Nice figure drawings. You're doing pretty well with the perspectives since you can write your name in a 2-point perspective.

I was trying to have fun with it lol! We did something similar in an art class I did in middle school so I thought I would try it again. The B was really hard tho!

Day 6!

Just did visual communication today, wasn’t able to finish other stuff because of family things. I do have some questions tho!

  1. I have an iPad and am always debating with which software to use for art, Procreate, Photoshop, or Clip Studio Paint? Maybe a pro con list?

  2. How does one find their style? Is it more about first mastering your fundamentals and building those up, then your style will find you?

  3. Is getting a bigger drawing tablet worth it, like the X-Pen or Wacom Displays? I just have an iPad I have used for over 3 years.

These are some questions I ask myself and don’t really know who to ask! Thank you guys 🤩

Hey there Gaby.

1) Can't really say. I don't even have an ipad, so hard to recommend any. As a CSP user though, I really like it, but I don't know how it compares to PS or Procreate for apple devices.

2) The way I've seen it explained, it comes naturally as consequence of you practicing different styles you enjoy. So maybe you like how Dragon ball draws faces, how a particular comic artist draws heads, the way another artist renders hair, and through combining and practicing different things, you end up with something different. Some people consciously go at developing a style, and there are certainly many videos about how to go at it (just search "How to develop my own drawing style" and you'll see no less than 5 or more videos with this exact theme).

My recommendation though, don't worry about it just yet. I'd say focus on building strong fundamentals, experimenting, emulating others styles, especially those from works you enjoy, and when you are close to wrapping up the whole art course, or at least have made good progress, if you still feel you haven't developed a style and want to go at it, then consider about going through the style development process. Of course to each their own, there are some who are already developing styles from term 2, though it's usually because they already have a strong background in arts, and there are some who don't really care about developing a style at all.

3) I have a Kamvas Pro 16, and I couldn't imagine going smaller anymore. However, the tool has never been a deterrent for those aiming to do arts. I've seen pros who don't even like going digital, others that use a tablet without screen because that's what comfortable for them, and some mangakas like using a fairly simple tablet out of convienience becasue they can take it and draw everywhere (or share their work with the editor and what not).

What I'm trying to say, there is no right answer. Try to do what is comfortable and works for you. Maybe you move a lot, maybe you work from home and have good space for it. If you are happy and comfortable with your ipad, there is really no need to change. If you feel you need more space, consider your options, budget, work space and other factors to your situation and go for it.

The only real tip that has helped me which I would recommend is to not go for those "Expensive shiny tools" from the get go. As someone said "Buy the cheapest screwdriver you can find, once you wear it down, or realize it sucks, now you know why it sucks and what you value in the screwdriver, and can make a better decision when you buy a better one"

I am not completely sure. I think Procreate is for the iPad, so you can use that. But I use Photoshop.

I think you can focus on fundamentals like @daceronine said. I saw a video from Marc that talks about it here:

I only recommend it if you can afford it. I have a Wacom Intuos tablet that works pretty well. It. I guess it depends on what you can afford.

Ooooh! Thank you for this video, I will watch it :smile: I think I will be sticking to my iPad for now, I love techy things, so as much as I want it I think I will have to wait !

Love your answer to number 2! Yes, focus on the fundamentals for now, the style will come much later as long as I experiment. I love that ! Thank you :smile:

Day 7 !

Today I worked on Nude figure drawing assignments 5-7!
I felt a little bit of a struggle with doing assignment 6, the nude gestures for 2 minutes each. After I got past the 1st minute, it was hard for me to pick what else to add details to. As I continued, I tried using a method where instead of using lines, I use shapes like ovals, rectangles, etc. that helped me get the form quicker for my gestures, but I’m not sure if that is right to do when doing gesture drawings. Tips?
Assignment 7 was also fun, building it up to the full figure, I was accurate but not spot on like in the class,. I used a lot of negative space to my advantage to figure out proportions, etc. the only thing that gets me is the way I draw things angled. Tips?

Day 8!
Today was to study different artists/professional work. I chose this art from the artist, Reiq! I love his work, his colors are what draw me to his art. I wanted to give a go at his line Art, it’s borderline messy line art, which I am not too comfy doing, so this was definitely a learning experience! Makes me like the messier line Art style :smile: I do think there are slight proportions that are off from the original, do you guys see anything that could be fixed ?

ooh this lineart looks great!!

Only minor critiques:

  • Shoulder is more curvier on the original
  • hips more smooth/curvy on the original
  • Calf muscle is not apparent on ur study
  • Ankle is angled more in the orig

I think you're doing a good job with gestures. I don't think there's a "right" way per se, since I noticed many artists here tend to use different ways of going at it. Some prefer to use lines for limbs, some prefer focusing on shapes and then refining those shapes. I think the only common denomiator is to start with the action line and build the body from there.

What some people do express is quick burnout and not enjoying gestures much, like it being a chore more than something they look forward to, but again, how to go at it to make it fun is very different from person to person. It seems you're doing just fine.

Not much to say about the study other than what @mitsuki-youko already mentioned. It looks really nice and clean.

@mitsuki-youko Thank you! It looks like I have a problem with Curves then, or accentuating them more, so I have to work on letting a little more lose and not being as timid with those curves haha and that ankle angle was definitely hard, so ill work on that too :smile: Thank you!!! I am going to use that advice for more studies :smile:

@Daceronine Ok, I will play around with doing shapes for gestures AND lines, but always starting from the Line of action! I usually always start from the direction of the head, and then I do the action line, but I'll challenge myself to start from the Action like first then. Thank you!

I like the study The importance of studying a masterwork is to try and imitate their process so dont focus too much on the accuracy of the drawing focus more on how the artist drew their shapes and used line variety and basically imitate how you think they went about making the artwork.

Day 14
Had lots of family stuff to do so I took a short break! But here is another study from the art school program, drawing 2/5 for copying 5 different artists line work only ! Proportions are a little off, but overall, what are your thoughts?

I think you captured the likeness really well! which is the whole point of these exercices. It's like a more elaborate type of gesture drawing, where you try to focus on the main lines and reproduce them. These will be like a benchmark for yourself once you do similar exercices later on as well.

Once you study anatomy and other topics, you'll be identifying even more key points from the references, such as how the leg muscles are attached to the hip, how they rest on the knee, and so on.

That's a very thicc chun li.

Your last comment took me out hahahaha "that's a very thicc Chun li" 😂😂😂 And thank you! I will keep that in mind as I continue these exercises :smile:

That's very nice work. I think you should make the thighs and left arm a little bigger on Chun-Li. She-Go looks pretty good.

Thank you! and okay yes I see it, I have to make sure as I draw im taking into account the proportions lol