Nov '23

Hi all,
I am a Game art graduate who has neglected art for a few years while being busy with work and wanted to start up again and achieve my dream of becoming a concept artist.

A few weeks into the art school lessons / tutorials and slowly building my habits.
I finally started to get more familiar with my tablet today and did my second digital attempt at some linework copying.

I used one of Marc's pieces for inspiration and am trying to analyse as accurately as I can for a good understanding of what I am doing well and what needs to be worked on. Any C&C is welcome (including tips on annotations).
Once I am a bit more comfortable I will be uploading more progress to this thread (like the gesture drawings).

This session was limited to around 15 minutes.

PS. I hope this posts to the correct place and thanks for reading!

Nov '23

Welcome to the forums! You are in the right place

Nice work on copy and notes! Boob is a bit to high and it would more tilted down. Chin is lost. You can draw lines on the ref or hold a pen over it to check relations between certain parts and angles

Can't wait to see your progress!

Nov '23

Good morning all!
Did some more studies before work today and found myself taking a little more time to get a better overall shape. I did wonder what res was good for a photoshop doc as I'm currently in 1920x1080 (dividing into 3 for studies usually.)

Getting comfortable with my tablet and generally digital drawing seems like a challenge still but I'm really excited to see my progress!
Thank you Patrycja for the advice, I could see it once it was pointed out :smile: I have to say this morning I didn't use the pen sizing technique but will keep a note on my monitor!

Once again any C&C is welcome and I hope you all have a fantastic day.

PS. its quite hard to see the construction lines on my first layer (middle sketch) but I feel like if I had trusted them more the overall shape would have been even better?

Nov '23

I think it depends on how much your pc can handle, the bigger resolution the better. When i was starting out i also used 1080 cause that was as far as my ol pc could do, but did a little hardware upgrade and nowadays i use 3840 x 2160. That said 1080 is pretty good to do studies.
Getting used to the tablet is a real struggle, but you will get it in no time!

Dec '23

Reply to

brownfox10

Yo! welcome aboard!

The A sizes are usually good references, the higher the number, the lower the resolution, with A6 being 1748 x 1240 px

I always wondered about resolution when starting out as well. A6/A5 is good enough for studies, since you're usually just practicing and resolution quality is kind of whatever, but as you progress eventually you will want to jump to A4 and A3.

It should be a need-to-basis though, since higher resolution means more RAM and space consumption, and if you don't need to, it's better to keep it low.

I usually work at 300 dpi. it's usually a good spot for general stuff.

As @Pattu_w mentioned, it also depends a lot with what your hardware can handle and how much space you have available. A6/A5 will usually hit a 20-40 Mb size, and it just goes up from there, with some A3 taking up to 400Mb or 500 Mb (In clip studio). Of course it depends on the complexiy of the picture, a blank canvas won't be as heavy as a full detailed picture with many layers.

Also keep in mind you can change the resolution of your canvas after you started. It's not a one time setting.

I recently started to work with A6/A5 as a base, and after the initial sketch and flats are done, I'll bump up the resolution, and if I need even further detail, I'll bump it up again.

Dec '23

Welcome aboard mate, good work on the studies so far.

as far as size goes I have no real rule, sometimes Ill do something like 4000x3000 or vice versa, I like having a lot of space, so sometimes I go a little overboard like 10.000x10.000 for perspective stuff or when I want realestate to put stuff all over the canvas XD the file size goes stratospheric sometimes tho so make sure you got plenty of ram (I have too much so it works out for me). Also, haven't tested yet but I hear 300dpi is important if you want to print anything later so make sure you use that to be on the safe side I'd say

Dec '23

Thanks for the replies! Ill defo go with a bigger canvas especially for my gesture work as I always end up doing 1 or 2 too big and running out of space for the rest :sweat_smile:

Focused on some smaller studies today mainly more pen control and construction of the face, I was using MB guides from one of his cute face youtube videos. I think that more shape definition is needed before I can nail the 3D guides (spheres specifically) as the eye section of my face looks a bit strange. But not bad for a first try and limited time with todays events!
As always C&C is always welcome and thanks for visiting!

Dec '23

Pen pressure / studies and gesture today. I really enjoyed the ribbons and it took me back to some life drawing classes with cloth and hair. Tomorrow Ill do some personal work on a cloth piece!
Still finding using the graphics tablet difficult but it is so powerful being able to openly edit anything :smirk:

30 second gestures

1 Minute Gestures

Dec '23

Reply to

daceronine

I missed this before! that sounds perfect becasue I want to limit the space I'm using but at the same time have enough that it isn't all pixely, I also worked on a A5 sketch pad throughout Uni coincidentally.
Ill run at 300 dpi as you @pattu_w and @snakker have suggested (Thanks again :blush:)
I've got an outdated but beefy PC so later down the line I should be able to do some high res stuff :smile:.

Dec '23

Worked a few more gestures and shapes but need to practise a lot more, especially on the 3 dimensional element, simpler shapes are still a bit rough due to the digital side of things but complex shapes feel impossible at times. Grasping how to do the same angle lines and lining up circles for cylinders are perhaps something I overlooked!

Dec '23

Took a little break from digital and did some more sketchbook stuff, Trying to progress with the course as intended but also don't want to burn out with work taking up most of my days.
I also need to find what I want to do as personal fun stuff as I've not done anything like that for years now.

Here are some progress updates so far. All of the references I've been using for my artist copying is on the MB (bluefley) instagram.




I'd like to feel satisfied with a fully finished project, even if its a fan art or a copy. My sketchbook is entirely biro as I usually get stuff done in it at work (on lunch). Should I be spending more time on character copying (more than 5-15minutes each?) Any C&C is welcome. Thanks again for reading :smile:

Dec '23

Man, i think it depends on how much time you have to do them, the first artist studies that i did i know that took me a long time to do, something crazy like 5+ hours, but with time you get more confortable and can do more stuff in less time. I'm far of being good at drawing, but nowadays i can do them in like an hour, that is if i not get hooked on and 5+ hours fly by without me noticing it.
All that to say, it depends on how much time you have to do them lol