I am in my 30s, and I started learning to paint and draw a few years ago. I have noticed a significant improvement in my quality of life as a result of learning to make visual art, and I think late starters are in a unique position to make this observation.

This improvement in quality of life isn’t about expressing myself, or community, or a new hobby to learn. It’s more fundamental than that.

It’s about beauty. I see beauty everywhere now, and it has made my life so much richer.

It used to take a gaudy sunset or an especially healthy/fit person to ring the bell of beauty for me. After learning to see form, and perspective, and light, and color however, this “beauty bell” is being rung almost constantly.

It’s almost like I am framing my visual field in each moment and witnessing a new work of art.

This has been a slow shock to me. Why did no one ever tell me this before? How many people are missing out on this?

I’m trying to make a bubbly character to convey shape language but I don’t have any good references. Could anyone spare me some?

Hello, my friendly friends.

My 11 year old daughter has expressed interest in animation and loves to draw with sketch books and pens.

I am curious to gift her a certain pad, without a screen, that needs to be coupled with a computer, that she already has (the computer that is). I am also considering the program Procreate - The type that supports animation.

I am writing because I'm curious how hard it is to get started. She's very smart, but also autistic and has ADD. I don't want her first experience to be insurmountable, and she can easily stop trying if she feels the first few tries does not go her way.

Any pointers would be welcome.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/supermario/images/d/d9/MarioNSMBWii.PNG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20091128105254&path-prefix=fi

I've been tasked to draw this

"vibrant and colorful illustration of a peacock. The peacock is depicted in a geometric, mosaic-like style with a variety of bright colors and intricate patterns."

I want some tutorials on hoe to draw this kind of art style.

I want to know what kind of canvas I need.

How do I get the right kind of colors?

How much do I need to charge for it?

I'm also wondering whether or not use MOSU black.

It's for my uncle's house.

I recently removed the carpet in one of my bedrooms and after I refinish the concrete, I was wondering what type of paint and sealant anyone can recommend for a painting style mural. I honestly can’t find much information on it besides stains or acid washes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve been getting back into art Recently, I re like drawing but admittedly I’m horrible at it so I dont really do it as much, I’ve tried to study anatomy but the most I’ve been doing is just tracing irl photos of people, how the hell do you study anatomy?

I've been looking at colleges for a while now only to find they don't have the degree I'm looking for. I'm wondering if I'm just misunderstanding, though?

I thought I wanted a degree in illustration, but that's not really a thing. I want to pursue character design, concept art, and just digital art in general.

Am I being dumb, or are there a bunch of names for this type of major? Please help! I don't mind doing other things along with digital art, but I want that to be the focus, since that's what I'll have my career revolve around.

I swear UCLA offered one, but I couldn't see anything when I looked through their list of art majors.

One of my biggest weaknesses is values. I’m relatively new to painting, and used to rely on lineart to show the dimensions of what I’m drawing. Now I have to rely on values and shapes to convey that form, and it has been challenging.

When working in greyscale, my values are decent. I am able to control my highlights, halftones and shadows pretty decently. It doesn’t take me too long either. My issue comes when working in colour. I rlly cannot control my values at all, and it is probably because I love throwing colours around, I can’t help it. “Colour vibrations” or whatever it’s called is my favourite aspect of rendering, so limiting myself to a certain palette is so hard. I feel like I struggle the most when it comes to painting the face in terms of controlling my values to the point it would look “muddy” (in context of values and not colour in this case). I was told it looked “muddy” because I was clearly not keeping track of the number of values as I’m painting. Am i supposed to do that? Isn’t that too technical? Wdym count my values? Also yes, I do check my work in greyscale as I’m painting.

I was wondering if anyone knows any studies that I could do to improve in this area? Any advice? Techniques?

For example, a friend's face. Can you "see" it easily in your mind? I really struggle with not being able to visualize. Frequently, it just seems like a blurry mess up there and I can't get a picture to form.

But I need to - I need to recall their face easier, so I don't forget them. I never really learned anatomy or line-work, just mostly did oil painting. But thinking I might have to take it up.

Do you find doing art makes it easier to visualize things in your head?

I'm trying to focus on learning how to draw bugs (insects/arachnids/crustaceans/arthropodsingeneral), and I've been struggling. I think its that I need to just draw from reference over and over until i get it down good, but I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or videos or anything.

Hey y'all,

I'm a photographer and despite how hard I try not to crave what other people think I find myself asking this question. I can't use social media to gauge my work because my accounts are small (I don't post often) and most people aren't going to share their true thoughts in your comment section, this really only leaves in person interactions.

I rarely receive critique of my work, good or bad. My mom always compliments my work but it's hard to tell if she's just being supportive or genuinely impressed with my work. I do have a few newer photographers that regularly come to me to receive constructive criticism of their work. But despite who I ask, I rarely get any sort of feedback.

I can see improvement in my galleries from when I first started in 2021 to now but I have no idea where I stack up in the grand scheme. I'm always trying to improve my craft but it's difficult when the only criticism is coming internally.

Has anyone used this for their watercolored artworks for outlining? I was thinking of purchasing one for outlining my watercolored artworks.

Since it is refillable it would be better to have this than me keep on buying Unipins or Sakura microns.

If anyone has tried this, is it good? Would it be a good investment for pen?since it is kinda pricey

Quick question, how do you position your tablets for better posture? I'm currently using an XP Pen Artist Pro 2nd Gen, but I find the native "legs" too short, and I'm looking into getting or finding a way to have a better posture while painting

Any tips? Or support recommendations?

In undergrad for art education focusing in 2D studies so I need to carry around the average notebooks for each class and laptop, as well as a 9x12 sketchbook, pencils, brushes, 1-5oz tubes of paint depending on the day, etc. My backpack strap just snapped and I am BROKE broke! Those $300 specialty artist bags people recommend on here are really cool but I unfortunately need to eat.

Are there any standard brands of shoulder bags/backpacks that you really enjoy, have smaller compartments or make organization easier in any way? Bonus if they are not completely uncomfortable or have lasted you a long time! I’m hunting mostly on Depop and Facebook marketplace.

Thank you!!!

Maybe based off of what you’re already interested in?

Hey all,

Quick run down. I make pipecleaner dolls to look like calico critters/ sylvanian families or just realistic animals. I've run into an issue of having no enough colours at hand and I had an idea but want to know if it will work in theory. So, I have a question. I use chalk pastels to Colour my crafts as it can be quite pigmented and creates a nice dust. I wondering if the dry pats used for water Colour could be chipped or I could use a brush to get some pigmented dust off of it.

Not sure if this makes sense but any help would be great.

My girlfriend loves to draw and paint and just creating stuff, and she’s really good so i want to get her some quality stuff for Christmas but idk anything about art supplies. Any recommendations? She draws a lot of portrait stuff in her sketchbook and paints too

Thank you!

hello! i am currently brainstorming a mixed media piece on canvas, with oil paint and uv resin letters. possibly some cyanotype as well

anyway what would be the best way to attach the molded resin letters to the canvas on top of oil paint?

thanks 💖

I know there are other questions similar to this but I love hearing the replies so thought I would ask!

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster.

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm always going to be behind or inferior to other artists who went to school for art. I've been drawing and making art my whole life, but when it came time to decide what I wanted to after high school, I didn't want to take the risk and pursued a more traditional degree path. Even though I didn't take art classes during my degree I still tried hard to keep up with art. I specifically remember my girlfriend at the time getting angry with me for practicing harder than she, an actual art student, did.

Now at 28 I'm still drawing for multiple hours every day and striving to sharpen my skills but friends I have who do have that art degree experience feel so far beyond me I wonder if its even worth bothering.

I have a stable job and plenty of time to work on art. I would love to eventually do illustration for graphic novels or indie games someday but that dream feels so far out of reach. My friends pay me all kinds of complements about my work but I can't seem to shake that its all hobbyist level stuff. Like the difference between the skills of someone who plays rec league basketball on the weekends and an actual NBA or NCAA player. Its that level of experience and knowledge that I just seem to lack and it's really hurting my motivation.

Has any of you felt this way before? Am I fretting over nothing?

The concept i have is have is “melting chair” so i wanted to have parts of the chair melting like Salvador Dali’s melting clocks. I was thinking to cut a leg of the chair in half so that it starts off stiff and hard, and as it gets towards the end it becomes more organic and dropes like its melting. The thing is id like it to jiggle like jello if it was moved or agitated. Originally i thought of plaster to make a mold but then wouldnt it all come out hard as well? Any advice would be well appreciated.

Hello,

How do you categorize your miscellaneous art? On my website, most of my work fits neatly into three series of art. However, I do have some pieces that I create for certain shows or just on a whim that do not fit into any of these series. The work is good, but I do not know how to categorize it on my website? Do you run into this, and how do you categorize your “random” art? I want people to go to my site to see it, but not sure where to put it.

Hello all. Any paper recommendations (aside from erasing every line) that I can color over the pencil outlines and it not show as much or any tips? Using alcohol markers.

Basically the title, I really like Rick Rubin and David Choe on creativity, can any of you recommend YouTube creators with a similar vibe? Trusting your instincts, moving past blocks, making weird shit, staying curious through the process, etc. I'm not sure if there are creators with that vibe who also discuss fundamentals (I guess a contemporary Bob Ross type?), but I would love any and all recommendations. I'm all over the place with mediums, I'm just playing in the mud at the moment, so any artist in any medium is excellent. Thank you so much for any help!

Hi there. Was just drawing today without references, and the last time i did that was a long time ago, so when trying today, i found it extremely infuriating and wanted to cry. I feel this way i think because i can copy art from games or just general fan art (in my opinion) pretty well , but when it comes to going with nothing, i quickly find myself not knowing anything. Like, why is anatomy so hard? How are you supposed to make, say fingers or fingernails, detailed when they’re so small? Am i supposed to draw massively to even make anything? I easily doubt myself and my abilities since understanding the processes of the anatomical side is impossible for me without guidance and always end up failing. Also, symmetry, such as identical eyes, i also find really hard, But still, is it natural to be emotional, even just a little bit, when doing pen and pencil art (i say this because of the pressure to not mess up since rubbing out is hard), and also does anyone have any general tips to make drawing humans just a little easier? Thank you very much for your time, and i wish you a wonderful rest of your day

Anything like videos,courses, books, etc. Preferably for digital art.

Where I live the ipаd air is slightly more expensive than the S9 but I would also need to buy an apple pencil, meanwhile the s pen is included with the s9. I'm not even really considering the ipаd pro as it is INSANELY expensive. The S9 has a better oled 120 Hz screen compared to the 60 hz LCD ipаd screen. I have an android phone and a windows pc so using an android with them would be easier. Overall the S9 seems to be better at everything EXCEPT app support; in particular I mean procreate. I have never used it but everyone online talks about how amazing it is and how it's the best drawing app out there, how they bought an ipаd just for it and didn't regret it. Should I really buy a worse tаblet JUST because of this one app?