I have this flimsy theory that if I somehow were able to figure out the right combo of tablet x drawing program, I could get back into drawing and become a semi-good fanartist.

(I shouldn’t have stopped drawing almost a decade ago.... I would be so good now! 😭)

Oh it was only 3 actually, counting that one animatic on YouTube (that BTW i had no idea was yours! I was pleasantly surprised <3)

And I found it so funny that you have somewhat an idea of who I might be PFFF you can throw the guess, it would be funny if you get it right (don't have to say my name if you don't remember it, you can just go for something you remember NFKDSJ)

also time for an actual question since i'm already here, what program did you used for the animatic? I've always wanted to get into animating but most softwares cost money or are free but really bad so I could use some recommendations 👀

Good to hear there is no imposter lol. I should probably start using the false pfp so people know it’s me but I’m too lazy to change them all 💀 also my guess was right as to who you were but probably mainly because I put on my Aziraphale detective hat and you were the last notification before the ask inbox notification and your icon had a red beanie. We meet once again.

As for the animatic I used procreate for drawing and capecut for composting. Not the most efficient method but I liked it. I ended up segmenting off each camera angle into a different canvas and making any animation for the shot that way. I love capecut because the free version has every editing function you need for an animatic and the watermark only appears as a black screen at the end so it’s so easy to crop out. It’s probably the best free editing software I’ve found. (I also used a screen recording device to record the audio cause even if you buy a song it sometimes doesn’t allow you to put it in the program.)

I honestly recommend procreate if you have a device that supports it. I think it’s still only a 10 dollar onetime purchase. But if you don’t have a device that supports it, I have used things like flip a clip which is free, and the paid version is pretty cheap. I have also dabbled in an app called rough animate, also free (you don’t have to pay for the onion skins) which was also okay. I got frustrated cause of the lack of brush choice but other than that it’s not bad at all. If you can’t pay anything at all I’d recommend this because, unlike flip a clip, you don’t have to pay to unlock the a lot of the really helpful features. Ibis paint also added an animation feature I think so that’s an option. Idk if you need the paid version for it, but I remember only having to watch ads for a minute to unlock all the brushes so maybe it’s the same for the animation feature lol.

If you have a computer set up, I’ve also heard nice things about Krita for animation. It’s free and from what I remember it had a really good timeline set up. I actually tried to use it, but my computer at the time was old and slow and it lagged to much, and then I had a shitty no screen tablet and my hand eye coordination when it came to drawing and writing is quite bad, so it just wasn’t a good set up for me personally. But I know people make it work. I mean, people make this kinda shit in MS paint, if you’re dedicated enough you can technically do it in almost any program (though you may not be able to make it as polished as you’d like.)

Then there is Clip Studio Paint, which does cost money but is way less expensive than like, harmony or adobe. The EX version which gives you a second of free animation per project is a $5 monthly subscription for once device, PC MaC IOS, and the Pro version (which is more expensive) gives you unlimited animation animation access for I believe around 10 -15 dollars a month (still less than most streaming services lol). There’s also a one time purchase version that is $50 dollars, but it goes on sale A LOT for $25! Although I don’t think it gives you more than a second of animation. CSP also has a very long free trial period, for EX it was legit like 3 months. so if you try it out and like it, I’d definitely suggest finding a way to pay for it. It’s actually used in some professional studios in Japan, so if you have any professional aims for your work it’s a good starting platform to get into industry software. However a lot of the nice things CSP offers for animation are not needed in the story boarding/animatic stage, so if that’s as far as you wanna take your animations it maaaaaaay not be worth it unless you love it.

If anyone else has other cheap or free recommendations feel free to add on. I have attempted to make animatics on procreate, rough animate, and flip a clip; all of which I have uncompleted projects on. It just so happens that procreate is what I was using when I finally made an animatic I liked enough to see until completion. Whatever software you do use, just make sure you learn how to use it before attempting a big project. Do some smaller stuff before you try anything big.

Edit to check the comments! We got other good recommendations for computers!

Hello, sorry to bother you. I'm messaging a few different artists I know/follow because I'm hoping to get multiple opinions, but no pressure! Basically, I'm looking to get my first art tablet and was wondering if you had any suggestions/tips? Whether it be specific models you'd recommend or brands you'd suggest avoiding. I know next to nothing about art tablets and I'd like to get a decent one that's going to be beginner friendly and also not break immediately, ya know? Any help is appreciated!

i'm not sure your budget so i'll just give you a general overview of my experience with different tablets. if you want a screen tablet i've had good experience with huion brand. i've also heard good things about XP-pen. and of course iPads are fairly affordable now and procreate is a cheap & fantastic program available on iPad. i own an older iPad pro and pick it up from time to time, it's great for working away from home, i just don't love apple's file management & prefer to keep stuff on my PC. if you don't want a screen tablet wacom is quality & their bamboo (intuos now i think?) are inexpensive and last for years. my first bamboo lasted 8 years and i have an intuos 4 from a decade ago that i am confident will work if i plugged it back in. my main tablet is a huion kamvas 21" screen tablet & cost me around $700 CAD new but you can get smaller ones for ~300 CAD. hope this helps!

If I may ask do you use a tablet, or pc when you do digital art? What app do you use? I’m looking to get into it myself and I just don’t know which things to use??

Thank you!

Hi friend! You've chosen a long but very fun and gratifying journey 😌

The short answer is: I draw on a display tablet (this one) and I mainly use Photoshop (for sketching and linework) and Paint Tool SAI (for rendering).

Here's the long(er) one:

Way back in the beginning, I used to draw with a mouse, then I got a 2-in-1 laptop (Toshiba Tecra M7), then a non-display tablet, and finally switched to XP Pen's display tablets.They're much cheaper than Wacom, and while I can't compare the two fairly (as I haven't used a Wacom), in my experience the XP Pen ones are well worth their price and they have everything I personally need. There are other brands to consider as well, of course (Huion comes to mind! One of my friends has it and I recall them being happy with it).

But even so, display tablets are still kinda pricey, so other options might be worth exploring if they're out of your price range for now. I wouldn't suggest drawing with a mouse if you can help it, but I found that non-display tablets are very intuitive and easy to get used to, so they're a great option to try out.

There's also those bigger iPads some of my friends draw on, but I've never used one so I can't really say much about it.

As for software, my chosen method is more a case of me being used to it than it being convenient (it's really counterproductive, actually 😂). There are many programs that I've heard good things about, Clip Studio Paint being the one almost everyone seems to be loving on these days. There's also Krita (I very much enjoy this one, and it's free!), Fire Alpaca (also free), GIMP (free), Procreate if you're drawing on an iPad...

In the end it's all about finding what's best for you personally. I highly recommend trying out whichever programs you can get your hands on, to see which one is more intuitive and comfortable for you, and when it comes to hardware, the most important thing, imo, is that it has good pressure sensitivity and minimal parallax in case of display tablets. Tilt sensitivity is nice to have too, but I spent years drawing just fine without it and I barely use it on my new tablet that has it.

If you have a store nearby that will let you test non-display and display tablets to see how you feel about them, do absolutely take them up on that.

OH! And if you do end up getting a display tablet, it'll almost certainly come with a drawing glove (to minimize friction and smudges), but I find them kinda uncomfortable, so I use SmudgeGuard 2. It's durable, fits like a glove (ha!) if you measure your hand correctly, super comfortable, very stylish 😎

I hope this helps at least a little! Lemme know if you have any other questions, I'm always happy to answer whatever I can 💜

Hey! I absolutely love your art and I've been trying to get into digital art, but I'm not sure where to start. What do you use to draw? And do you have any recommendations?

waa thank you so much!!!! i personally use a mix of ms paint, paint tool sai and clip studio paint for programs ^^ the latter two are pretty good for beginners, but they both cost money so i'd recommend trying out firealpaca/medibang (same program with different looks) or krita!!! layers n stuff seem complex when you're starting out, but watching some tutorials can make the process a bit easier!! (these are all on pc btw! i'm not familiar with what's good for mobile but i've heard good things about procreate and ibispaint)

you don't Need a tablet to draw but it really improves the experience! they cost a lot though so it's kinda an Investment :'D i personally use a wacom intuos bt s (~$100)!! ive only ever used intuoses and theyve served me well so if you want a tablet they're a great cheap option!!

Not my dumbass trying to get 13k pesos for a laptop and a huion tablet.

I really can't keep doing art with the iPad and having roblox in it at the same time, I think the iPad i could keep using it for whenever I don't feel like booting up the laptop.

This is the cheapest I can go. The laptop option fills my needs in regards to storage, ram, and the processor it has. (I hate AMD) Besides, blender requires an Intel core i3 and above to work.. which my current laptop doesn't have whatsoever. The current one has an AMD Esomthing idk. And it just doesnt fit the requirements, fuck u Lenovo, u ain't shit XD.

The huion tablet can be a nice change from Wacom (Wacom is very expensive) and could even be better, I've heard so many good reviews on its quality. Last but not least, 800 pesos for a full paid CSP license, which is expensive, like really expensive, procreate only costs 200 pesos, and for that price, it's a steal.

I guess I'll have to put on hold the mh doll collection, I really need a new laptop, i cant afford a PC as much as I'd love to, and ipad just doesn't seem like an option to upgrade, they're so expensive...

What advice would you give to beginner artists/those trying to get back into art about resources or techniques? Specifically figure drawing because YIKES

Oh my darling Lev, I'd be happy to tell you what I've learned!

Okay, so some of this advice is going to be especially geared towards digital art, but the first thing I will say right now is that traditional art is great for learning the fundamentals. If you're completely new to art, I would recommend starting with traditional first.

Traditional is especially good for figure drawing bc you can work with really fast, loose shapes. I like to do timed sketches, where I spend 15 minutes drawing a figure in pencil or charcoal and try to get as much form in as I can. The goal is to work light and quick; don't get caught up in the details or erasing mistakes, just get the basic shape down. Do this regularly, at least once a week. You'll be amazed at how much you improve.

But, whichever medium you choose, here is some general advice:

Use references. I cannot stress this enough; references are essential for nearly every artist. Do not shy away from using them because you think it might make your work "less original". Most, if not all, professional artists use references in some form. It saves time, it saves your wrist, and it still hones your skills. Do not suffer needlessly drawing every single thing from memory when you can use a reference.

On that note - tracing is not a bad word. Tracing, outside of the art world, has a terrible reputation, and this is because it is often abused by people who don't know how to use it properly. Tracing can be a great way to improve your skills, save you time and save your wrist, provided you do it correctly.

A few tips for how to use tracing the right way - don't trace another artist's work. Trace stock images or photos you have taken instead.

Also, don't trace an image line-for-line exactly - instead, loosely sketch over the image you are tracing, mapping out general shapes and form, then draw in your own lines without the reference image and make any adjustments and changes. This way you're still improving your skills and your understanding of proportion/perspective, and the drawing will look more natural. Badly done tracings are very obvious and have a specific "look" to them that most people will be able to pick out. Well-done tracing is nigh undetectable.

Finally - while tracing is a useful and valuable way to improve, it should never function as a replacement for the fundamental skills. You still need to practice free-handing. Tracing is not a replacement for those skills - it's just another tool in your arsenal.

Even professional artists use tracing at times. Muralists, painters, even some of the most well-known artists in history used methods of tracing in their great works.

Now, for the more digital art-specific stuff:

I mostly use Procreate (which is only a $10 one-time fee on the app store) but that requires having an iPad and Apple Pen. So here are some alternatives:

Wacom offers drawing tablets that are less than $100 and come with a 2-year Clip Studio Paint subscription - a well known program that many artists use and some even prefer to Procreate. You can use Wacom tablets with basically any PC.

Krita is a free drawing program that also works well. It's a bit more simplistic than CSP and Procreate from what I've heard but it's a create way to get started with digital art if you've never tried it before.

There are literally hundreds of options out there for digital art programs to use, so I won't list them all here. But if other artists have rec's, please feel free to list them in the replies.

I've been wanting to get into digital art since it's what career I'm wanting to go into BUT I'm really limited on money and all the artists i follow seem to use an ipad/ pro with Procreate but they just seem like expensive purchases, with an open being 100$ alone and Procreate being a 7$ monthly subscription. Any alternatives you commend or is that my best bet? (It also seems wasteful to get an iPad solely for drawing)

Start small! I’ve worked on tiny tablets for years, I only just bought my first big screen tablet recently. You can get a small regular tablet under 100 bucks easy, just dig a bit into which ones are good. If you have a laptop then small tablets are easy to carry around as well. I’d love to have a ipad etc just for drawing it honestly seems really convenient, but if you have a PC/laptop you don’t really need one.

You can also start out with free art programs and then buy what you want later. I really recommend Clip Studio Paint, it’s a great alternative to Photoshop and it has huge sales, I got it for like 25 euros. It’s a one time purchase on PC but if you want it for ipad you have to get a subscription. I’ve also heard of something called ‘’pirating’’ but I most definitely don’t know anything about that.