♠︎AWL's Art Assistance and Inquiry♠︎

Heyyy I thought this would be useful! Wanted to get started drawing and didn't know where to begin, or need some extra advice for that one piece you're working on? Ask me all of your art related questions here and I will be happy to assist you! It can be about art softwares, my own art, or art help in general, or even something personal about my art etc etc. You name it!

I'm here to help with all your art troubles!

 

And thank youuuu for using this thread!<3

It all depends on what kind of shading you're going for, but since this is broad I'll cover the two basic shading types I use.

There is cell-shading and soft shading, and sometimes a combination of both.

This is a rough example of cell-shading

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You can see that most of the shading is hard, easy to see and it doesn't exactly fade out into the character.

This is mostly soft shading:

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Can you see the difference? Soft shading fades more and has a blend effect. It's also easier to shade with different colors!

Sometimes you'll mix both together, like here:

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Whatever suits your fancy.

For shading cell-style, I recommend a softer brush than your pen, but solid enough as it does not blend too well. The key to cell-shading is that it's rather noticeable. If you use SAI, I could provide you with the brush settings I cell-shade with!

Cell-shading is less time consuming than soft shading, but sometimes looks better.

Don't be afraid to overdue soft shading, as the key to it is blending. Use a brush akin to an air brush and shade as freely as you desire.

The main tip for all kinds of shadings though is do not limit yourself to shade with a lower gradient of the solid color. What I mean by this is, no matter what shading you're doing, DO NOT shade with a darker color of the original color used. If you're shading pale skin don't just lower your colors closer to black. Shade with a light red, light pink or purple even. Always shade with a different color, never a gradient of the same color.

This sounds crazy, but it really makes your art more life-like and makes it pop. Experiment with it a little, some colors don't blend well but others you may find look good or look even better with more blends. Use the color wheel to your advantage.

However, if you're looking for the right places to shade, I'm going to get a little technical here. I'm sure you're familiar with light sources and shading in the right direction according to the light, but where to shade is another story.

One thing to note is, don't do pillow shading. Pillow shading is when you shade all around the object, like painting a red line all across the inside line of a circle. Pillow shading looks really bad, seriously. Don't do it. Shade in places you see creases, intersections, and the like. Places that look slightly covered by objects or appendages. Shade darker in places that look more closed off and lighter in ones that appear as if they are facing the light. Don't just limit to dark shading either, those areas in complete light; make them brighter! My examples might help a little bit.

Thank you for your question, I hope this works for you! Good luck!

 

I'm away from home, so I'll have to update this later with some background examples.))

I'll answer for both traditional and digital drawing since I'm not sure which you really want to tackle.

Background can be tricky, depending on whichever you may be going for. If you want something stylistic and colorful, break your background down into shapes with depth and intersections. Don't try to make whatever symbols or logos you're using seem particular in organized, go everywhere with it, but keep in mind your positive space.

Positive space is the main centerpiece of your picture, whatever you want the viewer to focus on the most. If the background is too busy, it can distract from the main subject, so when making a stylish background, it's best to make it inconsistent yet not too "busy". If you're wondering what kinds of images to use, make it related to the main image, (For example, Pikachu with thunderbolts! If you made it a cute looking pikachu...Give it hearts and bubbles and the like!) It would look strange to make a cutesy image with a horrorific background, but unless that's your cup of tea, go ahead, I won't recommend it though unless you know exactly what you're going for. As long as you can make it flow. Use whatever mediums fit the image such as glow effects, ribbon strokes, whatever you're going for. It's a bit trickier with pen, pencil and paper, but effects and style can also be achieved by heavy sketching and coloring with value and blends.
This is just my opinion, but backgrounds are easier to achieve on a digital surface because you have more to work with.

When it comes to backgrounds with some sort of scenery or landscape i.e. a lake, forest, an enviornment etc, these are very very difficult if you aren't consistent with what you're doing with your main image as well.

When it comes to the focus, I recommend gathering many references, real and illustrated, of whatever enviornment you want there to be and referring to them frequently as you draw, refer the colors as well, using earthly, less "popping" tones. You should also make sure that your center focus of the drawing is shaded to match the background as well, or else your drawing will be less realistic and your character will look copy and pasted into the background. If light is showing in patches through the trees, show that! Make parts darker and excessively lighter on them depending on their location.

If you're drawing something that isn't a solid surface like a platform i.e. something not man-made, then don't worry about the precision of each line's straightness. Use organic shapes when drawing things likes trees, stones, earthly things. You should also make sure the light bounces off these background objects consistently as well. Backgrounds can be an organized mess.

Another factor to keep in mind is to make sure the background is proportional to the character. If you're drawing at an angle of looking up at the character, make the trees or background seem as if it is curving higher. Things usually look unproportional to the eye at odd angles, but they are based on perspective. Trick of the eyes, like illusions!

Backgrounds are hard, for even me. Sorry to ramble, but I hope this helps! If you want to asl about something specific, feel free to! Thank you for asking<3

 

Hey Xarn, sorry to burst your bubble but you're in the wrong thread to be asking this! q_q This is Ask AWL about Art where I only take art related questions. If you would like to ask me a random non-art related question please go here. Sorrrrryyyy~

 

Art block is the absolute worst thing that can come to an artist and it's often a process for me to get rid of... Art block can usually be one of two types. These two types are what I like to call "Inspiration" and "Motivation". Think of them like twins if you will! They go hand in hand. Inspirational art block is when you have no idea what to draw, because nothing is giving you ideas TO draw. Motivational art block is when you have inspiration and lots of things to draw but you just don't have the will to do it. I have this kind more often.

When it comes to inspirational art block, I search art sites like dA or E-shuushuu.net for ideas, play videogames I like or listen to different kinds of music. Being an artist means you should be able to gather ideas from everything you see, your creative muse should always be fed. This art block is honestly the fastest for me to get over! Haha.

Motivational art block is tedious, and it can ruin your mood. Whether you're just having a bad day, stressed out or just a lil' lazy, motivation block can cripple you at all sides. This art blcok can be solved a number of ways, but never quickly. Each way must be done considerably slow. It can be solved by; support from friends or fans of your work (saying hey your art is good! I wanna see more of it! etc), being given inspirational ideas you REALLY want to see through, just try drawing, see what happens! And sometimes it is solved just by sitting down and finding that time to draw and collect your thoughts.

I usually solve mine by finding an art idea I really want to pull off! Or even shops orders, requests, etc can gradually pull you back into gear! Hope this helps~

 

I like to use lots of cool blue-ish colors, or anything along pink or white. I really like soft, light blends and combinations. Lots of colors I seem to mix are blue, purple, white and pink! Green seems to be there too sometimes huuu I love all colors though, I just wish red didn't hurt my eyes.

 

When you put your pencil on the paper, think of something you reeeally want to draw and start drawing it! Or writing if that's your thing. But I prefer you draw. ヽ(；▽；)ノ A picture is worth 1,000 words! FORM LINES.

Yes. I do. Sadly it's none of my own characters. It's always goddamn Yashiro Isana. I love that precious nerd to death. I ALWAYS SEEM TO DRAW HIM EURGHH

Honestly, I feel people are better off learning on their own and only taking "techniques" from art classes. Because if you only learn from classes I think your style becomes narrowed amd forms into only what is taught. Art classes aren't bad things, but they shouldn't gear you to draw certain ways. (´･Д･)」

 

Starting drawing is hard for anyone, especially not if you're at a young age- because artists always seem to be very judgemental of their work. But never fear! If you have the confidence and passion to start no matter what, then you can already be well on your way to becoming good!

♪( ´▽｀) The key is practice! As tiresome as the phrase may be. If you keep drawing, you keep getting better! You can even help yourself along by studying the art you like or trying different techniques. Just draw whenever you can and eventually it WILL pay off. Trust me, it took me 8 years to get where I am! Everyone learns at a different pace.

 

By mindless doodling when I was really little, and Pokémon most likely, since I drew them the most. It was my favorite past time! I loved creating things and dumb little stories out of drawings..

 

Honestly, I haven't! ;A; I barely draw myself if at all. Unnatrual characters are so much more interesting to draw! When I do draw myself it's usually for school work. I draw my OCs when thinking of what to draw though, hehe.