Childhood Besties 🐐🐐

Commission for http://wirelessshiba.tumblr.com/ !

How did you learn to do your line weight so perfectly? Is there some secret to this?

I sketched using a highly pressure-sensitive brush for a long time and got better and more confident with using it.

Gonna use commissions I've done as an example. I started off basically doing sketches with my own inky lineart brush. Then, by taking a high volume of commissions, I used them as practice to fine-tune my muscle memory, but without high expectations so that I wouldn't try too hard. Note that I also didn't think hard on how I wanted the drawings to look; I only leaned towards line weights that "just kinda felt right", and it snowballs from there as I get better.

1+ year ago, 8+ months ago, 2 months ago

You can see how rough I started out with at the beginning, trying to freehand stuff and ending up with kinda wonky forms. After doing a few dozen, I became more confident with just doing simple lines. After a decent amount of time, I gained enough confidence to implement very deliberate line weights to my strokes.

So to break it down:

Sketch with a rough, highly sensitive inky brush for so long that you're basically just doing lineart. Sketch freely with a relaxed grip and without exerting excess pressure. Your only commitment is to make it readable and clear after cleanup.

Do not practice with intent of making the lineart perfect. Rather, sketch with intent of just making the weights feel clear and readable. My goal was to become more efficient at sketching, not making good lineart. This includes using longer strokes for certain contours instead of little scratches.

I use an undersketch/rough draft layer set to 20% opacity to block out the anatomy and posing, and then do a cleaner sketch on top of that. It is crucial however that you do not think of the clean draft as "lineart". Always keep your brain in sketch mode; Accept a certain level of mess. Your process will optimize into something cleaner with time.

Most recent commissions I've done as of writing this

I also have a basic <20 minute daily practice regimen for studies you can find here. Consistent practice and patience with using simple yet versatile tools will get you where you need to go.

Lean in to the frizz!

First post!

I'm usually more wholesome with my art, but... Cloud :)

Piedmont

beautiful

Chris, The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch

Lights off

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Monsoon

I always avoided using references, but couldn't point out what exactly made me avoid it. I have finally realized that due to being unfortunate enough to be surrounded by people boldly claiming "real artists draw everything from imagination without any references" [now i know it's bullshit] in my early years of artistic journey, I developed fear of being too dependent on references and fear of being completely unable to draw anything good without "copying". Any ideas how to overcome that fear?

It's not something I hear at all in professional spaces. We've straight up traced weird angles of our arms before. I use lots of references. You will naturally get better at drawing intuitively with the more references you use since we learn by example. I draw intuitively much more accurately than I did many years ago, but I still use references because my idea of a polished drawing is a moving goalpost.

Jason Rainville is one of the best of the best, paints MTG cards and he often posts his references. You can see how closely they mirror the final image:

If you want to get good at art, you have to look at things and that's all it boils down to. Those who say it's bad to use references are either 1) never getting good at art, or 2) are insecure and are posturing in front of other artists. Hope this helps!