Artblogging 1: First Lessons in Tabletting

[first_seventhe]

Well, as cockeyed_art begins, and I actually start to attempt to use the new tablet, I want to kind-of record some of my thoughts as I work through each piece. Mostly because I suck, but also to keep a record of things that I need to work on each week.

I'm putting it here because I put my writing rambles here too, and brokenprism is mostly for the actual work rather

Comments

[katmillia]

Aaarrrrtttttt

[first_seventhe]

We should totally share bad art because mine is OMG SO HORRENDOUS. I CRY AT IT. LOTS.

Your posings are SO GOOD THOUGH. I just can't get figures to look right unless I cover them with guidelines everywhere and like sketch little stick figures doing what I want them to do and and and. I FAIL. XD

[katmillia]

Hahaha well I used to go through magazines as well, but you know what my real secret is? I look at myself. I WILL IN FACT STAND NAKED IN FRONT OF A MIRROR TO SKETCH A POSE. Also, I will make my sisters pose or I will take a picture of them posing for reference. BUT MOSTLY ME. A lot of times I will hold my left hand out in whatever position I need it to be and keep it there so I can see it.

But ARGH so many times I have to just erase, draw, erase, draw and then check myself to see if that's where the bend in the waist would come, and then erase and draw. AND I have some How to Draw Manga books that have some poses I gank sometimes!

[first_seventhe]

HAHAHA THAT IS THE BEST MENTAL IMAGE EVER. Although I do the same thing with hands! I will TOTALLY pose my hands as guides and draw them. This made it VERY AWKWARD when I was drawing in class! XD

Maybe for a while I should try sketching out of magazines on my tablet and see if that works any better than my guidelines WHICH DO NOT WORK.

[protect_vester]

Innnnnteresting! And oh, hiya, yeah, I've been stalking this comm! No need to stare!

I should probably participate artistically before I say stuff, but who cares? I have a new, seldom-used tablet too, and started with drawing anime, so this was interesting to read.

It is quiiiite different drawing straight on the tablet, isn't it? What are you drawing into, though? Photochop? I find it way easier to sketch from far away (like 25-50% zoomed) until it looks right, and then moving in and drawing a whole other, cleaner lineart in a second layer.

I've done the naked posing and the making siblings pose thing too. Always a laugh.

I also found out just recently that using different brush tools will make the lines look different! Um, I'm gonna go draw something now, I'm all excited!

P.S. This comm is so cocktastic!

[first_seventhe]

I SAW YOU IN THE COMM AND I WAS SO HAPPY <3 <3

I am using a totally pirated copy of Photoshop. :P And I think that's a helpful plan -- usually I try to draw from far out, like the normal size of a piece of paper, but then when things go wrong I zoom in and try to fix them, so that's probably not helping me XD

[protect_vester]

Where'd you get a totally pirated copy of Photoshop? I only have PS Elements, which sucks, and I'd like to look at a better version.

Ah, screw it, I'll just torrent it.

I guess we just have to use our tablets every single day before they'll let us draw like we want to. Like, that practice makes perfect thing. I HATE IT! Can't we just sacrifice goats to become incredible immediately?

[first_seventhe]

I stole it off my college network back when I was in school uh... found it. XD

AND YEAH!! Isn't there some, like, magical guide on HOW TO DRAW BETTER IMMEDIATELY? That's what I want to read. Goats are immaterial. ;)

[flonnebonne]

Hello! Love your art, been stalking you for a while.

When I draw on paper, my characters' heads turn out too big in proportion to their bodies. It's partly because I draw on flat tabletops...at that angle, the character's head looks small because the top of the paper is far away from me, so I draw the head too big to compensate. I don't have this problem when I draw on a tablet though.

I don't suppose your tablet woes could be something like this? When you draw on paper, is it usually on a flat or angled surface? Are you switching to a different angle when you use a tablet? Or am I talking crazy talk?

[first_seventhe]

Y'know, I don't really know... I know I do have problems with the angle of the tablet sometimes, but that's more in reference to me rotating it unknowingly and drawing an X across someone's face when I should've been drawing hair, or something. XD

Usually I draw best (freehand) on a clipboard, probably so that I can angle the paper whichever way I want and I can bring it closer or farther away as I need. I don't really know if it's that, or the fact that I'm looking at a (flat) screen while trying to draw on a tablet. I will start paying attention to this. XD

[katmillia]

HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA. MAN I WIN AT LIFE.

[first_seventhe]

OH MY GOD.

OH. OH GOD

HAHAHAHHAHA

[katmillia]

I really need to make an archive or something...

[first_seventhe]

XD We need a massive icon post.

[first_seventhe]

This is a very good point about webcomics, and probably the reason my first attempt failed: it was a premise, but not an actual story itself, and although I did the first chapter (and re-did, of course, in the typical way of bad artists who improve a little) I could never move on to the second because I wasn't sure what I wanted to have happen.

The comic I want to do right now is a fantasy-based, sort of action-adventure thing, and because of this I feel justified in waiting a little bit to start it since I am sure I would fail hard at things like swords and armor and MONSTERS and the like. However, the story's mostly done (my brother and I have been hitting it for like three years now, damn well HOPE it's done).

And this is why I like things like our AWESOME ART COMM. The more I draw, the closer I'll get to the point where I feel confident enough in launching Seven BeaconsAnd you make a good point: I'm not waiting to be perfect and awesome; I just really want to know that I can draw more than chibis before I start out on a