Intrigue of the brush! (or arrow)

[TheSeji 36]

I have been looking around, and i have been BACK and FORTH with the idea of joining a roleplay, however i am missing one thing, a actual Character! DUH! but also most people seem to have a drawing or some art for their char, and i wanna be all super-pro-style-fresh-o-tastical with my RP'ing so i need some art!

 

Now i know alot of peeps will draw me a OC, most of which would probably look amazing, and i wouldn't mind some gift art, however this thread is to ask...*deep sigh* for suggestions so I may step into the art world....myself. *DUN DUN DUNNNNN*

 

Yea see i am not much of a super artist, but have ALWAYS been into it and loved drawing, i don't really draw very well out of my head, most of the time i copy draw, ya know, look at a pic and draw it exactly from sight, exciting right? pfft. (and no, i don't trace.)

 

So i wanna go into some original art, some i can show off or maybe even draw some stuff for others cause i know there is never too many artists so here is my question that too way to long to ask.

 

What programs would you artists recommend? methods? training regiments! DIET!?!?

 

No but yea seriously any and all help to help get me started down the path of the pony art would be much appriciato. heck..if ya wanna take me under your wing and teach me that works too heh heh (and if ya draw more than just ponies that's friggin epic as well.)

[Curry Pinch 34]

Well, I'm no big artist myself, I have never really had formal training and anything I do is whimsical at it's best, but sometimes I just have to let chars in my head out, so I draw a bit. What I will say is my experience and tips only, I also do not draw cannon ponies (I do draw ponies, check my thread and see if you even wish to listen to me)

 

Well, I have never heard of anybody who has started drawing stright via digital tools. Hand comes first.

So my checklist:

1) Go to a stationary shop and buy a drawing pad or a nice stack of smooth white rather heavy paper in at least the size A4 (nothing is more frustrating than realizing that your pony does not fit into a page), a few hard pencils, a few softer ones and a large block of good ereaser, a sharpie, a few black gel pens. If this does not make you feel like an artist already, take a sharp knife and cut the ereaser block into two triangles (an old artist trick my textiles teacher once told me, you get an ereaser with two sharp points for fine ereasing)

 

2)Fantasize about your char a lot. I really mean A LOT. You have to want them to come to life really badly. Once you can't sit still unless you see them in front of you in flesh, take your drawing things and find a comfortable spot. DIET hint: tea and biscuits always help me.

 

3)Start drawing. Well, now it becomes tricky. The theoretically correct way of it is probably already knowing the composition, exact pose and starting by general outlines. Never worked for me. I usually start with the visual or emotional focus point (for the ladies I draw it's boobs and waist/hip line, for ponies, mostly muzzle, cheeks and ears) and slowly move outwards, building one body part at a time. If something overlaps, I draw both the upper and the lower layer, so I do not get deatached limbs or stuff. I tend to look funny while I'm drawing, as when I can't figure out, how certain pose works, I try to take that pose myself and see (does work better with humanoids than ponies). Don't be afraid to draw, draw again, erease, draw some more.

 

4)once I am happy with the pencil drawing, I trace the lines I want to use in sharpie or black pen and erease the rest (I'm always super paranoid to trace some line that does not belong to the finished drawing) and scan or photograph the whole thing.

 

5)I use GIMP.it's like Photoshop but legal to use for free, has a bit less power and options but is easy enough to learn just by clicking random buttons and a few tutorials.

 

6)I convert my scanned images to grayscale, and play with brightness and contrast  until I get mostly very dark lines and mostly white background. Then I select the white by selecting the color, and invert the selection. What I should have selected bu now is any pixels that are not white (that should mostly be the inked lines, maybe a dot or spot here and there, but do not worry about it) I take black and fill ehe whole selected area with that and deselect. Now my image contains essentially only black and white pixels. I can tidy up the unwanted dots and spots and too jagged line with an ereaser tool. If the line is still too jagged and I wouldn't mind it wider, I play my favourite trick. Filter the image with a small gaussian blur and repeat the selecting of non-white pixels, and paint all the non whites black. By doing this you should have a nice black inkline drawing on white background.

 

7)select the black outline and move it to a transparent layer,put another layer/s underneath it and color it in either using paint bucket or brushes or gradients, whatever you feel like. Apply filters, effects, textures, go wild!

 

Do not throw out anything that starts feeling like crap at any stage. Save everything, terrible sketches, f**ked up files, whatever. You never know when you get famous and those things suddenly will become valuable!

 

And have fun! I'm sure there are heaps of way better drawers than me, but I'm adding my penny here!