allowed in here. They put things away where they don’t belong and then I spend hours finding things, using language that shocks my Papa and makes Daddy glare at GrandLin, who of course is never even remotely sorry.” She tilted her head, thinking. “My QiQi doesn’t mind so much, but that’s QiQi for you.”

“The maids aren’t allowed in my office either,” he said, picking up a long tube and staring at the gelatinous brown substance that had hardened inside. “For that very same reason.”

“Oh, don’t break that, Zu, it’s poisonous to inhale.” She shoved at an escaped curl and several more drooped down, a hairpin hitting the floor with a faint tinkle.

“Oh, quite,” he said, and put it down carefully. Her fists were on her hips as she surveyed the room.

“Well, it was clean when I got home but I was up all last night working on something.” Another pin dislodged. “Or was it the night before?” She shrugged. “Well anyhow. What I wanted to show you is up on the roof.”

“On the roof?”

“Yes, come on.” She gestured and ducked behind a black velvet curtain. “I set up a dark room back here, sometimes I take photographs.”

“Oh! There is a professor at the University who says he thinks it possible to make a camera that could photograph the stars. I’ve been working on the math for it.”

She flung the curtain back. “Really? It would just be a matter of magnification and curvature, yes?” At his nod she gestured again. “And a very large camera, of course. Lens, really, the camera itself shouldn’t be all that difficult to build once you had all of that worked out. I wonder...my Uncle Huan can bend sand into glass…” she trailed off for a moment before shaking her head, hairpins flying. “Anyhow! Hold that thought for later!” She grinned. “Up the stairs!”

He followed her up a circular metal staircase, a bit wobbly, watching as she unhooked a trap door, grunting a bit as she shoved it up. It led to a flat roof, disguised behind the usual friezes and ornamentation, complete with two folding camping chairs and a telescope. With a cry he immediately headed towards the telescope, running his fingers over it carefully. “Why, this is a Zhanjing telescope, Sayuri!” It was in beautiful condition, no less, clearly cared for. “What do you do with it when the weather is poor?”

“One of the gardeners is in charge of it, he brings it outside on nights when it’s clear, otherwise it stays inside, safe and sound.” Her smile lit up her face. “In return he can look through it as much as he likes. He’s very fond of the stars.” She came and stood next to him. “I thought you could show me some of the ones you were speaking of today.”

“Really?” He couldn’t stop himself from returning her smile. “Do you know, I think you’ve lost most of your hairpins.”

“Damn my hairpins,” she replied, and plunged her hands into the mass of her hair, shaking at it, laughing as it sprung free. “They stab my scalp and I loathe them.”

“You missed one,” he said, and reached for it, sliding it out carefully and putting it into his pocket. Her hair was surprisingly soft; he’d expected it to be coarse but it wasn’t, not at all.

“I think they procreate,” she said with a wry roll of her eyes, and he realized that without her shoes on they were very nearly of a height. “Oh, Zu, I want to kiss you.”

“Ditto, ditto, ditto, but wait just a moment,” he replied, and took his glasses off. “They get in the way.”

“Can you see without them?”

“Not a blessed thing,” he said, and shoved them into his pocket. “I just grope around helplessly without them.”

“Oh, grope away, then,” she laughed, taking his hand and putting it on her breast before moving closer to him. “Nothing I enjoy more than a good groping. Well, except dumplings. I do appreciate a good dumpling.”

“And who doesn’t? I might give up a good grope for another one of those fruit tarts.” He buried his face into that soft, springy hair. “Hmmm. Maybe not right this very second, though.”

“After all, we did have a very good dinner.” Her hands slid around his waist.

“We did. Although who knew that the former Earth King could glare like that?” He kissed along her jaw.

“Oh, I could have told you that.” And then her mouth was on his and he kissed for all he was worth, pressed against her, hands deep into that glorious hair. Their noses collided a bit but he was wholly unconcerned, as he assumed she was as well. “Oh Zu, I hope you aren’t expecting me to give up my maidenhead up here on the roof because for one thing, I expect it would be more than a little cold and for another my maidenhead deserted me some time ago.”

“Far too cold, and maidenheads are overrated, my own was lost to a rather vigorous girl who lived next door to my great-auntie.”

“Oh, was it a tragic story?” She laughed as she pushed a hand up into his tunic.

“Not in the slightest, although Auntie came hunting for me when I didn’t show up for breakfast and I had to run off with my trousers around my knees in order to escape her.” He kissed her some more. “That part was more than a little humiliating.” She was shaking with laughter in his arms, head thrown back, and he marveled at the sound of it; nothing like the polite tittering of the noble girls he’d grown up with but a riotous chortle, complete with several utterly entrancing snorts.

“I have just the one great-auntie here tonight but she’d likely cheer us on, Beifongs being who they are.” She brought her head back down to randomly punctuate her words with kisses.

“So long as you promise me I wouldn’t have to run through your garden with my trousers around my knees, I’m really not all that proficient at running even when they’re up.”

“Heavens no, no need to run through the garden when we could just hop over the wall into Madame Zong’s yard. She’d be scandalized but she’s far too old to run after us. Although her poodle monkey might chase us.”

“But think of the stories we could tell our future progeny!”

“Granny and Gramps met on a lovely autumn day, Granny listened to his brilliant lecture and took Gramps for tarts -”

“- and spitballed out his biggest detractor!”

“Oh, how could I forget that! And then Granny took him home to meet all of her family -”

“-a great deal of unexpected family!”

“-and then took him onto the roof to look at the stars but it was all a ruse, all she really wanted to do was kiss him and possibly get his trousers down around his ankles-

“-oh, lower than my knees, that’s ambitious-”

“-and then they had to outrun her family, over the fence, away from Cuddles-”

“-Madame Zong’s name is Cuddles?”

“-of course not, Zu, that’s the poodle monkey-”

“-that makes far more sense-”

“-and they ran away that very night and got married!”

They both took a breath. He stared at her - well, at the rather blurry smear that was her face - and even as nearsighted as he was he could tell she was smiling. “Should we?”

“Hmmm. I think my poor father might actually expire if we did. And I really do mean it, as far as I know his heart is fine but as he would tell me,” and here her voice changed, “Sayuri Hou-Ting! Princesses do not elope!”

“There’s also my mother. Worse, my great-grandmother.” He shuddered involuntarily. “They’d...you know, I’m not actually sure what they’d do. Something dire. My great-grandmother is...well. You’ll meet her. She was one of your father’s advisors, you know, back when he was abdicating.”

“I suppose we had best do it the traditional way, then.” Her arms were around him, holding him tightly.

“I’ll write to my parents tomorrow.” He couldn’t stop smiling. He didn’t want to stop smiling.

“Excellent.” She pulled him even closer. “So now that we’ve worked that out do you want to do some more kissing? Trousers mandatory, at least on the roof.”

“Oh yes, I really do. I absolutely do.” And so he did.

#ockisses18 #my fanfiction #tlok #sayuri #zu

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