Discussion: Art skill development

[mekare]

Since we are in between challenges atm, I’d be interested in what you are all working on. Do you have a specific skill you are trying to learn? A technique or new medium? A subject matter you haven’t portrayed a lot? Is making time for your art a challenge right now?

What are your personal challenges right now or your successes?

Comments

[dray]

Getting back into art after a very long break, for me. I doodled a little at a concert last week, but other than that, it's been a months-long dry spell. I blame being in writing mode, so it's not that I'm making no use of my time, at least.

I also try to save up my grit and enthusiasm for June, July and August. Artslam happens then, where folks are challenged to draw every day over the summer (preferably sticking to a theme each month, but sometimes just putting a sketch down is all you can get that day!) Last year I managed to get through about two of the three months working on a comic, which I've been fleshing out in writing ever since. Staying focused seems to be less of an issue than oscillating between how to tell said story.

Could definitely use some practice with inking and colouring though. I'm going to need it!

[mekare]

I also try to save up my grit and enthusiasm for June, July and August

Oh that's certainly a good idea. Go you for being creative with writing though!

[mific]

Great that you’re writing though - I find that harder than art these days!

[jainas]

I'm coming out of a dry spell that lasted for two months, so right now I'm not focussing on any specific project, just finding the time, the energy and the will to get my pencils out is enought for now.
Last week-end I was at a podcast recording, and so I drew while listenning to the people talk next door, it was the most productive I have been in a long while: angry unicorn, belugas and a bee :)

Obviously, when I don't have specific inspiration, I revert to drawing animals, which always is a pleasure, bu I should probably try to focus a bit more on human beings and characters to challenge myself. Maybe I should start drawing people on the train again.


That said, I'd also like to start working with inks again, and do some more silk-screen printing. :)

[mekare]

Ah dry spells are the worst. YAY for breaking it!

Maybe I should start drawing people on the train again.

Sounds like a good idea! or maybe you'll find an inspiring muse....

[mific]

I love your black and gold animals series, and the belugas are cute!

[mekare]

Btw I love the ahgry unicorn!

[seleneheart]

Still trying to do humans. @_@

[yhlee]

Same.

In theory, I'm trying to learn perspective. In practice, I'm so terrified that every time I open up a book on the subject I come to a dead stop.

[syntheid]

Anything in particular you're struggling with / want tips on?

[mekare]

Humans are HARD.

[syntheid]

Spent a couple hours last night just drawing shoulder muscles trying to understand how the joint and muscles work, and a couple weeks ago I did a redraw of an old art to see how much I could improve on it which was interesting (though that's partly what prompted the shoulder studies).

Mostly I'm trying not to work on big projects and trying to figure out how to simplify things in a way I like so I can get faster, making future projects less big and daunting, and I've also been building my creativity up a bit and trying to finish off old sketchbooks. Drawing animals and plants and landscapes and things and trying to push my character and creature design. Want to go back and finish the #100headschallenge I started a while back.

Though also I promised a friend a thing that I need to get on doing soon, too.

[mekare]

Wow you've been productive, great!

ETA: I love the mood in the redraw. The colours and expression are great.

[seleneheart]

I found that the various doodle challenges floating around are helpful for simplifying design down the essentials.

I admire your designing your own characters. I'm not to that point yet.

[goss]

Capturing a likeness is, and has always been, my biggest challenge. Portraits don't come naturally to me, so I have to labour over every feature and spend hours on multiple tweaks and corrections until they look recognizable to me.

I always envy people who have the skill to capture a particular face with just a few, quick strokes of the pen. Witchcraft, I tell you! :b

Successes? Hmm..

I was pleasantly surprised by the results the first time I experimented with watercolours. I love how much room there is for "happy accidents" and I absolutely adore the splashy abstract effects you can achieve with them. They are currently my favourite medium. :)

(Great topic, mekare!)

[mific]

Yes, I struggle with likenesses too - have to stick closely to a reference which maybe reduces spontaneity?

[mekare]

He thank you. I figured it'd be a nice bridge until the next challenge.

[yhlee]

What has really helped me work on likenesses is to carry a sketchbook and sketch people at the coffee shop or library or whatever. (I also sketch my husband a lot because he's a friendly, slow-moving target and does not mind when I get his nose completely wrong.) I've been doing a fair bit of travel for work, so I end up sketching random strangers in the airport, at hotel lobbies, etc. This forces me out of my comfort zone in "formulas" for facial proportions and gets me drawing people who look very different.

Watercolors are my favorite too! I love how chaotic they are.

[mekare]

I have been really productive in my newly acquired fandom, BUT my main challenge right now are things I am continually trying to improve:

-natural posing (including foreshortening) I have a tendency for very static poses
-likeness of that one actor with the impossible face (which looks different in every screencap)
- backgrounds
- being more free with watercolour and avoiding paint by numbers colouring (which I feel sometimes leads to less emotion? Esp. Combined with static poses)

[mific]

Yeah, I hear you with poses. Always super hard to get them natural looking!

[juzo_kun]

I started to learn a new program, Blender3D. I want to expand my skill, and I acquired a course from one of the certified teachers... I hope to be able to get something productive out of it!

[mific]

Blender looks interesting- I like that it’s open source. Good luck!

[mific]

I’m feeling a bit bleh. Haven’t had the time to work on drawing technique and am still tending to take on too many challenges. I’d like to be less heavy-handed with watercolours, and looser. Facing some writing challenges at present as well which makes me procrastinate like mad then feel cross with myself. Makes it harder to just enjoy arting as I feel the unwritten fics hanging over me. I’m never going to be super organised but a tiny bit of structure would be nice. Only minor grumbles though.

[mekare]

less heavy-handed with watercolours, and looser.

looser is a good word for what I'm trying to achieve too.

I always admire people like you who do writing AND art. :-)

[fifty_fifty]

I've just got an art tablet so I've been grappling (mostly unsuccessfully) with that. As ever, my art skills are quite lacking, I always feel, especially compared to others around me who seem to be so talented. Though I'm aware they got there through practice, practice, practice. And so I know it's a case of keep on working on it. But as always time is an issue and I have two fic fest deadlines looming and have barely worked on either.

And then there's the other issue of wanting to be good and knowing if you draw it won't be, so you don't draw because of that. And that's a big spiral in and of itself. 🤷

[dhampyresa]

That is a very good question! What I really want is to figure out how give a piece that special ZING but I can't even describe what I mean by that so I guess I have to pick something that actually makes sense, lol. Lighting? Contrast? Colour? Yeah, colour sounds good. Also comics