Topic: I need Help with Drawing, Digitally.

Posted under Art Talk

So recently a post of mine was deleted for not reaching minimum art standers..
This somewhat put me off wanting to draw but instead I guess I should just do my best to improve, After 6 hours of school every 5 days a week I only have 5 hours after that to do whatever, Which may sound like alot but I know and feel like art Is a thing that takes time, I also have an clingy boyfriend but... meh he's cute~
Anyway what I want to know;
What Apps are good to use? (On Android) should I get one of them drawing tablets (which link to desktop) And is there any tips I may gain,

Discord; Kuuh#0344

You probably don't want to be drawing on android, unless you have a tablet with a digital pen, and even then, it doesn't offer you pressure support unlike desktop tablet.

If you do buy a tablet (Wacom being one of the best if not the best atm), you should try Krita and GIMP, both of which are free but also powerful.

pumpkincat said:
So recently a post of mine was deleted for not reaching minimum art standers..
This somewhat put me off wanting to draw but instead I guess I should just do my best to improve, After 6 hours of school every 5 days a week I only have 5 hours after that to do whatever, Which may sound like alot but I know and feel like art Is a thing that takes time, I also have an clingy boyfriend but... meh he's cute~
Anyway what I want to know;
What Apps are good to use? (On Android) should I get one of them drawing tablets (which link to desktop) And is there any tips I may gain,

Discord; Kuuh#0344

pen, paper, phone to take pics.
Take it from one artist to another.
If you can't draw on paper, don't try to skip a step and go digital.
You'll regret it. It all starts from the basics.
Study a bit of anatomy, some scenery, and take pictures of yourself for references.
Take a artist you admire, if you wish to emmulate their style
Break down their work, even ask them if they may provide a step-by-step.

"Practice makes perfect" is a failed art philosophy only such a thing as "Perfect Practice" exists.
Always break down the art you admire if you wish to become a better artist.
Don't draw from imagination, always build a reference an idea you want and put it to action.

You probably didn't want to hear that, but that's my tips as well as my opinion I suppose.
If you're trying to cut corners, you're just going to upset yourself when the images you wish to make don't go your way.
post #2774070

Ratte

Former Staff

You're going to end up spending money regardless of what you do. We highly discourage the use of cameras, especially phone cameras, for capturing traditional media and instead recommend a scanner. Since you're in school you may have access to a scanner at your school's library, though it goes without saying that what you make should probably be sfw if you're going to use capture property that isn't yours. If you want your own scanner, a decent one will still ring up $50-$70 new. You can likely find less expensive options in your local area, though, so looking through something like Craigslist couldn't hurt.

If you really want to go digital, your best options are USBs tablet that connects to a computer. You don't need anything insanely expensive to produce decent works and, fortunately for artists today, there are so many more options available to people than there were 12 years ago when I was looking into tablets for the first time. Huion is a brand known for being extremely accessible and I bought this one for my sister a handful of years ago. She loves it and still uses it today. The thing about tablets that many forget is that you want to grab the drivers and install them or else your computer won't really know what to do with the tablet and it'll be nothing more than a fancy mouse. Since surface tablets like this (rather than pen displays) lack a screen this means you'll be looking at your computer screen to draw rather than where your hand is. This can be a little difficult to overcome and I'd suggest using it passively in lieu of a mouse to get used to how it works. This is usually a mental hangup more than a physical one.

As for art programs, you again have a lot of options that I wish I had so long ago. The best options for you will be determined by what exactly it is you want from your art program. I recommend against Photoshop as it's now a subscription-based service so you'll be constantly paying every month until you move on to something else.

Some decent free options include GIMP, Krita, and Medibang. GIMP can be a little weird at first because you will need to set your tablet as your device in the program or else it won't use it. Other programs will pick up on the driver automatically so this isn't an issue with other programs. Krita is a very "full" program that feels somewhat between Photoshop and Clip Studio, which may or may not be your cup of tea. Medibang was originally a mobile-specific app for Android tablets but there is a working version on desktop and it functions pretty well from my experience.

Some decent paid options (one-time fee) include Paint Tool SAI and Clip Studio. Paint Tool SAI is a very simple, nearly bare-bones kind of software that works very well for people who get easily overwhelmed by options ("analysis paralysis") and just want to get to work. That said, there are still plenty of options and importing things like brushes and textures is very easy if you happen upon any that you like. Clip Studio Paint has two different options you can buy with different pricing, but you really likely won't need more than Paint Pro, which is the cheaper of the two. Both SAI and Clip Studio (Pro) normally retail about $50 (give or take for SAI as you buy it in JPY) but you can often find Clip Studio on sale for about $25-$35. They do tend to run Cyber Monday sales, so that might be something to look for in the next couple weeks.

It ultimately doesn't matter what you use as the skill of the artist is what pushes their art. The programs and even the tablets used are just vehicles for that skill. There's nothing wrong with sticking with traditional if that's your preference at the end of the day.

I must ask-- what kind of school are you attending? When I was in college I only had about four hours of classes about every-other day with only about two hours on the days between those. I couldn't imagine five days of six hours of classes.

Updated

One more addition to what Ratte said, scanner technology for consumers has basically peaked about 15 years ago, if you have access to a printer combo with a flatbed scanner that still offers Vista driver you can likely produce crisp scans that are basically indistinguishable to modern flatbed scanners, and unlike modern printer combos they don't refuse to scan when cyan is empty or dried out. Just turn off all the post processing options in the scanning tool.

Though if you prefer to sketch on paper then import that into a digital drawing then a phone is perfectly fine considering you'll be drawing over the sketch anyway, leaving the initial photo invisible.

Damn, All of these are Very different advice to what I usually get, Thank you all! I will try do as much of these as possible, Also on black Friday I will try to get an drawing Tablet,
also to add; I think I'm pretty good at drawing on Paper.. I did a really good head of a anthro fox which was the most proud I've ever been and also, I'm taking art class though we aren't doing anything of request, the least they could do is let us draw some type of Humanoid but it's all calligraphy @-@ but still Ty everyone!

pumpkincat said:
Damn, All of these are Very different advice to what I usually get, Thank you all! I will try do as much of these as possible, Also on black Friday I will try to get an drawing Tablet,
also to add; I think I'm pretty good at drawing on Paper.. I did a really good head of a anthro fox which was the most proud I've ever been and also, I'm taking art class though we aren't doing anything of request, the least they could do is let us draw some type of Humanoid but it's all calligraphy @-@ but still Ty everyone!

One last thing, I have used a Huion tablet before (I believe the H420), and I can tell you it didn't have the paper "texture" unlike Wacom, if you want a decent entry tablet with that paper feeling to it, you should try the One by Wacom, the downside of this tsblet is that it lacks buttons, but the pen is bettery-free. But overall, Huion is a very decent brand, I would personally spend no less than 50$ on any tablet, but that's just me.

Ratte

Former Staff

azero said:
One last thing, I have used a Huion tablet before (I believe the H420), and I can tell you it didn't have the paper "texture" unlike Wacom, if you want a decent entry tablet with that paper feeling to it, you should try the One by Wacom, the downside of this tsblet is that it lacks buttons, but the pen is bettery-free. But overall, Huion is a very decent brand, I would personally spend no less than 50$ on any tablet, but that's just me.

Huion has been phasing out their battery/rechargeable pens in favor of battery-free pens for a while now to the point that there aren't any for sale on their store site on my end. If a paper texture is a must, there are screen protectors (which can still be applied to normal surface tablets) you can get specifically for that purpose. Back in the old days the Wacom Intuos4 only had a paper-like texture if you got the XL as, for some reason, it came with a screen protector already installed. The Intuos4, like its predecessors, did not have screens and were just basic (if ungodly expensive) surface tablets, if that's something you're wondering. There's no saying you can't just tape a piece of paper to the surface in the meantime, either.

As far as the $50 benchmark, just about any brand's "medium" (usually 8x5.5" to 10x6" or so) will still be at least $55, even during a sale. The One by Wacom is still $100 (normally $130) at a medium size. If you want a Wacom, consider looking into refurbs. My main tablet is an old refurbished Bamboo Create that I bought in 2014 for about $90, which is more than half of the original selling price, and it still serves me very well to this day.

I've seen many Good drawing tablets and, I thought Most or we all of them had display but Eh I was wrong and My lord their expensive, I mean I would try on one without an display and just connect it to windows, But I don't know how long that'd take to get used to, and also I'm somewhat proud with my paper drawing and I think I'm happy to just do Digital

pumpkincat said:
I've seen many Good drawing tablets and, I thought Most or we all of them had display but Eh I was wrong and My lord their expensive, I mean I would try on one without an display and just connect it to windows, But I don't know how long that'd take to get used to, and also I'm somewhat proud with my paper drawing and I think I'm happy to just do Digital

Well the time to get used to a Screenless Tablet depends from people to people, just be patient. Focus on drawing traditionally although your hand eye coordination will suck when you first begin drawing with a tablet, you'll have a much better grasp if you already had experience by drawing traditionally.

You just need to be patient, don't go and buy a tablet thinking that it will magically bestow you with god-like drawing skills. One fun way to do it, is to make the line art or the sketch traditionally take a photo or scan it, then you can either digitalize the lines or just color it with blending modes, it can get pretty cool, but this is something you should experiment and mess with yourself to see.

Also please understand, Screen Tablets aren't for everyone:

Pros:

  • A screen which will make it MUCH more easy for you to transition from traditional to digital. (That's the only pro I can think of.)

Cons:

  • It's expensive;
  • You'll still need a computer for it to run;
  • Some have parallax (which means that instead of the cursor following you pen, it will get offset a little bit);
  • Lower lifespan than Screenless Tablet;
  • Less ergonomic than a Screenless Tablet (with Screen Tablets you'll need to be looking at a screen that will be lower than your line of sight, which will require you to lower you neck. While Screenless Tablets you'll be looking at your computer screen that is more easy to adjust for it to be parallel to your eyes and it will remove the necessity of lowering your neck helping you prevent neck strain/pain and giving you a better posture);
  • It's considerably more bigger and heavy than a Screenless Tablet.

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