Big Picture Kid - My Art School Journey

[bigpicturekid]

Hello!

Round these parts they call me the Big Picture Kid, and of course by "they" I mean absolutely no one calls me that, but it's my new fangled internet name anyhow. Jake works too, I guess.

I've had a long sitcom-style "on again, off again" relationship with art for a while, but I'm still pretty much in Stick Figure Land at this point, or at most somewhere adjacent. But now that I'm basically about to graduate college, I figured now's about as good a time as any to give this whole art thing another go.

I've wanted to be a storyteller from the moment I first heard one, and I wanted to tell those stories through comics and animation from the moment I saw them.

I don't have any socials to promote yet, as I'd like to start this whole thing from scratch. Regardless, I'm excited to join you all on this crazy little journey of ours, and I hope we can all help each other out as we strive towards our own big pictures.

Speaking of which, quick question...

Any advice for getting smoother lines on the pen control assignment? I realize this sort of thing ultimately comes with time, but any tips or tricks y'all have picked up on the way would be greatly appreciated!

Also, if anyone could provide an invite link for the Discord server, that'd be swell.

Thanks for your time, and take care!
- BPK

[patrycja.lerch]

Welcome to the forums!

For smoother lines
I turned off stabilization early on (mostly because it is slow) and it helped later. I think Marc even suggested it but I may be wrong. You can try doing draw a box. And well practice, it will come with time. I'm sure others will give you better advice

[bigpicturekid]

So I checked in Procreate and apparently I had stabilization off the entire time! That makes me feel a tad better, I suppose.

Also, I forgot about good ole Draw a Box! Might have to try out their 100 boxes challenge soon.

Thanks for the advice!

[patrycja.lerch]

I meant turned off. Some people will tell you to turn it on others to have it off. Drawing with it can be helpful but you will rely on it. Once you have line quality it all comes down to preference. I draw without it

It is also a thing that can be improved along the way. So as long as you keep regularly drawing you don't have to worry too much about it

Take your time and good luck!

[mitsuki-youko]

heyos welcome to the forums!

I've wanted to be a storyteller from the moment I first heard one, and I wanted to tell those stories through comics and animation from the moment I saw them.

eyy you are in good company, lots of us are animators/artists (hobby-wise anyways)

Any advice for getting smoother lines on the pen control assignment? I realize this sort of thing ultimately comes with time, but any tips or tricks y'all have picked up on the way would be greatly appreciated!

imo pen pressure also plays a good role in your line shape.

I'd say when trying to make smooth lines, do it quickly in one swift stroke and keep practicing til you can make a straight line with one stroke.

try it on all sorts of angles and directions.

Here's a link to the discord: https://discord.gg/9Q2pfATHke

idk if it works tho - never invited anyone to someone else's discord before XD

[bigpicturekid]

The link worked! Thank you so much!

[leeireo]

Hey there! welcome to the forums! I'm getting myself ready to rejoin the art school community too, so we'll be starting off the lessons together it seems. Hope to improve lots with you

[bigpicturekid]

Heck yeah, welcome aboard (again)! Here's to the journey and all that we learn along the way!

[jairobinson]

Welcome to the forums, I look forward to seeing how you improve.

In regards to stroke smoothness I'd like to second this advice

I'd say when trying to make smooth lines, do it quickly in one swift stroke and keep practicing til you can make a straight line with one stroke.

It feels to me like a balancing act of smoothness and accuracy by changing up how fast you do the stroke. It's something I struggle with.

[daceronine]

Welcome to the forums BPK! I'm also an eager manga enthusiast, I think you'll have a good time in the forums and learn a lot from the community!

We also just started a comic/manga forum in the art school discord where you can find resources, videos, works from some of us, and much more. Highly recommended if you want to dwell more into it.

Discord link to the comics/manga section:
https://discord.com/channels/371283268215242784/1245965680168140821

On regards to smooth lines, everything others said is pretty useful. It's usually a combination of line confidence, technical knowledge on line weight, brushes and practice.

I can share what has worked for me for now:

1) Unless you are adding fine detail, make sure to do long strokes for your lines using your elbow and shoulder. The hand can only rotate so much so you end up with little "scratchy lines", but by doing long motions the overall line should have a nice flow to it.

2) In general, I end up doing 3 layers. One for the initial draft or idea, usually very crappy, but just putting the idea on paper. Then the actual detailed and drawn sketch, usually with bad lines, but overall well drawn. Final layer where I'm just "tracing" my detailed sketch, but focusing on making the lineart as pretty as I can.

3) Make it a habit of undoing lines and repeating them until you get that "right perfect line". Shortcut your undo key to something you have at your finger, then draw a line, if it's not good, undo, repeat, and repeat this a few times until you're happy with the line and move on to the next one.

4) Don't worry about going beyond the limits with your lines. I personally find it easier to erase line excess, than to get the line perfectly in one go. I'll also redraw over an existing line if I feel it needs more "weight", and then erase excess as needed.

5) Patience!! Most of the steps above might seem like a lot to just do a simple drawing, but as you get familiar with your pipeline, you get more comfortable and faster at doing it.

Other than that, I recommend looking at what other artists videos recommend, trying it out, see if it's working for you, and if not, move to another one. Keep experimenting until you find something that works for you. If you don't experiment or try things out, it'll be hard to find a solution that works specifically for you.

Here are a few to help get started:

[bigpicturekid]

Thanks so much for all the tips and resources, I really appreciate it!

Also, slightly unrelated, but I checked out your comic Nozomu and I've really been enjoying it! Anytime I see Gustave with that big ole grin I can only think of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and it cracks me up. I also loved how you did the whole reveal with Sari's distrust at the end of the second chapter. All in all good stuff!

[daceronine]

You just made my day Glad you're enjoying it! We tend to become very passionate about our projects, so to hear appreciation is probably the best reward we can have as artists.

Bests of luck and see ya around!