Nov '20

Howdy :smile:

Name is Phuong-Cat, call me Cat. Age 25, (26 next month!)

I wanted to start a thread for my progress. I started learning how to draw earlier this November. I currently am trying to do daily gestures + follow along Sketch Daily prompts on Reddit. I work full-time/perpetually overtime, so I'll be doing Art School as much as I can in my spare time. I look forward to learning and start at term 1!

First attempts at drawing-

Yesterday's gesture session (only doing beans/robo-beans)-

I adde my contact stuff on the master list in case anyone wants to be friends. I am more responsive on discord than anything else.

Dec '20

Welcome :smile: You're not the only person working overtime... guess we just need to enjoy our free drawing time more intensely!
I'd recommend the line practices from Term 1 :smile:

Dec '20

off to a horrible start using photoshop + tablet on PC. at least it's a start! I normally do drawings on an ipad

Is it more beneficial to have the wacom tablet at a certain height? when i'm sitting, the tablet is resting on a table where it's above my chest. i find it harder to draw lines like this so I might have to a seat booster when I draw. (am a bit short)

Dec '20

grabbed a bosu ball to use as a booster seat.

definitely going to need to have proper desk setup, chair, etc to learn drawing on the tablet

Dec '20

Hey welcome! Just wanted to drop in to say you really should get your workspace situation sorted out before doing any long stretches of work. Not only because good ergonomics is crucial in the long term to both your health and performance but also because you want to hone your dexterity and build up that muscle memory with comfortable and repeatable motions.

This is your ideal posture. Granted I do not use a foot rest and catch myself leaning over the cintiq from time to time but so long as you make it a conscious effort to check yourself every 10-30 minutes or so you'll have the habit down in no time.

As for tablet position most recommend that it's centered directly in front of you. Personally I always found it more comfortable centered to my dominant hand like a mouse/mousepad would be. You'll just have to experiment. Hope this helps!

Dec '20
1

Hey @pngo!

I have a feeling there are a few things you're not getting beyond ergonomy for drawing - drawing on a tablet is hard but there are definitely tricks you can do to improve your line-quality before moving on to art.

A few key things to get comfortable making art in the digital world:

1 - Rotate your canvas! If you're comfortable making lines on paper in a specific direction (horizontal for instance), don't hesitate to rotate your digital canvas to make drawing easier. In Photoshop, it's holding down the R key and rotating the page around. The escape key will reset the orientation. This can help you get comfortable for line exercises.

2 - Speed! Drawing a line slowly is guaranteed to make it look wobbly. You'll have to build confidence and quickly glide the pen across the page for a chance at it looking even somewhat straight. To build up this sort of confidence with speed, you'll need to set up step 3....

3 - CTRL+Z! The greatest advantage of digital painting is the "undo" button. At all times when I'm making precise lines, my fingers are resting on CTRL+Z to undo the last line I just made. I paint, undo, paint, undo, paint, undo, until I'm satisfied with the result. There is no reason you should move on with a sloppy line you're not happy with - undo it, try again, and only keep the very best.

4 - Draw with a motion coming all the way from the shoulder rather than using your wrist or elbow. This takes a while to develop but if you're making lines by holding the pen the same way you would write a sentence (i.e. using the wrist and fingers), your lines stand no chance.

I hope these tips allow you to retry the exercise with a better understanding of the expected result. Good luck buddy!

Dec '20

Reply to

Ascent

Thank you this is really helpful! I didn't realize that it can cause super bad posture and what not. I'll definitely change up my workspace situation.

Dec '20

Reply to

Vonschlippe

thank you for these great tips and advice! To be honest, I thought using the undo button would be cheating :open_mouth: but I guess not.

I'll be sure to focus on confidence with my strokes, be quick about it and also draw in a manner where it works more comfortable for me with rotating and what not. I might not get it instantly but will definitely work on all of these. Thanks again, Vonschlippe.

Dec '20

talking to myself - i'm looking at everything for term 1.

I'm going to focus on perspective, photoshop, and line quality for the first month and then move on if I feel comfortable.

I plan on using Draw-a-box to help practice lines and circles.

currently here's my progress for assignment 1. i feel like i'm getting better but I want to really make sure I'm drawing with intention and be super confident about it.

Dec '20

Hey, the improvement is great! :smile:

9 days later

Dec '20

My attempt at the old to young and liquify.

old to young

liquify