the morpho books are sooooo good for improving anatomy! for other stuff like coloring i usually analyze my favorite artists coloring and try replicate it as closer as i can! it helps absorb bits of it....also this is a personal one but spite is a good motivation to keep going
the morpho books are truly so cool 😭 the one about folds in clothes is so brilliant,,, I look at it and i read it and still don't get it fully !!! 😭 learning from our peers truly is enriching :') your colors are always beautiful
Yes!!!!! It's a bit of a brain melter at first how to understand folds but once you do its an eye opener, I love their diversity in body types in the books tbh, since s lot of books just teach u the ideal body and not bigger or muscular bodies
truly finding what we love seems to be the key :') I know a lot of people talks about art from suffering but art from love is even more strong in my eyes
...boxes. It was the boxes, at least for the torso, I'm still working on it for everything else.
Also the Morpho books! I only have two so far but I plan on getting more.
And thinking about gravity more for clothes and all that, I'm still learning but man is it fun to learn and improve day by day!
Honestly, the time where i improved most, was during a summer where i did not have internet. So i could not use my pc or social media. I was in the middle of the country.
I was forced to create without seeing any art, no outside unout, for 4 months.
I improved SO MUCH.
ohhh was it hard at the beginning?? like the moment you had to force yourself to go inwards or to real life examples to learn from instead of looking at what others are doing/how they do it... i wonder if you learned a lot about what you wanted in your style too?
as soon as i realized that i just need my art to get to a level that gets across my idea, and not a "realistic" depiction of the subject, i got instantly happier and more satisfied with my art. did i render this reflective surface the way i wanted to? great. does this blob look like a gun? fantastic
yup! ofc studies r important and just never really go away so that we "stay in shape": but i also know how anxiety inducing it can get when an artist forgets why they even draw in the 1st place. for me, it's to get a point across. be a realistic painting, could be a stickman. easy to forget!
Detailing shadows (through color gradations or use of interesting shapes) and keeping highlights simple (flat color spot of the desired brightness) has elevated my art SO MUCH is unfair I didn't try this before :'D
It also works with simple shadows and detailed highlights!
And working within a time limit has helped me not fall into the perfectionist trap 😬. I can remake an old artwork if I didn't like first try, but I will not spend months on a single piece just fixing details that no one but me will see.
I think for me it was realizing that quality is better than quantity. that taking my time on a piece of artwork meant more than simply "having something" to post. but part of this was also streamlining my process and realizing what parts of the line, coloring, etc. process could be simplified.
there's a lot of simple tricks that make things look more complex then they actually are. bits of bright light on high points, shading hair and parts of limbs with backlighting, etc. basically learning the program you use and making it serve you, rather than frustrate you.
Being willing to actually learn and do studies, but also becoming willing to do stuff badly
To become good at stuff you must first be bad at it and you have to be willing to do it bad, do it scared, to accept not everything will be a magnum opus, and do it anyway
figure drawing, but specifically gesture drawing-- having to get a pose as close as possible to the model on a page in like 5 or 10 minute bursts. it really helps with conceptualizing anatomy and stylization, seeing how things interact on a fundamental level
noo it doesnt sound weird at all!! I have been struggling with volume in my art for the longest and everytime I go back to 3d im like ahhh so thats why,,, its really SO helpful and such a good tip
I second this! my art got so much more dynamic as I was able to better understand bodies as 3d objects + I started including all these little details I did while figure drawing in my day to day art!
I think that when I draw with references, instead of copying exactly the reference (which makes my art look stiff), it’s better to learn from it and derive a reusable formula (?) In other words, a work process that helps me draw the same thing without looking at refs…!
that's why your style is so much fun,,, the way you stylize is the coolest @_@ i will try applying this concept more >:) I too want to get better at stylization
For me it was observation and consistency… I looked at art and watched people draw whenever I could, and I’d observe the way they’d do specific things and applied it to my art! I just consistently did that all while continuing to draw what I loved without much
Thought about improving or finding an art style. Just seeing what I like, applying it, and drawing whatever I wanted 👼💗 it naturally gets better if you just have fun and express your true self in the best way that you can.
it totally shows in your art q_q its just so much fun and its so expressive too?? i must admit only recently i understood the value of just drawing what we love 😭 it took me a lot of time to be able to move on from the stiff reality so i admire styles like yours so so much q_q lots to learn,,,
omg youll make me sob... self expression and creation overall is something so special and significant to every fiber of my being. i love connecting with artists like you whos passion shines through every stroke they make!! like your style is so fab and gorgeous.. and it just gets better and better 🥹
for drawing ppl: using adult content/media as studies and drawing them as my OTP 😳 really helped understand anatomy in a natural way (i previously learned anatomy from "how to draw manga" books but that method made my drawings look stiffer). of course i wouldnt recommend this method for minors 😓
it is a very simple tip from me but it was hard for me to finally embrace the idea of using references. it's okay to constantly use references, it's okay to trace fundamental shapes from references.
for the longest time, i was really stubborn and it definitely halted my art progress a lot 💀
i think there are two artists the ones that cant draw without references and those who refuse to use them KFJFDJ both extremes can be hurtful in their own way,,, ultimately recognizing that tools are there to make our job easier and also to learn from them is the most helpful 🫂🩷
yeah definitely! you're very right that being too dependent on references can be also hurtful, i was thinking about it but no space for words JHDFJHDFJHDF
to find your style, do 1 thing differently every drawing. change your brush change your entire workflow doesn't matter how big of a change it is or if you stick with it. eventually you'll find a combination that you like
for me i think what truly helped me was learning how to mix colors with real paint! it made it easier for my eyes to identify how to make a color and where to find it in a color wheel :) its a nice exercise and it helps building your desired palette for an illustration
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Also the Morpho books! I only have two so far but I plan on getting more.
And thinking about gravity more for clothes and all that, I'm still learning but man is it fun to learn and improve day by day!
I was forced to create without seeing any art, no outside unout, for 4 months.
I improved SO MUCH.
Where you brain is just BEGGING for input to draw from.
But as i had nothing else to do, i just started drawing for drawing's sake. And those sketch pages are just so fun to look back at.
Everything got more weird and loose.just fun, no posting fuel
I just drew whatever i wanted. Without an agenda like a finished piece to post, or a commission FOR someone.
It also works with simple shadows and detailed highlights!
To become good at stuff you must first be bad at it and you have to be willing to do it bad, do it scared, to accept not everything will be a magnum opus, and do it anyway
for the longest time, i was really stubborn and it definitely halted my art progress a lot 💀