#eggymod

[artiststoolbox]

Hi! May I know how you started art, like which resources were helpful for you, and if you had to start art from scratch, how would you go about it? Thanks so much! :D

Well personally I’ve been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pencil, haha. There were no ‘resources’ I was looking at at that age. I also took a lot of art classes for kids during the summer and outside of school. 

To be honest I don’t know if I can give advice on what I would do if I started now.... simply because art has always been that hobby I was naturally good at. I dropped a lot of things like sports and music when I was little because they didn’t come naturally to me, so I got bored with them very quickly, haha. 

If I were to try to give advice to someone else though, I’d suggest finding what you love to draw first, and get good at that. Then focus on life drawing and expanding your skillset. I think it’s really easy to get frustrated when starting a new hobby, so while you should learn the basics, try to find what medium and subject matter suits you first.  If you hate drawing landscapes and have no interest in learning how to paint, don’t start out trying to learn to paint landscapes. But if you really love food, and you’ve always thought colored pencils were neat, then starting out learning to draw food in colored pencil might be a better starting point to get your feet wet. 

Good luck!

Eggymod

[artiststoolbox]

Hi I'm starting my 3rd year in animation course and lately my confidence in art is taking a downward spiral. I see my classmates younger than me with their great art and I can't stop comparing myself to them. My draining confidence started in 2nd year where I attend a workshop for lineart and even if I'm the most diligent with my age group, they get the praises instead. It's getting worse and I recently get anxious when I practiced the muscle memory exercises from the workshop. --Nelly

Hi Nelly!

I’m really sorry this is happening to you. Unfortunately there’s no magic tip I can give you that’ll make this go away, it’s a long and hard process, and confidence can be up or down over the course of time. I’m digging myself out of one of my deeper slumps right now, it’s really hard!! 

Here’s a post I answered that is very similar to yours. Another one is here. One thing I’d also suggest (that seems a little drastic) is therapy!! Not everyone can afford this, but if you have the luxury I really suggest it. It can be really helpful for unpacking yourself, your problems, and learning how you see the world and how you typically react to situations, and this can help you to combat your anxieties.  :) I wish you luck, I hope things get better for you! 

-Eggymod

[artiststoolbox]

Hi! Would you mind maybe doing a compare/contrast with the surface pro and the cintiq 13hd? (Ignoring the fact that the surface is a full computer and the cintiq isn't. Unless you've used one of the cintiq companions.) I have a 13 hd and a samsung galaxy note 10.1, which is an android tablet with a pen, so I'm interested in the comparison.

Sure no problem!!

Okay so just to preface, I’ve only had the Surface for a short while. I’ve had the Cintiq 13HD for a bit longer, and use it more regularly for work.

Also, for those of you who don’t know, the Surface Pro is a windows device that runs Windows 10, and functions as both a laptop and a tablet. So yes, you can get photoshop, Manga Studio, Flash, and any other art program you want on it! HOWEVER, if you have these programs on one computer, in most cases you will have to purchase them again. (TIP FROM much-ado-about-mothing: As long as you have your registration key, you can install MS/CSP on multiple devices.  I’ve got mine on 3 computers with the same registration key, one purchase!)

The Cintiq 13HD functions as a 2nd monitor for the most part. (NOTE: if you know your way around computers you may be able to hook your surface up to make it work as a 2nd monitor. I’m not sure? But I will say it doesn’t come with a lot of ports, just USB and SD card, so hooking up HDMI might be a bit of an undertaking.)

There’s also the Cintiq Hybrid which runs android and the Cintiq Companion2 which runs windows. Both can also be used as a monitor as well. (I don’t think the Cintiq Companion 1 has that functionality)

Cintiq Pros:

the screen! This is a big one for me, and I think most people would agree. The cintiq screen is matte and smooth and oh so nice to draw on. I prefer the cintiq screen to the surface screen, because the surface screen feels more like a regular computer screen, and the tip of the stylus creates a bit of resistance when drawing. This might not bother some people, but I find I prefer the screen of the cintiq.

Can use it with your pre-existing computer. Obviously this only matters to you if you have a pre-existing computer. I have a Mac I’m used to working on, has 16 GB of RAM, has all the programs I need on it already, whereas the surface requires me to find a way to download photoshop again, which as many people probably know, is a big pain in the ass , haha.

HOT KEYS! / easy access to your keyboard. This is also huge for me. The surface is wonderful to cozy up with, but because I like to curl up and draw on it, I end up without access to my keyboard, which makes me unable to hit my hotkeys. Cintiq has built in assignable buttons, and if you work with it upright sitting at a desk you can easily hit your keyboard, which makes workflow a lot more seamless , at least for me.

Cintiq Cons:

tend to be fragile, in some cases? I say this hesitantly because I haven’t had a problem yet (KNOCK ON WOOD), but when I was doing my research before I got one, I heard plenty of horror stories of the machine crapping out within a year or two years of use, requiring it to be shipped back to Wacom, and you’re left high and dry while you wait for your baby to come back.

Bulky. It’s not the coziest to curl up with, and there are a lot of wires involved. Also as an extra tip I prefer THIS STAND over the stand the cintiq comes with.

I WAS GOING TO PUT PRICE AS A CINTIQ CON- but comparatively they’re actually pretty similar in price? The cintiqs range from 2000 to 800 (The 13HD is actually a LOT cheaper now that they came out with some new models), and the surface’s range from 1300-900.  

Okay, now onto the surface

Surface Pros:

Small! Portable! Lightweight! Compared to the Cintiq, the surface is a joy to carry around. No extra wires needed, the keyboard acts as a screen cover and pseudo case (I’d still recommend getting a case to keep it in ), and while it’s small, it’s not too small. I think this is something the Surface does really well. It has a great screen size, while also being small enough to travel with easily.

Screen Resolution. I’m not an expert on laptops by a long shot, but from a completely amatuer perspective, the screen looks pretty dang nice. Bright and crisp and the colors look great.

It’s just cozy to use! Okay, I know this sounds weird, but hear me out. One of the things I like about cintiqs is you can really lean right on them and get intimate with the surface you’re drawing with. I think the surface captures this too, but with the added portability of not needing it to be hooked up to another device. You can curl up just about anywhere and doodle, with your full digital drawing arsenal at your fingertips.

Surface Cons:

Stylus As I said above, personally, I don’t feel like the screen / stylus of the surface beats the cintiq. The glossy screen paired with the tip of the surface pen gives a little bit of friction when drawing,  so it’s not as smooth. Also, unlike the cintiq the Surface’s stylus is battery powered, so you’ll have to deal with that, eventually. 

HOT KEYS! - Even if you’re not curled up drawing on the surface, having the keyboard inbetween you and the screen makes for a pretty difficult (AND HUNCHED OVER… OUCH, YOUR POOR BACK) drawing experience.

Anyway. I could go on further, but I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot and I think you get the idea. Let me know if you have any more questions! I hope this was helpful!

eggymod

[artiststoolbox]

A trick for making lineart thinner

Howdy ATBers! It’s me, Eggymod! Today I decided to make a tutorial that details my method for taking lineart you may have made too thick and making it thinner! 

This works great in emergencies, and I use it a lot when I don’t want to re-ink some background elements I may have made too thick. It works best if you’re like me and you keep all aspects of your lineart on separate layers (Figures / BG ), but you can also use it if everything’s on the same layer!

First, we start out with a picture. Wow, this looks great! But wouldn’t it be a little better if those BG lines weren’t so thick? Typically in art we want the things in the background to sit back, so the things in the foreground pop, adding depth. 

But I already inked that beautiful background! In order to save myself time, I’m going to use my method so I don’t have to re-ink it all over again.

This is how you do this if you have separate layers for BG and Characters.

on your BG layer, use CTRL/Command(mac) and  click on the layer preview. This should create a selection of everything on that layer, so we end up with this:

Great! Now everything in the background is selected! Next, we go to select>modify>contract. 

Depending on how many DPI your canvas is and how thick your lines are, you can choose how many pixels you want to contract by. These lines are pretty thick and I’m working at 300 DPI, so lets try 3 pixels.

Next, we go to Select > inverse.

Then hit delete!! 

Lookin good!!!! Obviously there are some areas where the lines need to be cleaned up or thinned downs some more, but you can go in manually and fix that up. 

If you have all your inks all on one layer, you’re going to select everything on your ink layer, and then click this button at the bottom of the toolbar:

This is your quickmask. 

When your screen goes red, draw over anything you DON’T WANT SELECTED in black. then click the quick mask again, and you’ll have the proper selection!!! 

Okay, thats it for now! I hope you guys find this helpful, and feel free to hit us up with any questions you may have! <3 

-Eggymod

[artiststoolbox]

How long should I wait before posting a commissioned piece on my blog (from the time of delivery)? And do I still own the rights to the piece? Thanks!

According to copyright law, you still own the rights to the piece, unless you explicitly hand it over to the buyer. (Source) 

It doesn’t hurt to make it clear to the buyer just in case though. 

As for how long to wait before posting, I think it’s really up to you. In the past I’ve done things that are gifts for someone else, so out of courtesy I’ll wait until the gift has been given before I post it. But otherwise it doesn’t matter, you can post it the next day if you want. 

[artiststoolbox]

I haven't finished a full drawing in almost a year because I am so slow and bad at drawing. I'm a young adult and I've been drawing seriously since I was 14, but it seems like I make no progress at all. Everyone I follow is either already a fantastic artist or improving extremely rapidly, even people so many years younger than me. Every time I try to draw even just a little doodle, it looks so bad no matter what I do, I get so angry and quit. I've been like this for a year. I tried everything.

Hi anon! I’m really sorry to hear about your predicament! I really appreciate you coming to us for advice, I hope I can help you in some way<3

 Here’s some pieces of advice I can offer. A lot of these are subjective, they might not all work for you, but I hope at least one will be helpful!!

In all my years of studying art, I’ve never seen anyone get worse. I mean, granted this is based on personal experience. But I’ve never seen anyone get worse after applying themselves, even if they only improve a little bit. You can never get worse, you always get better.

Speed comes with practice. I know its frustrating to not be able to draw as fast as others, but speed comes with practice and understanding. We’ve all been here. 

You say you’ve been drawing seriously since you were 14. What does this entail? Are you studying anatomy? Are you doing life drawings? Are you observing the world around you, or just trying to draw based on the knowledge you have? Are you taking classes / putting yourself in an environment where you can be critiqued by your peers? I can honestly say that the speed of my improvement has skyrocketed since being in college, simply because of the people I surround myself with and the people I’m able to learn from. Critique helps me so so so much, it’s opens a wealth of insight to allow me to see my own flaws, and also understand how to make my art better. Seek out places like /r/artcrit on reddit (I always boost this sub because I frequent it  when I have the time, and it’s always proved to be a very constructive space, that has always been welcoming to first time posters!) 

Never look in the other lane! This is a tidbit a teacher of mine always says to his students, something very much easier said than done. It takes practice, but use your fellow artists as inspiration to boost you up, not something to tear you down. 

TRY TO LOVE YOUR ART! I say try, because I know how hard this is. If you can’t love it now, FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT! It took me many years, but faking my confidence in my art worked wonders for me. I’m not the best, but I love my work and most of all, I love what it does for me. I started making work that made me happy, and that helped me fall in love with my work as an artist.

TRY NOT TO QUIT! I know, again, very very hard. Even if you hate something, don’t scribble it out, don’t tear it up, try not to fall into anger and despair over it. Look at this piece and see what you’ve done differently that you like, look at what you’ve done that you do like. 

Look at your favorite artists! What are they doing that you like? 

TRACE!!!! I know this one sounds bad, but tracing  can be fundamental to learning. Don’t post tracing online, but use it as a stepping stool. Personally, I suggest Using it to learn from photos!

Try different mediums! Experiment with painting, ink, colored pencils, etc. I found traditional painting helped further my digital painting quite a bit. :) 

I hope some of these are helpful for you! A lot of these worked for me personally, so my viewpoint might be a little biased. If anyone else has advice for anon, please reblog this ask and add your own!!

[artiststoolbox]

Hi! This year, I got accepted onto and started an illustration course at quite a prestigious art college. Since arriving and beginning to study, I've realised that i'm at least two years behind everyone in terms of drawing ability. My peers can draw all kinds of things without reference, without breaking a sweat. it's really getting me down and I'm beginning to convince myself that I'm just not good enough, so I put off practising. I don't know how to improve like this. Thanks for reading. :( <3

Hi!! 

It’s really hard to be in your position. I’m a 4th year student at an art college, and  I’ve been where you’ve been. Every artist I know has!

Between you and me, I was the worst out of my friends (artistically) all through high school. I didn’t want to focus on what I needed to improve, I just wanted to draw what I wanted to draw, and that stunted me pretty badly! :p

 However, as soon as I got into college, I started making leaps and bounds in improvement. I wasn’t the best in my freshman classes, but I was learning a lot, simply because I was creating a lot. 

Just because you feel you’re behind the curve doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be where you are, and it doesn’t mean you won’t catch up. Do your assignments, listen to your teachers (Within reason! They aren’t always right), MAKE LOTS OF FRIENDS (AND LEARN FROM THOSE FRIENDS!!!) AND MOST OF ALL, use this time in school to experiment. Don’t be afraid to fail. I know it’s easier said than done, but one thing I wish I had done more in school is taken the advantage to experiment (and to fail) while I had the safe space to do so. I know it’s hard to stay positive, and it’s really scary to seem like you’re behind everyone else. But you were accepted into school for a reason. Keep your eyes on the prize, and never ever loose sight of what you love about drawing!! <3 good luck!! 

-Eggymod

P.S.

There’s also a post that might help you here!

[artiststoolbox]

excuse me but how much do these sites take of the profit (society 6)? thank you very much!

sorry I dont know this off the top of my head. I’m sure they have their rates listed on their website, or you can email their customer service and ask :) 

I know redbubble has a calculator that shows how much money you get based on how much youre selling the item for. I dont know about society 6

EDIT:

@chalkyhearts said: Realistically speaking, Society 6 doesn’t take any of your profits. The tricky bit it’s that they have a baseline cost for all of their products, so anything above that dollar amount is your profit.

Thanks chalkyhearts!