Hey :) I've been looking at your blog and first off, wow. Second, you're really good at digital drawing and I'm trying to get better at digital drawing but I can never seem to get the lines straight or the colours even and in the lines. So if it's not too much trouble, could you maybe tell me what app you use or what brushes you prefer? I'm currently using ibisPaint X and I'm drawing with a sketchpad :) it would really help if you gave me some tips too! Thank you!! Also, you're really talented hehe
Hi there, I'm glad you like my art thank you so much! ; u ; <3 And sorry for the late reply, I wanted to write up a full response with some examples!
So for my artwork, I use almost exclusively Paint Tool SAI. I specifically use the original SAI atm, though I want to try using SAI 2 more (the brushes just feel... different. I've been using SAI for a decade now, so it's where I'm most comfortable.) SAI does cost money, but there are also free alternatives online as always. I'm not familiar with IbisPaint X, but I know that FireAlpaca and Krita are two good free options. I don't use a smart tablet or apps to draw, though, so I'm not sure what are the best options outside of PC.
As for brushes, I use three brushes for my lineart-- though 2 of them much more than the third. The first brush I use is my Marker brush. I've been using this brush to line my work for a very long time. It's thin and somewhat transparent (sometimes I copy-paste my lineart a couple of times to bulk out the transparency).
The second brush I named TEST when I made it and I just never changed it, so it's my very permanent TEST brush. It's sort of similar to my marker brush (it even uses the SAI marker brush base), but it's thicker and a little more ragged. I tend to change up my style when I use this brush.
The third brush I use for lines is not one of my "lining" brushes. It's a painting brush named GREGORY and I Mostly use it to paint backgrounds and details in fur. I change up the "blending" setting on it as needed. I usually only use this brush to line if I'm having artblock or am sketching around.
As for keeping lines straight, I honestly just gotta say-- there's tricks to cheat the system! The first, easiest thing is you can find the "stabilizer" setting on your art program, slide that bad boy up, and have some assistance with keeping your strokes smoother.
The second thing you can do is... not really "line" your artwork. I tend to fight with lineart a lot. Sometimes it's not so bad (especially with my TEST brush), but a lot of the time I just line something and hate the end result, if I can even push myself to finish it. So, instead of "lining" over my sketch layer, I just... make the sketch my lines.
My sketches are usually pretty detailed so I think that helps, but I basically just erase and go over the lines meticulously in small increments until I'm left with linework. And if I'm having trouble with a spot, I'll just make a new layer, "properly" line that spot, erase the section of the sketch under it, and then merge the layers and move onto the next section. (I also keep my fingers over my undo and redo hotkeys, since a lot of lining can be just undoing a mistake and redoing it until you like it.)
For example, here's this dragon I've been working on, in its original sketch:
And here it is halfway through the cleanup process, where you can see an amalgamation of clean lines amid the remaining sketch:
And here's how it looks now:
Lines won't cooperate? Make friends with the sketch! I often feel like it's easier to keep the personality of the original sketch when I do this also, though that's just personal preference.
Now as for keeping colour inside your lines, Layers and layer settings are your friends-- that and the magic wand tool (which is a selection tool).
When I use the magic wand tool, I tend to select the area Outside of my drawing first
If there's a hole in my lines and I'm having trouble finding it, I cut a line across the drawing and use the magic wand tool again so I can see which section of the drawing the linebreak is in and fix it.
Once the lines are sealed, I invert my selection so it's inside the lines rather than outside! I prefer to start outside since I find it easier than individually selecting the inner parts of the drawing. It's worth mentioning that the magic wand tool is not perfect (especially if you have sketchy, ragged lines like I often do), so you might have to clean up the edges.
You can make layers under your linework that you can freely draw on without disturbing your lines, and they will conform to your magic wand selection as well. What more, though, you can also make clipping layers/groups which are layers that affect only the pixels below them.
So like in this example here there are four layers. There's the lineart layer, the layer for the base fur colour, a layer for the details (beak, eyes, white spots), and then there's a clipping layer that is on top of the details layer.
Anything I draw on that clipping layer can only appear on pixels directly below it. This is useful for a lot of things like detailing and shading. It also means you can safely exit out of your magic wand selection and still remain in your perimeters.
You can also lock layers which is like using a clipping layer, only you're affecting that actual layer instead of going over it. Whichever one you want to use is pretty much just personal preference or situational. You can also use these layer settings to colour in your lines, if that's something you want to do!
I hope some of this helps! I also hope that you're having fun with doing digital art! :D <3
