art block is your brain telling you to do studies.
draw a still life. practice some poses. sketch some naked people. do a color study. try out a different technique on a basic shape.
art block doesnt stop you from drawing, it stops you from making your drawings look the way you want them to. and thats because you need to push your skills to the next level so you can preform at that standard
think of it as level grinding for your next work.
As a scientific illustrator- this is 100% true and going to review your basics will fix it every goddamn time. Not only does it keep your skills sharp, when you’re not emotionally invested in the final product of a piece, you relax and your brain makes more/better art juice for you. So, when you get back to that big/important piece? You’ll know what to do and how to do it.
Nothing in nature blooms all year round. Rest, and take care of yourself.
“Don’t trace” originally started as a warning against tracing as art theft (as in, tracing someone else’s art without permission or credit is art theft) and then over the intervening years turned into “you can’t use references because it’s cheating” and I think that’s one of the worst cases of the telephone game I’ve ever personally experienced
you are allowed to trace as practice
you are allowed to trace your own work (for example photographs you took yourself or to keep architectural consistency)
you are allowed to trace things the original artist is encouraging you to trace
you SHOULD use references
you SHOULD be allowed to pick up other artists’ artistic tics you like (…as long as they’re not offensive, like blackfacing, but that’s a different kettle of fish)
you SHOULDN’T go around moralizing at other people about how they learn best because you can and will lose friends that way and you can and will hurt other artists’ development that way.
Also other than art theft there IS no such thing as cheating in art okay use sparkle pens and fan brushes to your heart’s content why is that even a thing I have to say (…and yes I’ve had conversations in the analog world about fan brushes as “cheating” I’m so tired of snotty artists who think you shouldn’t be allowed to use tools that make things easier because they can do it the hard way)
But honestly, this need to be said louder, as an artist you end up feeling like you aint getting better, trying to draw in perspective without having a guide line . And when others shame artist for using references its like they are expecting the artist to know by memory how everything works on every perspective.
To Consider that fan brushes, or custom brushes are cheating and expecting the artist to do everything in the “original” way is like wanting the cashier to charge you without using a calculator to do the sum. Tools are invented to be used.
“tools are invented to be used” well put
Not allowing using references is same as telling to a chef they can’t use recipes but they have to pull any dish in the world out of their asses just like that.
The first thing, the very first thing my photography teacher told us was “When photographing was invented, ARTISTS took pictures of cities and traced them on their paintings because hey – easier work! Why bother to work hard when you can make it easy for yourself and save your time and energy?”
when I was studying illustration our tutor straight up told us it was a good idea to trace reference photos. It get the bare bones of the image down so you can mess around with it later. Saves time, can improve quality of work, gets commissions finished faster
Some quick animation smear guides I put together for a friend! not sure if it works as a tutorial without my in person commentary, also more intended as a guide to show examples of basic/common smear types :O
…might make a tutorial on how to use smears another time…
Hey guys, years ago I had a fellow art student show me the wonders of the humble cotton-ball. I’ve been using it religiously ever since. I decided to put together a quick demonstration of it’s abilities using one of my drawings. I hope you find this useful.
Ever created a drawing you really love, then decided that you wanted to paint it in watercolor (or transfer it to another type of paper)?
Or, are you super frustrated with getting smudges and eraser marks on your crisp expensive nice paper.
Maybe you have a digital sketch you like, but you want to turn it into a traditional painting.
This is a tutorial to solve all of this.
Start with a sketch on plain cheap copy or sketch paper, then transfer it over like this:
First, take your sketch paper and un-attach it from your sketchbook, or print it to size if it’s digital.
Next, flip the paper over and put it on top of a light box, or against a window (so you can see through it). Take a graphite pencil and roughly trace the entire thing on the back. I’d recommend using HB graphite and a non-mechanical pencil.
At the end, it should look something like this.
Here is an example of what both sides look like, with a corner peeled over:
Now, attach it to your nice paper. Use tape on two corners (so it stays in place, but you can peel up some corners to check it).
Tips for easily released tape: Cut the tape to your desired length and put it on fabric, like your pants, and pull it off. Repeat a few times. The oils from your fingers plus the fibers will make it less sticky!
Here is it unattached, printed original sketch side up (not the graphite colored side):
See how the tape looks messy in the bottom photo? That’s what you want!
Now, trace the original side of your sketch with a ball point pen! You need a very sharp tip and to be able to see where you’ve drawn, so definitely use a ball point pen for this.
Use firm pressure!! (Your hand will probably be sore if you do this all at once). Make sure you’re on a hard surface, too.
Make a copy of your original sketch and use that to transfer, if you don’t want to ruin the original drawing.
And, when you complete the whole thing, you’ll have a light but visible transfer! Perfect for painting over. Here’s a sneak peek when I lifted a corner!
For artists who have problems with perspective (furniture etc.) in indoor scenes like me – there’s an online programm called roomsketcher where you can design a house/roon and snap pictures of it using different perspectives.
It’s got an almost endless range of furniture, doors, windows, stairs etc and is easy to use. In addition to that, you don’t have to install anything and if you create an account (which is free) you can save and return to your houses.
Examples (all done by me):
Here’s an example for how you can use it
Great find, thanks!
OMG HEAVEN!!
Bless you!!!!
@destatree we can finally design the boys apartment!!!!!
ok, i’ve decided to make a tutorial on how to prepare these graphite blenders (english is not my first language so keep that in mind) hope i explain myself well:
i think they’re called stumps in english, whatever, the point is i’ve seen a lot of artists ditching them and recommending using q-tips instead becaue “they’re hard and don’t blend well” or using them right away, so i thought i would show you how to soften them. some of you may know this but i’m sure a lot of you don’t
step 1: buying them (i recommend getting 3, the smaller one, a medium size one and a large one)
step 2: search a hard surface (the floor is great) and get a hammer
step 3: get one stump and start hammering it, you have to hammer the whole stump but go a little bit harder on the tips
step 4: roll the stump and hammer all sides (don’t go crazy it has to stay round) it may take a while
step 5: to know when you’re done you gotta squeeze the tip, it’s gotta be soft enough to form an oval between your fingers but not flaten right away
step 6: choose the softer tip and put the stump vertical with the chosen tip up, hit the floor repeatedly to get rid of the other tip, keep doing that until the bottom is flaten, you should end up with something like this:
step 7: once you’re done, put tape around the point, right where the cone of the point starts forming
step 8: get some sandpaper and sand the tip (horizontally like in the gif), keep the sandpaper in your case because that’s how you “clean” the tip
i had these for almost 7 years (yeah i know they look nasty, art isn’t clean)
and they work perfectly
Great for traditional artists! I love blending stumps.
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