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The [chat] Who Circumnavigated Fairyland

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Posts

  • ContentContextContentContext Registered User regular
    Speaking of challenges, someone give me characters for #sixfanarts.

  • JuggernutJuggernut Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    Peas wrote: »
    Oh who might that be?

    Richey Beckett.

    tinyurl.com/explodingskulls if you want to play along.

    I think I might've come up with an idea but pretty much too late to work on it until Friday huff puff grumble sigh

    Juggernut on
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    The art is amazing, also yea way out of my league to join in lol

    Don’t Go to Art School! Here’s Why - Draftsmen S2E02 38:40
    https://youtu.be/lhb3bckBbjE

    Previous episode:
    8 Benefits of Going to Art School - Draftsmen S2E01 49:37
    https://youtu.be/dhEmjJ3ArV8

    edit:

    DIY Art School Part 1 (Knowledge) - Draftsmen S2E0344:04
    https://youtu.be/B2ySymlrZBE

    Peas on
  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Question for the Watts Atelier alumni out there:

    Do you use the grip demonstrated in these videos for digital drawing, or only for physical media?

  • Angel_of_BaconAngel_of_Bacon Moderator mod
    edited April 2020
    Only physical media- and not all of them at that.
    While I guess you could try the grip in digital, the tip of a Wacom pen is really not the same thing as using a long tapered charcoal pencil tip on a big sheet of paper. In working with a charcoal pencil or brush the grip gives certain advantages in pressure delicacy, forcing you to draw from the shoulder rather than the wrist, allowing you to quickly change from a thin line to a broad stroke. A Wacom pen depends on downward pressure on the nib rather than sideways pressure, and the thin line to broad stroke thing is up to your software and if you've got a pen tilt enabled tablet, instead of your grip.

    I don't think they use that grip when drawing in graphite (maybe for a lay-in on a large sheet of paper) or pen either. Even with the charcoal pencil you'll notice they'll change grip to a more traditional pencil grip when they really need to go in there to plug in a fine detail if need be.

    Like pretty much anything in regards to drawing, the grip is a tool, not a rule. You learn it so you know when it's the right tool for the job (and how to use it to do the job), but no single tool is always going to be the right one for the job.

    Angel_of_Bacon on
  • gavindelgavindel The reason all your software is brokenRegistered User regular
    Agree with Bacon.

    I have no idea how you would manage to use the grip shown for the sharpened charcoal pencil on a tablet. The charcoal pencil is great for broad swathes of tone and nice, sweeping lines with variable line weight. IMO, it kind of sucks for detail work. If I need to pick out a 3 millimeter straight line, the tip will go blunt quickly; I'd just use a no. 2 or mechanical pencil.

    Meanwhile, the tablet pencils I've seen used by people on youtube and twitch leans much heavier towards drawing with the tip in combination with brush effects. The tablet pens usually vary line weight by pressure, not by adjusting grip. (I have serious questions how some of these artists manage to avoid RSI when they complete massive paintings using nothing but the two inch arc available with the writing grip...)

    One shortfall of the online program as it stands is that it focuses very heavily on those intro tools. Many students (myself included) fall into the trap of thinking that's the only tool to use. Then I go watch Ben Young this afternoon and he is using: two varieties of hard charcoal pencil, charcoal stick, charcoal dust, shammy made out of a wrapped up shirt, and an eraser. Light charcoal pencil lays down initial lines; charcoal dust rubbed with a shammy provides midtone, charcoal stick lays in darks, light and dark charcoal pencils put in some detail, and eraser picks out the whites.

    For the longest time I could never figure out why my landscape comps ended up so hard-edged. Well, apparently, because you'd have better luck with a bit of shirt and some charcoal dust if you want a lost edge.

    Its hard to see the limitations of the tools until you've seen someone throw the bucket at a problem. There's just no one brush (or brush pack) or pencil or anything that's gonna cover everything you can want to do.

    Book - Royal road - Free! Seraphim === TTRPG - Wuxia - Free! Seln Alora
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    Character Design Mini-Series Pt. 3 - Rendering, Brushwork, Texture, Materials Clothing, FINAL ART 29:11
    https://youtu.be/Nx2Q3ypuTVk

    Marco Bucci's third and final part of the series just landed


    Part 1 and 2
    Character Design Mini-Series Pt. 1 - Gesture, Silhouette, Form 18:28
    https://youtu.be/gI62rHNtg2w
    Character Design Mini-Series Pt. 2 - Value, Light, Flesh, Color 25:46
    https://youtu.be/aSuodktbYi0

    Peas on
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    FIXING Kim Jung Gi's TRASH ART: DRAWING MORE WILL NEVER! EVER! MAKE YOU better 12:13
    https://youtu.be/FxoTwEdbbgQ

    It's an Ethan Becker video

    DIY Art School Part 2 (Structure) - Draftsmen S2E04 52:11
    https://youtu.be/od1xbX2ESP8

    Peas on
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Man I just wasted 5 hours of my life because I just jumped in into trying to draw a bicycle in an angled position with just this photo reference
    avvh0xiha4a4.jpg

    After getting stuck I found this
    e8lmbtlxr8sj.jpg


    I am such a fucking dumbass and I have to start from scratch just because I didn't bother to do basic research urgggh

    Peas on
  • gavindelgavindel The reason all your software is brokenRegistered User regular
    Book - Royal road - Free! Seraphim === TTRPG - Wuxia - Free! Seln Alora
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    I think I am getting more comfortable with basic perspective nowadays but something I am still struggling with is the concept of camera angles/movement(?) and composition, for some reason I can visualize, for example, a cube rotating in the scene but could not wrap my mind around the camera revolving or tilting around the cube, if that makes any sense. I wonder if there is a good resource or practice I could do to be more intuitive about it?

    Peas on
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    (Tutorial) Animation Process ( in 1 cut ) 14:50
    https://youtu.be/2Tit_9C8llU

    I don't animate but it's a really fun video to watch. I am really envious of people who do though, they seem like such dedicated and knowledgeable people to pull off something magical like animation.

  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Commerial trailer: Nathan Fowkes Artist Workout 2:23
    https://youtu.be/8NhorLAcAUw

    Maybe in another time, in another place. But not here, not now...

    Peas on
  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Any advice for when you're feeling... drained? Work has been really rough lately, and quarantine has been hard on me. I haven't been able to scrape up the mental energy to do much of anything other than listlessly browse youtube. I feel like I should be doing art lessons and drawing, but I just can't concentrate.

    I'm just a but rudderless right now. How about you all? Holding up okay? Tips for breaking out of a funk?

  • Angel_of_BaconAngel_of_Bacon Moderator mod
    @Didgeridoo
    I think that under the circumstances- referring to the world at large and your own personal circumstances- it's probably good to lay it out- you're stressed out. Of course it's hard to concentrate, of course your brain isn't just going to let you continue on the same way as if none of this was happening. It's a stressful situation.

    The usual suspects for dealing with stress here are worth considering- eat right, exercise, meditate, seek out therapy & medication if you need to. Personally, at the start of this whole thing I started on an anti-anxiety medication (which I should probably have been on previously for other anxiety issues already- but I saw a headline somewhere that like 1/4 of Americans are now showing signs of anxiety/clinical depression, so I suspect a lot more people will be needing some sort of mental health treatment to navigate this time), and that has helped a fair bit in keeping me more in the moment and not just terrified of the world in general. I installed a plug-in on my browser so I'm limited to 10 minutes of news a day (I don't watch TV and don't have roommates, so this is all I have to do to avoid stress-inducing news stories). I also started eating better and doing some cycling every day, but that is mostly because I needed to get control of my high blood pressure due to a previous poor diet/lack of exercise. Meditation I don't do, I try to fill my free time with activities that require enough brainpower that it dulls any incoming intrusive stressful thoughts, but not anything super intense (crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, Duolingo classes).


    Now, the 'art guilt' thing is another real thing that anyone who does art with any degree of seriousness can relate to. You always feel like you should be doing something to improve at all times, and that pressure just stresses you out even more, and makes you even less able to concentrate. Even if you sit down and force yourself to do something while in a stressed-out state, it may not gain you much, or just contribute more to your stress- if you're pressured, you're going to rush, you're going to make more mistakes, those mistakes are going to frustrate you, the frustration is going to make you less able to take a step back and assess the drawing in a clear-headed way, so you erase and try to fix and make more mistakes and erase again and get more frustrated and ARGHH.

    Drawing is frustrating and stressful enough even in the best of times- if your baseline stress is already through the roof as is, then you compound it with art guilt, you're in for a bad time. So if you can bring that baseline stress down via whatever methods work for you (again, this may be worth consulting a mental health professional/doctor about- I am not one and what works for one person may not work for you), that's going to help. The other thing that may help is to try to change your mental approach to drawing here.

    One method that I've found pretty effective is the Don't Break the Chain method. You can do this with a calendar or an app.
    What this consists of is setting a small goal- let's say, "draw for at least 20 minutes". Something small, simple. Something you can say to yourself, that precluding illness or emergency circumstances, you feel you could make happen every day without much issue. Explicitly, not a plan of grand ambition.
    Every day you do that, you mark it off on your calendar- draw a big X through it with a Sharpie. As you mark each day off, you'll form a chain of X's.
    Your goal, is just to not break that chain.

    The reason this is effective is twofold:
    1) The longer you go on, as you see the chain go from 3 days to 30 days to 90 days to 300 days- the more motivated you'll be to not break it. When you can see all the work you've done, it will feel like a shame to break that chain now just because of a momentary desire to do this that or the other thing instead.
    2) This makes the task more ordinary. Routine.
    Without a habit, a lot of people can put off drawing because they, "need to be INSPIRED and MOTIVATED to ACCOMPLISH these BIG GOALS". Forget that. You can make the task of sitting down to draw as ordinary of a habit as brushing your teeth every day or taking the garbage out once a week. I don't wait to be inspired or motivated to brush my teeth. I just know it's something I should do, so I do it. Brushing my teeth never stresses me out, even though it's time out of my day and sometimes I'd rather be doing other things.
    I realize this is not a particularly romantic view of making art, but if I can make sitting down for 20 minutes a day- choosing a drawing problem for myself to solve, and work my way through that problem the best I can in that time- as much of a non-event as putting my shoes on in the morning, then I get more done, I get closer to my goals, because I've removed so much of that pressure of expectation from myself.
    I can approach each 20 minute session in a Zen 'beginner's mind' mindset- not thinking about where I've been, where I'm going, where I feel I should be by now, should I be doing something else- those thoughts are for before and after this 20 minutes. During the 20 minutes, I can approach things with a mindset of curiosity and the playfulness of a child, just starting to draw- who has no expectations or pressures- but with the knowledge and dexterity of someone who has acquired a lot of skill through study and practice. Sometimes things will go well, and you'll want to put more time in. Sometimes you won't get what you want, but hey- you only wasted 20 minutes on it. You can drop it for now, come back later when you're in a better headspace. These drawings are just for you to learn, not to show off to anyone, so there's no pressure to perform- even if all you learn one day is, "don't try to draw after eating 3 huge sloppy bean burritos and a 2 liter of Mr.Pibb", well that's something to keep in mind to help you out tomorrow.

    Now, I'm not saying, "20 minutes a day of practice is all you'll ever need!" No. This just establishes a minimum baseline that is not "0 minutes of drawing", to establish and maintain a momentum, a rhythm in your life. A habit and routine that is a reprieve from stress, rather than a source of it. And if you can practice that 'beginner's mind' mindset, it'll make longer study and the more grueling tasks of drawing easier to deal with. It might never be a blissful nirvana of experience to draw- drawing well is hard and there's no getting around that- but it's going to be a lot easier and you'll get a lot farther if you can practice reducing your stress to just that caused by the drawing problems in front of you, and not adding on all the other stresses bouncing around in your head at the same time.

    Again, don't know how much that helps or resonates with you- not everyone's going to benefit from the same approach, so if none of this seems to help or makes things worse, you may want to reassess and find a different approach. (I know being given a list of instructions to follow like this can be an additional stress-maker even if the intent is to reduce stress, by giving you another thing where you may ask yourself, "AM I SURE I'M DOING THIS RIGHT???", so I want to make it clear that this is some real anecdotal stuff and not a peer-reviewed clinical approach. Modify or discard as needed, no worries.)

  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    don't try to draw after eating 3 huge sloppy bean burritos and a 2 liter of Mr.Pibb
    zlwoq5vsfa48.gif

    Progress have been slow as usual over here, but at my level at least there's always something new to learn to keep things fresh. Other than that, being a really forgetful person I find myself having the need to go back to relearn things again. There is a strange satisfaction in somehow finally figuring out things which bugged me for ages. Currently I am trying to sort out my understanding and sense with perspective stuff and cast shadows before trying to tackle rendering again. I switch it up with doodles and quick figure sketches to turn off my brain if I am feeling burnt out.

    I watch all sorts of videos too, which can sap my concentration so sometimes I just listen to my youtube music playlist on low volume as ambient and try to slowly get into the groove of drawing. Other then that I try to make it as accessible as possible to start drawing in my room, which I kinda succeeded with digital stuff. I guess I should like just spread my stationary and unused sketchbooks all over my bed or something instead of keeping them neatly inside a closet to rot.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Agreeing with Bacon. I got my gear unpacked and set up my easel almost two months ago, but I haven't been able to find the motivation to paint a single stroke, even though it's normally what I do to relax. What I have been able to do is draw on my ipad while watching TV late at night, probably because it's a much lower commitment both equipment and attention-wise, so it feels lower pressure.

    The 20 minute method is a really good idea, too (it's basically how I'm approaching yoga right now, and running - I'm not focussing on metrics or improvement, just taking 15-20 minutes at a time to get into a different headspace).

  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Thank you all, I really appreciate it. You're right Bacon and Tynic, things are just overall stressful right now. Your advice to try the 20 minute 'don't break the chain' method might be a good strategy to break out of the doldrums I'm in. I've really been beating myself up over not having the mental energy to concentrate on exercises and hour long lessons, and end up not drawing anything at all. I think lowering the bar for a little while to just drawing something for a short amount of time each day could help get me back in the habit and to find it relaxing again (instead of a chore which I'm failing at every day I don't do a lesson).

    Thanks for chatting about it, it helps a lot.

  • AvrahamAvraham Registered User regular
    I'm curious is there a way to find out where typical art supplies are manufactured? Not out of ethical consumer reasons just curiosity where the brands in the art store come from

    :bz: :bz: :bzz:
  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    Didgeridoo wrote: »
    Thank you all, I really appreciate it. You're right Bacon and Tynic, things are just overall stressful right now. Your advice to try the 20 minute 'don't break the chain' method might be a good strategy to break out of the doldrums I'm in. I've really been beating myself up over not having the mental energy to concentrate on exercises and hour long lessons, and end up not drawing anything at all. I think lowering the bar for a little while to just drawing something for a short amount of time each day could help get me back in the habit and to find it relaxing again (instead of a chore which I'm failing at every day I don't do a lesson).

    Thanks for chatting about it, it helps a lot.

    I don't mind if you folks continue chatting in here more often to be honest lol
    Avraham wrote: »
    I'm curious is there a way to find out where typical art supplies are manufactured? Not out of ethical consumer reasons just curiosity where the brands in the art store come from

    I don't have a knowledge of that so I just googled a list of art supply brands and got their headquarters from wiki:

    Berol - Lichfield, England
    Canson - Annonay, France
    Copic - Japan
    Daler-Rowney - Bracknell, United Kingdom
    Daniel Smith (art materials) - Seattle, Washington
    Derwent Cumberland Pencil Company - Cumberland, England
    Dixon Ticonderoga Company - Lake Mary, Florida, U.S.
    Esterbrook - Camden, New Jersey, United States
    Faber-Castell - Stein (Middle Franconia), Germany
    F.I.L.A. (company) - Milan, Italy
    Joseph Gillott's (pens) - Birmingham, England
    Golden Artist Colors - New Berlin, New York, United States
    Grumbacher - Leeds, Massachusetts
    Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth - České Budějovice, Czech Republic
    Kores (company) - Vienna, Austria
    Kuretake (art products) - Nara, Japan
    Kyukyodo - Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan
    Liquid Assets Paint & Pigment Company - Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Liquitex - Cincinnati, Ohio
    Pentel - Tokyo, Japan
    Prismacolor - Oak Brook, IL, United States
    Royal Talens - Apeldoorn, Netherlands
    Sakura Color Products Corporation - Morinomiya-chuo, Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan
    Sennelier - France
    Speedball (art products) - Statesville, North Carolina, USA
    Staedtler - Nuremberg, Germany
    Tombow - Kita, Japan
    Triart Design Marker - Japan
    Utrecht Art Supplies - Brooklyn, U.S.
    Viarco -São João da Madeira, Portugal
    Winsor & Newton - London UK,England
    X-Acto - Westerville, Ohio, United States


    Peas on
  • danxdanx Registered User regular
    Tombow is in that list! Just got a Tombow Mono Zero 2.3mm round eraser pen for me and sis today. It's great in little tests to try it out.

    If only I had other things to erase.

  • PeasPeas Registered User regular
    9geq5uaoykz2.jpg

    Dang looks really cool and sleek as heck
    I've always like the tiny erasers at the end of a mechanical pencil so they've made an pen length version of that concept huh

  • danxdanx Registered User regular
    Yeah it's great for removing small areas easily unless you burnish an area. Saw Kirsty Partidge use it in her eagle drawing (around 8 minutes in. Timestamp isn't being preserved in preview).

    https://youtu.be/fElkiBC-1hQ?t=477

    Peas wrote: »
    I've always like the tiny erasers at the end of a mechanical pencil so they've made an pen length version of that concept huh

    From watching way too much stationary youtube videos it seems like a lot of the totally obvious and practical stationary you never knew existed but now want comes from Japan and South Korea. A lot of it is super cute too. It's not really a rabbit hole I recommend going down if you have even a slight problem with collecting stationary. Mine is not so slight.

  • gavindelgavindel The reason all your software is brokenRegistered User regular
    1) Re motivation: Quarantine funk is real. I'm taking one Watts painting course and auditing another, and that's like a full week's meal with the crap going on. We're all feeling it.

    2) Oil painting is not cheap. Even trying to be budget conscious, the full semester costs a couple hundred in supplies.

    Book - Royal road - Free! Seraphim === TTRPG - Wuxia - Free! Seln Alora
  • danxdanx Registered User regular
    This is cool. Not really useful for me yet but still cool.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGRt24fYYWU

  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    edited June 2020
    Hey, you know what sucks? HAIR. How the hell do you draw that shit? Fuck it, everyone I draw is wearing a baseball cap from now on! :P

    Didgeridoo on
  • Angel_of_BaconAngel_of_Bacon Moderator mod
    Didgeridoo wrote: »
    Hey, you know what sucks? HAIR. How the hell do you draw that shit? Fuck it, everyone I draw is wearing a baseball cap from now on! :P

    @Didgeridoo
    This is more painting than drawing, but the same principles apply:

    https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/hair-string-mop.html
    https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/hair-ribbon-secret.html
    https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/02/whitcomb-demo.html

    Simplify into volumes first, use softness and a gentle, limited amount of detail to imply, rather than meticulously state, the full level of detail. A couple good highlights in the right place can serve you better than dozens of hours of drawing each individual strand.


  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Bacon, I really appreciate the advice you've given me over the last months, including the hair tutorials! It was really intimidating starting on the path of learning to draw, and the encouragement and advice has been heartening. It's a slow process, but I really do feel like I'm making headway.

    That goes for all you regulars here in AC. Thanks for steering a newbie in the right direction! <3

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Today I remembered I have a society6 shop, I think I last looked at it in 2012.

  • gavindelgavindel The reason all your software is brokenRegistered User regular
    Don't worry, Tynic.

    We're all gonna retire on our patreon/kickstarter/society6/amazon books any day now.

    Any day noooooow...

    Book - Royal road - Free! Seraphim === TTRPG - Wuxia - Free! Seln Alora
  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    I'm trying to set up a backyard socially distanced 'Paint and Sip' thing for me and my pals since there are a bunch of simple tutorials on Youtube. Everyone voted for both options in the facebook poll.

    Guys. That's not how choosing works

  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Okay off the cuff

    Transparency brush or eraser tool? What’s your preference?

    I’m transparency all the way bay-BEE

  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    Depends what software I'm in and what I'm doing, honestly. Generally for cleanup I'll just set my eraser to the same brush I'm drawing with because I can hotkey or gesture between brush and eraser faster than I can select a transparent color.

  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    I'm currently watching the tutorial exercises for Draw a Box lesson 4 (Insects) and hurgh

    BARF

    Hyper close ups of lice and scorpions and spiders, I'm in hell

  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Hmmm, one of the assignments for my gesture drawing class is to do 2 hours worth of people watching and drawing at a cafe. I'm going to have to get creative for that one.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited August 2020
    Didgeridoo wrote: »
    Hmmm, one of the assignments for my gesture drawing class is to do 2 hours worth of people watching and drawing at a cafe. I'm going to have to get creative for that one.

    Do you have a park nearby? It's less ideal for longer studies because people tend to move around more, but picnics are a suitable substitute. Or if there's a dog park area the owners are often just sitting around for a time.

    edit: actually come to think of it, I think parks would be better for (quick) gesture drawings precisely for the above reasons

    tynic on
  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Me: I don’t want to have a google for “sexy walrus” in my history ... but is a regular walrus search gonna bring up anything sultry enough?

    GIS: we got you, fam

    moxmhs6koihx.jpeg

  • DidgeridooDidgeridoo Flighty Dame Registered User regular
    Oh my....! What an alluring creature!

    And good suggestion, Tynic! We do have a nice park nearby and it's a beautiful day out. I'll go there, I'm sure people are still walking around even if they aren't able to mill about in cafes.

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