So I do art on my desktop pc, using a graphic tablet, and I use my keyboard for shortcuts all the time, and I wanted to try doing art on my laptop (Huawei matebook e) for when I'm not near my desktop and because it seems convenient to be able to do it anywhere, the problem is that I can't use my keyboard in most places, and I also wanna draw with the tablet completely bent over, so I won' have access to my keyboard at that point, so that makes it impossible to use any shortcuts, I use Photoshop to do art so I was wondering if there's an alternative way using a 3rd party software to make the shortcuts that I need appear on my screen so I can click them with the touch pad instead, similar to how Procreate is on an iPad where you have the main shortcuts that you need displayed on the screen, like the ctrl z, brush size changer (In the case of a third party software, a slider isn't really possible, but the [ ] shortcuts should work)

So if you have any ideas on how to solve this, whether it's a 3rd party software or anything else such as even a different software for doing art on a laptop that give a similar experience to procreate in terms of being touch focused

Hi all. I’m hoping to find some online classes possibly or some YouTube channels that help kids learn different art forms! Ideally something that has a purchasing list that we could get ahead of time and work together on or they could do independently. Looking for something beginner friendly so not too hard but not for toddlers necessarily either.

Hello! I draw a lot of male characters-- but I feel like I can really only confidently draw one *type* of male character. I feel like I struggle drawing male characters that aren't meant to be read as cute and a bit chubby cheeked. Whether they're actually middle aged or just some 20 yo I feel my drawings lack something that makes the viewer go "I'm meant to read this character as a handsome dude!"

My art examples (The images to the left are mine while the right are the characters referenced. The last one is an OC, Felt like I was getting closer but still so far..)

Naturally I've tried to study how some artists I feel accomplish this well do it, but even after attempting to see what they did by copying their art and trying to keep face planes and what not in mind..I can't quite pin down exactly what is right with theirs and wrong with mine. It's obvious something is very different, but my eye just cant catch it!

Artist examples (NOTE: None of the work here is nsfw, but all artists shown have a nsfw body of work so keep that in mind if you search them up!)

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Hi, I'm not an artist, but I love to see talented people's work on Instagram. Today I saw a story by an user im a huge fan of saying that most of her paid ads are being seen by their followers, instead of Instagram showing it to random people outside of her followers. This was weird and I was like "that's way too bad from Instagram >:(".

Recently I've started to get tons of recommendations of reels of people or pics of people instead of my usual art stuff. I discovered by playing with the options that you're supposed to say the algorithm when you are interested in something and when you are not, to my surprise, every time I want to show I'm interested in an artistic post, I only see the option of "not interested" but if it's from a real person showing their body, a reel or anything else I do have the option to say "I'm interested".

Just wanted to share this insights to see if it's something from my end or others are experiencing this too.

Sadly I cannot share pictures here like to actually show the proof of some pixel art posts not allowing me to show I'm interested in comparison to people

First of all, sorry if this is not the right sub for this. I recently got a tablet for drawing, but among other things, I need to press the pencil a lot for it to work, I tried the same pencil in my phone and works just fine, but not the tablet, I work with pressure in the lineart, but despite having already looked in the settings, there's none that seems to help with this.

Is there an app I can install? Or under what name should I look for the setting to adjust how much I need to press the pencil so it gets detected by the screen?

Got a used tablet for a transportable drawing option and wanna know which app I should draw with. Free apps or otherwise. I was gonna check out clipstudio but apparently that app doesn't work on this devices

Example, someone says they want you to paint something for them, but of nothing specific. Where do you start?

As an artist, do you start with an idea and build from there or do you start with a blank medium with no idea or intention in mind?

!I rarely have inspiration at the start of a project. So, I begin with nothing specific in mind. I’m curious how others approach a blank.!<

I like being able to do finer detials the same way you can with paper and pencil but I never know what canvas size or brush size to use! It always feels like things look too pixelated if I go anywhere below 2k, and then there's the fact that even when I use the smallest brush size (0.1) it still doesn't feel small enough so I end up going to 8k or double that resolution which now gets me the look that I want but is way too huge? What do y'all recommend?

Im so done with this i keep buying brushes Is there any good brushes brands or hacks that could prevent this?

I feel like there’s so much discussion of the elements and principles of design (not shitting on those, they’re great) but not much direction on forming design ideas that have merit to them. Like I get that maybe it’s a little bit more surface level to talk about the narrative of a piece than delving into deeper elements like balance or mark, but there’s still a lot of meat on the bone that doesn’t really come up. Stuff like subverting vs aligning with trope concepts, emotional weight, character design, themes and meaning, plus a ton of other stuff. I get that that’s all more creative things than technical, so it’s harder to create a rubric for it, but it’s wild that I almost never see anyone talking about dos and don’ts, that kind of thing.

I've always used to only draw fanart but lately I've been trying to draw original stuff, and I would like to hear from some of you what original art you like to make

My dream is to make a manga one day, and to get myself a bit closer to that goal, lately I've been taking lots of inspiration from mangakas I like. Problem is, pretty much all of them use hatching extremely often. I've been trying to use it, I like it, but my hand doesnt. Lots of small strokes in quick succession result in some pain, tiredness, tension. I can draw like that for maybe and hour, 2 tops, while lots of mangakas (often times not by their own will) sit for much longer every single day. Did I miss something? How do their arms not fall off by the end off the day? Even now my arm hurts slightly and it's been like 3 or 4 hours since I stopped drawing. Any advice to prevent this from happening would be appreciated.

Hello everyone, I have an art project due soon that’s titled “humanism” I’m so lost on how to go about the theme, any ideas? Preferably ideas for a painting.

Hi community! I was hoping someone could help me with something I'm trying to work through. I struggle to figure out how to get beyond just the visuals/aesthetics with my photography and get into something deeper/more meaningful.

For example, I recently photographed some spring blossoms. I think they're so beautiful and I can't help but feel sad watching them all blow away as it gets later in the spring. But I feel like the meaning and the emotion I feel isn't there - I only see photos of flowers, and not much more.

A big goal of mine is to someday see my photos in a gallery. But I feel like they're not important enough or profound enough or something. When I see gallery shows, I feel like the exhibitions are just so profound, so powerful, and so meaningful. Should I just accept that I don't have that "thing"?

I graduated from art school ten plus years ago. I was deeply passionate about painting, art becoming an artist, graphic design, and many other things.

Since then I have basically been getting less and less motivated. The pandemic made my mental health a shit show.

Can someone critique my art?

This is pretty much the 80,000th "how do I find pose references" thread on the internet, but I haven't really seen anyone ask it specifically like this.

A common problem my friends and I find when we're drawing is that sometimes we just can't visualize how exactly we want to pose a character we want to draw. In my experiences, I try to guide our creative flow by asking what sort of emotion or action we want the character to take, but sometimes the answer to those questions can be vague or generally uninspiring.

"I want to draw this character happy" or "I want to draw this character swinging a sword" sometimes just isn't enough to get the art groove going.

The deeper question I'd like to ask is "what's the narrative of the drawing" but sometimes it's just not that deep lmao.

So obviously if we're looking for inspiration, then we just have to start looking up and down websites that can give references, and we do often make ourselves scroll up and down pinterest, boorus, etc. It's not that we can't find resources, but you know how sometimes not being able to find the right inspiration soon enough can just severely hamper your motivation? I'm wondering how others deal with that exactly.

I've always wondered if dealing with this problem might lie more on the fundamentals side; whether or not more gesture and perspective studying might be necessary to know what we want to draw better, or if we just need to observe how people move more to build that sort of internal library. But some of my friends and I have gone through formal art studies though, and we still have days where we encounter this exact problem.

So again, I'm curious to know how others deal with thinking up and finding poses they want to draw.

This is pretty much the 80,000th "how do I find pose references" thread on the internet, but I haven't really seen anyone ask it specifically like this.

A common problem my friends and I find when we're drawing is that sometimes we just can't visualize how exactly we want to pose a character we want to draw. In my experiences, I try to guide our creative flow by asking what sort of emotion or action we want the character to take, but sometimes the answer to those questions can be vague or generally uninspiring.

"I want to draw this character happy" or "I want to draw this character swinging a sword" sometimes just isn't enough to get the art groove going.

The deeper question I'd like to ask is "what's the narrative of the drawing" but sometimes it's just not that deep lmao.

So obviously if we're looking for inspiration, then we just have to start looking up and down websites that can give references, and we do often make ourselves scroll up and down pinterest, boorus, etc. It's not that we can't find resources, but you know how sometimes not being able to find the right inspiration soon enough can just severely hamper your motivation? I'm wondering how others deal with that exactly.

I've always wondered if dealing with this problem might lie more on the fundamentals side; whether or not more gesture and perspective studying might be necessary to know what we want to draw better, or if we just need to observe how people move more to build that sort of internal library. But some of my friends and I have gone through formal art studies though, and we still have days where we encounter this exact problem.

So again, I'm curious to know how others deal with thinking up and finding poses they want to draw.

Welcome to the r/artistlounge weekly thread!

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This week's prompt

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Share your favourite work!

​ This could be a piece you have done years ago, or have just completed recently. It could be someone else's that you find amazing. Whatever it is, link it and tell everyone what you love about it!

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(As a reminder, you do not need to stick to the prompt)

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I hope that we can all help each other grow and succeed on our journey through art. Thank you for making this such a special creative corner of the internet. <3

for context, i am a long time traditional artist who has semi-recently become determined to learn digital art. it’s been a big struggle, but i’ve recently encountered an issue i’m not sure how to solve.

basically, i am struggling to acknowledge that every single thing doesn’t need to be perfect. for example, if i was using traditional mediums to draw a tree, i have no issues drawing a handful of decent leaves and then vaguely indicating the shape of all the leaves as a whole. but with digital art, there’s nothing stopping you from literally zooming in and making every leaf the same size as the whole tree, and i’m having a hard time with leaving unimportant details alone.

obviously the answer is “just don’t zoom in as much”, but that’s easier said than done, and i’m curious if any other artists have any experience dealing with this issue. thank you (:

Hi everyone.

I’m seeking a fully online MFA or certificate program in 2D Studio Art. I’ve been searching myself but I’m running into these issues:

• some “online” programs have a small in-person requirement
• I’ve heard not great things about the art academy
• Ideally I’d want to obtain this from a somewhat legitimate institution. A state school for example would be great.

Some more context:

• Having a class structure to learn and practice is something I prefer.
• I am disabled and am unable to travel easily.
• I’m in the United States.
• I don’t mind investing $ into a decent program. Budget is not a primary factor.
• Ideally I’d like to find a program geared towards those who have a full time role already (evening classes, asynchronous classes, go at your own pace, etc.)
• I already hold a bachelors degree and a masters degree in an unrelated field. I don’t want to do general education type courses again - I really just want to focus on art courses.

Thanks in advance!

So i think i’ve been in an art block for some time, but I never recognized it until i graduated art uni. i studied another discipline other than my passion (concept art) and that killed my passion, since I was doing something I didn’t really like.

But, i’ve been trying to get back on the grind to do some 2D environment/illustratoon pieces since I don’t have much of those in my portfolio.

I started on a few but I couldn’t get beyond the thumbnail stage. its like I froze and i didn’t know what to do from there. So, I was wondering if there was a book/ resources hat have comprehensive rules about environment painting rules and practices.

below is a list of things i need to work on/overwhelmed by:

• time of day, lighting rules for different times

-materials (rock, grass, cloud, trees, buildings, and water etc etc)

-the mechanical vehicle designs that i designed and need to place in the scenes. god knows how i’m going to light and render those 💀

i think i’m just super overwhelmed at the unfamiliarity of it all (i do mostly character art) if anyone has any resources on environment painting, material studies and such i’d greatly appreciate it!

I am a UK writer collaborating with a sound artist to create a multimedia digital artwork installation that references current events (climate change events in Canada). We are adding a visual element but I am out of my depth!

The idea is that the audio (an original poem and soundscape) is accompanied by various images/videos, some of which are mine, but some of which would ideally be newsreel image or footage from the events, possibly distorted or altered in some way. I don't think we'll make any money from this, but I suppose it is possible.

This is the first time I've done something like this and I don't know what I need to be aware of. I know news images are copyright but do I just ask separate publishers for a licence for reuse? Does UK or Canadian copyright law apply? What kind of professional would best advise me?

Thanks so much for any help you can give.

You're allowed to take breaks, quit, take it slow, draw 10 hours a day, not draw for 10 years, use crayons, draw on your hand, on the walls of your shower, with lipstick on a mirror, chalk outside. . .

You do not need our permission, my permission, just your permission.

It's perfectly fine to procrastinate a bit or ask about art supplies and look at them and think "oh, shiny" and then set them aside. It's even okay to let your art supplies dry out or go bad (gasp).

But, but, hear me out. Please.

If you are not working on your art because someone said something shitty about your art skills or art, please, please... Tell that person to fuck off at least in your mind, and keep making art.

I'm begging you.

I let my grandmother stop me in my tracks and make me quit art when I was 17. I'm now much older, disabled, in chronic pain, and I'm so sad I didn't pursue art more when my body still could. This is one of my biggest regrets.

My mom also said a couple of things that were only a tad insensitive, yet it discouraged me more.

I painted for 90 minutes while in pain last night.

Draw your inner monsters. Draw your fears.

Please don't let someone dictate if you're talented enough to do art. You are.

You can put in the hours. And we're intrinsically all slightly more talented at using specific medium. Try abstract painting. Buy colored pencils. Do the opposite of what you usually try.

Use terrible or fantastic art supplies on purpose. See if it makes a difference. Buy new paper (really.)

Show up. Practice. Ask for feedback. Push through doubt. You've got this.

Use a search engine like Google to look up thoughtful answers to questions you might have. Study anatomy, brush control, color theory... Whatever your medium requires.

YouTube has a wealth of information. We live in the perfect decade to learn art for free.

Take your personality into account when choosing art supplies, as well as your budget. If you hate slow, meticulous work, maybe don't get colored pencils right away. Try something else first.

If you can't stand messy art supplies, oil pastels are going to be frustrating for you for a while.

Acrylic paint is a safe bet for beginners, and super affordable. Watercolor painting supplies will quickly cost you hundreds of dollars, even if you cheap out on everything but paper.

And poor quality watercolor painting supplies are not a pleasant experience.

Regular pencils and ballpoint pens are legitimate options, even for professional artists.

Thinking about starting acrylic painting? Here is the painting set that you should get, super affordable, and it has EVERYTHING you need! https://youtu.be/xPVU7uIqJbk?si=NQ-DEXZbzU87sRKW

I’m color blind (protonomia I think) and I’m interested in character design and I ‘d like to be able to create characters and color them in the future. Curious to hear your experiences and how do you get around your color blindness.

So I wanted to get an anatomy course on Coloso as I love all the courses I already have. But non hyper focus on anatomy, even though they do go over it, it's not the purpose of the course. So I wanted to nab oen that IS the focus of

Im debating between Jeonhyun Seoks and Sungmoon Heos course. Has anyone one done them or just in general 1 a bit more in depth than the other?

I would prefer whichever one is far more "intensive" as I have a decent grasp already, and all my character art ones go over it briefly. So j don't need to know general stuff, I wanna know the nitty gritty. Bit I can't decide which to nab.

So I got this block of Canson drawing paper a couple of days ago and after getting home I just left it in my room. Today I looked at it and i noticed that the pages are all wavy (probably because of the humidity in my apartment). What can I do to flatten them back? Or should I just leave them like that ? I would like to post a picture of it doesn’t allow me to :( please help

ive entirely lost my spark for art, and I really think id benefit from working with a teacher to help me figure out how to get back to a point where art is comfortable, but there arent many resources for people like me, it seems. im not a beginner. im fairly advanced when it comes to skillset and knowledge, but im also very very lost.

i dont know where to look. im a csp artist who focuses on character illustration. are there any online courses where you have access to an actual teacher, a mentor who can actually help? not really looking to spend an arm and a leg but also id probably take out a loan at this point because i need to be able to draw again.

I don't know how to approach does Themes on my painting, I'm spired by artist like Diego Rivera, Portinari and other social realists, Marxist like artist but i don't know how to make art like them in the modern time, the world is very different and I don't know how to fight for change in the modern day on art (specifically in my beloved Brasil). I don't want to go in a abstract our blurry lines kinda way to show ideas, I don't want to simply make "capitalism bad." Kind art, nether have just a big hammer and sickle and say "look how im radical!!".

I what something in the middle of all, but is had to find. If you have that struggle to help me, we can talk, and if you already figured it out say it, and if you don't knok just show me artist that kind fit the description of what im talking about (contemporary/recent if possible)

Sorry for any spelling mistakes or if this is the wrong sub.

I've seen some of the stats on one of my drawings post and I saw that people actually shared the post. But I myself have never done this. So I was wondering where do you share it if you have done it ? Like do you send it to some of your friends or on an server with other people maybe ?