[Grizzly Bear.]

Here DLH will give me art lessons. No posting unless you are Rider4Life or DragonLoverHere!

_

In recreating designs to the dot, there's one trick few artists really come to appreciate. The magic of hex codes, or the ID number of an exact color, lets you make the same character over and over again without those funky color variations like you see with some drawings. To obtain and use the hex of a color using Oekaki, you open up the drawing of the kimara as though you are going to color or something. Select the color you want the hex for by using the color picker tool or right clicking on the color on the canvas. Then, you know that color picker box in the bottom left corner? Go to it and hit the little bar on the bottom of it's window. You'll know if you did it right because a little window will pop up titled 'Input.' You'll see a text box in that window for typing, and the number in that box is the exact hex of your color. You can then write the hex code down, then whenever you want to use the color on another drawing or something, you just bring up that little window for hex codes again and type it in! Simple, huh?

With the actually remaking of the design, I know how peeving it can be when it's just a little off or something. I believe, though, that in copying a design it's easiest to start with a reference point marking. So, y'know how all kimara have those spots? Those are easy to remake - you simply pick one spot that has a very easy to remake size and shape relative to some other parts. For instance, on yours, you could start with that spot a little lower than the eyes on the center of the snout bridge. From there, you use that to make the rest of the spots on the face in exact location and size.

Stripes and swirls are a little trickier to do with the relative marking trick (that's what I call it >.>), but they can be done nontheless. for these, figure out the start and end points of the curves or lines. then, if it is a curve, mark the clear places where it curves to. For instance, let's say a swirl you want to make tarts on the small of the back, then twists up to the shoulder and ends the middle of the shoulder. Use dots to mark where you want the marking to curve to, and in the end it should make a spirally design for your guide to tracing. It's the same with lines, but you only need two dots to make any straight line.

One of the most baffling things I also see for artist starting out is the concepts of fading colors smoothly. Let's look at your kimara again - see the two different grays being used and how while the dark fades out, there is still those dark swirls on the lighter fur? In that situation or any like it, take the color that fades and is the specific marking color (in this case, the dark gray of the swirls), then make the swirl markings on just a plain base (that'd be the lighter gray here). Take your airbrush tool then and enlarge it; use it to add the dark gray to the pelt until you have the smae fade effects and melting away of the swirls. The result should prove to be quite close to the original design!

Now, let's look more closely at... Oh my! The spots fade to different colors at certain points! This is an easy predicament to solve - add a new layer above the flat base coat of grey. Now, using that relative marking trick I told you about earlier, lay out the solid colored spots. In the layer box, you'll see a little tick mark box with 'Lock Alpha' next to it. Lock Alpha is always going to be your bff in art, believe me! Check that little box, then grab your airbrush and set it for the other color of the spots. And rub rub rub on the places where it fades colors! It will take a bit of practice, but bam! Look, now the spots are fading in colors to one another!

Now, just as a side note, let's talk about our little friend Lock Alpha. What this does for you is when you have a layer specifically titled 'color here' or something, such as in many editables you've already played with, this little baby will do the seemingly impossible - it keeps your color in the lines no matter how far out of bounds you scribble! Lock Alpha can be used for any kind of layer, too... You can recolor lines, touch up shading so it's more vividly colored, and keep markings separate so you can go back and recolor them if you want, but let's talk more on those later with the lineart creation and manipulation!

[DragonLoverHere]

Ah, finally got a good bout of internet! *cracks knuckles* Let me see... I've gotta send you those other starters tips, or would you rather me post em?

[Grizzly Bear.]

Either how about pm

[DragonLoverHere]

Okie dokie! Let's get started! Hmm... Let's start with something basic - how about you draw the tail of your fabulous kimara for me? That should combine a nice number of the basics to see what needs more work versus other things. Think you're up for it?

[Grizzly Bear.]

Ya sure I will try I will get started on it