Drawing on a budget

[Whirlwind 1,048]

I've enjoyed drawing for quite a while (especially ponies)

But I've came to a point to where I feel like I want to expand on drawing or creating artwork

But the big problem is, I have REALLY strict budget standards and I feel skeptical on buying or using programs that cost money. I still do drawing for fun. But I ESPECIALLY want to custom draw my OC. I have a rough sketch via pony creator, but haven't found a solution to give more detail.

 

But my main question is, do you know what materials I can use for a reasonable price?

 

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

I use 0.9mm Bic mechanical pencils, fine point Sharpie pens, Prismacolor colored pencils, Canson sketchpads, and a Huion digital drawing tablet.

 

Bic mechanical pencils you can get a whole pack of on the cheap.  If you're confident with your penciling, you can probably find thinner varieties that should allow you to add finer details.

 

Sharpie pens and Prismacolor colored pencils can be bought, respectively, in bulk and in small-to-large color sets on Amazon for reasonable prices.

 

Canson sketchpads are all I ever want to sketch and ink on anymore.  Depending on the size, you can get those on the cheap at Amazon.

 

My Huion is the first digital tablet I've ever owned, and it performs well (depending on the software).  It was about half the price of similar tablets from more leading manufacturers.  I use it largely with the freeware program - and "poor man's Photoshop" - paint.net.

[Carl Poppa 464]

I agree with Ziggy. I also use mechanical pencils, Sharpies, and a Huion tablet. GIMP is also a free Photoshop-esque program that, if you can figure out how to use, can produce the same quality of art as Photoshop. I never figured out GIMP myself (learned Photoshop in a class, so didn't really try very hard to learn it) but I have some friends who swear by it.  It's certainly worth investigating, anyhow.

[On-Locoweed 108]

If you want to do stuff with traditional (as opposed to digital) media, oil pastels are fun and versatile. Pastels can give your drawings a bold character, and did I mention they're fun? Cuz they are.

 

Painting ponies is cool too. Tubes of acrylic paint can be found in most craft stores, and they are relatively cheap.

 

Pick up a piece of charcoal and put that on paper. Boom! Art!

 

Pencils I like drawing with the best are Mirador Black Warrior and Ticonderoga Black. The graphite is soft and they shade well. As far as pens go, sharpies and ball-points work the best for fluid and naturalistic figure drawing, so consider those types.

Edited April 28, 2016 by On-Locoweed

[Brony Lounge 102]

I use 0.9mm Bic mechanical pencils, fine point Sharpie pens, Prismacolor colored pencils, Canson sketchpads, and a Huion digital drawing tablet.

 

Bic mechanical pencils you can get a whole pack of on the cheap.  If you're confident with your penciling, you can probably find thinner varieties that should allow you to add finer details.

 

Sharpie pens and Prismacolor colored pencils can be bought, respectively, in bulk and in small-to-large color sets on Amazon for reasonable prices.

 

Canson sketchpads are all I ever want to sketch and ink on anymore.  Depending on the size, you can get those on the cheap at Amazon.

 

My Huion is the first digital tablet I've ever owned, and it performs well (depending on the software).  It was about half the price of similar tablets from more leading manufacturers.  I use it largely with the freeware program - and "poor man's Photoshop" - paint.net.

I always thought poor mans photoshop was gnu image manipulation program, I’ve never even heard of paint.net

[Lonk Chase 255]

There are so many free drawing programs out there that you can have a hard time picking just one!

I already posed this on another person's topic, but I like it, so here you go:

Some free ones I recommend are:

• Krita - https://krita.org/en/
• GIMP - http://www.gimp.org/
• Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/index.html 

Other alternatives include:

• FireAlpaca - http://firealpaca.com/en- I don't personally like it for some reason. Maybe I need to give it a second chance, as I saw nothing really  wrong with it. It just wasn't my thing.
• Artweaver - http://www.artweaver.de/en- It's a thing. I have never used it. If you want to try it, go ahead.
• Paint Tools SAI - You can find a cracked version on YouTube (if that's something you want to do) - theodd1sout uses it. He even uses the cracked version I just mentioned two sentences ago. If that's all the info you need to jump in, go right ahead. Just be forewarned: SAI is intended for fancy artsy stuff, not comics (but who cares, am I right?)
• Inkscape - https://inkscape.org/en/- It's a vector drawing program, which means you can zoom in as much as you like and everything will still be nice and crisp. It has a high learning curve though. I personally dislike that learning curve. It's very mean.

One more thing: If you want to draw seriously, GET A GRAPHICS TABLET. I got a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Small and I love it.

A graphics tablet will run you at least $50-100 but it's worth it.

 

 

I always thought poor mans photoshop was gnu image manipulation program, I’ve never even heard of paint.net

Paint.NET is more of a drawing program than GIMP, though GIMP has a lot of cool Photoshop-y features that you can use in your art.

I use both off and on.

[Guest]

When it comes to traditional you can get away with cheap supplies to start out, but when it comes to digital I always go big or go home.

[NotoriousSMALL 1,984]

This is what I do for digital art:

Draw it on paper, take a picture of it with my phone, upload it to imgur, then pull it up on photoshop (alternatively gimp which is free) and trace over it and color it. bam.

[Brony Lounge 102]

There are so many free drawing programs out there that you can have a hard time picking just one!

I already posed this on another person's topic, but I like it, so here you go:

A graphics tablet will run you at least $50-100 but it's worth it.

 

 

Paint.NET is more of a drawing program than GIMP, though GIMP has a lot of cool Photoshop-y features that you can use in your art.

I use both off and on.

Would make sense I suppose, Ive never used paint.net you see

[Apple-Jack 312]

This is what I do for digital art:

Draw it on paper, take a picture of it with my phone, upload it to imgur, then pull it up on photoshop (alternatively gimp which is free) and trace over it and color it. bam.

Vectoring over it I suppose? Not a bad idea anyway ^-^ I sometimes sketch something on paper and find out its really nice thats when I do the photo thing but most times I wanna draw something cool I go straight for the tablet (: 

 

When it comes to traditional you can get away with cheap supplies to start out, but when it comes to digital I always go big or go home.

About this that you said Key.. I have a friend that pretty much started with a really bad drawing tablet and gimp or something like that he now creates designs for t-shirts and stuff also posters and all sort of stuff ... Guess what his tablet was garbage YOU just gotta have the touch of it. Conclusion:You might make somepony uncomfortable with what you just said, thing that isnt true at all. 

 

 

A cheap drawing tablet and gimp would do the trick for a starter thats my recommandation. The rest is up to the pony that draws. You can get a better tablet in time but you gotta start from the bottom

Edited June 12, 2016 by Apple-Jack

[FullmoonDagger 200]

You can just une a reagular pencil and some random paper to sketch your stuff out and finish it on MSpaint. That's what I do sometimes. For full digital art, you can have PaintTool SAI, you can have it for free and I have a wacom tablet pen & touch small. They stopped making them tho, now there's a new version.

[Guest]

You can just une a reagular pencil and some random paper to sketch your stuff out and finish it on MSpaint. That's what I do sometimes. For full digital art, you can have PaintTool SAI, you can have it for free and I have a wacom tablet pen & touch small. They stopped making them tho, now there's a new version.

 

Actually Paint Tool Sai costs money.

[FullmoonDagger 200]

Actually Paint Tool Sai costs money.

I downloaded it for free

[Guest]

I downloaded it for free

 

Then your copy is not a legal one:

 

https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

 

Says plainly on the website that it requires a license.

[FullmoonDagger 200]

Then your copy is not a legal one:

 

https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

 

Says plainly on the website that it requires a license.

I know, I have a cracked version x) But you can have it for free, it's the same than the "legal" one

[Guest]

I know, I have a cracked version x) But you can have it for free, it's the same than the "legal" one

 

This person is asking for drawing on a budget, not a five finger discount.

 

It's technically not "free" and it's stealing from a small company that doesn't even make that many sales to begin with. You also CAN get caught by your ISP and people have before.

Edited June 12, 2016 by Guest

[Apple-Jack 312]

This person is asking for drawing on a budget, not a five finger discount.

 

It's technically not "free" and it's stealing from a small company that doesn't even make that many sales to begin with. You also CAN get caught by your ISP and people have before.

    You can't really get caught in a country like the one I live in. Why? Simply because we couldnt afford buying all this sort of programs ... 1$=4-5 x my currency ... The salaries are way smaller too there is no way you could actually blame my country for cracking 24/7 and stuff. We even have sites with thousands of pages of cracked games/programs and stuff that all the citizens can acces for a small decent price. I don't say I would do it if I didnt have to ... I would like to support the companies and I did try to support the ones I really like by buying some products I couldnt buy all of them... 

   Thinking of this pirating policy :

        The prices in contries with lower economies that US UK and so on should be smaller so that it would be a fair amount of cash spent for anyone... I do understand people could use VPN's and stuff like that or the companies wouldnt agree with that but that would be fair. You can't ask people with a small amount of money to actually waste so much $ on products so expensive they could buy so much other stuff from their country such as food and stuff....

       They could just increase the security and just do it but you know how most companies think? OHHHHHH WE NEED MORE MONEY LETS MAKE A PRODUCT AND TAKE ALL THE MONEY WE CAN <- Shit logic right there unfair w/e

[Guest]

 

 

You can't really get caught in a country like the one I live in. Why? Simply because we couldnt afford buying all this sort of programs ... 1$=4-5 x my currency ... The salaries are way smaller too there is no way you could actually blame my country for cracking 24/7 and stuff.

 

That's a totally different situation. Not everyone pirating software is from such a country and can plenty afford it. Especially since Sai is VERY REASONABLY priced, it's only like $35.

 

That being said, sorry but even if you live in a poor area, stealing is not justified here. You're not stealing food or necessities to live, you're stealing recreational software that other people spent time and money to make. Your justification of "I can't afford it" isn't really a justification. I can't afford a new car, but that doesn't make it okay to steal one. I could understand stealing food or medicine, but software is not a justified theft. If you can't afford a $35 software then clearly other problems should be taking priority in your life.

 

That being said, I am pretty sure it's against the rules here to advocate stealing software. So perhaps we shouldn't be suggesting it to someone asking for a budget art set up?

 

A good budget path is to go with programs like GIMP and Paint.net which are totally free and very usable. They also don't take up much in the way of system resources. As far as hardware goes... I can't vouch for non-wacom tablets as Wacom is the only brand I trust, but some people are telling me that some of the other cheaper brands do quite well. However if you want to go Wacom start out with one of their smaller devices, you could probably find their last gen tablets on Amazon for dirt cheap now.

[Lonk Chase 255]

@@Key Sharkz, 

@@Apple-Jack,

@@FullmoonDagger,

My reply to this whole pirating debate:

If you do it, I have no problem with it.

It's my choice whether I do it or not. It's not my choice whether you do it or not.

I may pirate Sony Vegas in the future (PD12 is great, but it's becoming pretty slow) and maybe Paint Tools SAI, but that would be the extent of it.

Edited June 12, 2016 by Lonk Chase

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

I have a very small budget as well.. So I use free programs for my digital art and paper and pens for my physical art:
 
Physical art
 
This is all cheap and won't cost much at all but goes a long way..
 
★ STAEDTLER Mars Lumograph 2B pencil - My personal favorite.. Draws well,

great for drawing, guides AND shading with minimal smudging when erasing
★ Small metal sharpener - The cheapest part you can get, though

you can go a tiny bit pricier to get one with a shavings catch thingy..
★ Faber Castell's Sleeve eraser - A great quality tapered eraser, perfect

for getting in close and erasing small mistakes and guidelines..
★ A ream of white A4 paper - Though a sketch book might seem good to

start, ultimately reams of paper are cheaper and give you way WAY more..

★ Artline 200 Fine 0.4 - My personal favorite outliner Easy to use, great

quality ink, never fails to write (works great for writing letters or notes too)
 
Digital art

 

You don't need to buy any expensive programs to make good art..

 

★ Paint.NET or GIMP for starting out

★ Krita or MediBang for more artsy software

★ Inkscape for vector art like in the show

 

Though if you want to get some hardware, i would recommend a scanner.. Why's that? Because that means you can draw your art by hand

using the pencils and paper you have, scan it, then import them into your favorite program and remake them digitally for top quality art ^-^

Edited June 26, 2016 by AURAequine