Learning to Draw; Star's Art Blog

[asksnowball]

Yes, I’m still doing this stuff, though it’s been a while since I’ve uploaded, hasn’t it? Thing is, I *love* drawing, even when I don’t always have time to practice. Still, I’ve been getting much more confident with my art as of late, and I’m at the point where I can stop worrying so much just because I can’t get a single line right.

[probablyfakeblonde]

Hey will ever make tutorial for drawing ps love your art

I’ve thought about trying to make tutorials in the past but I’m just not that great at explaining things! It all just kinda happens!

[asksnowballart]

Step 1: Have the confidence to draw. You’d think that’d be easy, but when you’re looking at your own sketches and comparing them to someone who’s got *several* years of experience on you, you’re gonna be disheartened.

Step 2: Put yourself on a schedule. Stick to it. It’s okay to take breaks every now and then, as long as you don’t put yourself into a mindset where “okay, I missed today, I’m gonna draw twice as much tomorrow”. You need to practice at your own pace.

Step 3: Don’t be afraid to use the works of others as reference material. Find something you really like about how an artist does things, and try to replicate it. (Using Queenie as an example, I adore how she can be so expressive, not just with the face she’s making but how her entire body conveys what she’s feeling) Once you’ve got an understanding of their style, put down the reference image and try to make it work in your own style.

Step 4: Ask around - and don’t just say “How do I draw” because you’re gonna get the same “practice” response from everyone. Be specific with your questions, hell, draw something so that they have an idea exactly what you’re having trouble with.

Step 5: Seek constructive criticism. “This is nice” and “Better than what I could do” will stroke your ego and encourage you to keep going, but it does little to point out where you can stand to improve.

Step 6: I don’t care if you’re using pencil/paper, ink, paint, the computer, hell, you can make your art in ASCII for all I care. *KNOW YOUR TOOLS*. Again, this is just something that comes from experience, but just because you can draw something with your mechanical .7mm pencil doesn’t mean you’re gonna be able to ink it, or know how to blend colors in Photoshop.

[girlandgeese]

Note to self

Stop thinking: “I’m not talented enough to execute this concept.” Start thinking: “I’m going to be a stronger artist when I’ve finished this piece.”

[404youbroketheinternet]

This is a fixed mindset vs. a growth mindset.

Your abilities are not static, and any challenges you have, anything that turns out different from how you imagined, is not evidence of failure, just a struggle towards improvement.

[asksnowballart]

A bit of fanart for Laura the Zony. I can’t remember if I’ve ever said it, but she’s one of two, maybe three tumblr artists that initially inspired me to pick up a pencil/stylus and take up the hobby for myself - and I can only say it’s been a blast. 

[maybesimon]

learning is a spiral

The first drawing you make is not composed of the basic shapes, shaded to perfection. It is a blot, or a shaky line. You saw something, you want to copy it, make it yours. Your motor skills were low, but you were driven, so you drew. 

As a kid, we draw. We color in and we copy. Sometimes people will tell us ‘oh, no sweetie, apples are not pink’ and ‘you need to color within the lines’. This is fine, these are basic rules if you want to represent something (of course, it’s also fine to color your apples pink, it doesn’t really matter).

Then, later on, if you are interested in drawing, you might try to copy more complex things. At first it will look awesome, until you notice that it’s shit. And you will look at it and be like ‘what the fuck’. This is the point that you might want to 1) take a class, 2) pick up a book.

At this point, you learn about shapes and forms and shading and perspective and all that good stuff. Here, the formal knowledge comes in. And you draw and copy and draw and copy, until you think that your works looks shit again, and you dive deeper.

This is how learning works. It makes no sense to start teaching drawing to kids by talking about perspective. That only works once the learners realize that something is missing in their art, and it has to do with space. You don’t start a musician by first talking about music theory, you need to let them play and copy, and then realize that they’re doing it wrong, so that they will look into ways to make it better. Then, they can return to their old problem, with a deeper understanding of what the problem is, and they can solve it, until they run into something deeper and more interesting. Theory only makes sense once the learner knows what the theory is for.

[asksnowballart]

Honestly, that seems to be pretty fair. As things stand, my current “snags” with my drawing are trying to get a pony muzzle to look good at angles other than directly from the side, learning how to draw legs consistently at various angles, and how to draw wings in positions other than fully open or shut (I know the common advice is to imagine it as an arm, and I’ve started to apply it to figure out what the skeletal structure should look like, but it’s drawing the wing itself that’s the trick.)

[asksnowball]

I felt like drawing a horse, since it’s been so long since I’ve last done anything.

I drew a unicorn. Now I feel better.

[asksnowballart]

They just keep coming. For a bit of clarification, the (Night) in the title refers to the fact that I'm doing these drawings on break where I work, meaning I get an hour tops for everything on the paper, then take the picture at the end of my break. Kind of a shame, too - I'd actually darkened the bottom-left picture, and added a new one in the upper-left before coming home. In any case - good news is that I'm starting to get a feel for how to draw Star Catcher, however, the fact that I'm using a single artist as a reference means that I can't be certain whether I'm actually learning to draw, or just learning to draw poses the artist has already done. So - and this'll certainly be interesting - the next thing I'll be aiming for is to use different artists for pose/gesture references, while still aiming to keep this art style.

[asksnowballart]

I’ll be honest, this is kinda starting to blow my mind. It’s been just under a year since I’ve started drawing, but with all the breaks I’ve taken, I’ve only really been actively practicing for about 3 months tops. That said, to go from this: 

to what I just posted? That’s some mindblowing sh*t right there.

[asksnowballart]

So, I haven’t done anything with the tablet for a few days, and I didn’t feel like going to sleep at work. Have some Star Catcher. Ultimately my goal with this sketchdump was to work on the muzzle, and I felt like doing Star because I hadn’t drawn her in some time. The images used for references are from Star Catcher’s Corner (Artist:ProbablyFakeBlonde) I know I’ve mentioned her a lot, but she’s amazing at what she does. Seriously, go check her out at ( http://probablyfakeblonde.tumblr.com/ )

[asksnowballart]

Next up on the list, Will. Few things of note on this one, first off, "slicked back" hairstyles can right screw over, though to be fair I'm not entirely sure what I gave him works that great either. Second, the wings. Being a "Fairy Filly", I don't like the idea of the guy's wings being opaque, and so, both are transparent, with the overlap being more solid than the rest. Third, I really don't like white/silvery hair, because there's only so much detail you can give to it. Whereas in the last image I was able to use shading and lighting to give the mane and tail depth, here I had to do it just to make it clear there was some sort of detail to be had, and I didn't just forget to color it in somehow. On that note, I'm fairly satisfied with how the chest downward turned out, but I swear that neck is going to be the death of me. Also, that muzzle *really* isn't cutting it for me. Finally, I need to get a style down for eyes; there is one style I have in mind that I may experiment with next time. So, yeah. Here we are.

[asksnowballart]

Huh. Well, if nothing else, I certainly *feel* like I’m improving. In any case, I’ve certainly managed to get a basic grasp on hooves in my time doing this, so that’s a plus, though I feel the body could do with a bit of work, as one common trait I’ve noticed with my art is that I don’t really know where the neck should finish and the body should begin.

Anyway, this here is Zack, from Filly Stars. Don’t know what Filly Stars is? Well, it’s a toyline from a larger franchise (Filly) that just doesn’t have as big a worldwide foothold as MLP does. You may or may not have heard of Filly Funtasia; this is a character from that show.

[asksnowballart]

So I did a thing. Furthermore, I was streaming for it.

Is it objectively good? It’s okay, there’s certainly a lot to be desired, but I feel it at least resembles what I was going for. One thing I’d have liked to fix is that I had kind of intended her to have a concerned expression, and that didn’t really come out as intended. Nonetheless, it’s the first pony image I’ve drawn in some time, and a good way for me to get back into practice.

[asksnowballart]

Well, this has certainly been a long time coming. First off, to anyone browsing through these years from now, sorry about the delay, life really just up and caught up to my drawing time.

That said, here’s something new - a friend of mine asked me to draw an OC of theirs (I don’t know for what, mind) and I did so, and it felt really nice to be doing this sort of thing again. That’s gotta count for something, right?

[asksnowball]

Bit of an update

First off, sorry for the lack of art, things have been taking up a lot of time since that Shantae drawing. I’ve done a few bits and pieces since, but nothing I’d consider good. Still…

Original by Meester Finchy - http://meesterfinchy.deviantart.com/

(Wow, according to how I have these drawings sorted that was done on the 19th…)

Anyway, as for what I’ve been doing. My girlfriend and I have been looking to get into D&D. She’s made her first character (Chaotic Neutral Half-Elf Bard), and is really excited about the prospect of finding a group. As for me, I went with something a bit different; since it seems that every centaur character ever is some sort of archer, I figured I’d play things a bit different, and so opted to make my character a paladin instead.

Of course, that left me in a bit of a fun spot - the sort of world-builder that I am, of course I figured I’d want to at least do a bit of research into horse breeds to find one that fit the character. Initially my idea had been to go with an Arabian since they’re well-known, common, and I do like the coloration, but I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere. So, I looked at the problem from a different perspective, and began to read through the 5e handbook for their list of dieties.

And that’s how I found Sylvanus, the Roman/Celtic god of Nature, and one that aligned well with the True Neutral stance centaurs tend to take since they don’t typically concern themselves with humans/elves/what have you. From there, I at least had a direction to go for breed, which ultimately ended with me basing my character off the Irish Draught ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Draught )

So yeah. I do have a few ideas floating in my head regarding his reason for adventure having something to do with a coming of age (I have him pretty young at eleven, but mind that a centaur doesn’t have a human’s longevity much less an elf’s) but really the only serious roadblock I’m hitting right now is giving the poor guy a name. Any ideas?

[pissyeti]

good artist tips

there’s always gonna be someone better than you. try to work less on comparing yourself to their work and instead learning from them and turning envy into a personal challenge for your own stuff. i know its hard, trust me.

the best way to get better at art is to practice. there is no special trick to improving, no secret method. practice makes perfect is a tired old saying that im sure you dont want to hear but unfortunately, its true.

draw as much as you are able to. i wont say draw every day!!! because i know that there are folks that dont have this sort of luxury, whether it be because of physical or mental restrictions, or simply because they dont have time. draw whenever you can and have the strength to. try not to be too upset if you miss a day or a week or even months. shit happens, do the best you are able to.

if you get bored or stuck, try another way. change mediums if you can, flip the canvas, do something weird that you wouldnt normally do. sometimes this is the best way to un-stick yourself from art block.

dont be afraid to ask for help. this is so important! its ok to ask for assistance from other artists you admire (given that they have time to give pointers.) even if asking for help is straight up asking for a redline of your work, its ok to ask for it. improvement doesnt come without outside assistance, more often than not.

references are 100% a legitimate resource. i’m not really sure where the idea came from that real artists dont use references, but its not true. every renaissance painter used references in the form of in-house models. disney artists use references of animals and people to correctly model and then correctly exaggerate their designs. you cant learn to draw the world around you without actually studying it. use references, even if its just google searching.

your art is not an island. you will pick up styles from other people like tape picks up pet hair. its inevitable, and its not something that should be seen as a negative. artists inspire other artists. use your discretion, and study what you like about another artist’s work. every artist’s style is a mashup of a hundred other artists. its ok, experiment.

youre not going to make masterpieces all the time. youre gonna suck more often than not. but youre putting effort into something you enjoy and in the process you are getting better, slowly but surely. you arent going to see your stuff improve overnight, be patient.

please be kind to yourself. you are making a unique form of artistic expression, regardless whether you see it that way or not. youre doing fine, please keep going and pat yourself on the back for getting this far.

[asksnowballart]

Er... yeah. That’s pretty much how this artistry thing works. Huh. Kudos for coming out and posting it all at once, pissyeti.

[deadshirtt-deactivated20140420]

Mini SAI guide - "Blending (color blending)", "Dilution (opacity mix)", and "Persistence" settings.

I’ve had a general idea what these things did but wasn’t completely sure what their specific functions were. I decided to sit down and figure it out, and I have thrown together a short reference guide for anyone who is confused about them. I know there are multiple translations of SAI floating around, so if some of these terms don’t sound familiar, just know that I’m talking about the three settings that appear under the texture in the brush tool settings (note that this won’t apply to any tool types except for brushes and watercolor brushes).

I don’t claim to be an expert so if you find I’ve made a mistake, let me know so I can update it, thanks! :3

—-

BLENDING (Color Blending)

This controls how readily the brush will inherit any colors you are painting over with it. For example, a 0% blending setting will pick up no existing colors, treating it as if you were painting on a transparent layer. A 100% blending setting will ONLY pick up existing colors (provided there are any). So at 100%, the color you’re using won’t even show up, unless you move to a transparent area. Blending is not affected by transparent pixels, so if you’re drawing on a blank layer it will have no effect.

So you can see from this example that the color I’m using gets harder to paint as the blending increases and more of the existing green is absorbed, until at 100% it is just completely turning green.

—-

DILUTION (Opacity Mix)

This controls how readily the brush will draw on a blank (transparent) part of the layer. A 0% Dilution will result in the brush painting very easily onto a blank surface, while a brush with 100% dilution will literally not paint on blank parts of the layer at all. Dilution is ONLY affected by transparent pixels. So it won’t do anything if the whole layer is already filled in (even with white). Dilution can be thought of as the inverse of the Blending setting in some ways.

So in this example, you can see that as dilution approaches 100%, the color I’m painting with basically becomes invisible. In fact, if you were to switch to binary color mode and look at this layer, there would literally be nothing there anymore!

Keep this in mind - if you ever can’t paint for some reason, check your dilution setting, it might have gotten accidentally bumped to 100!

—-

PERSISTENCE

This one goes hand-in-hand with blending. Basically, it controls how easily a brush shifts color as you are blending from one color to another. Rather, how long it “persists” if you will. Like blending, Persistence is only really relevant when painting over existing color so it’s mostly unaffected by transparent pixels. Basically, the higher the persistence, the longer it will take for the color to shift as you make a stroke, and subsequently, from which color to which other color it is shifting is dependent on the blending setting.

So for this example I’ve done the same test with three different levels of blending. I turned off all pressure sensitivity (actually I just used my mouse) to emphasize the effects in a controlled environment:

If blending is at 0%, persistence fails to have any real effect. With pressure on, there is only the difference of having to push harder, but the results will be the same as far as I can tell.

At a happy medium of 50%, persistence increase causes the orange that the brush is picking up to last longer as it goes into the green, until it never shifts to blue at all.

At 100% blending, there was never any blue in the first place, because as we already know, full blending causes you to only pick up existing color. So the persistence setting changes only how fast the orange changes to green.

Persistence is dependent upon the blending settings, so having them somewhere in the middle will probably produce the most optimal results.

—-

CONCLUSION

Ultimately how you use these is up to you, and is largely dependent on what kind of brush you’re making and what it will be used for. And most of these settings are meant to be used together in unison, so play around with them a lot!

If you are confused, or not sure what settings you want or what settings you should be using, a safe bet is to put them all at about 50% - that will produce fairly average results that are easy to work with, and it’s easy to remember in case you want to experiment but don’t want to forget your settings in case you decide to switch back. 

Hope that helps!

[kittykatmaniac]

nODO for those who need help with sai!

[asksnowballart]

So, here’s an idea of something that *looks* intricate and complicated but really isn’t. In any case, one interesting thing about Rarity is that of the Mane 6, her mane most closely resembles an actual mane.

But what do I mean by that? Surely no real horse has such a complicated mane, aren’t they short and straight down the center of the neck?

And that’s just the thing. Imagine Rarity’s mane without all the curls, and it’s actually pretty straightforward. Rarity’s mane attaches to her head at two points - just behind the horn, and near the back of her head, and the mane itself is actually really narrow. For the two curls in her mane, the easiest way to go about drawing this is to imagine a rolled up paper, or some sort of parchment. As for the tail, again, if you take a moment to plot out the length, it’s really not that hard to visualize.