25 Art tips
that I've learned from binge-watching dozens of art content >=3
And also this gives me the excuse to write things down so I can remember them-
I will add some of my practices here that are examples for some of the tips I'm talking about.
1. Stay in your comfort zone (MOSTLY). Too much challenge burns you out.
2. Practice from real life often. This helps you understand how to simplify things to your liking.
3. OBSERVE. Observe real life, observe references, observe other artists. USE YOUR EYES!
4. Do personal art studies and copy from your favourite artists (Don't post your studies as your own art).
5. And copy from like.. 10 artists. Pick and choose little characteristics of their artstyles
6. Have a CLEAR, step by step process that you do. I need to work on this one.
7. If you are always frustrated doing art, stop when you have fun. This will leave you feeling like you left your work in a good mood, and not in a bad, frustrated mood. It tricks your brain into liking to make art.
8. Look back at your old work. You've come so far, don't give up!
9. Follow the LARGE, MEDIUM, SMALL rule. Draw large details first, then medium details, then small details. This applies for sketching, doing line art, and painting.
10. When shading, think of everything as VOLUMES. Cubes, spheres, cylinders. Your knee is a misshapen sphere, your torso is a misshapen cylinder. Your legs are cylinders. Your hand is a cube. Refine refine!
11. Make your shadows REDDER, or BLUER, than the base colour. For the skin, do a redder shadow. NOT BLACK. Only shade with black if you're going to colour it. (Or if you're doing grayscale)
12. Make the focal point brighter and/or more saturated. For example, make the face brighter. This will bring your eyes to the important area!
13. Have EMPTY SPACE in your drawings. Not every part of the illustration has to be chaotic.
14. Less is more. Simple is lovely looking. This is a good tip for artists who feel stressed about their details.
15. And stop drawing SO MANY SMALL DETAILS! Who will look there? Not many! Only detail your focal point. Their nail doesn't need to look ultra-realistic!
16. Zoom out more, or paint with a bigger brush. This is good for sketching and painting. It's easy to get stuck on details.
17. Occasionally, draw in your comfort zone and let loose. Have fun, relax, and be a happy artist!
18. Do gesture drawing. Set a timer for 30 seconds, get a pose online, and draw it. This will help you with your flow in your poses!
19. Draw volumes. Sketch spheres, cubes, cylinders, sphere merged into a cylinder, and other variants! Shade them if you'd like.
20. Draw with your whole arm, not with your wrist. Don't want wrist problems do ya?
21. Have contrasting values. Make sure you have a good range of values in your art! A good way to see this is to put a Colour Blending Mode layer over the top of everything, and make the canvas white on that layer. Your drawing will look grayscale until you hide that Colour layer.
22. Have better back posture. Don't slouch too much!
23. Don't practice every day. And don't draw too much.
24. Participate in contests and challenges that you feel confident to do!
25. Finally, have art friends! Have MOTIVATING art friends. You become who you're around with.
And also this gives me the excuse to write things down so I can remember them-
I will add some of my practices here that are examples for some of the tips I'm talking about.
1. Stay in your comfort zone (MOSTLY). Too much challenge burns you out.
2. Practice from real life often. This helps you understand how to simplify things to your liking.
3. OBSERVE. Observe real life, observe references, observe other artists. USE YOUR EYES!
4. Do personal art studies and copy from your favourite artists (Don't post your studies as your own art).
5. And copy from like.. 10 artists. Pick and choose little characteristics of their artstyles
6. Have a CLEAR, step by step process that you do. I need to work on this one.
7. If you are always frustrated doing art, stop when you have fun. This will leave you feeling like you left your work in a good mood, and not in a bad, frustrated mood. It tricks your brain into liking to make art.
8. Look back at your old work. You've come so far, don't give up!
9. Follow the LARGE, MEDIUM, SMALL rule. Draw large details first, then medium details, then small details. This applies for sketching, doing line art, and painting.
10. When shading, think of everything as VOLUMES. Cubes, spheres, cylinders. Your knee is a misshapen sphere, your torso is a misshapen cylinder. Your legs are cylinders. Your hand is a cube. Refine refine!
11. Make your shadows REDDER, or BLUER, than the base colour. For the skin, do a redder shadow. NOT BLACK. Only shade with black if you're going to colour it. (Or if you're doing grayscale)
12. Make the focal point brighter and/or more saturated. For example, make the face brighter. This will bring your eyes to the important area!
13. Have EMPTY SPACE in your drawings. Not every part of the illustration has to be chaotic.
14. Less is more. Simple is lovely looking. This is a good tip for artists who feel stressed about their details.
15. And stop drawing SO MANY SMALL DETAILS! Who will look there? Not many! Only detail your focal point. Their nail doesn't need to look ultra-realistic!
16. Zoom out more, or paint with a bigger brush. This is good for sketching and painting. It's easy to get stuck on details.
17. Occasionally, draw in your comfort zone and let loose. Have fun, relax, and be a happy artist!
18. Do gesture drawing. Set a timer for 30 seconds, get a pose online, and draw it. This will help you with your flow in your poses!
19. Draw volumes. Sketch spheres, cubes, cylinders, sphere merged into a cylinder, and other variants! Shade them if you'd like.
20. Draw with your whole arm, not with your wrist. Don't want wrist problems do ya?
21. Have contrasting values. Make sure you have a good range of values in your art! A good way to see this is to put a Colour Blending Mode layer over the top of everything, and make the canvas white on that layer. Your drawing will look grayscale until you hide that Colour layer.
22. Have better back posture. Don't slouch too much!
23. Don't practice every day. And don't draw too much.
24. Participate in contests and challenges that you feel confident to do!
25. Finally, have art friends! Have MOTIVATING art friends. You become who you're around with.
