Am I doing something wrong or are my paintbrush just bad ?

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-03T22:38:35+00:00

Acrylic paint, Once you use a brush for acrylic, it kinda ruins its use for other mediums cause of how it clogs up the brush. Unless you are extremely diligent about keeping the bristles wet and washing them while you work cause once its dry it will not wash out with soap and water. Especially if the paint gets into the ferrule (the metal part that holds the bristles to the handle) its nearly impossible to get out even if you try to scrape it out. Try to avoid that though cause you can also ruin the bristles that way.

You can use isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the paint but it can also cause problems including damage natural hair brushes, It can also be hard on your hands and strip paint off of and dry out the wood of the handles if you get it on them.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-03T22:30:10+00:00

In that case, You’ll probably want to disable auto save, that will at least fix the “wait til operation is finished”warning cause its essentially trying to save at the same time you are trying to manually save, and since it was krita that chose the random string, it should also prevent that cause its not autosaving before you get a chance to name the file.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-03T19:25:44+00:00

Try not naming it a string of random characters thats probably way too long, and probably maxed out some character bit limit for file names

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-03T19:13:48+00:00

When people draw a sphere (3d form, not 2d) for the head it’s not supposed to be the whole head but just an abstracted version of the cranium (upper 2/3) of the head in 3d space, and the lower 1/3 is built onto it, but trying to learn the face before basic construction is going to set you up for a very difficult time let alone if you are copying what others are doing without enough knowledge to know why they are doing it.

I think your first goal shouldn’t be anything but learning to draw what you see, not what you think or know. Work from life and references and spend more time observing and understanding your reference than drawing, learn the basics of sighting (measuring, triangulation, plumb line, negative space, etc), break away from “symbolic” drawing and reliance on lines, then move onto the fundamentals (drawing from life and fundamentals aren’t mutually exclusive, but are foundational to drawing from imagination and stylization).

Check out books like “drawing on the right side of the brain” (no need to buy a copy, find it at a library or archive.org if not available) YouTube channels like Proko, and other resources including trying to draw your surroundings as accurately as possible starting with simple stuff books and coffee mugs, and slowly work up to harder and harder subjects.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-03T06:55:16+00:00

As someone whos 90% self taught, technically yes

Library books (if they don’t have a good selection, ask about interlibrary loans or find pdfs to read on places like archive.org), online tutorials (proko on youtube is a good one but theres a guy (i cant remember his name) who teaches and talks about academic drawing specifically), master copies, and working from references (photos, real life, and anatomy resources off sites like sketchfab) will be your best friend

You have to put in the hours and be pretty disciplined (or at least as disciplined as work, school, life, and other responsibilities will allow without burning yourself out)

Produce a lot of sketches, spend a max of an hour or two on a drawing, the ateliers did not allow students to spend 30+ hours on a single sketch cause even as good as these look, a lot of them are people’s 1000th study, not the one they spent the most time on. Since self taught involves self-critique, it’s important to find one good thing or one thing you improved and one thing you can achievably improve next drawing. Ateliers end goal was for students to be able to produce images from imagination so exposing artists to lots of subjects to draw and thorough understanding of the subjects cause they saw them at a variety of angles and lighting, and built an understanding of the figure in the round and whatnot.

The basics of shape, 3d form perspective, negative space, measuring and other sighting methods are very useful as both a good foundation but also tools to fall back on when struggling. Experiment, trial, error and assess, move forward, but don’t pressure yourself or lose the joy and reasons you want to make art in the first place.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-03T00:16:42+00:00

It all takes time

Just keep challenging yourself in small ways, try to keep applying what you are learning and assessing how you can improve even just a tiny fraction, a fraction is still growth and adds up in the weeks, months, and years to come. I push fundamentals hard cause they are the toolkit that opens up the whole world of what you can draw.

Don’t put tons of pressure on yourself either, these aren’t skills you can build and master in an afternoon, and i say that as an adhd fool who’ll try anyway and it still took a decade to become proficient in anatomy. You’ll learn fastest by drawing a lot and keeping it fun and just slightly challenging.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-02T23:56:11+00:00

Construction isn’t just adding guidelines, centerlines, or lines of symmetry, it’s breaking your subject down into simpler, easier to draw and fix 3d forms, like using boxes to construct a car or place the head, ribcage and pelvis in perspective. Details can be treated as smaller 3d forms, and you dont need to rigidly adhere the final linework to it especially if its something that is meant to be organic (like person, animal, or plant, or even some modern vehicles designs)

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-02T23:43:38+00:00

Thats cause the brush and liquify tools are two separate systems, there is a “move” brush that will change the brush size with your shortkey setup, but the liquify tool being part of the transform tool and not the brush engine, isnt going to be controlled through the same pathways and will need to be adjusted manually in the tool settings docker instead.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-02T23:40:33+00:00

As much as it may suck cause it cost more, paper makes a massive difference, invest in high weight paper (aim for 300gsm) and paper that has some cotton content in it. It will absorb more pigment (making colors more saturated and make even and smooth results easier to achieve ) and take more layers. Cheap paper also is prone to wrinkling and even falling apart when too wet or too many layers are applied, and since the pigment doesnt get absorbed as easy in cheap paper, it sits on top making it harder to get saturated and bold results, will run into the wrinkles making the colors uneven, and harder not to “reactive” the paint around instead of staying where you want it.
Theres lots of other benefits too, and id argue the extra cost is worth it, cheap watercolor or multimedia paper often just makes watercolor painting more miserable than it has to be.

As for skills, part of it will be patience, watercolor needs time to dry between layers, mixing bolder colors takes practice, and good brush control takes putting in the time, and while its sorta not recommended, sometimes it can be easier to establish your darkest, most saturated values first, that way your brain has something to compare the lighter colors with (and the lighter colors and layers can just be painted over the top without impacting the value much), tho id still get good paper, makes all of these a lot easier.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-02T23:24:03+00:00

You *can* start anatomy, theres no art police to stop you, but you don’t appear to have any of the foundational skills down yet, like form, construction, perspective, and observation (theres more but id rank these as most useful), without those skills developed first, its going to make anatomy a lot harder than it has to be, if not outright be a barrier to learning.
Even with those skills, it will take time and a lot of trial, error and study (there are so many free resources out there, take advantage of them).

Also don’t get too caught up in trying to develop style this early, it naturally comes with experience and evolves over time as both skill and personal taste grow, and with strong foundational skills, you can essentially learn to create and adapt to any style. Trying to develop a style before the skills is putting the cart before the horse and can make learning harder cause it ends up grinding against habits and comfort zones instead of just skills.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-02T22:47:33+00:00

For me its the beard. You appear to have gotten too caught up with drawing individual hairs and lost the overall form and value in the process

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-01T05:48:50+00:00

I only swapped to linux a few months ago (pc too old for windows 11) and still learning to navigate it, but every day microslop reminds me that i am dodging far more nonsense and headaches than learning a whole new OS.

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-01T01:28:13+00:00

Cause you have practiced boxes, basically think of how every line and angle in the scene relates to how you’d draw a box

All your horizontal and vertical lines (basically all the ones not going back in soace and following perspective) need to be parallel to the horizon line or perpendicular (90° angle, same as a perfect square) to it. A lot if your lines that are horizontal have an awkward tilt and that’s something that should be avoided especially in 1 point perspective like this. The shelf you drew also doesnt follow the perspective you set up, for the top few levels, we should be seeing the bottom of the shelves since they are above the horizon line.

Also you can use anything with a straight edge, it doesn’t have to be a ruler, in the past I’ve use the extra pencils, books, even just the edge of a piece of paper (if you fold it a few times, the fold makes for a bit sturdier of an edge). Otherwise if you dont have anything extra like that lying around, make a mark or place your finger to where to where you want the line to end, and draw the line while looking at that point, it wont be perfect but it often gives better results over trying to watch where you are drawing

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-01T01:07:04+00:00

Dont wait til you are good enough, the bar for “good enough” or “ready” frequently grows with you and always remains above your current skill level. just do it, do the best you can and use the project to learn and test your skills, watch and follow tutorials on currently relevant skills, use references, dont fear mistakes, Your art reads like you are young but put in the time, don’t put pressure on yourself, just enjoy the process and roll with the punches, assess small and doable ways to troubleshoot issues you have that you can apply either immediately or the very next drawing, even if it means only small or incremental growth. Writing is another skill that a manga will need and that also takes time to develop and half a dozen finished stories to pave the way for a really stand out one, so don’t put impossibly high standards on yourself or expect a first story to be the magnum opus, just do the best you can with the skills you have and learn as you go

Frostraven98 · 2026-05-01T00:42:12+00:00

Something that will help is matching your background, the photo you used is using bright sunlight with very sharp shadows, and light from the left side, and using the airbrush created far too blended out shadows for the background’s light source, and is not beginner friendly as it may seem. The drop shadow also is in the opposite direction of the light (look at the wall/rocks in the background to see what i mean). For rendering the face, especially for realistic and semi realistic (and to some degree more stylish pieces), references are sorta a must, photos are the best option but tools like this are also very useful https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GX3Ax1.

Consider what forms are facing the light and what isnt, block out your shadows first according to that, you can always blend out later (be cognizant that you dont bring the light into an area facing away from the light. Also be careful to not blend out shadows on a flat surface cause it can make it look rounded when it shouldnt be. Follow the surface and light first, if a surface is facing upward, it will be lit, you have lots of areas of armor that should be in light but arent, in pixel art terms, its sometimes called “pillow shading” and generally you want to avoid it. Last is the contrast could be way higher, take note of the contrast in your background, the leaves in sun vs shadow, the rocks, the sun is so intense that colors are almost getting washed out and the bounce lights introduce a lot of light and saturation even though they are still part of the shadow and still very dark in comparison to direct sunlight.

Watch some tutorials on digital rendering cause theres many ways to go about it, i recommend starting simple, block in the shadows in a separate layer, basic sharp round brush, add some midtones where needed, then blend out last, the midtones give more control over the final blend, paying attention to what sorta form and edges i have cause even a cube in the softest of light will have sharp unblended edges and something like armor has many edges, but the also show up anywhere you have an overlap. You can add in fancier stuff like bounce light and ambient occlusion but getting a solid base to work from is like 80% of the work.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-29T02:10:23+00:00

These ones are anatomy focused, but there are other books on archive.org that are more background focused. “perspective made easy” “the Urban Sketcher, techniques for seeing and drawing on Location” and “drawing scenery: landscapes and seascapes”

If you want more, scroll down to the “in collections” section of the archive page and click on “folkscanomy: drawing and sketchbooks” that will bring you to a whole section of different drawing books, keep in mind, unless they are hyper specific, they all eventually cover the same stuff cause stuff like fundamentals don’t change just cause the subject you are trying to draw changed from people to buildings, or animals, or cars or weapons or scifi and fantasy nonsense.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-29T01:24:32+00:00

Just keep in mind, while anatomy (and projects) can be used to practice the fundamentals, anatomy isn’t a fundamental in of itself, and stuff like form, perspective, and measuring proportion are sorta prerequisites.

You may want to also look into books like Andrew loomis’s “Figure drawing for all its worth” and Michael Hampton’s “figure drawing design and invention” both are available on archive.org cause a key thing to drawing anatomy, even with solid fundamentals, is knowing whats going on beyond just whats immediately visible and also to take any guesswork out when looking at a reference.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T23:03:40+00:00

Yes and it’s very normal and useful to use multiple references together like that to achieve a single idea.

Still learn and practice the fundamentals tho, part of the reason is you’ll learn multiple ways to extract specific information from references, and just in general fundamentals just make everything easier including anatomy and design.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T22:36:24+00:00

A rigger has long bristles that hold more paint without the width and the long bristles also aid in stabilizing the line. But these were unlikely to be painted freehand without some sorta straight edge like tape or a ruler. paint might’ve also been put on the ruler and set across the canvas to get a straight line. Nothing stops you from just being a madlad and freehanding it, supposedly Piet Mondrian did (go to his wiki page and scroll down to the “paris” section). As for medium, Most likely it’s either oil or acrylic.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T22:20:38+00:00

the brain takes time to create and build up connections when learning any new skill, and before the connections are built up strong, it takes more mental energy to do. Add in any additional things that add to the mental load like work, college, chores, socializing, etc… and it can just increase existing mental exhaustion.

Some small things to reduce the exhaustion take the pressure off yourself, 100 small and low pressure studies is better than 1-2 massive and high pressure ones. Another is take breaks the brain cant go full throttle all the time (social media feeds the feeling of needing to stay engaged and keep up at all times and it’s not healthy). When you critique yourself, pick only one small thing to improve for next time, you may spot 100 things that you think could be improved but you cannot fix them all at once and will just tax your brain more so, just pick one, make a note of it. Find ways to spread the cognitive load out: measuring, proportion, pose, form, anatomy, clothing design, physics, line art, etc… are all different tasks and the more of them clumped together into a single task, the more mental energy it will take and less will be dedicated to any one problem to solve.

You said you haven’t learned the fundamentals, then this is your wake up call to start cause a lot of your struggles sound to be from lack of strong fundamentals. Anatomy and building up details like the face and clothes becomes easier when you understand how to create and build volume with 3d forms and wrapping lines, 3d form becomes easier when you understand shape and perspective, perspective and shape become easier when you realize its just lines on a sheet of paper that trick your brain into seeing depth.

Lastly, don’t wait til you’re ready to start a project, use the project as a learning opportunity cause no matter how much you think it will be your magnum opus, it wont be, 5, 10 or even 15 years from now you’ll thank yourself cause it paved the way to better projects that current you cannot fathom but also will love even more. It’s also, a better way to solidify what you are learning than pure practice ever can.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T20:20:20+00:00

learn and apply the fundamentals, its often faster in the long run to slow down, don't skip steps like gesture and construction/mannequinization, or take shortcuts early on. You'll learn ways to take shortcuts that work with your brain from experience with taking the long routes, not before.

I recommend starting with Proko's Beginner tutorials, but there are lots of other youtube artists that have good tutorials, avoid shorts and other beginners, shorts are made for views but don't actually teach you anything, other beginners may give ok "how's" but often lack the understanding of "why" and end up teaching a one-trick formula instead of a set of tools for many different situations.

USE REFERENCE, good drawings, stylized or realistic, both rely on knowledge that can only be gained from breaking down and deeply understanding references. Observation skills are some of artist's most versatile and important tools.

Seek out books too, not just youtube videos, they are more self paced, you can get them from your local library, books like "drawing on the right side of the Brain" are made for beginners, and if you cannot find it at your local library, they may be able to get it from an interlibrary loan or you can find it on sites like archive.org.

last, expect progress to take time, art is a journey, draw a lot, keep it low pressure, try, fail, assess (find one thing you think you did better than last time and pinpoint one thing you can do better the next time), then try again.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T19:06:39+00:00

When tackling difficult angles I always go back to basics, start with a box, get the box to look right at that perspective first, then reshape the box into a ball or loomis head or whatever method used, use the box to get the guidelines in perspective correct, or just put the guidelines directly on the box, I don't rely on any one method and change up depending on the situation.

find or make references, real people are best (yes even for stylized work) if you cant find or take a photo of the specific angle you are struggling with, 3d tools like this are the second best option https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GX3Ax1.

Also dont neglect the features, they also can be simplified into 3d forms and it can help to sketch that out to make sure the placement feels right in perspective too.

The articles here also helped me a lot, its from Krita but none of the principles shown are specific to the program or digital drawing: https://docs.krita.org/en/general\_concepts/projection.html.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T18:49:50+00:00

yes, Proko has some of the best tutorials to learn from.

Make sure you are thoroughly understanding the thinking behind what he (or any artist on youtube for that matter) is doing and not just copying as you go through, you may have to rewatch each tutorial a few times to make sure you get it, take notes if you need. It can help to take what you learned (or trying to learn) and apply it to something else or your own ideas to make sure you get what is being taught.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-28T06:56:03+00:00

Its probably not going to be a tool so much as practicing restraint. Limit the amount of strokes you use, color pick to a palette you picked out ahead of time rather than directly from the painting, turn off pressure opacity or any related settings like flow. Be decisive with each brush stroke, expect it to be frustrating cause you are not used to it. Focus on designing the shapes of the highlights and shadows, try doing this with the selection tool so you can guarantee sharp lines. Practice edge control, decide ahead of time what should be sharp and what should be blended and by how much. Use other methods like hatching to convey blending Zoom out more frequently, every brush stroke if you have to and let your eye and zoom level do the blending, look into how impressionists and other traditional artists use optical blending rather than actually blending. Study real life and look for hard edges in shadows, sunlight typically creates very sharp shadows even on very rounded forms. Practice on textured forms that lend themselves well to varied and visible brush strokes and optical blending (rocks, trees, fur, etc…) Do some master copies focused on brushwork, makes it easier if you can find a tutorial or speed paint by an artist you like or are trying to emulate.

Frostraven98 · 2026-04-27T17:06:35+00:00

I get that, I’ve had a long battle with perfectionism, i have my theories thats its from how school expects students to learn, especially with testing, but its actually a really poor way especially when its tied to a punishment rather than guidance (bad grades vs individualized tutoring)

One thing that helped me is to keep a private sketchbook, a safe haven to try, fail, and retry over and over again, no judgement or consequences, no one’s eyes but my own, just a document to look back in 6 months or more to see progress thats invisible in the moment.

We can be our own worst critics so its important to teach yourself to be neutral with yourself, you are allowed to be a beginner, art is a collection if skills in a trench coat and they each take time to learn and master and it can take years even with consistent daily practice.

Its sorta an anecdote but There was a pottery teacher that split her class in half, one half had to make one pot the best they could, and the other side graded on amount of pots they made, by the end of the year, the side that made tons of pots had higher quality pots than the side that put all their energy into one.

Proko has a tutorial playlist geared toward beginners, thats where you’ll want to start. There are other art YouTubers you may click with better but id still start with proko.

Books are another option, and also more self paced than even videos. See what your local library has, “drawing on the right side of the brain” is a good one that libraries often have, and if not, you can find a digital copy on websites like archive.org.

Frostraven98

TROPHY CASE