The Artist Army

[crystal gryphon]

//silently walks into this thread//
hey, im SoftKitten im new to this whole art thing, well at least digital ^^;
and i sorta feel stupid not being able to make things transparent as i work on my ipad with SketchbookX does anyone have any lets see um applications they would share with me ;u; and teach me how to use let me share some of my most recent art work ^^;

boop [not my character ^^; my art though
i also need tips with shading vv

Hello, fellow ipad user! :D
Don't worry! I had the same problem for a looong time. I've never heard of sketchbookx, but i'm assuming it's related to sketchbook pro/express. sketchbook programs don't have a transparent background option. But if you can turn off the background layer, see if you can export by email into sta.sh, since ipads automatically compress pictures into jpgs when you upload them online for some reason.

I use ProCreate! I absolutely adore everything about it, and you don't lose any progress if it crashes (which it doesn't do often). it even has a built in speedpaint recorder <3. it's not free, but it's cheap (i think it was $5) and totally worth it. ^v^

And for shading, here's a few awesome tutorials i found!
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Shading-t ... -174197817
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Giant-Sha ... -251104611
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Long-Fur- ... -251600522
(your art is adorable by the way :p)

[satuurnity]

wolf charm!!!! listen bud, you've got some cool work, I wanna dig into it.

first of all, confidence as an artist comes in cycles. it's an uphill battle, making art, improving, feeling good, suddenly seeing a person younger than you who is years ahead of you skillwise, losing confidence....rinse and repeat. Ira Glass has a great quote about this:

"What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

Art is like any other skill, it takes a ton of practice and time and sometimes it's a giant pain, but the end result always feels so worth it!! Don't worry about seeming whiny, you're obviously really focused on improving, and you will!! All it takes is to draw a lot, like draw as much as you can, that's really the only thing for it. If you can tell what your own flaws are, you can focus on them and improve :' )

The best two tips I have are 1. draw from life(as you are, I see your cat ref) and 2. look at art that inspires you and mimic parts of it. Every artist out there has favorite artists who they studied and learned from. See a drawing of a dog with really cool eyes? Try drawing eyes like that, figure out what makes them cool to you. See a painting with an amazing color scheme? Try making something using the same colors. Use inspiration from others to help fuel your art.

I made a redline of sorts for you, and showed my notes on the ref, i dunno how helpful it will be, but here!!
click!!

SORRY FOR THE WALL OF TEXT...anyway i wanted to show this drawin i did in oekaki but wouldn't save, had to screenshot it!!

also this wolf i drew in sai

You have no idea how helpful that is! Thank you sooo much!
Okay, so I edited the lines and I think it looks a bit better. I'm still not too sure about the paws though. If it's not too much trouble, would you mind helping me with the lineart? Thank you!

EDIT: I decided to try something I'm not too good at. Halp me pwease.

[Vexious]

-snippy-

Hello, fellow ipad user!
Don't worry! I had the same problem for a looong time. I've never heard of sketchbookx, but i'm assuming it's related to sketchbook pro/express. sketchbook programs don't have a transparent background option. But if you can turn off the background layer, see if you can export by email into sta.sh, since ipads automatically compress pictures into jpgs when you upload them online for some reason.

I use ProCreate! I absolutely adore everything about it, and you don't lose any progress if it crashes (which it doesn't do often). it even has a built in speedpaint recorder <3. it's not free, but it's cheap (i think it was $5) and totally worth it. ^v^

And for shading, here's a few awesome tutorials i found!
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Shading-t ... -174197817
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Giant-Sha ... -251104611
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Long-Fur- ... -251600522
(your art is adorable by the way :p)

oh, alright! i didnt know ipads did that i just thought it was me c:

i will check that out sounds interesting and i have a 10$ itunes card so sounds great!

//watches intently stars it i will come back to these//
and thank you very, very much <3

[Atomic Samurai]

Hi, does anyone know if a LG G Pad 7.0lte can get Java? If it does I plan on using it for art, but since I don't know I figured I should ask here.

And does anyone know any high quality drawing tablets that don't cost as much as my house, that support Windows 9?

[Caelus]

Hi, does anyone know if a LG G Pad 7.0lte can get Java? If it does I plan on using it for art, but since I don't know I figured I should ask here.

And does anyone know any high quality drawing tablets that don't cost as much as my house, that support Windows 9?

do you mean windows 8? my intuos manga was around $100, came with free drawing programs and works with windows 8. :) its really nice, in my opinion. it has 4 buttons which you can configure to keybinds as well - i have one set to ctrl-z since im too lazy to reach up and hit it myself, along with 3 pen nub replacements, free software (manga studio i think? its fun to use), and it doubles a REALLY good touchpad that you can enable/disable with a little switch at the top. especially convenient for laptops.

[Atomic Samurai]

Hi, does anyone know if a LG G Pad 7.0lte can get Java? If it does I plan on using it for art, but since I don't know I figured I should ask here.

And does anyone know any high quality drawing tablets that don't cost as much as my house, that support Windows 9?

do you mean windows 8? my intuos manga was around $100, came with free drawing programs and works with windows 8. its really nice, in my opinion. it has 4 buttons which you can configure to keybinds as well - i have one set to ctrl-z since im too lazy to reach up and hit it myself, along with 3 pen nub replacements, free software (manga studio i think? its fun to use), and it doubles a REALLY good touchpad that you can enable/disable with a little switch at the top. especially convenient for laptops.

Awesome, I'll make sure to check that out, thanks!

[nimuulap]

The pen tablet I got was the Intuos Pen and Touch. It was currently on sale so it only cost about $67 but it didn't come with any programs. My friend who recommended the tablet to me got Manga Studio along with her pen tablet, but I'm not sure how *-*
I use Windows 7 (ultimate) (whatever that means) and Paint Tool SAI along with Oekaki works for me *v*

When I first got my tablet, two of my friends recommended it to me since one of them had already owned a Bamboo one and she said it kept crashing so I just went with the Intuos ;v;
It should last for a few years... I think ;v;

Hope this helped ;7;

[Mythic]

Just tried watercolors and really enjoyed it. Does anyone have tips for Watercolor paintings? X3

Also I'm looking for a new tablet that is sturdy since all of mine seem to break after a few months. Maybe since I buy off brand. ;^;

[Bloom & Katt]

@Mythic: I am just guessing but the paper texture makes me think that the paper isn't watercolor paper, is it? I would suggest using watercolor paper as it does make a big difference while painting c: Cute drawing btw!
I would always suggest Wacom tablets! I had two so far (Bamboo + Intuos) and never had any problems with them! I just replaced my Bamboo with an Intuos because I wanted a bigger one, lol. But so far I am really really pleased with both of them, they work well c:
My Intuos 5 M Touch was about 350€ I believe and my Bamboo was about ... 80€ or so?! Since they last so long I think it's a fair price and a good investment :3

[Krzak]

@Bloom & Katt I personally use watercolour crayons with loads of water on non-watercolor sheets, just choosing those thicker, and it looks nice. In English they should be called something like technical paper I believe? Standard are too thin to work with anything containing liquids, even promarkers.
Also, seconding Wacom tablets but older ones. I've had bamboo one for three years, used it every day and it worked perfectly, now switched to Intuos S and it's moody to say at least. Pressure disappears all of sudden and it's hard to restore c':

By the way hi, new to this topic x3 Randomly browsing forums I stumbled over this one, thought I might stay being an artist as well c: