Traditional artist needing help from digital artists!

[Katzenjammer]

I have everything I need to do digital art, however, I am not good at picking up how to use features like layers (which is what I need to use most) and various other thingsk despite having looked up various youtube tutorials and tips on it. I'm the type that needs a slow step by step list to check off to be sure I'm doing it right with this kind of thing, and learn best by having someone show me things in real life.

I am using:
- Bamboo tablet
- FireAlpaca (free version)

Any help or anything at all anyone has found helpful on youtube that are step by step or for dummies (lol) would be ideal. Please feel free to share and don't be afraid of sounding condescending or anything because I am a total n00b with digital art and am admittedly ignorant of a lot of things many people already know. Thank you for your patience with me in advance

 

[Sharksheep]

A lot of digital art programs are very similar. I'm using Krita but I come with photoshop experience and a lot of it is similar.

The best advice I have is to just play around with it and explore each feature one by one. Just make something small. You are going to make a lot of mistakes but I bet you made a lot of them too when you first started with traditional art.

 

[Snowifer]

I also use Krita , but some things I always use are preserve opacity and alpha lock. Layer types can do fun things and I mostly use multiply for shadows and overlay for lighting.

Same as Sharksheep, messing around is the best way to learn. Also press things on your keyboard and see what they do, since there's probably a good number of shortcuts on there.

 

[Lynnatchii]

I used my phone to draw, and I have no experiences with drawing on a computer. But I have a wacom tablet thing but I haven't use it. So I can't really give you any advice

 

[Katzenjammer]

@Sharksheep and/or @Snowifer I've never head of Krita. Is this a free program? I've only really heard of gimp, firealpaca, sai, and photoshop.

Post automatically merged: Sep 16, 2020

I used my phone to draw, and I have no experiences with drawing on a computer. But I have a wacom tablet thing but I haven't use it. So I can't really give you any advice

That makes your art even more impressive to me, wow!

 

[Rowlet28]

Krita is one of the free art programs you can download in pc I believe and it has a lot of features as well. I don't have a drawing tablet so most of my drawings come from an old Samsung tablet that comes with the s pen. I agree that you should just first familiarize yourself with the interface of the program and experiment with the different features it has to offer.

 

[mocha.]

Just practice + more practice! Don’t go ahead with trying to make gorgeous creations right off the bat, mess around with different brushes, layers, textures and effects and find out what you like/dislike about certain things/tools. Everyone has their own way of drawing which is the beauty of art!
I also usually familiarise myself by either YouTubing “[program] tutorial/basics/shortcuts/brushes” which usually brings up channels that use this program. You can then find more videos through them or the recommended section. Don’t feel disheartened if you find it all confusing to begin with, everyone started feeling the exact same as you! It’ll become second nature before you know it

 

[xSuperMario64x]

regarding layers, I personally use a new layer whenever I'm working with something on its own. for instance, when I do a sketch it's always on its own layer, and if I'm drawing something with multiple different outline colors I use 4-5 layers to draw each part separately (makes it easier to erase) and then when I'm done I merge them into one layer. then of course I do coloring in its own layer, as well as shading in its own layer. it just makes the drawing and coloring process so much easier, that way you're not messing with other parts of the drawing while trying to work on one part.
(sorry if that didn't make any sense, I'm bad at wording things sometimes lol)

also like the above user said, it's best to start out by just experimenting with all the different features that you're given so that you can get a feel for them. you can start out with some simple drawings and colorings and work your way up from there.

 

[jyrilian]

Like everyone else above said, messing with the features in your program will really help you get settled in. Starting art digitally does seem daunting but after years, I can say that I prefer that over traditional art!! What I did was also look at speed paints of others on yt (using firealpaca, in your case), THIS was what really helped me the most

 

[moo_nieu]

I use Krita, and it does the job. I think it cost about $5 on steam

 

[Plume]

I'm sort of in the same boat. What helped me in the beginning was just letting myself draw without worrying too much about what I was supposed to do. I would make one layer for my lines, and one layer for colors and go from there. After experimenting, I learned what kind of situations I'd want to use more layers in. I think it helped me a bit to learn how to do everything from coloring to shading to light techniques with just brushes, just like a traditional painting! After that, I started to experiment more with the opacity and smoothing of my brushes.