Learning Digital Art - Update -3

[Deleted member 7330341]

Hello ,So , I started learning Digital art four or five days ago. These are some random things I drew today to better understand basic shapes ,light and shadows and beginner cel shading (I hope am using the correct terms for it.) . I know it isn't much to look at but it's honest work , Please rate it and drop in some extra words of advice if you would like to.

Thanks!

 

[Winterfire]

I hate the brush you're using for the outline, and it would suck even if it was a sketch.
The rest looks good, i'd say your next step should be:

You must be registered to see the links

(Other tutorials of that channel are also really good)

 

[Gunjira]

It's really not bad, I especially like the projected shadows with gradient , however the light (and I'm talking about the specular effect you added) is unnecessary imho.

If you want my two cents, learn realism first and then move to something else, learn blending and soft form shadow, and sharp projected shadow.

from there you step up and you add ambient lighting and bounce lighting.

 

[Winterfire]

however the light (and I'm talking about the specular effect you added) is unnecessary imho.

It's really common in anime, including rim lighting. It shouldn't be that sharp though.

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

I hate the brush you're using for the outline, and it would suck even if it was a sketch.

I totally get what you're saying, I initially used that brush to get the same feeling as a traditional pencil , But it can be definitely solved by just doing another layer of outlining with a subtle and clean brush like a pen or something, right?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

It's really not bad, I especially like the projected shadows with gradient , however the light (and I'm talking about the specular effect you added) is unnecessary imho.

If you want my two cents, learn realism first and then move to something else, learn blending and soft form shadow, and sharp projected shadow.

from there you step up and you add ambient lighting and bounce lighting.

Hello , I have some questions If you don't mind,
1.I would like to know what might be the reason behind your opinion on the specular effect? Is it my beginner level skills or some other reason?
2.Is it still necessary to learn realism first if am aiming for a more stylized or "anime" kind of art?
3.I hope am not wrong but Cel Shading (I hope am using the correct term) is about sharp and solid shadows, avoiding any soft shadows or blending , right?
Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Winterfire]

I totally get what you're saying, I initially used that brush to get the same feeling as a traditional pencil , But it can be definitely solved by just doing another layer of outlining with a subtle and clean brush like a pen or something, right?

Thanks for the feedback!

Use Tsaoshin's brushes, one of them includes a pencil like brush:

You must be registered to see the links

However, traditional is not digital, and it shouldn't be. They're two different things, you should aim for a clean but not intrusive outline, some even delete the outline once they're done or set it as a soft light to make it softer.
I personally just use a soft brush, size 3 (7680 x 4320), which gets thinnier once I scale down to 1920x1080.

This is the extent of what you can do with mouse only, once you get a tablet, you can also get pressure which makes your outline closer to traditional.

2.Is it still necessary to learn realism first if am aiming for a more stylized or "anime" kind of art?

Technically no, but only if you use 3D as support (Lighting, how it scatters, and anatomy), DesignDoll is a good software for characters, and Blender for all the rest.

3.I hope am not wrong but Cel Shading (I hope am using the correct term) is about sharp and solid shadows, avoiding any soft shadows or blending , right?

No, unless you're aiming for an anime/manga style, but that happens because they're many drawings. When doing a CG, you should use the fact you're not doing pages worth of drawings to your advantage and spend some extra time blending the colors to make it prettier.

Even in anime that happens, usually when there's a "CG" (Memory type of thing) where the frame suddenly gets "prettier". If you have watched enough anime, you'll get what I mean.

 

[Gunjira]

Light should be used to hint at the material it's refracting of, sharp light such as the one you use suggest rubber or glass. so it can be misleading for the viewer.

for exemple you can have a character, if you use that kind of lighting on the clothes, someone may think they are dressed in latex when really you wanted jeans or whatever.

Realism should be just the basic of "how the world work", it's more of a general guiding rule so you know what does what and why. as humans we all share the same reality we can use as a common ground for communication, as an artist you can convey your own interpretation of reality, you should think of realism as a toolbox really.

cel shading as you referring to is mostly a matter of style, some artist do only cell shading as it's their preference, I'm personnaly not fan of shadows, outside of ambient occlusion. it's just a matter of how you want to do things, what's the best way for you to express your thoughts.

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

DesignDoll is a good software for characters

First of all thanks for this, This is just gold!
Secondly , I think I might be asking too many questions but can you give me a brief on Characters and CGs. I am learning art to make a game in RPG MZ, I love RPGM games with battle mechanics and want to do the same , I've learned MZ and now the last hurdle is art (Which I know will take a generous amount of time to clear.)
I'd like to know that how should I approach drawing a H-Scene? From what I have observed , There are not many CGs made for a single scene , Generally three are made , One in Initial Position , then one is made a bit blurred to depict motion and the third sets the stage for the next scene (almost).
Am talking about a type of game where you fight monster with your party , You lose you get a H-Scene , You win you get a H-Scene. Your typical run of the mill RPGM game.

 

[Winterfire]

First of all thanks for this, This is just gold!
Secondly , I think I might be asking too many questions but can you give me a brief on Characters and CGs. I am learning art to make a game in RPG MZ, I love RPGM games with battle mechanics and want to do the same , I've learned MZ and now the last hurdle is art (Which I know will take a generous amount of time to clear.)
I'd like to know that how should I approach drawing a H-Scene? From what I have observed , There are not many CGs made for a single scene , Generally three are made , One in Initial Position , then one is made a bit blurred to depict motion and the third sets the stage for the next scene (almost).
Am talking about a type of game where you fight monster with your party , You lose you get a H-Scene , You win you get a H-Scene. Your typical run of the mill RPGM game.

If you play an AAA VN hentai game (By that I mean Japanese VNs), there are more stages to that, but they're all alternatives with minor changes. Such as a different facial expression, or the PP being inside instead of outside, the classic motion blur for movement, cum inside/outside, and so on.

That's pretty easy to do if you use layers (and you will have to for any serious art).

Even if one day you'll want to upgrade to doing animations (with Live2D or other such softwares), layers will also be necessary, so either way that's something you'll need to learn.

Generally, you want a base pose (something which is pretty much unchanging, like the body of the woman laying on the bed in missionary position), then all the changing parts should be separate elements that you can toggle off/on and/or redraw.
For example, on "stage 1" the vagina is drawn on a layer above the woman's body and it's closed.
When there's the insertion (stage 2) you'll toggle off the old vagina, and redraw it expanded with the pp going inside.
A stage 3 would be the same CG, but with motion blur applied (and maybe a dumb ahegao face for the woman) to show thrusting.

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

Light should be used to hint at the material it's refracting of, sharp light such as the one you use suggest rubber or glass. so it can be misleading for the viewer.

for exemple you can have a character, if you use that kind of lighting on the clothes, someone may think they are dressed in latex when really you wanted jeans or whatever.

This is actually pretty enlightening , Cuz I know that I might have done the same mistake on the "Jeans or Latex" part. Thanks for elaborating it ,making it really easy to understand.

it's just a matter of how you want to do things, what's the best way for you to express your thoughts.

Will remember that!
Thanks !

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

If you play an AAA VN hentai game (By that I mean Japanese VNs), there are more stages to that, but they're all alternatives with minor changes. Such as a different facial expression, or the PP being inside instead of outside, the classic motion blur for movement, cum inside/outside, and so on.

That's pretty easy to do if you use layers (and you will have to for any serious art).

Even if one day you'll want to upgrade to doing animations (with Live2D or other such softwares), layers will also be necessary, so either way that's something you'll need to learn.

Generally, you want a base pose (something which is pretty much unchanging, like the body of the woman laying on the bed in missionary position), then all the changing parts should be separate elements that you can toggle off/on and/or redraw.
For example, on "stage 1" the vagina is drawn on a layer above the woman's body and it's closed.
When there's the insertion (stage 2) you'll toggle off the old vagina, and redraw it expanded with the pp going inside.
A stage 3 would be the same CG, but with motion blur applied (and maybe a dumb ahegao face for the woman) to show thrusting.

This is chef's kiss, Thanks for the heaps of knowledge you've given us in such a short time. Absolute Hero!

 

[FapYeah]

Its good that you're working on your fundamentals. This is key. I recommend the Proko videos on Youtube, they have a lot of tutorials that focus on fundamentals

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

Hello , I don't have much to show today unfortunately ,except this eye I drew today to better understand blending. I actually drew two of them but the other wasn't upto "standards" so I removed it.

Today was a bit confusing, I have got kinda "okay-ish" at making shapes , But as I tried to draw faces today (The anime kind) , I failed at it horribly. I mean "Loomis-Method" is the only way I can find all over the internet , And for some unknown reason every part of it just feels excruciating to me. IMHO maybe it's that I don't know the right way to start and/or approach making faces let alone bodies.

Or maybe am just biting onto more than I can chew , If that's the case , What should be the progression from moving from shapes to faces and later bodies?(If that's even a thing)

Extra Note : My final goal is to be able to make "bearable" characters and CGs for my first small RPGM game idea asap , I won't mind if they are not some super models , I just wanna keep on doing it and get better at it eventually, But am not even able to draw similar proportions for the face at the moment. If someone knows some routines or exact things I should focus on straight up to get this done and ignore all other stuff unnecessary for this goal , Please enlighten us!

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

Edit for Day 2-
So I don't know why but I decided to do something random , detaching from the idea of what I think I should do. At first I thought let's not get carried away and make a simple eye , I am confused now , Am not able to make a single proper head with same proprotions by the loomis method but somehow I made this , without any reference , any idea , any premade color palette , It was just a free flow thing . All the shadows and highlights and all the fancy things eventually came together. It's definitely not something "great" , but it definitely gave me a lot to rethink about. Maybe I should explore more , Do tell me your thoughts bout this one....

 

[woody554]

I totally get what you're saying, I initially used that brush to get the same feeling as a traditional pencil , But it can be definitely solved by just doing another layer of outlining with a subtle and clean brush like a pen or something, right?

Thanks for the feedback!

brush never matters, it's famously a skill issue. there are people like the grandfather of digital art craig mullins who paints with round brush using a MOUSE and still is the go-to guy of the industry. look him up, he's amazing.

I like how you're starting the exact right way, drawing basic shapes and getting right into the fundamentals. stay on that path.

don't do what we all did and skip fundamentals because its so goddamn boring, we all had to go back and do them eventually because the lack of solid fundamentals holds you back at an amateur level. it just has to be done, there's no getting away from fundamentals. think of it as Work you must go through to unlock the higher levels.

that said, always draw fun stuff too, keep things fun to motivate yourself. just don't fall for the trap of stopping doing the fundamentals after the very beginning. you won't be good enough at any of it. it's kinda like if you go study with a master chef, he'll make you chop vegetables for two years.


good luck! it's a long road ahead but it's also tons of fun!

 

[Winterfire]

Hello , I don't have much to show today unfortunately ,except this eye I drew today to better understand blending. I actually drew two of them but the other wasn't upto "standards" so I removed it.

Today was a bit confusing, I have got kinda "okay-ish" at making shapes , But as I tried to draw faces today (The anime kind) , I failed at it horribly. I mean "Loomis-Method" is the only way I can find all over the internet , And for some unknown reason every part of it just feels excruciating to me. IMHO maybe it's that I don't know the right way to start and/or approach making faces let alone bodies.

Or maybe am just biting onto more than I can chew , If that's the case , What should be the progression from moving from shapes to faces and later bodies?(If that's even a thing)

Extra Note : My final goal is to be able to make "bearable" characters and CGs for my first small RPGM game idea asap , I won't mind if they are not some super models , I just wanna keep on doing it and get better at it eventually, But am not even able to draw similar proportions for the face at the moment. If someone knows some routines or exact things I should focus on straight up to get this done and ignore all other stuff unnecessary for this goal , Please enlighten us!

Any help would be appreciated!

I can see a few mistakes and can give you a few tips there:

1. Use path for outlining (pen tool), if you're using a mouse, even with smoothing the outline will be kind of shaky. Using path is the best way to get a clean and straight outline.

2. Have the outline in a separate layer (Called outline, so it'll be clear) and do that first, once the outline is done, lock it to avoid painting on it by mistake.

3. To color, select the area you want to color with magic wand tool and, if the outline doesn't have any break point and was done properly, it'll select only the empty area within the outline, then if the outline is 3 px wide (brush set to size 3), do: select -> modify -> expand by 2 (brush size - 1), this way the area selected will cover everything and won't leave any empty space.

On a new layer, use the bucket to color the selected area with a base color, name it "Base color";
Then create another new layer, press alt and click on the base color layer to make the newly created empty later a child of the base color layer.
Now, the new empty layer will color only within the base color. If you try to paint outside of the base color layer, nothing will show up. This is good because you'll be able to color ONLY the base color layer, which is perfect for shading and avoiding colors to get out of those bounds.
In your case, those red lines on the eye wouldn't have covered some of the outline if it was done like that.

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

Day - 3
Recently I've started doing a bit more "study" than drawing , Like anatomy , semi realism , you know just to explore my tastes and see what clicks. Today was mostly just spamming "Loomis-Heads" in 3/4th perspective (As it's the most common in RPGs/VNs). Fortunately , I am able to draw them "okay-ish" now. Tomorrow I'll start focusing more on slowly drawing the body (Shoulders->Bust->Waist and maybe up to legs ("maybe" because from what I believe is that characters are hardly shown anything below the thigh)).

Anyway, Here's my first "Headshot" (I hope that's the correct term) , too embarrassed to reveal who was the reference cuz it looks nothing like her, but yeah , maybe part of getting good is starting somewhere , eh?

The style is not the "anime" kind , which I stated am aiming for . TBH I myself don't know what style this actually is (If it's even one)

Extra : I am also still practicing the fundamentals like shapes , lines , etc..

Thanks!

 

[Winterfire]

Day - 3
Recently I've started doing a bit more "study" than drawing , Like anatomy , semi realism , you know just to explore my tastes and see what clicks. Today was mostly just spamming "Loomis-Heads" in 3/4th perspective (As it's the most common in RPGs/VNs). Fortunately , I am able to draw them "okay-ish" now. Tomorrow I'll start focusing more on slowly drawing the body (Shoulders->Bust->Waist and maybe up to legs ("maybe" because from what I believe is that characters are hardly shown anything below the thigh)).

Anyway, Here's my first "Headshot" (I hope that's the correct term) , too embarrassed to reveal who was the reference cuz it looks nothing like her, but yeah , maybe part of getting good is starting somewhere , eh?

The style is not the "anime" kind , which I stated am aiming for . TBH I myself don't know what style this actually is (If it's even one)

Extra : I am also still practicing the fundamentals like shapes , lines , etc..

Thanks!

The outline is really bad, it's killing what could have been a decent drawing. You really need to study and train on improving it. Also outlining only the outside doesn't look right (even more so if it's bad), and the hair shouldn't be blurred on the forehead, blur can work to blend colors, but not in EVERY instance.

Also, there are contrasting elements in that drawing... The overly textured hair/eyebrows stand out like sore thumbs when compared to all the rest (That was an issue on your previous example too), stick to a style, and keep it.

 

[Deleted member 7330341]

Hello Winterfire ,
Thank you for providing consistent feedback. From what I've noticed is that the general flow is (Sketch->Outlines->Paint) , But , I had a hard time incorporating it that way so I did quite the opposite , Used the base color as a mound of clay and did the outlining at last (Do point me out if this is a bad way to do things/practice , Which it might actually be). I think I should stick to sketching/outlining and focus more on black and white rather than rushing to paint it.

Regarding the blurred hair on forehead , I'll definitely work on it , I think focusing more on hair anatomy and overall hair blending might cut it.

Also, there are contrasting elements in that drawing... The overly textured hair/eyebrows stand out like sore thumbs when compared to all the rest (That was an issue on your previous example too), stick to a style, and keep it.

And this part , Well , My brain is in this weird situation of wanting to do different styles , I color one thing in one style then the second in another , It is easily resolvable , I guess . As you said I'll stick to the "anime" style as my main goal and maybe learn semi-realism or realism someday down the path.

Yet again , Thank you for the consistent constructive criticism , I appreciate it!