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coffeeandcalligraphy · 4 years

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i'm mostly interested from when u started drawing (again)??i think u mentioned in like 2016 or something about the loomis method is how u started drawing faces?? i can't remember much but just from that time to now 🥺 and like talking abt what u did and how u've improved over the years and what you've used and stuff 🥺 if thats alright?

I can def include that in a video!! Thank you for letting me know! Tbh I don’t really focus on art videos much anymore so I might not get to this until I have a speedpaint, so in the meantime if you’re interested:

I did start art in 2016. I wouldn’t really consider my doodles from a child a part of my art journey, but perhaps that’s because I was horrifically insecure about my art as a child (and still am because I never felt like a “real artist” << this imposter syndrome only really fizzled when I moved to university a few months ago).

I did start drawing faces with the Loomis method. I no longer use this as I sort of know the face well enough to “intuit” where things will go (this is genuinely just because of practice). The Loomis method is my #1 recommendation when it comes to art, specifically if you want to draw portraits. But tbh, any resource that shows you how to break down the proportions of the face is great (people all have their own variations). I didn’t one day decide not to use the method, it just sort of happened after constant sketching practice.

My art didn’t really got “good” until 2018 (aka I think pieces I made then age well now).

All I did to improve was draw? I didn’t have a routine (some people sketch every day, I just sketched whenever, maybe a few times a month). I don’t draw often anymore (maybe once a month or less), but have retained most of my skills from my years of practice (tho the more practice the better). Something important to note: I strongly believe my improvement happened so quickly because I focused on realism. The moment I started studying the realistic human face rather than stylizing, my art improved exponentially.

In terms of tools, for digital art I’ve always used the same stuff: my Huion H610 Pro tablet and Krita. I now block in big shapes (all my paintings start in black and white) with an “oil” brush (sort of my replacement for the Loomis method) just to get proportions semi down, and then go in and refine each element of the face with an airbrush (right eye first, then the nose, mouth, left eye, and hair etc). I then go in for a final render with that same oil brush, then pull it into Photoshop and use blend modes to colour (the colouring changes for every painting, but I mostly use the colour, multiply and soft light blend modes). Then I’ll edit the painting with adjustment curves (if necessary) and retouch in colour (if necessary).

For traditional, I’ve always used a Canson XL mixed media sketchbook (the little blue one). Even though I mostly only use pencil, this sketchbook is like, always on sale, so I always just get it lol. I draw mostly in mechanical pencil, sometimes in colerase pencils. I’ve recently gotten into gouache (I have the cheap reeves set), and would love to do more watercolour despite not being great at it lol. I don’t really have a “medium” per se. I kinda play around with everything.

Here’s a photo breakdown for reference!

On the left = my very first sketches using the Loomis method. On the right = my very first digital drawing. Not much improvement for a year, I wasn’t really consistently doing much/trying out realism.

Left: I take on the challenge to draw like 15 characters for my sister in a month lol (this really got me comfortable with the digital medium). Tried out a more painterly style than the above of Roosevelt. Middle: Experimenting with values/colour. Right: Getting comfortable in my new digital style. My style looked like this for a few months.

Left: getting better at rendering/detail. Right: comfortable with rendering in a more realistic way.

Left: Really getting the hang of realistic rendering (re: the eye/eyebrow/cross). Right: ooooh, rendering is really getting better! Almost at my current style (this painting is just a bit softer).

Left: I find a new process for painting (no sketch, more shapes). Middle + right = where I’m at right now! (There’s a longer gap between 2018 + 2019 because I didn’t do as much digital art.)

Hope that helps until the video! :)

--Rachel

#art

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whatsupwithmymind · 7 years

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evens for the artist ask!

2. How long have you been drawing?

Oh, geez, somewhere between 8 to 10 years. It’s been my main pastime since elementary school. Keeping sketchbooks started roughly in grade 8 though, which I guess is when things got more regulated in frequency.

4. Do you have a DeviantArt, personal website, or art blog?

I had a DeviantArt account years ago, but became inactive pretty quickly on it. And I did make an art blog recently, wuwmmdraws, if anyone missed that announcement the other day!

6. What’s your least favorite thing to draw?

Hmm…hands probably. Especially thumbs because that joint always messes things up for me…I really should do some hand studies.

8. Do you draw professionally, or just for fun?

Just for fun; probably my main hobby.

10. Are you confident about your art?

Ehhh…I’m trying to be more confident about it, but I falter a lot…

12. Is it okay for people to ask you about your process?

Yeah, sure! I’m not sure how good I’d be at explaining things though…but I’m all for people taking interest in my art to any degree.

14. Do you ever collaborate with others?

Never have. Not really sure how that would work, honestly…

16. Do you draw more today than you did in the past, or do you draw less?

I’d like to think that I draw more? But I’m really not sure. Maybe not actually since uni schoolwork sucks up a lot more of my time. Doodling during high school classes was a lot easier.

18. What are you currently trying to improve on?

I’m not really actively trying to improve on anything, except maybe refining the body shapes of my characters and practicing to get them more consistent. But I have a list of things I need to practice (plants/landscapes, interacting/couple poses, architecture), so that’s a step in the right direction I think.

20. What is the easiest thing for you to draw?

A human body, since it’s basically the only thing I draw. I can sketch out a basic pose skeleton and flesh it out pretty quickly I think, at least with a pencil and paper.

22. Are you confident that you’re improving steadily?

I think so. Last year I made that shift in how I draw eyes, and I don’t feather my lines as much (except when sketching), and I’ve varied my body shapes a lot more I think. At this point I think I’m at that period of time when there isn’t any spike in improvement, but just coasting with what I have and doing minor improvements.

24. Do you feel jealous when you see other people’s art, or inspired? (Be honest!)

Both. I’m trying to be more inspired than jealous, but it’s hard. I slip into little funks really easily if I browse art tags for too long because I start comparing my style to everyone else’s and start feeling like mine is no good. But I’ve made posts going on about that kind of stuff before. But I have a side blog going that I’m using as like a motivational/inspiration board, so hopefully that’ll help a bit (if I remember to look at it…).

26. For digital artists: what program(s) do you use?

After my last severe art funk, I decided to switch things up so now I’m using Krita as my main program, but I also have Photoshop CS2 (my previous main program) and MediBang Paint Pro on my computer. Photoshop I’ll go back to for tools I can’t find in Krita (like I have yet to figure out how to make a normal text box in Krita…I spent like half an hour and couldn’t figure it out). MediBang I have really just because it has this comic page-making tool on it so I keep it around in the rare chance my fanciful musings of making a webcomic actually ever come into fruition (I’m just lame and get anxious with thinking about large projects and never bother trying to face my fears…).

28. For traditional artists: what medium do you like most? (Pencil, charcoals, etc)

For my traditional drawings I like switching between my Faber Castel art pens (they have nice strong colours I think) and my new Prismacolor coloured pencils I got this past Christmas. Sometimes I play around with paint and my watercolour pencils, but those first two are my comfort zones.

30. What inspires you to not just make art, but to be a better artist?

Personally, I’m trying to just focus more on what I want personally; draw for drawing’s sake and the pleasure of the experience and not care so much about attention. I just focus more on my characters that I love and take in the small company of the few people who do show distinct interest in them as well.

But there’s also looking back on older art and taking pride in the visible improvement I’ve made in even as short of a time as a year. And the support I get keeps me going too (because even though I say I’m creating for myself, I still sit and wait for a notification and post art for those few people to see); every time someone asks me stuff about my art, either about my characters or my process, it perks me up and really reminds me that, hey, people do like my stuff. And that gets me to keep making art

(Questions from here)

#honestly drawing and my OCs are probably things I could ramble on for hours if you let me #but because I always get self conscious whenever I talk for too long; like I'm being rude or something #as if for some reason talking passionately about something makes me self-absorbed and selfish??? that's how it feels #so it doesn't happen very often...#about wuwmm #about her art #ask game #replies #myanchoronthisship

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