Messages du forum par Pyrite

Blender - Grease Pencil

It is a free 3D program with a full 2D animation section now. Check out the tutorials from the Blender artists. Sign up for some of the forums. Sign up for ArtStation. View livestreams from various artists who work in animation (Aaron Blaise for instance). Post your work in as many places as you can.

Interact. Interact. Interact.

If it's in the budget, go to a con or two and speak to artists there.

I am an advocate for practicing in both mediums.

On the digital side, there is a lot to consider. Many aspects of digital painting come down to program and use of the tools. Corel Painter, for instance, will give an extreme painterly feel. Photoshop can go from manga to painterly and every syle in between. Programs like SAI, Krita, and GIMP, while free, are also limited in how their palettes appear and how accurate they are.

The only program I despise is the new program for the iPad. It essentially takes away the learning process of drawing, allowing anyone to automatically fill colors, make symetrical lines, and bring a specific clean aesthetic to the table. I caution anyone who wants to start that route.

Once you find a program that fits your needs (or a couple), it's time to start test sketching with brushes. Start with the normal settings until you're comfortable with adjusting the texture, pressure, etc (depending upon the program there will be different settings.) A suggestion I love and was happy to see a professional artist repeat is: always try new brushes. It doesn't hurt to download another artist's style brushes and use them in your work. Even practice work.

One caveat to digital: learn the difference between the filters, the stamped brushes, and use of the shape tools. Master recognizing these tools in art as it will help you build your style.

On the traditional side, I keep to mixed media pads. I use graphite (mechanical, pencil, and solid graphite), acrylic paint (apple barrel, Daler Rowney ), charcoal (vine), markers (Ohuhu, Tombow) and every type of watercolor thing I can find. Watercolor paint, markers, and pencils of varying brands.

As you mentioned using your hands, I recommend charcoal and acrylic paints, some watercolor paints would suit too although I must admit I have never tried painting by hand with my watercolors.

I am the worst person to throw any suggestion about practicing or managing practice time. I try to practice 30 minutes as my health allows twice weekly. If I draw or experiement for longer or more days, so be it. If I have a dry spell, it happens. I'm still learning to forgive mistakes that I feel I shouldn't be making or forcing myself to draw lineart when, well, it's not really my thing.

I wish you the best in your journey. :)