I never could get into traditional art. Felt like all the practice I was going to need was just throwing money away making terrible drawings, ya know? But, a few years back, I buckled down, bought a tablet, and committed to learning how to draw. About a week later, I decided I was going to come up with, draw, and fully render (to the best of my ability) an original superhero character every day for a full month. The final one took me 21 hours sitting at my computer. It was... a lot, and my focus on results meant I wasn't really optimizing my practice time. That said, because I'd committed to a specific goal, I was able to stick to it and pour hours into the process, so I think I learned a lot more than if I hadn't set the goal. Currently waiting on a new tablet, as I like my old one, but the pen crapped out again. Figure if I'm going to have to keep spending money on that, I may as well get one a little more up to date. Having to take a week off in the middle of a project because your pen starts having issues is definitely a bother. I'm still not top notch, and digital painting specifically is a bit out of reach for me still, but I've gotten good enough to do art for my characters in tabletop games. That's really what I wanted to begin with, so I'm happy with it. Have to work on style variation and speed, now. Made a poster for the adventuring party in my last Pathfinder Second Edition game as we were wrapping up and it took me ~36 hours, maybe? Even with taking a bunch of shortcuts, being a little slapdash with it. Still turned out alright, but the individual components weren't quite up to my usual standards. Just too big a project for where I am currently with regard to skill. Anyway, I'm curious to follow along and see what your process and progress is like, coming from traditional art. Imagine it'll be very different from mine, where I spent around three decades convinced I "couldn't draw," then decided one day that was dumb and if I wanted to do so, I was damn well going to. I've never used Procreate specifically, as I started off with Krita and enjoyed it, so haven't shopped around too much. I will say, if the hundreds of hours I've spent on digital art have taught me anything, it's just how important it is (at least for me) to experiment. Different brushes, different processes, etc. Sounds like you've reached a similar conclusion with regard to that.
There is nothing better than saying “fuck it” and learning how to do something you want to do. My first tablet was a Wacom and I hated it. I did not have the coordination to not watch my hand and watch the screen instead and it felt so disjointed. This drawing took me a little under 10 hours to render and color. Deciding to fully render a character every day for a month is a wild goal and I’m so glad you made it through. I totally understanding having projects you don’t feel you’ve leveled up to yet, but when you get there, it’s awesome. Keep going!
Aw thanks! I’m a big fan of clicking buttons until I figure out what I want to do. 😂 I’ve seen people take photos of their sketches and just trace over them, so I figured that was a good place to start. Blending goes a long way, too.
I never could get into traditional art. Felt like all the practice I was going to need was just throwing money away making terrible drawings, ya know? But, a few years back, I buckled down, bought a tablet, and committed to learning how to draw. About a week later, I decided I was going to come up with, draw, and fully render (to the best of my ability) an original superhero character every day for a full month. The final one took me 21 hours sitting at my computer. It was... a lot, and my focus on results meant I wasn't really optimizing my practice time. That said, because I'd committed to a specific goal, I was able to stick to it and pour hours into the process, so I think I learned a lot more than if I hadn't set the goal.
Currently waiting on a new tablet, as I like my old one, but the pen crapped out again. Figure if I'm going to have to keep spending money on that, I may as well get one a little more up to date. Having to take a week off in the middle of a project because your pen starts having issues is definitely a bother.
I'm still not top notch, and digital painting specifically is a bit out of reach for me still, but I've gotten good enough to do art for my characters in tabletop games. That's really what I wanted to begin with, so I'm happy with it. Have to work on style variation and speed, now. Made a poster for the adventuring party in my last Pathfinder Second Edition game as we were wrapping up and it took me ~36 hours, maybe? Even with taking a bunch of shortcuts, being a little slapdash with it. Still turned out alright, but the individual components weren't quite up to my usual standards. Just too big a project for where I am currently with regard to skill.
Anyway, I'm curious to follow along and see what your process and progress is like, coming from traditional art. Imagine it'll be very different from mine, where I spent around three decades convinced I "couldn't draw," then decided one day that was dumb and if I wanted to do so, I was damn well going to. I've never used Procreate specifically, as I started off with Krita and enjoyed it, so haven't shopped around too much. I will say, if the hundreds of hours I've spent on digital art have taught me anything, it's just how important it is (at least for me) to experiment. Different brushes, different processes, etc. Sounds like you've reached a similar conclusion with regard to that.
There is nothing better than saying “fuck it” and learning how to do something you want to do.
My first tablet was a Wacom and I hated it. I did not have the coordination to not watch my hand and watch the screen instead and it felt so disjointed. This drawing took me a little under 10 hours to render and color.
Deciding to fully render a character every day for a month is a wild goal and I’m so glad you made it through. I totally understanding having projects you don’t feel you’ve leveled up to yet, but when you get there, it’s awesome. Keep going!
Your really good! How did you manage to pick up digital art so quickly?
Aw thanks! I’m a big fan of clicking buttons until I figure out what I want to do. 😂 I’ve seen people take photos of their sketches and just trace over them, so I figured that was a good place to start. Blending goes a long way, too.
@@MeghanHarker Thanks for replying!