Skia Needs Some Assistance

So... I'm not super great at digital drawing, but I'd like to improve. If you have tips, please, please, PLEASE leave them below. They are much appreciated.
Also... I'll be taking requests to draw almost anything! The only exception is mechanical things like cars, robots, futuristic things, ect... I'm terrible at that stuff. Please be as detailed as you can when describing what you want me to draw.

For me (I do realism so maybe helpful?) I kind of look at a ref towards the picture, and its kind of like using photoshop, I base it off pictures to help me. I usally improve by sketching and using what I've got, I find many new styles by mainly drawing often. Another way to improve is to watch others, you can learn a lot from others drawing skills but may not use their style (if they are really doing one), you probably would know so though.

Yeah, I mostly just need help shading ^^; So bad at shading.

Nothing you want me to draw? ;-; Did I mention I'm terrible at coming up with my own ideas?

I dont do too much digital art, but I can tell you one thing that I do know. LAYERS ARE A BEAUTIFUL THING!! USE THEM!! I have saved hours upon hours of work thanks to layers.

As for ideas, I cant help. Maybe recreate a scene from a topic or the books? Just an idea?

Some common art tips that I've picked up over time~ Hope they help you!

• Use references - they're definitely your best friend. Especially when you're having trouble with a composition or pose. Real life references work better since they're correct and perfect anatomy with proper shading/lighting. Using already drawn artwork is alright if you can't seem to get a specific part down, but since they're so stylized, I wouldn't recommend relying on them all the time.
  
• Geometric shapes are your best friend when you need to get an idea down quickly and don't want to lose it. A neat trick with drawing is to oversimplify everything for the sketch first. It makes it a lot easier to draw complex shapes later on when you have a basic skeleton to work off of.
  
• Don't overcomplicate your sketch. Sketches are there only to get your ideas down. If you spend too much time on your sketch, you'll never get to lineart and coloring, which you should honestly be devoting more of your time to since you can easily make corrections then instead of constantly erasing and redoing the same lines on a sketch that will not even be used or seen in the final product.
  
• Take advantage of layers - they're there for a reason. It's the main thing that distinguishes traditional art from digital art. They're really useful and help with a lot of stuff. One layer for flat color, one layer for shading, one layer for lineart, etc. etc. It's also a lot easier to do since you can move and rotate things without having to worry about messing anything else.
  
• For lineart, if you're having trouble making it look neat, I recommend turning the stabilizer higher and downloading Lazy Nezumi. They'll make it a lot cleaner and it cuts down lineart time by at least half. That, and start with a canvas that is about twice the size that you want the end product to be. Once you finish the lineart, resize it - this gets rid of a lot of stray little marks without you having to erase them. Having clean lineart also makes it a whole lot easier to fill in base colors too! Simple use the select-wand tool and bucket fill. Decreases your work time.
  
• It's a good idea to learn color theory to make the overall drawing look nice. I don't know too much about it myself yet, but this should help you a lot. It's really useful and has some nice tips. A lot of artists recommend you learn it while you still can or else you'll have a hard time breaking bad habits.
  
• There are a lot of shortcuts on Sai that you can use to cut down some drawing time. One of them is definitely clipping group. Sai is one of the best digital art programs out there, especially if you have a drawing tablet like a Bamboo/Intuos; you can find a pirated version somewhere online. You can get a cheap tablet for around $60-70 and they should work fine. Fancy tools don't make a good artist, after all.
  
• When trying to shade, establish your light sources. It'd be really weird if you shade and then everything looks all over the place. If you can't remember where your light source is, doodle a cartoon sun as a quick reminder so you won't forget while coloring. Light comes in two directions - even in the dark, there's always a bit of back light, so keep that in mind as well.
  
• Experiment. Experiment to your heart's content. You never learn if you don't go out of your comfort zone here and there. Eventually you'll settle on a style you like, but until then, don't worry about how inconsistent your art is. It means you're trying to learn.
  
• Practice, practice, practice. You don't improve if you don't spend time drawing and trying to practice or anything. If you can, try to sketch at least once a day - it doesn't have to be anything specific. Draw that tree, draw the train, draw that apple, draw that one cat over there. You'll find yourself massively improving in a bit of time if you dedicate as much time as you can to drawing. If not, don't worry about it and work at your own pace because, in the end, everyone learns at their own speed.
  
• Whatever you do, don't ever compare yourself and say that you won't ever be a great artist in comparison to all of those professionals that are amazing. All of them were like you at one point and worked hard to get there. If you're going to compare yourself, use it as motivation to improve - not to crush your spirit. It's not really talent, it's how those artists have devoted themselves to get where they are and don't worry, you can do it too! Just keep it up and believe in yourself~
  
• Watch speedpaints or art streams. They help you get a feel for how artists do things and you can adapt them to your own style. That, and it's super fun to watch them draw, imo. It's particularly good if you're stuck on how to color things and the like or a decent way to start a sketch or figure out a composition.
  

This is all I can come up with at the moment. I'll make sure to drop by again when I can think of some more~
I'd give more specific tips, but I'd have to know what you'd like to focus on first. :c

For ideas, if you can't think of requests, it's always fun to draw fanart of things you really like!

Thanks Cho, that was very helpful,

But I still have no idea what to draw ^^;

Sorry I didn't post, I was so tried and ended up almost falling asleep on my laptop XD

Skia Wrote:
But I still have no idea what to draw ^^;
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For this forum you should do small drawing requests for WC until you get better

Thin Wrote:
Sorry I didn't post, I was so tried and ended up almost falling asleep on my laptop XD
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Lol and *Tired

Oops, sorry. I'm not tired right now I promise x3 (so many faces)

I know the feeling, Thin. xD

Well, that's what I'm asking for, requests, Berryheart, but no one seems to want me to draw anything. :/


Well, I asked my friend to give me something to draw, and here's what she gave me:

An elephant with fairy wings and a scar like Zuko's

So, I did. And I named it Zuko the Elephairy. A fitting name, no?

Here it is:



Things I like about it:
The eyes are nice, and the lines are nice and steady.

Things I worked on:
Layers and getting steady lines.

I usually use two layers, but today I experimented and used about six. I must say, it helped a lot. The lines look so much better, and I think it really cut down on time.

Things I left out/still need to work on:
Shading, shading, SHADING! I didn't even attempt to shade. Might go back sometime and shade it. Tips on shading this particular piece would be helpful.
To be honest, those wings sucked. I wasn't trying too hard on that part, my main focus was the elephant.
It has no background, obviously. I wouldn't know what to draw as a background even if I wanted to.

Was it traced, I have no problem with that, I just wanted to know.

Here is my process:
-Find reference picture
-Draw whatever I'm drawing on paper (No, I do not trace the reference picture, but sometimes I'll nearly copy the reference picture. I just happen to have a good hand for drawing correct angles, line lengths, and proportions)
-Take a picture
-Paste it into photoshop (I'm terrible at sketching on the computer)
-Trace it, creating line art
-Make sure everything looks right, adjust things as needed
-Delete the layer the picture is on
-Copy the layer the line art is on, make the copy invisable
-Color, mostly using the paintbucket. Make new layers as needed.
-Replace the lines art copy for neatness.

Finish! How do you guys draw?

My most up-to-date process. But the drawing... Is suddenly making me wish I did a better job.

Wow, Cho! That's amazing! How long did it take you to learn to draw like that? Did you ever take any classes?

I think part of the reason I'm terrible at sketching on the computer is because I'm using a mouse pad. xD It might help a little if I actually used my tablet, but I haven't bothered to download any art programs onto it. >.<

I do this crap. Layers glitch :P