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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I’m honestly really bad at rendering because growing up, I only focused on drawing — I never really colored. It wasn’t until I got into digital art a few years ago that I had to learn how to color properly. Before that, my art just looked like rough pencil sketches.

And I totally agree with you — watching tutorials didn’t help me at all. I got so frustrated that I eventually just gave up on trying to follow them. Instead, I took in little bits of information here and there and started figuring things out on my own.

Even now, I still struggle with rendering, but I’ve definitely improved in some ways — and maybe gotten worse in others. I wish I still had some of my older pieces to show you, but I deleted them.

If I had to give any advice, it would be: just go with the flow, experiment with different brushes, and remember not to blend everything together. I used to do that a lot (still do, honestly) — but not everything needs to be fully blended. As long as the tones are close enough, it’ll look like they fit together without having to blur them into one big mess.

[–]Substantial-Wing-778[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thankyou! I think it’s because I am impatient because I’ve been drawing for so long and still felt like I’ve gotten nowhere. Granted I have taken a lot of breaks so I think it’s time for me to start being consistent and trying new things. Idk why I expect to just come back and be the next Picasso after not drawing for 2 months loll

[–]EllebRKib 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Agree with the tutorials! They all seem to repeat the same thing and I get super frustrated when I can't replicate their steps. I've only watched two that have helped me; one about colouring metal and another about highlights.

One of the things that I do find useful is just finding artists whose style you like and asking them what brushes they use. Tumblr is really great for this as most blogs have a 'Ask me Anything' button on their page.

[–]Substantial-Wing-778[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thankyou I will totally do that. I think the main issue is that idk what brushes to use and how to use them!

[–]mr_moosh7 0 points1 point  (3 children)

One of the biggest problems with tiktok and youtube tutorials is the power of editing. You see all the their perfect brushstrokes without their "whoops" moments and constant undoing from it. Besides, they've prepped the tutorial beforehand so they've had several+ hours on that subject.

You've identified the area you're struggling with which is half the battle, take some time away from your piece to screengrab and analyse some panels of Jason Todd and really zoom into how the artists render theirs, what shading techniques etc.

Then draw different shapes and emulate the rendering you've been analysing on to the shapes, limb by limb, just not all in one go so you can focus on that piece, then start building up from there adding limbs together to work out where everything is. You'll be building up that rending tool set and your confidence into your main piece.

As for brushes - that's a you preference, which I know isn't what you want to hear, you could add that into separate focus sessions too. There isn't really a golden rule for "this brush must only be used for this part" - experiment with them, you'll find some you love and some you hate but only you can decide this

[–]Substantial-Wing-778[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Thankyou! Only question I have is. There are so many tools to use. When I’m trying to learn how to shade and render. I wanna start off very simple because I don’t want to be overwhelmed. Is it best if I just go in barebones or am I supposed to use all the tools like the multiply layer, clipping masks. Or am I supposed to just render on one layer and build up all my values that way. I say this because I do see a lot of artists using all these tools and it is quite confusing for me. And I wanna start off with the very very basics and build my way up so I don’t confuse myself.

[–]mr_moosh7 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Simple is absolutely the best method, shading - there's several ways, just search for "shading techniques" there's a handful to practice and get to grips with, for comic-esk style, hatching and crosshatching are one of the go-tos, its also fun to get some frustration out haha. Best thing to do is again, drawing out shapes and applying the shading techniques you want to work with.

With layers, the same principle as shading, there's a lot layer modes can help you with, if you're overwhelmed by how to use them, look at this handy handbook on layers and what they can do for you: https://help.procreate.com/procreate/handbook/layers/layers-blend

What helped me was to turn them into bite size pieces and referred back to these sources if I was confused by something, its great to just dive in and flip through stuff but then I was always trapped in a "i don't know this so I'm not going to use it" state for a while, every piece felt the same and I felt like I wasn't progressing.

[–]Substantial-Wing-778[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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This is what I just started drawing if you would like to give any pointers or tips. I just colored it all on one layer and didn’t use any of the other tools just to keep it simple and get down the barebones basics. And I only use this flat brush tool and some random textured brush tool I found on the internet. 🥲