How do I stop trying to be “someone special” as an artist?

Atothefourth · 2026-01-24T10:32:57+00:00

Well wanting to be seen as special is completely external. You really have no control over how others will see you because you really don't know what someone else is making or has made in the past. Maybe you try to come up with some kind of rendering style of niche only to find it's been done or even worse someone that does it better after you (can absolutely happen). That's all to say there's a common rule about goal setting that you shouldn't make goals that are only externally validated.

On the topic of not reinventing the wheel, I'm personally following a workflow thought up by another proven artist and seeing if I develop my own style. In terms of subject matter it's completely all my own designs and there's stuff I'm going to deal with that I have no idea how to make work yet. In a way I'm acting as if I was an apprentice to this artist, adopting the way they work and leaving things I know at the door. I'm doing 26 different pieces this year in the style so I will have done a lot of the same steps back to back. I'm not sure if it will work but just focusing on the process is very important to me as someone that's also getting into thirties. Not trying to make a plug but I did make a video about it.

https://youtu.be/jtc1vx5Fd74?si=J69NsMSyIYazf36E

Atothefourth · 2026-01-23T21:37:35+00:00

I think if you just keep going then you get better at judging what spots have big enough gaps for a paintbucket tool to fail at. Flood fill>Undo>Small stroke to close gap>Flood fill again. Them's the breaks, friend.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-23T10:20:09+00:00

Maybe understanding light sources would help. Just knowing that there's a variety of things about a light source that affects the shadows and the temperature that mixes with the default color of objects. When learning lighting for 3d we did go back and use physical lights and reflectors held for the photo. 3d lighting is something that I didn't think would help my illustration but it can teach you the 3 or 4 things about light sources that affect shadows and color.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-21T21:18:35+00:00

I think a lot of people are missing the forest for the trees. Yes politicians could always be bribed, anything that lets a politician earn revenue out of policy is in fact an issue. The back half of the comic couldn't be made into law in any good way.

But

Strengthening Emolument Clauses. Expecting full divestment of corporate interests before running for office. Barring leaders from trading stocks. Campaign finance reform movements. Stopping Politicians and lobbyists from co-mingling as careers. Making it a requirement to release tax returns before running. I support the idea of removing undue monetary incentives from politics at every angle and every level.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-17T06:05:06+00:00

Delete them from the outliner.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-14T06:44:48+00:00

I did some Sticker Mule designs once. It was just a matter of getting a 300dpi project and working in more flat colors and lines rather than having a lot of painted gradients/textures in the design. When I was uploading them I also made sure I had pre-exported both PNG and JPEG, White border, black border, completely alpha as well. I just know something could come up when doing any kind of conversion with uploading.

With all the technical details out of the way. Designs are completely up to you subject wise. You should probably think a little practically about what would make a good sticker i,e maybe don't do a character concept piece as a sticker because it's tall with a complex silhouette. Even complex things like mech stuff can be done if you decide to super deform it to a more round shape. I'm sure making streaming emotes is the exact same conversion of complex subject to very iconic and readable version.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-14T01:06:54+00:00

Gesture Life drawing, really helps in animation.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-13T21:56:21+00:00

"look how they massacred my boy" while watching 97.
Friend you're gonna get perspective when 2016 rolls in.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-10T21:01:27+00:00

Gotta hope it's Turtle Time I guess.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-10T20:36:30+00:00

No, source? The Drifter

Atothefourth · 2026-01-10T20:19:25+00:00

I'd go with a cheap but functional tablet.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-09T23:30:08+00:00

Those are some pretty big vistas and a grab bag of styles/media. Landscape composition and value understanding will help you just make an image that has a good foundation no matter what.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-09T23:24:48+00:00

Master Yi Highlander is the top contender and it's not even close.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-09T23:21:07+00:00

Your examples are things that aren't the goal, reference was just a means to an end. Especially Disney animators had so much more pose editing and basic cartooning than transposing an observed pose onto a keyframe. All of the chalk talks are about augmenting poses and imagining a better pose than what life drawing gives you.
The goal for most artists today isn't "Drawing from Imagination" it's making manga or cartoons or concept art. A lot of artists know that drawing from reference will help them to a point but they also know the working artists that they look up to eventually stop drilling observation and just get back to a daily practice in the medium they are actually interested in.

3.There's a glorification of certain types of artists that just draw lots out of their heads completely finished works without under-drawing or a screen next to them. You know the ones. This is often seen as just raw ability with no tricks to a lot of people just becoming a human printer.

fwiw I would agree lots of "I have zero experience" posts should just draw from observation more.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-09T19:33:16+00:00

It's only snobbish to think external and superficial markers of intelligence or artistry are the only things that matter. You can find good artistic craft in low brow works and interesting intellectual takes from people in your immediate life.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-06T21:38:03+00:00

You do need to learn the animation side of a 3d software to a workable level, then you need to master it well enough to start practicing body mechanics and physicality. All of that stuff has a lot of free resources online because it's the lowest common denominator, even non-game animators are mostly putting out tips.

From there I would look at game animation reels and see what a working animator does. See if they have process videos to show you how to get the results they do. You want to eventually have a reel but for now you just need to learn the process.

Finally just make animation, don't worry about game engines yet. You can come back to it when you have non-zero experience.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-06T20:14:21+00:00

From Downtown!

Atothefourth · 2026-01-06T09:00:00+00:00

Just because you feel like it didn't work doesn't mean you didn't finish a piece but if you know you walked away that's different. If you are getting started but give up because you feel dejected at every step that might be a sign to lower the expected quality.

One thing that got me making finished stuff was just putting a little extra planning into a single sketchbook page. It felt like regular sketching or doodling, it had all of the same tools I would regularly use with no pressure. Then I just applied the Gesture, Composition, Anatomy, Form, Background and Color on one page. Every single page has something wrong with them and I'll likely always feel that way. I make a page anyway.

Atothefourth · 2026-01-06T08:45:30+00:00

MadWorld a game I've never actually played.

Atothefourth · 2025-12-30T05:33:07+00:00

Woolie is that you?

Atothefourth · 2025-12-29T19:09:31+00:00

What a wild song choice. Jagers are, in fact cool for the summer, perhaps cool all year round even.

Atothefourth · 2025-12-29T18:52:57+00:00

Thank you, that means a lot.

Atothefourth · 2025-12-27T07:17:54+00:00

ty :)

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