*This is a record of what I did to learn for the day. It is not a guide or an accurate way of learning. Just what I did!
*As I did not post these on WordPress on the days I wrote it, and instead had to written on Good Docs, the dates will not match the post date.
Steps of the Day
-I was not sure how to proceed with improving my skills. I have a lot of areas I need to improve on.
1…..I started looking at artists I admired and narrowed it down to a few for inspiration
-I narrowed down to two styles I like. I like fdasuarez’s paintery style (and I just love how they draw people as well)
and I also love dCTbs bright, crisper lines.
I’ve followed them both on deviantart for a while.
I think at this stage this was not too helpful yet as I have not even learned how to paint digitally yet, but it gave me some sort of goal to work towards. And if I ever need inspiration I can open up those beautiful profiles to take a look at.
There are so many talented artists who make stunning works, but I had to just choose two for now otherwise I’d just end up with a very wide range of style and spending too much time drooling over art instead of practicing.
Ie. PascalCampion’s style/mood and colour but as of right now it is not something I am working towards.
2…..I started just with sketching poses.
I wasn’t sure where to start but I know I wanted to get better at drawing people. So I used Sketch Daily to sketch a variety of poses.
[Image to be added later]
And yes I am using lined paper because my parents had bought STACKS of these papers for my school days a long time ago and I figured I may as well draw on them or have them sit there for eternity.
Other resources I looked up I found on Pinterest just by googling “pose references”
3…..Draw a Box exercises
I wanted to brush up my perspective skills (and fundamentals). 3D has never been my strong suit so I was determined to work on perspective even though I dread it and my brain wants to fall out of my head everytime I try it. When I got bored I allowed myself to sketch some poses or doddle faces/expressions as a break/reward before grinding more boxes (that sounds kind of wrong eh…).
4…..Watching videos of digital painting and setting up my own workspace.
I know ultimately I would like to work on the computer and create digital art. So I set the goal to start practicing on the computer and I was itching to play with colours, shadows, and highlights! I came across a VERY useful tutorial by Nadiaxel and it helped me set up my own workspace. She gives great tips on photoshop functions, and I downloaded her simpel brush set of 5. I have explored using brushes from deviantart by amazing artists but for some reason it never really worked out for me and I was overwhelmed by choices. So Nadiaxel’s brush set was a good place to start I feel.
5…..I had set out a plan on specific body parts I wanted to study
Today I wanted to do legs. How to draw them, and how to colour them. So when I started painting digitally, legs were my goal!
Process:
Butt Pancake: I sat all day looking up resources and doodling so I developed a pancake butt, and my legs were sore.
Plans to deal with this:
Jokes aside… I tried to implement some sort of activity I needed to do besides grocery shopping in the evening which is about a 20 minute walk only.
-Get up every half an hour or so and do some light exercises.
Tool usage:
-Learning HOW to use the tool made such a big jump in improvement (I think). Not everything will be so “significant” but I was very excited about this discovery!
Starting out I feel like it’s always difficult figuring out how to get what I see onto the paper or what I think onto the paper. And another thing is, how exactly do I use this tool of mine to make it look the way I want?
I could say it is my bad drawing skills or not being able to figure out how exactly the light hits the leg is the problem… but in this case, it was mainly figuring out how to work my tools.
[Image to be added later]
There’s still much to improve on my form and lighting etc. But learning how to use the brush properly has felt amazing!
Goal: Improve a little bit every day. I don’t expect large jumps, but if I can say: I shaded this part of the leg better today and I can do it consistently, then I have improved!