We often find ourselves discouraged by those that can do what we love better than us.
We also often forget that they struggled and put a lot of work to be where they are now.
One doesn't simply wake up one day and have been granted unsurpassed talent in any particular subject.
The time old method of honing your craft is to practice.
But sometimes that isn't enough. You need guiding hands. Support. Reassurance and peers to lean your shoulder on.
In this thread you can discuss your art blocks, inspirations, favorite artists, share tutorials, and give your hand to your fellow artists. Whatever your niche may be, there's someone there to lend an ear and provide a step ahead.
If you have tutorials/videos that may help or artists you find inspiring feel free to share them under the designated sub-thread.
If you want to share your art without a critique say so when you post it.
If you want one make sure to state that.
Some personal guidelines I follow under the cut
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1. [b]Use References. [/b]
Unless you know you've got the feel of something completely memorized by heart and hand you should always use a photo to help you. You will learn faster and with less frustration/pain. Even if you're doing a cartoon piece. Cartoons are simply real things simplified.
2. [b]Do not ever learn anatomy from drawings. [/b]
Art is often stylized and it's not always correct. While it's fine to learn style and carve out your own, studying anatomy from other artist's work will hazard fatal mistakes and minimize actual learning.
3. [b]Keep your old doodles. [/b]
Even if you hate them. You can either later reflect on them to see what you've learned, or as what's happened with me, look back at it and realize it was actually very good. You were only being hypercritical. Old drawings can be salvaged, reformed, or stylized into something magnificent.
4. [b][u]Do not be discouraged by other artist's work! [/u][/b]
I cannot tell you how poisonous this is. I am guilty of it and from first hand experience can tell you how detrimental it is. Your work is an expression of yourself. Different art styles doesn't equal being better or worse than someone else. You can admire someone's style without copying or stripping away your own. Instead of being heart broken by "better" work you should learn from them. Ask them questions. Get advice or see how they view their art. Chances are they think they're nothing compared to the artists that [i]they[/i] look up to.
5. [b]Practice and feel good. [/b]
Enjoy what you do. Don't force it or feel you need to draw/create as much as others. For almost all of us art is a hobby. Hobbies are meant to be enjoyed. Create what interests you even if it's not popular or will get everyone's attention. If you have an uncommon style those that indulge in it will appreciate it all the more.
6. [b]Don't be afraid to experiment. [/b]
You'll learn great things you never would have thought you were capable of.
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I am a SAI Paint Tool user. I have little to no advice about Photoshop! I am sorry. I also apologize if I haven't commented on everyone's stuff. I will get to it! (or I will at least "like" it so you know you're not forgotten)
I've been very busy and I enjoy giving well thought out help instead of rushing it between work breaks.
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Edited by Sandtrap: 8/19/2015 7:30:17 AMAnother story of mine that I've started. Rough in progress draft. [spoiler] [i]I’m writing this, in case somebody ever finds this. I don’t know what’s going to happen after today. The Seeders are serious in their claims and insistency. The Earth governments, have labeled any in this affair as a fugitive and a traitor. I’m a fugitive, now, as I write this. I am, an offender to my entire planet. To my species. I’m a doctor. All I’ve ever done was try to help people. The Seeders. They’re alien. They are……so far beyond what anybody ever expected. And yet, here we are. Practically at war. Seeder starships are converging. The Earth governments are beginning to panic. They want all of us dead or captured. But they won’t let the Seeders go through with it either. This is our home too. Even if we have made mistakes. I want anybody to know that the reason I’m doing this, whatever happens after today, however bad history paints me as. I did it because it was right. It was the right thing to do. And I believe that. That’s what makes us so different from them. The Seeders don’t see things like we do. They are singular. To them, our species represents chaos itself. And the fugitive we’re protecting. Na’Kesh’. That name is an alien name. It doesn’t belong as a part of our species. But that doesn’t make it any different from any other name out there. I, and those of us that are left, are doing this because everybody deserves to be free. Everybody, no matter who they are. Alien, or Human. Race, sex, or even species. Whatever happens after today. Please find it in your heart and mind to understand. Please forgive me.[/i][/spoiler] [spoiler] Dust swirled across the road, and smog filled the air in a thick choking blanket, as traffic wound its way through the streets, packed like together like cans on an assembly line. People packed themselves in with the traffic, on foot, winding between the maze of vehicles, all donning masks or some going so far as to wear entire suits. Moreau was never one to wear more than a mask. It was the dust that you could breathe in, that was harmful. But contact with it, although quickly coating one and making their efforts at cleanliness vain, wasn’t a worry. Today was another work day. Early morning to be precise. He was on call again. What else was new? A trained doctor was a rare sight these days. Of course, he wasn’t a true doctor. He remembered the days, before the dust, before the scorching fires, cramped into the back of an ambulance, working to stabilize people on their way to the hospital. On his way to the hospital he was then, and still, here he was now. Where things were no different from the outside world. People stuffed into the buildings like they were on the streets. He paused, standing still on the remnants of perhaps an old road, or the sidewalk, being pushed aside by passerby as they continued on towards their own destinations. Moreau looked up to the sky, to see only dust and smog. And a few stray blotches of sunlight, smothered out by the clouds, shining down on old infrastructure. Oh how they had stood tall once. The skyscrapers of old, now broken and shattered, some of them bent and splintered apart like matchsticks. He used to be a paramedic. Now graciously given the title of doctor by higher authorities, those that were left, at least. He was the doctor and it was his job to fix everybody. An impossible task the he couldn’t manage. How could he? When the sky was wrong, when those old skyscrapers were blown apart like toys, when people were forced to push underground and live there, away from the radiation and the clouds, and when the world governments, those that were left standing, couldn’t fix it, what chance did he stand? Moreau turned his sights back down to the ground, to the dust and the people. The world was broken and dying. Maybe he couldn’t fix everybody. But if he could, he could, perhaps, try. Maybe even, make whatever time they had left peaceful. [/spoiler] [spoiler]Moreau sat with his head back on the chair he rested in, eyes closed. Every day was like this. A mad scramble of people, buzz and noise, crowds. People sick, or dying, injured and all wanting somebody to fix it. Him and the current shift of staff where all doing the same now. Lunch break. Some peace and quiet in a cramped lobby stuffed with chairs. Armed guards outside the doors who would hold back the tides of people, if they needed to. Under old fluorescent light, flickering in some patches, in a corner of the room, sat an old TV, propped up on a chair. Even still, with all of this, the news managed to drone on, and on. Moreau tuned it out, disappearing from the lobby he was in. It was all disappointing anyway. Even back then when things were better. He couldn’t help but smile. Nobody was ever satisfied. There was always something to complain about. And then, everybody really had something to complain about. The world, changing. Nature shifting in balance and falling apart, dragging everybody down with it. Environmental collapse. And then, the inevitable. World superpowers stirred in the dust and storms, clutching to their old empires, wanting to reclaim them and restore them to the glory that once was. The gears of war turned as the last breath of whatever strength remained in people called and rallied, and turned their sights on the only thing left standing. Old hatreds. Moreau opened his eyes to the feeling of shockwaves, a blast traveling through the old building, shaking it on its foundation. Lights flickered, going out before finally struggling to come back on again. Moreau sighed, leaning his head back on his chair. Car bomb? Gas explosion? Maybe, some old warhead or tank going off. It didn’t matter. Nobody in the lobby so much as stirred as another aftershock rolled through the building’s foundation, stirring up dust and beating the old, tired electronics inside. A buzzer went off, old metal ringing before the annoyance of it spurred somebody to move and shut it off. Lunch time was over. Moreau opened his eyes and stared out the windows of the makeshift lobby. Smog and ash. He shook his head. Back to work. Who could say? They might even receive some new inpatients from the recent explosions. [/spoiler] Rough draft and all that. But I'm having a hard time putting words together properly right now. If anybody even reads this, and you happen to spot something that doesn't sit right with you in terms of, well, linguistics, feel free to point it out please. Squeezed in the rest of what I have so far down below in the sub-conversation.