Sorry. I have another question but again no idea where to post it. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on books I could look at as well as programs (and if tablet is recommended or a computer), tools I want to eventually look at digital artwork if I can keep up drawing but have no experience in artwork aside from my drawings that I’m doing now. Also rough estimate how much it would cost. Right now, I’m ordering a renewal for my nintendo sub with gift card which left me with a few dollars which my mom said i could spend over (just not a hundred dollars) so i thought to look into an art book or something to help me improve
Since I have no means of buying stuff for digital art, I guess I want to know if there is something I could look at getting that would help me for the type of drawing I’m doing now and would help with that if I ever reach that point in drawing and have enough money and everything?
I used my gift card but still am interested to know so maybe at Christmas I could look at getting one .
Do you use social media at all? Also this isn't a book reccomendation sorry about that, but maybe this advice will help?
If you do use social media, follow multiple artist you like that have an art style that you want to pursue. Take your top favs, somethin like 5 to 10, and nitpick what you like best about their art. Dynamic posing, colour usage, lighting, realistic vs anime, ect... this YouTube video explains it much better than I.
Find out what programs they use, or what programs you can use, there are plenty of free ones out there. Look up tutorials on those programs, such as 'how to draw *this type of lighting*' or 'how to use this brush' or 'look at this cool shortcut thing'. This alone will help, even if it's not making an actual drawing, just techniques that can be applied to drawings. Shortcuts also take out the stress of drawing and make things quicker.
If you don't use social media, you can still do these things. Google will probably give you fanart of the style you're lookin to do, even if you have to search alot for it, thou you already have a source of style inspiration.
YouTube is really great for drawing tutorials that can't be normally found in a book. Really, nearly 99% of stuff used for digital art is digital, there doesn't seem to be books on how to draw digital stuff, all of that is online.
When it comes to tablet vs computer, that's really up to you. I have zero experience with both (I draw digital on my phone lol) but others have said there isn't too much of a difference and that it's really up to preference of how they feel. The program you get may dictate what type of system you use to draw with. Also, some programs have a one time purchase if you purchase them on a laptop, and a subscription purchase if you purchase them on a tablet. Or you can get a free program that's compatible with whatever system you get.
Do you use social media at all? Also this isn't a book reccomendation sorry about that, but maybe this advice will help?
If you do use social media, follow multiple artist you like that have an art style that you want to pursue. Take your top favs, somethin like 5 to 10, and nitpick what you like best about their art. Dynamic posing, colour usage, lighting, realistic vs anime, ect... this YouTube video explains it much better than I.
Find out what programs they use, or what programs you can use, there are plenty of free ones out there. Look up tutorials on those programs, such as 'how to draw *this type of lighting*' or 'how to use this brush' or 'look at this cool shortcut thing'. This alone will help, even if it's not making an actual drawing, just techniques that can be applied to drawings. Shortcuts also take out the stress of drawing and make things quicker.
If you don't use social media, you can still do these things. Google will probably give you fanart of the style you're lookin to do, even if you have to search alot for it, thou you already have a source of style inspiration.
YouTube is really great for drawing tutorials that can't be normally found in a book. Really, nearly 99% of stuff used for digital art is digital, there doesn't seem to be books on how to draw digital stuff, all of that is online.
When it comes to tablet vs computer, that's really up to you. I have zero experience with both (I draw digital on my phone lol) but others have said there isn't too much of a difference and that it's really up to preference of how they feel. The program you get may dictate what type of system you use to draw with. Also, some programs have a one time purchase if you purchase them on a laptop, and a subscription purchase if you purchase them on a tablet. Or you can get a free program that's compatible with whatever system you get.
For me I developed my own style over time, but when I was younger I took countless drawing books out of the library in anime style. Arms full of these books, and they helped me draw eyes, and my general style. Though I'm not super confident, it still helped me improve.
I dont use much social media, in fact I think it's stupid and dont even have it. But I basically see something, and decide to draw it. I draw lots of Pokemon, drew Zubat all over my work sheet once (Managers didnt mind since it was my own) and other characters. Started to make sketches of villagers for a mini comic by just looking up pictures and.drawing the creature. Draw whenever I feel. At work I once drew a bunch of South Park characters all up my arm. Like a tattoo. But I reccomend general books from like libraries, they're a good start (Also dont do what I did lol it took a week to get off,)
I cant draw digitally to save my life, and you've kinda inspired me, since you also draw on actual paper like myself. Though what I draw are mainly small comics. What inspired me the most to draw was a manga called Bakuman.i find it hard to copy styles, and mine vary sometimes. But the arc the main character went through, inspired me to keep going
I draw some digital art on my phone with my finger lol, because I dont have anything else to draw with. But *Ibs Paint* is a good digital art app, it's what I use at least. But then again, I'm no digital artist, so who knows Could be the worst. But I like the different tools, and the fact you can do layers, insert pictures, different brushes, so fourth.
But, hopefully that helped, keep going with your gallery, your inspiring me ❤❤
For me I developed my own style over time, but when I was younger I took countless drawing books out of the library in anime style. Arms full of these books, and they helped me draw eyes, and my general style. Though I'm not super confident, it still helped me improve.
I dont use much social media, in fact I think it's stupid and dont even have it. But I basically see something, and decide to draw it. I draw lots of Pokemon, drew Zubat all over my work sheet once (Managers didnt mind since it was my own) and other characters. Started to make sketches of villagers for a mini comic by just looking up pictures and.drawing the creature. Draw whenever I feel. At work I once drew a bunch of South Park characters all up my arm. Like a tattoo. But I reccomend general books from like libraries, they're a good start (Also dont do what I did lol it took a week to get off,)
I cant draw digitally to save my life, and you've kinda inspired me, since you also draw on actual paper like myself. Though what I draw are mainly small comics. What inspired me the most to draw was a manga called Bakuman.i find it hard to copy styles, and mine vary sometimes. But the arc the main character went through, inspired me to keep going
I draw some digital art on my phone with my finger lol, because I dont have anything else to draw with. But *Ibs Paint* is a good digital art app, it's what I use at least. But then again, I'm no digital artist, so who knows Could be the worst. But I like the different tools, and the fact you can do layers, insert pictures, different brushes, so fourth.
But, hopefully that helped, keep going with your gallery, your inspiring me ❤❤
Thanks so much and your kind words and for your response . I appreciate any reply even if a specific book isn’t mentioned since atm I am unsure where to start to look at when I feel I am ready to take my art up another notch and I wasn’t sure if someone that never took any art classes before or that has no knowledge on it could reach a level like the artist I linked (I probably am setting my potential goals too high ). I am unsure if this will be anything more than a casual hobby, but atm, I really would love to improve which is why I wanted to start asking about this so maybe I can start taking small steps (and to make it less overwhelming on myself).
Thanks so much and your kind words and for your response . I appreciate any reply even if a specific book isn’t mentioned since atm I am unsure where to start to look at when I feel I am ready to take my art up another notch and I wasn’t sure if someone that never took any art classes before or that has no knowledge on it could reach a level like the artist I linked (I probably am setting my potential goals too high ). I am unsure if this will be anything more than a casual hobby, but atm, I really would love to improve which is why I wanted to start asking about this so maybe I can start taking small steps (and to make it less overwhelming on myself).
I could probably name a few of them, I just wasnt sure if a basic drawing book would be something you would be interested in, so I didnt really name them
i just went on a wild goose chase trying to track down this thread because i remembered seeing it & wanting to contribute but had forgotten to do so previously and i forgot where on the forum it was. anyways.
while i don't have art book recommendations specifically, i do have some art tips that've helped my art improve a lot over the past few years and might be helpful to you:
1.) find artists whose styles you like. try and copy things from them. stella-lo brought this up first and i agree with it -- find artists whose works you like enough to want to try and take things from! i'd honestly recommend staying away from looking at things like the lighting + backgrounds + etc (or putting them on the backburner) until you've got more of an actual style down, especially since you're currently a traditional artist, but it's important to have styles you want to draw from; there is no such thing as an uninspired art style. i've got a folder of photos on my phone titled "art insp." that i just save styles i want to study and try things from later! and it's got like 300 photos in it lmao. biggest inspirations for me, personally & for example, are @MAEPOP, @jadesnap (more of an influence when i was first developing my style than a current influence), and @grimoirering.
2.) don't be afraid to trace. yes, you're reading that correctly. tracing (as long as you're not like, publishing traced works as your own or selling them for profit) is actually really good for helping try and fi gure out certain elements of a style you want to adopt for your own that you can't quite properly freehand, or for getting anatomy right when you're having problems with a reference. it's also handy if you use a mouse from beginning to end like i do, since freehanding is tricky without a point of reference. here, i sketched this pose from SenshiStock i was eyeing as an example:
then i go over that pose trace with an attempt at carving things out using my own style, which is Very Different proportionally to the human body.
then comes another outline sketch to nail down the proportions further + implement the features of whoever i'm drawing. (ft. who i am drawing cropped out on the left)
and from that to the linework with a different brush!
tracing is your friend, basically. a lot more than people tend to be willing to acknowledge.
3.) anatomy is important. very, very important. it's said that whether you have a realistic or exaggerated art style anatomy is INCREDIBLY important, because you need to know proportioning and how things work before you can either 1.) replicate that or 2.) break the rules and go stylistic. tracing helps a lot with that imo, but it's still definitely worth studying as a general thing. (sidenote: there's an anatomy book i saw go viral on twitter for being Bad despite being repped as "one of the best;" if you ever want to buy books on anatomy to help with that, don't buy the Stonehouse anatomy book. stick with Morpho and stuff. i've also seen michael hampton's Figure Drawing: Design & Invention recommended.)
4.) don't be afraid to take breaks if you get art blocked or burned out. your goal is hellyonwhite, right? that's going to take a lot of time, practice, trial and error, and drawing! rome wasn't built in a day. keep at it, but if you feel discouraged with the direction your art ever heads into (it happens to everyone!) or you just don't want to draw, then take a few days off. no use pushing it if you ever get upset, you'll only frustrate yourself more.
there's a list of art programs you can try and pick between pinned in the museum if you haven't seen that, by the way, for when you decide to start looking more into digital art! my personal recommendation is paint tool sai out of bias, because i've used it for uhhh. 11? years and it's worked well for me -- especially after i upgraded to sai 2 and the stabilizer finally started working with my mouse. clip studio paint goes on sale a ton and has a billion different features, though, so it's also a good option to look into. (i'd recommend looking at the thread instead of just taking my two suggestions at their word, though.) good luck!
i just went on a wild goose chase trying to track down this thread because i remembered seeing it & wanting to contribute but had forgotten to do so previously and i forgot where on the forum it was. anyways.
while i don't have art book recommendations specifically, i do have some art tips that've helped my art improve a lot over the past few years and might be helpful to you:
1.) find artists whose styles you like. try and copy things from them. stella-lo brought this up first and i agree with it -- find artists whose works you like enough to want to try and take things from! i'd honestly recommend staying away from looking at things like the lighting + backgrounds + etc (or putting them on the backburner) until you've got more of an actual style down, especially since you're currently a traditional artist, but it's important to have styles you want to draw from; there is no such thing as an uninspired art style. i've got a folder of photos on my phone titled "art insp." that i just save styles i want to study and try things from later! and it's got like 300 photos in it lmao. biggest inspirations for me, personally & for example, are @MAEPOP, @jadesnap (more of an influence when i was first developing my style than a current influence), and @grimoirering.
2.) don't be afraid to trace. yes, you're reading that correctly. tracing (as long as you're not like, publishing traced works as your own or selling them for profit) is actually really good for helping try and fi gure out certain elements of a style you want to adopt for your own that you can't quite properly freehand, or for getting anatomy right when you're having problems with a reference. it's also handy if you use a mouse from beginning to end like i do, since freehanding is tricky without a point of reference. here, i sketched this pose from SenshiStock i was eyeing as an example:
View attachment 379348
then i go over that pose trace with an attempt at carving things out using my own style, which is Very Different proportionally to the human body. View attachment 379349
then comes another outline sketch to nail down the proportions further + implement the features of whoever i'm drawing. (ft. who i am drawing cropped out on the left) View attachment 379355
and from that to the linework with a different brush!
tracing is your friend, basically. a lot more than people tend to be willing to acknowledge.
3.) anatomy is important. very, very important. it's said that whether you have a realistic or exaggerated art style anatomy is INCREDIBLY important, because you need to know proportioning and how things work before you can either 1.) replicate that or 2.) break the rules and go stylistic. tracing helps a lot with that imo, but it's still definitely worth studying as a general thing. (sidenote: there's an anatomy book i saw go viral on twitter for being Bad despite being repped as "one of the best;" if you ever want to buy books on anatomy to help with that, don't buy the Stonehouse anatomy book. stick with Morpho and stuff. i've also seen michael hampton's Figure Drawing: Design & Invention recommended.)
4.) don't be afraid to take breaks if you get art blocked or burned out. your goal is hellyonwhite, right? that's going to take a lot of time, practice, trial and error, and drawing! rome wasn't built in a day. keep at it, but if you feel discouraged with the direction your art ever heads into (it happens to everyone!) or you just don't want to draw, then take a few days off. no use pushing it if you ever get upset, you'll only frustrate yourself more.
there's a list of art programs you can try and pick between pinned in the museum if you haven't seen that, by the way, for when you decide to start looking more into digital art! my personal recommendation is paint tool sai out of bias, because i've used it for uhhh. 11? years and it's worked well for me -- especially after i upgraded to sai 2 and the stabilizer finally started working with my mouse. clip studio paint goes on sale a ton and has a billion different features, though, so it's also a good option to look into. (i'd recommend looking at the thread instead of just taking my two suggestions at their word, though.) good luck!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! This is extremely helpful! I have trouble narrowing my focus and get so overwhelmed easily. I really appreciate all the tips . I will definitely try everything that has been suggested when I can.
Thank you everyone who has responded so far! Every response is extremely helpful since I’m an extreme newbie. Whether it is encouragement, tips or a book recommendation, it helps me in some form or another. So thanks so much everyone! I have been trying to google for some things but as I found out a few nights ago when looking up info on drawing with basic shapes before sketching, there is much more to learn and so many different types of information.
Sorry if this isn't needed anymore, but I saw this thread a while ago and kept adding to my response for the past few days!
I wanted to give my own thoughts and share resources and tips for this too (it's been on my mind since you asked in my AMA thread, but I figured this would be a good time/place to give a longer answer).
This will probably be quite lengthy... So feel free to just look at the parts that you feel are relevant to you! Everyone has different focuses, and it's important to take things at your own pace so that you're still having fun and you're not being overwhelmed. If even one thing helps, then I'll consider this a success. 'w')b
Also keep in mind that everyone learns differently -- things I suggest might not be applicable to you at all, and that's fine! As you do more and more art, you'll eventually find your own style. I'm just trying to keep to more generalizable things or starting points Please keep in mind that all of this is coming from someone who didn't formally take any art lessons/classes -- I learned everything on my own time and at my own pace.
General
Just as a bit of general preface: there's a lot of different things that make up art, and you'll have to figure out what to focus on. The most important part is to have fun! Sometimes you might want to temper your expectations a little, but know that you'll get where you want eventually with practice! I find it very easy to get disheartened, but sometimes it's good to look back at where you started to see how far you've come, and know that you'll look back at your present state in the same way.
With that said, there really is a lot that you'll end up considering amidst your art quest, since art is comprised of so many different things. To name a few:
Anatomy
Stylization
Colouring (this also breaks into colour composition, shading/lighting, etc.)
Lineart/inking style
Backgrounds
Props
Composition
And many more that I'm probably forgetting. The more you practice each of these, the better you'll get! Don't feel disheartened if you can't do everything: there's a lot!
For each of these, there's also a whole set of shortcuts and tips too. Find what you like to do and what you don't. For the things you don't like, you'll have to either force yourself to practice it, or find shortcuts to make it bearable!
I'm going to just talk about anatomy tips, backgrounds/props, and some other more basic/general things -- mostly because I have more resources and tips off the top of my head for these! (I have some for colouring too, but a lot of it is digital art specific, and there's a lot of different colouring styles, and I feel like this will be pretty long already.)
★ There's a lot of tips online, and I'd highly recommend looking at the ones on CLIP STUDIO TIPS! A lot of digital artists have posted their process or tutorials here, so it helps to look/search through these. They have a "Learn from the professionals" page, too. Some of these are a little more involved, but sometimes it helps to just see the steps they take. A handful of these are reliant on CLIP STUDIO PAINT, but there's a lot that aren't.
Basics
This is sort of a section for things that aren't directly related to things like anatomy, but are pretty helpful nonetheless!
Shapes
The first, which you'll probably hear a lot, is to draw shapes! I like to take it a bit further and try to deform it: drawing a rectangle is pretty easily learned and a cylinder is bit fancier! But what do they look like when curved (e.g. a cylinder looks like macaroni), or at different angles?
Simple shapes are a lot easier to work with compared to things like arms, legs, etc., and they're sort of the foundation of everything else!
Below is an example of what I mean: it's good to pick both 2D shapes and 3D shapes. As a bonus with rectangles and other 2D shapes: if you can't figure out what it looks like, just draw it on a piece of paper and look at it from different angles, fold the page, etc.
You can pick any deformations you want, and any shapes you want. The divisions on the top-down cylinder isn't as rounded as they should be, but that's fine! It's just practice, after all.
If you look closely, a lot of them have mistakes, and that's perfectly fine! It was still good practice.
Shapes are sort of the foundation of a lot of things, and if you build a solid foundation with drawing them (or decomposing things into them), you'll probably have an easier time.
You can (and should) try to take this a step farther too: try to combine a bunch of shapes together, or play with more complicated shapes! What would it look like if you stacked two cylinders together? A cylinder on a cube?
Again: I'm not aiming for 'perfect' with these, but 'good enough' suffices!
Beans
In a similar vein: draw beans! They're easier to scribble and you can be as free-form with them as you want, but they've been a great help to me in learning how to draw bodies.
Drawing seams on your beans helps you break things into 3D shapes too! Draw long beans! Short beans! Skinny beans! Wide beans!
I'd recommend looking at this Torso Abstractions page by Aliciane @ deviantart! Also, if you're struggling with beans: just think of them as two connected spheres. You can adjust the width of the connection too, so it's not as linear. The spheres themselves don't have to be equally sized, either.
Ribbons
Going to something a lot simpler: draw lines and turn them into ribbons! There's a few ways to start with this, but the two I usually do are: 1) draw a curvy line, and then draw another one that's parallel to it, 2) draw a curvy line and then copy-paste it and shift the new one slightly. Afterwards, connect the ends (and 'bends') and clean it up. For example:
Ribbons! I just used different colours to make it easier to see what I was doing.
What started as a simple line now looks like an actual object -- and if you think of fabric as just really big pieces of ribbons, you'll get an idea of where this might eventually lead you. You can (and should) use this as practice to draw more wavy/flowy lines too: when I started drawing, I relied a lot on very stiff straight lines. Drawing ribbons ended up helping me a lot, though, especially when trying to figure out how fabric and hair flows.
The goal for most of these is to get a better understanding of shapes, and to get used to drawing more 3D objects! Anecdote: When I started drawing, everything tended to look very 'flat' or stiff, largely because I always thought of things in 2D shapes.
It wasn't until recently when I realized where I was going wrong and why I was struggling so much, so I'd like to encourage these sorts of exercises.
There's a lot of different exercises you can do, like drawing blobs and trying to make something of them, so feel free to look for more art exercises!
Anatomy
I'm not really qualified to give many tips for anatomy, but the crux of it is: do art studies! Sketch real people, real models, etc. and you'll figure out how anatomy works. Some people also like to study muscles, but I like to take it one step at a time (aka when I need to learn it, I'll start slowly working towards it).
Building a strong foundation for anatomy is important! The best way to get comfortable is to draw over models and then redraw it a few times. I don't think my approach is too standard, but I like to just label a few areas and then hide the reference, fill in the blanks, and see how that compares to the original.
I have a habit of not drawing bent backs properly! Something I definitely need to fix here.
Also the front of the bottom-half of the leg (foreleg?) isn't bent enough when I drew it: something else I need to keep in mind!
After drawing/tracing a reference, I would just try to redraw it on my own a few times, keeping in mind any mistakes I needed to fix. That makes it easier to adjust sizes/proportions as needed, and also reinforce the things I tried to correct.
★ There's a lot of resources if you're looking for poses! A few that I know of are:
Pose-Emporium- deviantArt group that collects a lot of stock photos.
Another helpful piece if you just can't find the right reference is to use posable models: either digital ones (there's a few available for free online, or if you have CLIP STUDIO PAINT they have built-in models) or physical ones (e.g. mannequins, figurines, or photos of yourself or someone you get to model for you -- I use my sister for this).
Getting proper anatomy down is a lot of studying and practice, and there's detailed guides for different parts (muscles, arms, etc.), but there's also a lot of tips and tricks for things to make life a little easier!
One trick I like to use a lot is this one for arm placement! You don't have to be perfect with your angles/lines for it, but it just gives you a rough idea of how the arm bends.
I learned this from a tumblr post, but I can't find the right version of it. And all the other versions have language in them, which I'm not sharing here.
So instead you get a very hastily drawn rendition of it.
In regards to hands, I like this Hand Tutorial by Leriisa! If you want to get better with hands, just draw them a lot. You'll get used to them and learn how to simplify them and stylize! The way I draw hands is sort of weird, and I wouldn't really recommend it. It's more like "I scribble a rough blob to get the idea across, and then come back to it and clean it up properly at the end." -- i.e. just so I don't get stuck on trying to figure out how a hand works.
Backgrounds and Props
I don't actually have much advice I can give here, since I don't draw backgrounds or complicated props very often! I'll give some advice, but most of it will be "how to cheat your way through backgrounds/props"
As with all other parts of this: use references! If you have a specific background in mind, I'd recommend trying to find photos to piece together. It also helps to do studies, and might help to break things up (e.g. by depth) or just use blobs to place things and refine afterwards. You'll likely be able to find tutorials for most elements you need (especially things like trees, flowers, crystals/rocks, structures), but you'll just have to search for it.
Otherwise, another saving grace for props will be: 3D models!
One very helpful reference is sketchfab's store. It has a built-in model viewer, so you don't really need to download anything.
Need a sword? Just search for a sword and find one that matches what you want, then rotate it accordingly! There's a bunch of background models too (e.g. classrooms). For some, you can also just see the mesh or lines and use those to make lineart faster.
Note: If you're using CLIP STUDIO PAINT, I believe you can just import 3D models directly too. I don't use it, so I'm not sure -- but there's a bunch of convenient things in it, so I'd recommend looking for people's tips and tricks there. I know I sound like I'm selling CLIP STUDIO PAINT but I actually don't use it at all.
Also a fun cheat I like to use: if you're drawing scenes with a character, put at least one object in the foreground (i.e. between the camera and your character). If you can, blur it: things nearer and farther from the 'camera' tend to be blurrier (or more simplified, depending on your art style).
Sometimes the foreground can just be flower petals or something -- anything that suits the scene.
Should I buy a tablet?
I think this one is very dependent on you: being able to draw traditionally is a good step and certainly enough! But digital art is also a whole other challenge -- you have to learn about how layers work, the copious amounts of tools, and the many different ways to do things. Even without a tablet, you can draw with a mouse and get very far.
I started with a tablet early on (a Wacom Bamboo Fun, which I'm still using to this day), but that's also because I'm on my computer a lot and it gets me to draw more! I don't like fiddling with loose papers all the time and feel like I'm wasting paper sometimes.
There's also a lot to consider in terms of what tablet you buy: tablet (which I'll call tablet PCs, e.g. stuff like Surface Pros and iPads) or art tablets (e.g. Wacom, Huion, xp-pen, etc.)
The former (tablet PCs) can be pretty expensive, but some are pretty good for drawing. I'd look at YouTube videos to get detailed reviews. Note that there are a bunch of cheap tablets too, but some of those are slower and not very good for drawing (poor pen pressure and performance which makes a huge difference).
The latter (art tablets) come in two main varieties: those with displays, and those that don't. The latter tend to be cheaper but take some getting used to, while the ones with displays are easier to adapt to but are also more expensive.
I don't know how much context you need, but if you want to know the difference it's essentially this:
(I use one without a display, but that's because the ones I've used with displays always end up with hardware issues and I got tired of sending them in for repairs.)
If you're on a budget and have a working computer (laptops are fine), then I would recommend buying a tablet without a display for art. There are a bunch that cost around 40 - 60 USD, and they're usually pretty sturdy and last a long time.
On the other hand, they're not very portable. If that's a problem for you and you have a higher budget, then getting a tablet PC might be better (iPads are really nice, but expensive -- I can't really speak for most other things as I haven't tried them).
Note: There's also Wacom tablet PCs which are mobile (e.g. MobileStudio Pro) -- I wouldn't really recommend these if you're starting out though. They're nice, but very expensive. And heavy. And I've had to send them in for repairs every few months because they have issues with batteries and all -- I just... wouldn't recommend it unless you need that power and portability. It was nice when it worked, though.
What art programs should I use for digital art?
The Museum has a pinned thread that has a fairly comprehensive list!
There's no one-size-fits-all answers for this, and you'll have to experiment to see what you like. It's always good to experiment and to try different things out, if only so you can rule them out!
The same goes for traditional art in a sense: some people really like certain mediums, while others don't!
Some other advice
This is sort of for "things that don't really fit into art advice and that no one really asked, but that I wanted to mention."
Do warm-up doodles
It's very tempting to jump right into a larger drawing, but sometime you'll feel like you just can't draw the lines you want properly. It's usually good to start with warm-ups: these help your hands get into the flow of things (and the right motions down).
I think people take different approaches to warm-ups: some people draw a page full of circles/spirals! Either way, these are things that are meant to be low stress and easy: you don't have to worry about things looking perfect, and it can be silly. Usually they're pretty quick too, so you can go draw whatever you plan on drawing for the day.
For me, this is usually very silly doodles of my OC: I doodle him really fast anyways, and it covers a lot of shapes that I would normally use. Sometimes it's also silly but simple animal shapes, especially frog blobs. Also scribbly flowers.
If I'm struggling a lot: I draw beans. Beans are a very good shape to learn to draw.
Draw thumbnails
Sometimes you might have an idea of what you want to draw in your head, but whenever you try it, the result just doesn't look right. If you're doing anything with bigger compositions, I'd recommend drawing out thumbnails first.
These are thumbnails, by the way! Really messy, but very quick. The above 3 thumbnails took me like 10 minutes in total.
It helps you figure out what you want to draw and it makes it easy to adjust things before you're too committed to a piece.
Take a break / Flip your canvas
When you're drawing, sometimes you'll want to take a break or flip your canvas so you get a different perspective. If you're looking at a canvas for too long, there's a good chance you'll either 1) be so used to it that you don't see any mistakes, or 2) know there's a mistake but can't figure out where. That's when you should probably take a break or flip your canvas to get a different perspective on it. If you're drawing traditionally, you can flip your page and shine a light through it for a similar effect (or look at it upside down).
There are many art memes about this.
Stretch your wrists
When you're drawing, whether it's traditionally or digitally, you'll be doing a lot of repetitive motion and putting a bit of strain on your wrist. You might not feel a difference, but over time it'll all add up! I'd recommend getting into the habit of stretching early so you don't run into wrist/hand pains as often. Take care of yourself! (I neglected doing so for like the first 4 years where I was drawing, and it has certainly come to bite me.)
I like this guide! Try to hold these for like 10 seconds.
The twitter thread also links to a lot more discussion and resources, so I'd check it out.
Also, if you ever feel like your hand is starting to feel cramped: don't keep drawing! Even if you're on a roll, take a break for a bit and let your wrist rest. The more you keep pushing it, the worse it might get.
"My art is getting worse"
At some point in your art progression, you will have highs and lows: pieces where you're really proud of yourself, and then pieces where you feel like you're getting worse. At the times where you think you're failing, keep this graph in mind:
No matter what you do, know that your ability is improving, even if you can't see it just yet.
"The shrimp method" (aka "How do I draw [thing]?") Read this tumblr post! This is applicable to both anatomy, props, and a bunch of other things (like animals): draw something on your own, trace a reference, trace some more, then try to draw it yourself (without looking at references).
When you trace something, you'll usually end up learning new things in the process (how certain things look, how they bend, etc.)! Redrawing it lets you practice without having the reference as a crutch, and lets you make it your own.
Side note: tracing and etiquette
The last point (shrimp method) mentions tracing, and it's been brought up a few times. Using references is good, and tracing will help you learn a lot! But there's some etiquette that I feel is important to note, especially when it comes to tracing and posting traced works:
Cite your sources! If you use a pose as a reference and trace it (or reference it very heavily), include a link back to the pose. The same goes for anything else you might use. It's important to mention when you were trying to study off of something: this gives resources to other people, and if you don't cite your source, it's like claiming you did it all on your own.
There's a fine line between copying and being inspired. This is a bit difficult to quantify/express, but sometimes when you're inspired by something and try to create something with similar vibes, it might end up looking or feeling like a copy (e.g. if you copy the entire composition of it). This returns to my previous point: if you cite what you were referencing or inspired by, you give credit where credit is due.
If the creator of something you trace/reference asks for proper credit or for you to take down your post: do so! There's a lot of variety in terms of what different artists are okay with. Some are perfectly fine with others using their art as a reference, while others are uncomfortable with it. Many would be happy to let you use their art while studying, but seeing something that resembles you made without any credit is an awful feeling. There have been a lot of artists that deleted their accounts or set their art to private due to these sorts of incidents.
Essentially, it sort of boils down to being respectful of other artists and making sure you don't claim things as your own. The assumption with art is that most things were made by the artist unless stated otherwise: so please state it when you reference something! If you were inspired, then let people know what you were inspired by.
Sorry this got really long -- I tried to keep things simple, and tried to focus on things that could be done both traditionally + digitally, and things that are more broadly applicable (e.g. artists tend to have varying approaches for colour and composition preferences, so I sort of skipped that).
I'm happy to try to dig up more resources if there's a specific topic you need help with! (I'm also perfectly fine with answering PMs too, if you want to ask there.)
Sorry if this isn't needed anymore, but I saw this thread a while ago and kept adding to my response for the past few days!
I wanted to give my own thoughts and share resources and tips for this too (it's been on my mind since you asked in my AMA thread, but I figured this would be a good time/place to give a longer answer).
This will probably be quite lengthy... So feel free to just look at the parts that you feel are relevant to you! Everyone has different focuses, and it's important to take things at your own pace so that you're still having fun and you're not being overwhelmed. If even one thing helps, then I'll consider this a success. 'w')b
Also keep in mind that everyone learns differently -- things I suggest might not be applicable to you at all, and that's fine! As you do more and more art, you'll eventually find your own style. I'm just trying to keep to more generalizable things or starting points Please keep in mind that all of this is coming from someone who didn't formally take any art lessons/classes -- I learned everything on my own time and at my own pace.
General
Just as a bit of general preface: there's a lot of different things that make up art, and you'll have to figure out what to focus on. The most important part is to have fun! Sometimes you might want to temper your expectations a little, but know that you'll get where you want eventually with practice! I find it very easy to get disheartened, but sometimes it's good to look back at where you started to see how far you've come, and know that you'll look back at your present state in the same way.
With that said, there really is a lot that you'll end up considering amidst your art quest, since art is comprised of so many different things. To name a few:
Anatomy
Stylization
Colouring (this also breaks into colour composition, shading/lighting, etc.)
Lineart/inking style
Backgrounds
Props
Composition
And many more that I'm probably forgetting. The more you practice each of these, the better you'll get! Don't feel disheartened if you can't do everything: there's a lot!
For each of these, there's also a whole set of shortcuts and tips too. Find what you like to do and what you don't. For the things you don't like, you'll have to either force yourself to practice it, or find shortcuts to make it bearable!
I'm going to just talk about anatomy tips, backgrounds/props, and some other more basic/general things -- mostly because I have more resources and tips off the top of my head for these! (I have some for colouring too, but a lot of it is digital art specific, and there's a lot of different colouring styles, and I feel like this will be pretty long already.)
★ There's a lot of tips online, and I'd highly recommend looking at the ones on CLIP STUDIO TIPS! A lot of digital artists have posted their process or tutorials here, so it helps to look/search through these. They have a "Learn from the professionals" page, too. Some of these are a little more involved, but sometimes it helps to just see the steps they take. A handful of these are reliant on CLIP STUDIO PAINT, but there's a lot that aren't.
Basics
This is sort of a section for things that aren't directly related to things like anatomy, but are pretty helpful nonetheless!
Shapes
The first, which you'll probably hear a lot, is to draw shapes! I like to take it a bit further and try to deform it: drawing a rectangle is pretty easily learned and a cylinder is bit fancier! But what do they look like when curved (e.g. a cylinder looks like macaroni), or at different angles?
Simple shapes are a lot easier to work with compared to things like arms, legs, etc., and they're sort of the foundation of everything else!
Below is an example of what I mean: it's good to pick both 2D shapes and 3D shapes. As a bonus with rectangles and other 2D shapes: if you can't figure out what it looks like, just draw it on a piece of paper and look at it from different angles, fold the page, etc.
You can pick any deformations you want, and any shapes you want. The divisions on the top-down cylinder isn't as rounded as they should be, but that's fine! It's just practice, after all.
If you look closely, a lot of them have mistakes, and that's perfectly fine! It was still good practice.
Shapes are sort of the foundation of a lot of things, and if you build a solid foundation with drawing them (or decomposing things into them), you'll probably have an easier time.
You can (and should) try to take this a step farther too: try to combine a bunch of shapes together, or play with more complicated shapes! What would it look like if you stacked two cylinders together? A cylinder on a cube?
Again: I'm not aiming for 'perfect' with these, but 'good enough' suffices!
Beans
In a similar vein: draw beans! They're easier to scribble and you can be as free-form with them as you want, but they've been a great help to me in learning how to draw bodies.
Drawing seams on your beans helps you break things into 3D shapes too! Draw long beans! Short beans! Skinny beans! Wide beans!
I'd recommend looking at this Torso Abstractions page by Aliciane @ deviantart! Also, if you're struggling with beans: just think of them as two connected spheres. You can adjust the width of the connection too, so it's not as linear. The spheres themselves don't have to be equally sized, either.
Ribbons
Going to something a lot simpler: draw lines and turn them into ribbons! There's a few ways to start with this, but the two I usually do are: 1) draw a curvy line, and then draw another one that's parallel to it, 2) draw a curvy line and then copy-paste it and shift the new one slightly. Afterwards, connect the ends (and 'bends') and clean it up. For example:
Ribbons! I just used different colours to make it easier to see what I was doing.
What started as a simple line now looks like an actual object -- and if you think of fabric as just really big pieces of ribbons, you'll get an idea of where this might eventually lead you. You can (and should) use this as practice to draw more wavy/flowy lines too: when I started drawing, I relied a lot on very stiff straight lines. Drawing ribbons ended up helping me a lot, though, especially when trying to figure out how fabric and hair flows.
The goal for most of these is to get a better understanding of shapes, and to get used to drawing more 3D objects! Anecdote: When I started drawing, everything tended to look very 'flat' or stiff, largely because I always thought of things in 2D shapes.
It wasn't until recently when I realized where I was going wrong and why I was struggling so much, so I'd like to encourage these sorts of exercises.
There's a lot of different exercises you can do, like drawing blobs and trying to make something of them, so feel free to look for more art exercises!
Anatomy
I'm not really qualified to give many tips for anatomy, but the crux of it is: do art studies! Sketch real people, real models, etc. and you'll figure out how anatomy works. Some people also like to study muscles, but I like to take it one step at a time (aka when I need to learn it, I'll start slowly working towards it).
Building a strong foundation for anatomy is important! The best way to get comfortable is to draw over models and then redraw it a few times. I don't think my approach is too standard, but I like to just label a few areas and then hide the reference, fill in the blanks, and see how that compares to the original.
I have a habit of not drawing bent backs properly! Something I definitely need to fix here.
Also the front of the bottom-half of the leg (foreleg?) isn't bent enough when I drew it: something else I need to keep in mind!
After drawing/tracing a reference, I would just try to redraw it on my own a few times, keeping in mind any mistakes I needed to fix. That makes it easier to adjust sizes/proportions as needed, and also reinforce the things I tried to correct.
★ There's a lot of resources if you're looking for poses! A few that I know of are:
Pose-Emporium- deviantArt group that collects a lot of stock photos.
Another helpful piece if you just can't find the right reference is to use posable models: either digital ones (there's a few available for free online, or if you have CLIP STUDIO PAINT they have built-in models) or physical ones (e.g. mannequins, figurines, or photos of yourself or someone you get to model for you -- I use my sister for this).
Getting proper anatomy down is a lot of studying and practice, and there's detailed guides for different parts (muscles, arms, etc.), but there's also a lot of tips and tricks for things to make life a little easier!
One trick I like to use a lot is this one for arm placement! You don't have to be perfect with your angles/lines for it, but it just gives you a rough idea of how the arm bends.
I learned this from a tumblr post, but I can't find the right version of it. And all the other versions have language in them, which I'm not sharing here.
So instead you get a very hastily drawn rendition of it.
In regards to hands, I like this Hand Tutorial by Leriisa! If you want to get better with hands, just draw them a lot. You'll get used to them and learn how to simplify them and stylize! The way I draw hands is sort of weird, and I wouldn't really recommend it. It's more like "I scribble a rough blob to get the idea across, and then come back to it and clean it up properly at the end." -- i.e. just so I don't get stuck on trying to figure out how a hand works.
Backgrounds and Props
I don't actually have much advice I can give here, since I don't draw backgrounds or complicated props very often! I'll give some advice, but most of it will be "how to cheat your way through backgrounds/props"
As with all other parts of this: use references! If you have a specific background in mind, I'd recommend trying to find photos to piece together. It also helps to do studies, and might help to break things up (e.g. by depth) or just use blobs to place things and refine afterwards. You'll likely be able to find tutorials for most elements you need (especially things like trees, flowers, crystals/rocks, structures), but you'll just have to search for it.
Otherwise, another saving grace for props will be: 3D models!
One very helpful reference is sketchfab's store. It has a built-in model viewer, so you don't really need to download anything.
Need a sword? Just search for a sword and find one that matches what you want, then rotate it accordingly! There's a bunch of background models too (e.g. classrooms). For some, you can also just see the mesh or lines and use those to make lineart faster.
Note: If you're using CLIP STUDIO PAINT, I believe you can just import 3D models directly too. I don't use it, so I'm not sure -- but there's a bunch of convenient things in it, so I'd recommend looking for people's tips and tricks there. I know I sound like I'm selling CLIP STUDIO PAINT but I actually don't use it at all.
Also a fun cheat I like to use: if you're drawing scenes with a character, put at least one object in the foreground (i.e. between the camera and your character). If you can, blur it: things nearer and farther from the 'camera' tend to be blurrier (or more simplified, depending on your art style).
Sometimes the foreground can just be flower petals or something -- anything that suits the scene.
Should I buy a tablet?
I think this one is very dependent on you: being able to draw traditionally is a good step and certainly enough! But digital art is also a whole other challenge -- you have to learn about how layers work, the copious amounts of tools, and the many different ways to do things. Even without a tablet, you can draw with a mouse and get very far.
I started with a tablet early on (a Wacom Bamboo Fun, which I'm still using to this day), but that's also because I'm on my computer a lot and it gets me to draw more! I don't like fiddling with loose papers all the time and feel like I'm wasting paper sometimes.
There's also a lot to consider in terms of what tablet you buy: tablet (which I'll call tablet PCs, e.g. stuff like Surface Pros and iPads) or art tablets (e.g. Wacom, Huion, xp-pen, etc.)
The former (tablet PCs) can be pretty expensive, but some are pretty good for drawing. I'd look at YouTube videos to get detailed reviews. Note that there are a bunch of cheap tablets too, but some of those are slower and not very good for drawing (poor pen pressure and performance which makes a huge difference).
The latter (art tablets) come in two main varieties: those with displays, and those that don't. The latter tend to be cheaper but take some getting used to, while the ones with displays are easier to adapt to but are also more expensive.
I don't know how much context you need, but if you want to know the difference it's essentially this:
(I use one without a display, but that's because the ones I've used with displays always end up with hardware issues and I got tired of sending them in for repairs.)
If you're on a budget and have a working computer (laptops are fine), then I would recommend buying a tablet without a display for art. There are a bunch that cost around 40 - 60 USD, and they're usually pretty sturdy and last a long time.
On the other hand, they're not very portable. If that's a problem for you and you have a higher budget, then getting a tablet PC might be better (iPads are really nice, but expensive -- I can't really speak for most other things as I haven't tried them).
Note: There's also Wacom tablet PCs which are mobile (e.g. MobileStudio Pro) -- I wouldn't really recommend these if you're starting out though. They're nice, but very expensive. And heavy. And I've had to send them in for repairs every few months because they have issues with batteries and all -- I just... wouldn't recommend it unless you need that power and portability. It was nice when it worked, though.
What art programs should I use for digital art?
The Museum has a pinned thread that has a fairly comprehensive list!
There's no one-size-fits-all answers for this, and you'll have to experiment to see what you like. It's always good to experiment and to try different things out, if only so you can rule them out!
The same goes for traditional art in a sense: some people really like certain mediums, while others don't!
Some other advice
This is sort of for "things that don't really fit into art advice and that no one really asked, but that I wanted to mention."
Do warm-up doodles
It's very tempting to jump right into a larger drawing, but sometime you'll feel like you just can't draw the lines you want properly. It's usually good to start with warm-ups: these help your hands get into the flow of things (and the right motions down).
I think people take different approaches to warm-ups: some people draw a page full of circles/spirals! Either way, these are things that are meant to be low stress and easy: you don't have to worry about things looking perfect, and it can be silly. Usually they're pretty quick too, so you can go draw whatever you plan on drawing for the day.
For me, this is usually very silly doodles of my OC: I doodle him really fast anyways, and it covers a lot of shapes that I would normally use. Sometimes it's also silly but simple animal shapes, especially frog blobs. Also scribbly flowers.
If I'm struggling a lot: I draw beans. Beans are a very good shape to learn to draw.
Draw thumbnails
Sometimes you might have an idea of what you want to draw in your head, but whenever you try it, the result just doesn't look right. If you're doing anything with bigger compositions, I'd recommend drawing out thumbnails first.
These are thumbnails, by the way! Really messy, but very quick. The above 3 thumbnails took me like 10 minutes in total.
It helps you figure out what you want to draw and it makes it easy to adjust things before you're too committed to a piece.
Take a break / Flip your canvas
When you're drawing, sometimes you'll want to take a break or flip your canvas so you get a different perspective. If you're looking at a canvas for too long, there's a good chance you'll either 1) be so used to it that you don't see any mistakes, or 2) know there's a mistake but can't figure out where. That's when you should probably take a break or flip your canvas to get a different perspective on it. If you're drawing traditionally, you can flip your page and shine a light through it for a similar effect (or look at it upside down).
There are many art memes about this.
Stretch your wrists
When you're drawing, whether it's traditionally or digitally, you'll be doing a lot of repetitive motion and putting a bit of strain on your wrist. You might not feel a difference, but over time it'll all add up! I'd recommend getting into the habit of stretching early so you don't run into wrist/hand pains as often. Take care of yourself! (I neglected doing so for like the first 4 years where I was drawing, and it has certainly come to bite me.)
I like this guide! Try to hold these for like 10 seconds.
The twitter thread also links to a lot more discussion and resources, so I'd check it out.
Also, if you ever feel like your hand is starting to feel cramped: don't keep drawing! Even if you're on a roll, take a break for a bit and let your wrist rest. The more you keep pushing it, the worse it might get.
"My art is getting worse"
At some point in your art progression, you will have highs and lows: pieces where you're really proud of yourself, and then pieces where you feel like you're getting worse. At the times where you think you're failing, keep this graph in mind:
No matter what you do, know that your ability is improving, even if you can't see it just yet.
"The shrimp method" (aka "How do I draw [thing]?") Read this tumblr post! This is applicable to both anatomy, props, and a bunch of other things (like animals): draw something on your own, trace a reference, trace some more, then try to draw it yourself (without looking at references).
When you trace something, you'll usually end up learning new things in the process (how certain things look, how they bend, etc.)! Redrawing it lets you practice without having the reference as a crutch, and lets you make it your own.
Side note: tracing and etiquette
The last point (shrimp method) mentions tracing, and it's been brought up a few times. Using references is good, and tracing will help you learn a lot! But there's some etiquette that I feel is important to note, especially when it comes to tracing and posting traced works:
Cite your sources! If you use a pose as a reference and trace it (or reference it very heavily), include a link back to the pose. The same goes for anything else you might use. It's important to mention when you were trying to study off of something: this gives resources to other people, and if you don't cite your source, it's like claiming you did it all on your own.
There's a fine line between copying and being inspired. This is a bit difficult to quantify/express, but sometimes when you're inspired by something and try to create something with similar vibes, it might end up looking or feeling like a copy (e.g. if you copy the entire composition of it). This returns to my previous point: if you cite what you were referencing or inspired by, you give credit where credit is due.
If the creator of something you trace/reference asks for proper credit or for you to take down your post: do so! There's a lot of variety in terms of what different artists are okay with. Some are perfectly fine with others using their art as a reference, while others are uncomfortable with it. Many would be happy to let you use their art while studying, but seeing something that resembles you made without any credit is an awful feeling. There have been a lot of artists that deleted their accounts or set their art to private due to these sorts of incidents.
Essentially, it sort of boils down to being respectful of other artists and making sure you don't claim things as your own. The assumption with art is that most things were made by the artist unless stated otherwise: so please state it when you reference something! If you were inspired, then let people know what you were inspired by.
Sorry this got really long -- I tried to keep things simple, and tried to focus on things that could be done both traditionally + digitally, and things that are more broadly applicable (e.g. artists tend to have varying approaches for colour and composition preferences, so I sort of skipped that).
I'm happy to try to dig up more resources if there's a specific topic you need help with! (I'm also perfectly fine with answering PMs too, if you want to ask there.)
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up. And any pointers are always welcome, so no worries there either about it not being needed.
I’ve been working on using squares/rectangles, circles and triangles. I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. From reading Vanivon’s response, I definitely wanted to look at anatomy since I already had some struggles drawing hands and I honestly wasn’t sure about the 3D shapes so it is great that you brought those up. Everything you mentioned I’d like to learn how to do eventually but, I was a bit unsure what the next step I need to take after doing basic 2D shapes; this helps a lot. I probably could start with 3D shapes and maybe a little anatomy next.
I have been drawing things way too big than planned (they ended up working out for the better) but the whole thumbnail idea sounds really helpful. I’ll give that a try.
I had no idea there were so many different type of tablets no to mention quality so thanks for going into detail about that.
The tips on etiquette were very helpful as well, since I had no idea about specifics about giving credit and just general etiquette.
No need to apologize for the length. All the information tips is extremely helpful. I’ll definitely come back and reread everything. Since I won’t be able to look into a tablet anytime soon, I greatly appreciate that you focused on things that can be done both traditionally and digitally.
Thanks so much again for taking the time to reply and for all the sources you dug up (and the offer to answer PMs too). . I will be sure to let you know if I have any questions. For now, I’ll try to focus on small steps so this continues to be a fun experience.
Could be the worst. But I like the different tools, and the fact you can do layers, insert pictures, different brushes, so fourth.
❤❤
. I appreciate any reply even if a specific book isn’t mentioned since atm I am unsure where to start to look at when I feel I am ready to take my art up another notch and I wasn’t sure if someone that never took any art classes before or that has no knowledge on it could reach a level like the artist I linked (I probably am setting my potential goals too high 
