a list of random art tips i’ve learned over a long time
The elbows are near the same height at the belly button
the hands go about 1/3 of the way down the thigh
add fewer folds in clothes than you think you need
The colors of shadows look different depending on what color your light source is
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HARD LINES AND HARD SHADOWS
if you don’t like doing highlights digitally in procreate, add a black layer over the whole drawing, then click the little N of the layer and scroll down to Color Dodge. pick a color for your highlights and draw. Use a soft airbrush to create glow, use a harder brush to create sharper lines
if something is out of your skill level but you really wanna draw it, get a reference! It’s ok to trace! It will help you get better!
think of objects and people as piles of shapes if you are having trouble with positioning
if you don’t like drawing the other eye: copy and paste, cover it with hair/hat/eye patch/hand/scarf/literally anything you can think of
try new styles! it doesn’t matter if it looks good or not, but now you know what you do/don’t like doing, what you’re good/not good at, and what you want to improve on!
when you’re drawing profile heads: add a little extra length to the back of the head. heads aren’t perfect circles. doing this will make the face, ear, and jawline feel much less cramped.
this is a personal preference, but i like to find old photos from like the 40s and 50s to use as references because people got really wild with how they posed and i find it helps with angles and positioning
heres an exercise i like to do to help with positioning: draw a few pairs of circles, make them at all different angles. then, so back and use those circles as placements for hips and shoulders and draw the first pose that comes to mind. keep it simple, but try to make it natural
(I’ll add more when I think of more)
