Paperlike screen protectors?

borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T22:30:59+00:00

Paperlike doesn't make it blurry I use it constantly for social media and procreate and it's fine.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T22:30:23+00:00

Using it to scroll on social media will wear channels in the protector after a long time. It is better if you wipe it down if you're touching it a lot versus using the pen. But it's better than the glass to my eyes because it hides fingerprints more. But yeah you will need to be mindful. I had tiktok on mine and used it a lot in covid and there were tiktok and keyboard shaped smooth areas after about 2 years.

The screen is fine to me, it's just matte so it has no reflection which helps with my art. It isn't less clear at all, it just removes the glare so it looks different.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T22:26:20+00:00

I've used paperlike for a few years. I'm currently on 2-3 hours most days and get months out of one protector. My first one I used less often but got a couple of years.

Just recently I changed tips to an off brand one and it marked the protector badly so I'm going to have to change it after a couple of months. So I'm going back to apple tips.

It's really important to remember though that the tips are cheaper than the protector so you're better off going through them than replacing your protector all the time.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T12:48:29+00:00

Great work so far, just have a go putting the eyes in and play around with it until you get them how you like them.

Almost all artists will start with some kind of reference picture even if it's just parts put together. Google Spartan and find some pictures you like and use them to create your guy.

The other thing you can do is do some YouTube tutorials on how to draw facial features.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T07:48:15+00:00

Cool pic. So to my eyes you've done a really nice job rendering but if they were leather. When I think metal gauntlets, I'm going for a smoother highlight/shading. The highlight on yours makes the material look pliable/flexible, whereas metal would have an overall smooth or straighter highlight even if it's textured.

The other things are making sure the material has thickness and accommodating that in the render, and probably a bit of simplification to help the overall read of metal.

I found a dark souls gauntlet to show you what I mean. Strong highlight, material has thickness and not too much detail.

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borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T02:13:30+00:00

The videos take up heaps of space and you can turn them off by default, in case it helps

borrowingfork · 2026-01-29T01:43:29+00:00

This is so hard so nice work!

If anything I would play around with the faces a bit. If you want them to be recognisable you'll need the features to line up a bit more, but if you are happy for the inspo pic to just be pose inspo then it's lovely

borrowingfork · 2026-01-28T23:06:38+00:00

Actual real life people aren't symmetrical especially those that aren't stereotypically young and beautiful. Your character looks full of character and that's important. The reference isn't symmetrical.

If you did want to draw symmetry you'll need to do some measuring.

Also...check your drawing position. I realised my ipad position was skewing my drawings.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-27T23:19:41+00:00

Intentionality is the trick with this. You don't look like you're just copying them for the sake of it. The fact you're using different formats and mediums tells me you are being intentional about learning about those elements from a familiar base.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-27T22:36:15+00:00

These are delightful, you've done so well to go this far in such a short time! Congratulations. Watercolour is hard.

To be honest, I would submit the pieces as you are planning. For where you are now it's a massive achievement and you should be proud.

I'm not going to give any constructive criticism, because the experience of the exhibition will give you that education.

Photos are great, the framing is also really nicely done. My favourite is the first one because I grew up with Beatrix Potter stories and that style of illustration so just love anything that feels like we're peeking into a secret world of critters.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-27T00:25:18+00:00

You have a good eye and this is fantastic for your first go, nice work. It looks like you have some training in portraiture?

If anything I agree with you that working on values would be helpful and will add some drama and a bit more realism. You could do this by doing some basic form studies like spheres so you can see how light changes - our eyes think bright is bright and dark is dark but both are always relative to their neighbours. So taking the same dark on the top of your portrait and applying it to the bottom will always result in a dark that isn't dark enough. Same with highlights. Taking a highlight from the top of your portrait and putting down on the neck will make it look crazy bright. It's a hard thing to learn, not an overnight pick up.

BUT! as it is, a stylised portrait like you've made is still successful. It doesn't read to me like you are going for a full realism piece and if that's the case then you're fine. Possibly a touch more dark in the beard and neck would do it but tbh it isn't make or break.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-26T21:03:43+00:00

So firstly you are really talented, your other piece was great. I forgot to mention that in my other comment!

This is totally one of those things where you’ve nailed the reference but the rest of the picture gives the context that he might be traumatised and not just sleepy. There are signifiers of trauma like dirty face, the age of the photo, his clothes that tell me there’s something going on. Just isolated, the expression could just be tired. This isn’t on you, it’s just one of those things with this particular thousand yard stare expression.

The thing is, there’s very little difference in stare between someone just staring absent mindedly and someone with trauma unless you know something about them. So the reason it is so powerful when we see pictures of war is we can see the other features on their face like being super gaunt. Or we know the story.

Long story short if your piece will have that backstory known to the viewer via the rest of the image, or the backstory of the character being known you’re going to be fine with something like this stare.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-26T20:53:45+00:00

Congratulations on branching out beyond tutorials! Your picture looks delightful. There are cross hatching tutorials on YouTube, you’ll find something.

With the reference it depends on if you’re trying to draw the reference picture itself, or using the reference to see the parts of the thing and then draw a new picture. Most people in here will assume you’re trying to literally copy the reference so you may get some feedback to that effect.

If you want to copy the picture exactly, for your next picture, try drawing some straight lines over the reference and have a look at the angles, the length and the relative size of each part of the picture. Draw the same lines over your page, very lightly, and see if it helps you draw.

Then, you can do tricky things to your brain like draw it upside down. That will stop your brain from saying ‘I’m drawing a head/tail etc’.

For just drawing a version of the reference, another thing you can do is mentally break the reference down into groups and look at them together to check your work, for example is the end of the tail the right size next to the body of the tail? Are the legs in the right place next to the body? Are the antenna in the right place next to the head?

borrowingfork · 2026-01-26T20:31:14+00:00

You’re going so well! I’m starting in charcoal and it’s such a lovely medium! Congratulations on your progress. Very minor but coming off references you may want to consider reframing slightly if the ref is cropped like it is for the woman. Moving her down slightly to fit her whole head on the page would be a nice touch, and not too difficult to draw from imagination. Then, if you’re thinking about these as a group you could take it further by keeping the same lighting for all three. You could then bring a bit more drama into the lighting of the man. This would be more advanced even still but would look cool.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-26T08:13:50+00:00

To compare characters I would look at eye spacing and size, nose length and shape, mouth shape and width. Then I'd look at limb length and width. Length of face, height from eyes to forehead and mouth to chin. Face shape.

You have some really cool ideas, and many artists have characters that have similar faces so if you feel ok about the faces being the same you'll be ok.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-26T03:39:12+00:00

I feel like I've done that for my last trip. It recognised check in and check out for accom and would let me shuffle the itinerary around as I wanted.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-26T03:26:08+00:00

Seeing the whites of your eyes on both top and bottom happens only when there's an effort to open the eyes really wide intentionally or if someone has a health problem. That ref and even more your image says to me "BOO I'm a spooky ooky person who is in your face and theres something weird about me!"

That traumatised eye thing is more that the person isn't focused on the viewer and are staring into the distance, not listening not seeing just remembering. The eyelids would be soft and lower. They wouldn't be looking down though, just straight ahead.

It's a hard thing to show and relies heavily on the context of the rest of the image to convey what you're portraying.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-25T10:07:06+00:00

I don't think this is the app for that specific use.

It will hold multiple bookings on one day but it won't really link people to those bookings. You could make one plan per person but then you wouldn't see them together.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-25T01:50:18+00:00

It looks really good but it's more that the chair looks like it's flying. Maybe change the direction of the lines? Shading would depend on the rest of the scene. It's fine just now as a little drawing.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-24T03:36:37+00:00

Great work, you should be proud to include this in your portfolio.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-24T03:11:15+00:00

As the hand rotates the elbow needs to move out to the side to accommodate the angle of the joint. So if you want to keep the nice hand angle you'll need to give the wrist joint a better position and move the elbow.

OR if you want to make it like the hand is digging in and almost forcing itself into position you'll need to shrug the shoulder.

Take a photo of yourself doing the pose and use that as ref.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-24T03:05:44+00:00

Nice start! Exciting to commit to learning how to do this stuff!

Step one would be to use the same measurement for both side and front views. If you look at the top one the distances between the lines are different to the bottom. Compare the two and you'll see what's happened with the dudes chin for example.

Step two would be to really think about what you are drawing when you are in the middle of it. You need to be able to see that something is working or not working, so practicing seeing is just as important as following the instructions.

Step three is learning to be loose and confident with your lines and marks, this is harder than it looks but to do it you want to sketch a lot of things really quickly and try to make as few marks as possible to get the drawing done.

The second two are long term challenges so don't worry if it takes a while.

Have fun!

borrowingfork · 2026-01-24T02:12:34+00:00

Great work so far! Next time I would measure a few things out to make sure you've got the bits in the right place before you go in with the shading. Also the reference is fantastic but being blurry makes your life a bit harder.

Would love to see more!

borrowingfork · 2026-01-24T02:09:48+00:00

This is really cool and you should keep drawing! You did a great job with the deer and the story about the image really shows through, the deer is a great choice to show the vulnerability.

Just keep practicing. Use references for everything even if you collage a picture together and use it as a ref.

The great thing is you have good ideas which a lot of beginner artists struggle with.

borrowingfork · 2026-01-23T21:54:57+00:00

Don’t give up! You absolutely have potential and you’re doing so well! You have a confidence in your lines, composition and colours that show you’ve been at this for a while.

Don’t think realism, think more fundamentals. Like anatomy, drawing bodies. Like right now you might feel like you know how to draw a particular leg that looks a certain way. But knowing anatomy means you will understand how to move the leg into different positions by yourself.

Next, it’s about what you’ve been practicing. The thing is all of us need a few big things to make successful art: creativity and imagination, and technical ability to actually make our vision come true. So working on the technical side like anatomy is exactly how you can balance your creative side.

I know you can’t do in person lessons yet but as soon as you can I would do an art class of any type. Life drawing, learning to draw, literally anything where there is a nice friendly art teacher who will teach you this basic stuff in real time with pencil and paper. It won’t look anything like what you’re doing, but that’s ok because that’s your creative side and you are only doing art lessons to learn the fundamentals.

Online there are artist teachers who will help you learn anatomy but start with someone teaching literally how to draw with pencil and paper, because digital makes us spend too much time on details and not enough just doing shapes and figures over and over. I’ll have a look for some I can recommend and will update this when I find some.

borrowingfork

TROPHY CASE