Looking for Art Tips.

Ohai there. I am trying to make some good art on the Computer, although I am incredibly bad…Any good free software that I could use? ( I am a beginner ) just so you can see how bad I am, here is my first ever drawing I did on a computer

Finding bad points in this will be pretty easy. In fact, you might not even find any good points! :3 Thanks.

As far as technique for digital art (which I assume is your goal), I recommend drawing anything on paper first, then scanning it into your computer. I use GIMP which is basically a free version of photoshop (for raster images like jpegs and gifs) and Inkscape (for vector images). Open your scanned image and trace over it with appropriate brushes. Color it in if you wish, I would suggest using much more shading for an interesting image. Backgrounds always add to the dimensionality of an image. I would also encourage not sticking to any one style – many kids these days seem to get stuck on drawing in the manga/anime style they’re used to seeing. It’s fine, but explore other contemporary young artists. An easy way to do this is to watch animated shows such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, Squidbillies, Boondocks, Family Guy, Gumball etc. They will give you a wider vision of what drawing can be. And finally practice. Draw every day. Spend hours doing it. Show it to highly critical people who don’t give a fuck about your feelings – they will be honest. Get a DeviantArt but don’t trust them too much; most users there are untalented. If you’re really dedicated, take art classes or go to school for it. Warning on that one: it may not be for everyone. I’ve wanted to be an artist ever since I was a young child, and I still hated art school. Hope this helps.

Yeah, i am saving up for a Scanner, since I can draw / sketch SO much better on paper with a pencil..I already have GIMP, and I love it. I don’t really think of being an artist, just draw because I like it. Anyway thank’s for the advice.

I’m not good at digital art to much myself, but. like you. I’m much more comfortable on paper (watercolor, ink, drybrush, sketch)

To be honest I’m against anime, and. IMO, think it creates bad habits ( Too big of eyes, awkward size proportions)

Unless it is realistic anime ( markcrilley search him up on youtube) but that’s just my opinion.

To the point. I suggest using photoshop: The best concept art maker. I personally prefer GIMP, MSpaint(xp version), photoshop CS5.

I believe Photoshop will best suit your style.

Originally posted by Lime_:

To be honest I’m against anime, and. IMO, think it creates bad habits ( Too big of eyes, awkward size proportions)

Just want to chime in that, given my small experiences at college, it’s fairly easy to tell when someone came in with a portfolio full of anime. Even in third or fourth year, the drawings tend to be stiffer, a lot more focused on outline rather than the structure of the form or proportions, etc.. I’ve met one or two exceptions to the rule, but generally, if I see that their sketchbooks are filled with anime, the work they do in class doesn’t seem to progress nearly as much as other students. But that’s just my experience, again.

As for the topic at hand, I’ve been experimenting around in Paint Tool SAI. That may be a good program to use if Photoshop is too expensive — I don’t know much about either program at the moment, but SAI is starting to grow on me. It has a free trial, but only 31 days worth.

A good idea on how to ease yourself into any program is to do it the same way you would in another medium — practice, and references. For figures, I would check out Lovecastle. (It says it on the page, but I’ll repeat it again: Every picture in every category is potentially not safe for work. I mean, it’s just nudity so far as I’ve ever seen, but it’s worth noting.) Spend a bunch of time just drawing from those. Set up a timer, like a minute or two, and just go to town. That’s what I’ve been doing to make drawing in a digital program easier, after being shown it by another artist on another site.

For painting, or just general tips, check out CTRL-Paint. I was, again, just recently introduced to this by that same artist on another site. It has a massive amount of videos and lessons to help you out with getting into digital media. I try to set aside a little bit of time each night to watch at least one video, if not doodle based on what they talked about.