do you have an idea of a checklist for learning how to create digital art? like i know practice is essential, but i don't really know where to start or where to go from there. thanks so much xox
I think I can toss some stuff out here that might be of use. Â Assuming an artist learning digital art starts from the beginningâowning a tablet & drawing program but not knowing how to use themâhereâs an inconveniently long list of stuff that could help them.
TL;DR: 1, mess around till youâre used to drawing digitally. 2, study and create ad infinitum. 3, a bunch of tips that are pretty hard to TLDR so you should probably just go over em.  Step 2 is basically what you asked me NOT to tell you (âpracticeâ!), but unfortunately itâs all I know how to do :,(
1) If you own a tablet that you plug into your computer (i.e., you donât draw directly on the screen), feel free to spend a few weeks or even a month+ just getting used to it.  When you first start out, itâs really freaky drawing in one place and seeing things appear somewhere else, but trust me in that you wonât even notice the disconnect after a few months of consistent digital drawing.  Iâve been painting digitally for about 2 years now, and itâs actually slightly easier for me to draw digitally than traditionally.  [If you have a cintiq, or you use an iPad with Procreate, or something similar, then you probably donât have to spend as much time in step 1.]
Keep in mind that it doesnât matter how good you were with traditional drawing when you start digital; the mental disconnect you have will make it very difficult to think about proportions, values, edges, colors, etc. Â Youâll probably notice yourself making mistakes that you wouldnât normally make on paper. Â Donât worry about them, just keep drawing as you usually would. Â Digital you will catch up to traditional you in time. Â
For now, get used to blending colors, drawing somewhat steady lines that go in the correct direction, and fooling around with brushes and brush settings. Â If you come across a brush that you like (easy to work with + pleasing results), it may help to stick with it as you continue to learn. Â Digital doodles and sketches are good for this stage; though try to keep doing traditional work so your base art skills donât atrophy. Â
If youâre just starting out with Photoshop or Sai or Krita or whatever software youâre using, youâre gonna be intimidated by all the funky buttons and settings that you first see. Â If it makes you feel any better, I use maybe 0.1% of the tools that Photoshop offers me. Â When you start, all you need to worry about is the brush tool and control-z, maybe the eraser too.
2) Do studies as well as pieces from imagination.  You can move into step 2 as early as you please; you donât have to wait until you think youâve become âskillfulâ at digital drawing (in fact, this step is what will probably help you become the most comfortable with digital).  Itâs alright if your colors are icky looking and your values are off (tip, occasionally turn the saturation of your drawing to 0 to check the values), because as long as you keep studying reality and appealing art & continually learn from your mistakes, youâll get better.Â
Always remember to study or at least appreciate the qualities of art you enjoy.  Itâs the same thing that people always tell writersâyou have to read a lot to write well.  You probably shouldnât shield yourself from the influence of other artists; while you may think that this action would help you develop artistically in the manner most true to yourself, in reality the vast majority of the process of learning art will be honing in on what you find visually pleasant so that you may, in turn, express your artistic taste in your work.  If you look at other peopleâs art, you can pick out tiny aspects of it that you like and incorporate that into your style.  Itâs a bit trickier to build a style without the âhelpâ of other artists, though you can always turn to nature for help. On that note, I also recommend referencing nature as much as you can, because we as human beings are sort of wired to find natural designs, colors, and structures beautiful.  Look at nature for the universally beautiful, and look at art for the subjectively beautiful (i.e., enjoyed uniquely by you).
If you find yourself getting burnt out pretty quickly, then just paint/draw simple and small things for period of half an hour to 1 ½ hours a day (and switch back to traditional).  You can spend this time mapping out proportions, creating thumbnails of values/colors, drawing linework, or whatever.  Add complexity to your pieces as the months go by, and if you already have a decent foundation in drawing aim to create somewhat finished pieces after maybe four months to a year.  Please note that the second part of that sentence was something I completely made up out of my head, because Iâm trying to quantify pretty unquantifiable concepts such as a âdecent foundation in drawingâ and a âsomewhat finishedâ piece of art.  If you find it unrealistic, or just too easy of a goal, disregard it entirely.  It can take you half a decade to learn to make finished digital art, or you can get it down in a couple months.
3) Fun fact, thereâs not really a step 3 as you stay in 2 forever, always studying and creating. Â But thereâs a few other things about digital art that you ought to know, so here they are:
â˘Â If your computer doesnât make a fuss about it, Iâd recommend working on a decently large canvas (at least 3000 by 3000; I personally prefer 6000 by 6000). Youâll get less defined edges and colors if you go below 1000 by 1000, from my experience.
⢠If you have a tablet with pressure sensitivity (you probably should otherwise digital painting is kinda hellish), go to your brush settings and set âtransferâ to âpen pressure.â  This is what makes it possible to blend. Â
⢠If youâre having trouble matching colors while studying, you can always color pick the ref (in photoshop: bring the pic into PS and use the eye dropper tool) and compare its colors to your colors.  Some people add too much red to their skin tones, some people draw their highlights with overly desaturated colors, some people make trees and grass in their landscapes too green; whatever the case, take note of and correct errors that you consistently make. Â
⢠Get used to using the transform/warp/liquify tools (liquify is technically a filter but you get what I mean).  Theyâre lifesavers for fixing proportion mistakes that youâve only noticed 8 hours into a piece.Â
⢠Give layers a shot.  I only work on one layer, but Iâve heard from people who divide their piece up into multiple layers that theyâre damn useful (until you draw on the wrong one).Â
⢠Flip your canvas horizontally every once in a while to make sure stuff hasnât gone awry.Â
⢠Screw around with color modes; they can do some really fancy things that are difficult to duplicate with normal digital painting, let alone traditional.  On the topic of colors, donât be afraid to use somewhat desaturated colors (near the center of the color picker square in PS). There are some very aesthetically pleasing color combinations that you can make out of somewhat dulled colors.
⢠If youâre using PS, bind âstep backwardâ to control Z, not âundo.â  This is under keyboard shortcuts.  Set up a bunch of shortcuts that are the most convenient for youâpersonally, I only keep my left hand near the lower left region of my keyboard (my right hand is away from the keyboard and off to the right, drawing on the tablet), so I have all of my necessary shortcuts in that area.
This was a bit longer than I expected, but I figure that someone out there can get something out of it. Â Cheers to you, if you do.