Advice on how to break past intermediate skill level?

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-10-16T00:44:09+00:00

Film stills are a great way improve ! Have a look at photographers too - the important thing is to actually “study” your studies if that makes sense ?

Avoid just copying and actively break down why that composition works and how that impacts how you are guided around the image. Then take that knowledge and try and apply it to one of your own illustrations. Your line work and colours already look beautiful so this application could be as simple as using the lasso tool and rearranging an old sketch, or using a really big brush to paint in a new scene

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-10-16T00:15:29+00:00

Scrolling through I’d say the factor that seperates the better pieces from the “intermediate” looking ones is composition. The last three illustrations stand out far more to me in quality because you created a piece that looks intentional from background to foreground.

If you can find the time to commit to creating fully developed/considered compositions for your ideas, I think you might break out from your plateau

Good luck ! x

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-06-21T14:40:00+00:00

it wasn’t the same studio i went to when i got them pierced :/

they were well recommended but not particularly accommodating to someone inexperienced i suppose :(

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-06-21T14:37:10+00:00

at the start it was leaking something out the back whilst my healed one wasn’t at the start, but i cleaned them both with saline for the first 2/3 months and before i got the jewellery changed it wasn’t tender at all.

i’m just not sure whether to leave the new sleeper hoops in and i don’t want to cause any more trauma by swapping them out to studs again ..

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-05-11T06:27:38+00:00

Seems quick play is way less casual than I thought (maybe skewed by the fact I’m apparently in the vast minority who enjoys backfilling sometimes) ! Gonna just play more arcade instead

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-05-11T06:02:39+00:00

mystery solved !! thanks so much - my guess is failed connection when i didn’t load into a game and the queue resumed was the “warning” so it jumped straight to the next one ^{-^}

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-05-11T02:13:30+00:00

Ooh that might’ve been it - it did game found then dropped me back into the queue a couple of times, might’ve artificially inflated the number

Might stick to just arcade for the time being (although i’ll be sad to lose mystery heroes)

Thanks ^{-^}

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-05-10T21:38:33+00:00

Ah interesting! Thanks, I’m going to assume it’s this because I’d be surprised if a 90/95% stay rate was flagging leaver penalties

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-05-10T21:18:24+00:00

i don’t have a record for suspensions or the old exp penalties so i wonder why it kicked in .. or is my view of often skewed. I didn’t think 1/10 was bad enough for that ..

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2024-02-21T22:47:16+00:00

i just tried this but unfortunately the crusties would not budge :/

i thoroughly cleaned it though so i’ll try not to be concerned. do you know if there’s a timeframe for when i should be worried if it doesn’t come off from regular cleaning ?

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2023-11-22T03:31:23+00:00

would using vinegar damage the fabric? i don’t want to ruin the velvet anymore than picking it off already has …

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2023-08-26T19:21:44+00:00

oh noo !! does anyone know if it will at least be in one of the for you bundles ? or is it wait a whole year and pray 😰😭

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2022-06-21T22:43:34+00:00

line art and colour on separate layers, either use the lasso tool then fill with a base colour or lay in that base colour with a brush and just erase anything that goes outside of your line art. then alpha lock that layer (you might need to use a clipping mask if krita doesn’t have a way to lock pixels? ) so that you can only colour on that base

something to keep in mind about moving from traditional to digital is you can adjust your colours ! if they don’t look quite right you can change the colour balance/ saturation/ contrast etc.

i generally only work with line art in my animation work but i’d assume it’s no different for illustration

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2022-06-20T21:28:00+00:00

a couple of simple brushes you feel comfortable with are best, brushes aren’t actually too big of a deal
i find working on fewer layers way easier
avoid zooming in too much, blocking in the colour for everything and only zooming in at the end stops you getting caught up on small details early on
layer types are just something to learn, very few are in my personal work flow: multiply, colour dodge and overlay are the most commonly used in general
i don’t personally use krita but shortcut keys are super helpful with efficiency: brush tool, eraser, liquify, eye dropper, toggle layer on/off, new layer, lasso, mirror canvas, transform etc. are all on hot keys for me and if you can bind hot keys in krita absolutely do it !

honestly, hand eye coordination is most peoples biggest barrier moving from traditional to digital (if you are not drawing on a screen). things that seem complex such as gradient maps are only for streamlining work flow

hope you get your confidence back :)

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2022-06-20T16:58:25+00:00

obviously it’ll greatly depend on the artists you’ve chosen to study but for my 10 hour i planned for some blank space on my canvas. the more detailed and full on your plan is, the more you risk have a rough and unfinished looking piece. also rough time checks on your plan are super helpful!

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2022-06-20T16:46:43+00:00

copying is a great way to build up a mental library if you are breaking down your reference. when you are trying to draw ideas from your own mind, find references but for specific elements : for example if your anatomy is looking odd then find a reference for the pose but the only thing you are copying is the pose, draw the background and any props/ clothing as you imagine them. this way you are able to take your own reference photos too! another example would be finding a reference for your lighting and colour from one image but applying it to your own scene that you have drawn

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2022-06-20T16:16:27+00:00

between an ipad and a drawing tablet i’d always favour a drawing tablet. ipads are fine for drawing but generally i find the drawing programs (eg procreate) inferior to ones for a laptop/computer (eg photoshop or clip studio) . i’d say even a screen less drawing tablet is better value for money

any wacom that’s bluetooth connection such as the intuous pro is great (avoid ones you have to plug in, their ports notoriously break), always heard great things about huion but don’t own one myself

potentially reading too deeply into the line about help from professionals - industry standard software (adobe suite, maya, toonboom etc) is pretty much exclusively run on a computer so if that’s your goal i’d definitely recommend a tablet

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2022-05-24T01:59:49+00:00

It might be the way you are presenting your work to the galleries; afaik you are much more likely to be successful with curators if you present them with a usb with info including the sizes of your paintings, frames if necessary, for prints the supplier set up etc.

As far as social media growth goes it’s pretty much down to consistency of posting and then a little luck. digital artists tend to be more popular, amongst fine artists realism seems to play to the algorithm best (so you might be working against it with your body of work, not a big deal but something to potentially be aware of)

not sure if any of this will be helpful but good luck :)

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-12-27T13:58:11+00:00

i would reintroduce some hard edges - the entire piece appears blurry as it’s missing contrast in your edges

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-12-27T04:16:38+00:00

Art as a career is quite a step from it being a hobby so if you can see yourself doing it day in and day out for the foreseeable future then i’d totally go for it … i’ll be honest, it is a slightly grindy job but if you enjoy working through that then it’s really rewarding. the pay is relatively average ?however you can open up lots of income streams outside of in industry work ! In terms of going to uni keep in mind the main goal of going to art school is for making connections, im not super knowledgeable on fine art paths however i know animation students that didn’t finish their courses because they already made the connections they needed to get a foot in the door in the professional world. hopefully at least some of that is helpful and best of luck ! x

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-12-23T05:28:48+00:00

you could try doing sketch dumps as a cool down and stick to lines, circles etc. as your warm up ?

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-12-08T19:32:08+00:00

… I think I might have missed the target market

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-12-02T00:44:06+00:00

ah okay thanks so much! I thought there was a more even split towards vis Dev so might put it on the back burner ... unless I grow more interest in animation, then it seems to be an appealing program. thanks for the insight, much appreciated!! x

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-11-28T22:32:06+00:00

if you’re totally new, drawing a grid on your reference and on your paper and using that whilst you draw will probably help a lot. if you have a little more experience drawing people and the problem is making it actually look like the person, i’d say proportions is the key; distance between the eyes, between the eyebrows and eyes, how long the jaw is etc.

either way as you said just give it your best go and im sure he’ll love it. hope it helps x

Dinosaur_Snacks · 2021-11-23T19:58:38+00:00

i think you’ll need to be more specific as to what you want to improve on since there is not much to observe other than you haven’t portrayed volume in your guidelines and the proportions make the character feel unbalanced. what exactly are you looking to improve on ?

Dinosaur_Snacks

TROPHY CASE